Page Maps 7th Anniversary Winner

Remember this card?

I entered in the Page Maps Anniversary Challenges.  

 You can see all the details on this post

And it was a winner!

This challenge was sponsored by Penny Black Stamps and I won not one, not two, not three, but SIX sets of Becky's new PB stamps! You can see the stamps sets on the post for the challenge here. You can see the details at Page Maps Blog. Wow!

I had lots of fun using the sketches and trying the different ideas that were given

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - sketch conversion

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

The sketches at Page Maps come in all different sizes 81/2 by 11, 12 by 12 and as doubles.  Often photos or pages you want to create are not the same size as the sketch so the challenge was to convert the sketch to fit the 12 x 12 layout.  Love the Websters Pages products.  I hadn't come across them until I got my ribbons in my prize pack

With bigger photos I stretched the sketch and used the same elements.  Washi tape works well for the banner embellishements

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Boy/girl

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

This challenge was right on the mark for me.  I have four boys so am always looking for different ideas for their pages.  A lot of product and inspiration is girl inspired.  Here the challenge was to look at a sketch with girl elements and use it for a boy or girl.

Stars are always a go to, as are brackets, arrows, banners, and circles.  I do use flourishes just in little doses.  I tend to use bakers twine rather than ribbon and am loving washi tape.

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Paper Mixology

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

Patterned papers.  I do use them just not so many at once.  I see lots of ways to put them together I just never seem to get it looking balanced so this challenge was a good one for stretching my use of them.  Loved the different elements that Kelly used.

I used one larger photo and converted it to 12 x 12

Four different patterns.

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - 1-2-3-4 Challenge

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

A card challenge this time.  

 Use the sketch and the number of elements to create your card.

I started with the colours.  The patterned paper that I found set the rest of the card.  I found my stash of vellum and have been using it more lately.  I liked how it softened the pattern allowing it to show through.  A solid layer would have covered a lot of it up

Colours:  baja breeze, pure poppy, old olive, very vanilla

Stamps:  impressions (bella!), le chateau (kaiser)

Finishing touches:  vellum, victoria crochet trim and vanilla flower trim (SU), carribean bakers twine (the  twinery), edgers No 1 die (PTI), brad (francheville), secret admirer quote sticker (kaiser), stitching

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - On the Border

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

A great video showing the Page maps border die and Simple Stories latest line sets up the challenge using borders to create a layout based on the sketch.

I decided to use one photo for this one.  The border idea worked really well with all the camouflage strips.  On their own they would have been too much but with strips of each it worked together.

 

I have a few of these photos.  Stories I want to tell but don't have the pictures.  I have found different ways around it.  Sometimes there is a photo I can use that may not be of the actual event but a representation of it and other times I put in a non-photo.  Just because you don't have the perfect photo doesn't mean you can't tell the story.

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Grand prize

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

What is a celebration without a grand prize? $200 from A Cherry on the Top. This challenge was to use the sketch provided to create a layout.

So here is my take on the challenge

I decided to flip the sketch upside down this time. I have been keeping fairly close to the sketches that I have done till this one. I have gathered several different Christmas themed products since Christmas so it was fun to see how I could use them.  The 7-gypsies sticker sheet worked well for the different journalling pieces.

Journalling reads ' There's nothing like trimming the tree to make it feel like Christmas.  So cool we get to go down the bottom and choose one we have grown ourselves.  Note to self.  They are always bigger when you get them inside. We had no end of trouble this year with trying to keep it upright!'

I love pages that come together with ease.  This one did apart from getting to the last job which was the journalling.  Done now.  Better add it to the link before the competition finishes!

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Colour suite

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

The challenge for this one was to use the colour palette and the sketch provided to create a layout.

Pink is always a little tricky when you have mostly boy pics.  But I found the perfect picture of my sister and I that had just the colours in the palette.  I stuck mostly with the greys and pinks with a little of the others, and kept to the sketch. 

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Make your own stamps

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

The challenge was to create your own stamps and then use them in one of the sketches for a card or layout.  Stripes are a favourite of mine.  I love cutting them thin across all the lines for a different border. I never seem to have quite the colour combo for what I want to use so this is a great way to do it yourself.  There were lots of great ideas. Loved the use of alpha's to make stamps.

It turned out quite different to my original plan.  That's what happens when you let it evolve as it goes.

Colours:  night of navy, more mustard, very vanilla, old olive
Stamps:  background stripes (handmade), in the stars (SU)
Finishing touches:  vellum, victoria crochet trim, running stitch border punch (x-cut), buttons, lots of tags die (SU)

Page Maps Anniversary Celebration - Your favourite sketch challenge

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

All month long Page Maps are celebrating in style with challenges at their blog.  Here is my take on the challenge to kick things off.  The prize for this one comes from Little Yellow Bicycle  Great chance to check out new products and how they are used.

I am really enjoying starting with sketches and trying new ways of putting my pages together using what I have.  For now I am keeping pretty much to the original plan.  I am sure as I get more confident I will try different approaches

Scrappin Patch April Challenge

The challenge for this month at Scrappin Patch is using a sketch from Page Maps.

 

I have had these photos for some time.  I had put together a kit with different summer/beach themed papers and embellishments.  The photo fit well with the story behind the quote 'there is never enough time to do all the nothing you want'  I love the 7gyspies page stickers.  They add the extra little details that you need to finish of the page without overdoing it.  I am looking forward to getting all the photos from this holiday scrapped.  Sometimes it just takes a bit to get started.

Big Idea Festival Day Five - Happy Creating

This challenge has to be my favourite yet. On Day Four I said my goal was to do more creating. This challenge has set me up so well for being motivated to scrap. May Flaum writes on the end of posts 'Happy Scrapping'. She gave some great tips for how to be happy scrapping. If you want to hear then sign up here. The class is free.

Nothing makes me happier than a sort out of my tools and supplies so I can be using them in the best way possible.  Something that has been challenging me a bit is wanting to scrap more with friends. But it is so hard to take everything you need.  So I cleared out my trolley that I have only been using for papers and found some different containers.  It also gave me a chance to clean out all the bits that I haven't been using that are clutttering up my good stuff.  I am going to put them together in kits to make better use of them.  Very tempted to sign up for May's Kit-tastic class.

After the sort I had some fun putting together a tag to add to the bag of the extras to add when I go out to scrap. 

Happy Crafting