Weekly Challenge Roundup #1

I set a goal, for myself, to take part in more craft challenges and to actually post them here. Last year, I might have averaged one every few weeks but never posted. I really didn’t post much of anything. Oops. Trying to change that.

I’m a big fan of challenges for several reasons:

1. Having a deadline really encourages me to wrap up a project.
2. It gets me to use all the supplies I’ve been hoarding 😛
3. It gets me out of my comfort zone to try new things.
4. Its fun mixing challenges together. Like taking the color scheme challenge with a layout challenge. So many to mix and match.
5. It’s a great source of inspiration. Starting with a completely blank slate is tough for me. I need something in mind or else I can waste hours trying to figure out what I’m going to make. This is really helpful since I really don’t know what “my style” is yet.
6. Prizes. Ain’t gonna lie, this is always a nice perk.

And now for the challenges and my entries…

Studio Calico – a weekly sketch challenge due by 1/15/18, details here.

This week there was a scrapbook, traveler notebook, and a pocket page sketch to choose from. I went with a scrapbook layout using the traveler notebook sketch. I love that you can adapt the sketches to fit your need. And I’ve had this photo in my pile of photos waiting to be “scrapped” for over almost two years, so I’m really happy to get this one done for the album.

Now this one was created with inspiration from a few challenges. The theme was mostly inspired by the LOAW challenge, the medium from the Art days challenge, and the color scheme from Simon Says Stamp’s Winter Blues challenge.

Studio Calico – a monthly LOAW (LayOut A Week) challenge due 1/31/18, link to challenge #1 here.

This challenge was to create a goal inspired layout and since my goal this year is to create more and join challenges I thought this fit. While “create” was my One Little Word from last year, it’s definitely carried over in this year as well.

Simon Says Stamp – Winter Blues Monday Challenge due 1/15/18 8AM Ohio time, details here.

This challenge was to use a spot of blue somewhere and I think I used more than enough blue, LOL. I loved adding all the different layers of colors, blending some, moving the color around.

Art Days 2018 – Week 2 Blue Velvet Night, a challenge to create and share based on weekly prompts. This one is done through an email subscription but you can sign up anytime, details here.

I really want to get into mixed media more which definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone, so this weekly challenge is great. It’s really tough for me to not have a sketch to copy, instructions to follow, or a blueprint, which is also why I love it. I get to learn more about how the paints behave and more about color theory, etc. This week’s prompt that drew me in was “what keeps you up at night?”. Working on my crafty projects definitely keeps me up at night.

This card was inspired by two challenges.

Simon Says Stamp – Use Patterned Paper challenge, due by January 17th at 8AM Ohio time, details here.

This one is huge for me because patterned paper is probably the #1 thing I hoard the most. I really need to use more patterned paper in my cards.

My Favorite Things – Sketch 367 challenge, due by 1/16/18 at noon EST, details here.

Like I said before, I love sketches! And I think this layout is by far one of my favorites to use in a card. It’s simple, it’s easy, yet it’s balanced and can be adapted for almost any card. I love it! Definitely going to be used again… very soon too…

And here it is again! I told you I really love this layout. So in addition to using the same sketch and patterned paper, I used another challenge for the color scheme in this one.

My Favorite Things – Color Challenge 85, due by 1/24/18 at noon EST, details here.

I have a hard time pulling together the color scheme for my projects, which is why I love color challenges. There are so many combos I never would have thought to use, and this is one of them. Another perk was that I got to practice coloring with my Copic markers.

There you go, four projects, seven challenges, one blog post, DONE!