January 2018 Main Challenge BIRTHDAY & TAGS

Happy New Year to all our wonderful MTW family!

We feel so very blessed to be starting our 3rd year of creative fun and inspiration

with all of you and we are excited about the new year to come!

Along with an outstanding Design Team and some fabulous sponsors,

we have some wonderful challenges lined up for you

which we are sure will inspire you to keep creating month after month.

Thank you so much for helping us make this blog challenge so successful

the past 2 years and for encouraging us to keep the creative spirit alive!

And now, let's take a look at our first challenge of 2018...

Our Main Challenge is based on a word inspiration and a creative challenge.

The challenge is open to layouts, canvases and art journal pages only.

Make sure to carefully read our instructions below.

Word Inspiration - BIRTHDAY

Creative Challenge - TAGS

What does the word BIRTHDAY inspire you to create?

You can choose to use the actual word somewhere on your project 

or simply be inspired by it.  Since words are an integral part of our challenges, we want to know how this month's word stimulated your creative process, so please do explain in your blog post how it inspired you!

January 2018 marks the 2nd anniversary of the More Than Words challenge blog. Happy Birthday to us! We thought we'd invite you to celebrate with us by incorporating a minimum of 2 TAGS on your project, just as you might on a birthday gift. You can keep your tags plain and simple or you can choose to decorate them however you like. You can choose the size, shape and colour. You can make them the focal point of your project, or you can slip them discreetly behind your photo. It's your choice, just as long as your layout, canvas or art journal page includes at least 2 tags!

VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT MTW RULES!

To be eligible to win, you have to incorporate both requirements of the challenge, 

the word inspiration and the creative challenge.

Just look at our designers' projects and descriptions as examples.

You must also include our board image as well as a link to our blog in your entry post.  AND you may combine our challenge with no more than 2 other challenges.

Please check out all our challenge rules in the RULES tab above.

Now let's see what our amazing DT have come up with to showcase this month's word and incorporate the creative challenge, starting with our brand new members.

Make sure to check out DT tab above where you can find out more
about each of our fabulous designers, new or returning.

ANAT WEKSLER

Anat: As a cake designer, BIRTHDAYS are very special events to me, and I love participating in my clients' birthday celebrations. This is a photo of me with a huge cake that I made for my daughter's birthday party. And as for TAGS... they're my best friends! I absolutely love using them on almost all my projects!

ASIA MARQUET

 Asia: The word BIRTHDAY means so much to me, especially now that I am a mum. I think of my children's births, of birthday celebrations we had and the ones yet to come. But with this layout, I wanted to pay homage to our ancestors. After all, we are here thanks to them. This is my way of showing my love and respect - today I am celebrating their birthdays! I also added a few TAGS to my layout with a retro-looking ribbon. After all, what is a birthday without a gift, and a gift without a tag?

DAISY RAMSAY

 Daisy: When I think of BIRTHDAY, I think of balloons, glitter and cake! The cake can be found on the smash the cake picture of my cousin's baby. Isn't she adorable? I also included on my page glitter and balloons. I used 4 TAGS on my creations. I often use tags because I find that they are easy to use as an embellishment 

and they fit everywhere.

FRANCE RINGUETTE

 France: Nothing beats a baby's first BIRTHDAY. I just love this photo shoot of smashing the cake that my friend did with her lovely daughter. It was such a precious way to capture that special moment. I was inspired by the colours of the picture and wanted to keep the page light and sweet with a touch of multiple pink tones and delicate elements. TAGS are so much fun to integrate into a layout. They are perfect to help build layers under your pictures. I made 3 tags of different sizes using the coordinating papers in a set; this ensured that the papers 

and tags are a perfect match.

MARTINA STOYCHEVA

 Martina: BIRTHDAYS are always special. We all love them, celebrate them and remember them. I was inspired by this picture of my sweet daughter. She is 3 years old, and the More Than Words blog is entering its 3rd year. That's why I put the number 3 on my canvas and I also added 3 TAGS on it.

ROSALIE DUKE-STANLEY

 Rosalie: The BIRTHDAY inspiration word inspired me to look through all of my old birthday cards that I have collected since I was born. My mum had kept them all to give me when I had my first child. The whole retro look and colour was like a blast from the past. I used TAGS to build up the mixed media base and with stencils, sprays and chipboard, I created a 1960's birthday card vibe.

SIVAN AMEDI

Sivan: Most of my life I was overweight and remember how much I wanted to be like the girls who could wear the most beautiful dresses. I made this layout inspired by the word BIRTHDAY and to remind me that I fulfilled my sweet 16 birthday wish. On my 33rd birthday, I'll definitely be able to wear my best dress! I used TAGS in my composition, paper and wood, and I really enjoyed creating this layout.

AGA BARANIAK

 Aga: This month, my inspiration is as usual, standard, symbolic and with a hidden message. I created a simple art journal page with Lindy's mists and watercolours. I painted a BIRTHDAY gift and added two TAGS with an important message on them for me.

ANGUREE VAN RENSBURG

 Anguree: BIRTHDAYS remind me of flowers and the fact that each time a birthday comes around, it means that another year has passed. At the start of this year, I think that we need to remember to make the most of each day, to love, to laugh and essentially to live our lives rather than to just exist. With that, I'd like to wish you all the very best that this year has to offer. For the creative challenge, I opted to add lots of mini TAGS depicting important words to live by.

CAROLINE ELLIAM

 Caroline: Every year, I ask my husband what he wants for his BIRTHDAY, and every single time he says nothing. This year I found the perfect present for him, and it was totally handmade by myself. He was doubly happy to get a present at low cost made with all my love. For our January creative twist, I used 4 TAGS

 behind my picture to add some depth and layering.

HEATHER MCMAHON

Heather: I wanted to record all the places we visited on my last BIRTHDAY, so I made four panels, one for each place we stopped at. I added four TAGS, one in each of the paper clusters around each photo. I had a lot to write about so I added most of the journalling on panels under each photo.

HEIKE'S AUGENBLICK

 Heike: This photo image is actually a BIRTHDAY card which I received from a friend. This card inspired me to create a colourful layout with 

homemade TAGS on the background.

JANICE NICHOLLS

 Janice: Happy 21st BIRTHDAY to my beautiful baby boy! The theme for the night was to come dressed in something starting with first letter of your name. He looked amazing! We had such a great night, celebrating with family and friends... lots of laughs, dancing and great memories. I have tucked a TAG under the photo with a bit of journalling and tied a string to help slide it in and out. I added more tags 

to the top and bottom of my page.

MARY CATT

Mary: The word inspiration BIRTHDAY brought to mind balloons, happiness and love. So I made a page based on a photo of a woman on her birthday with lots of balloons and happiness. For the creative challenge, I used 2 TAGS layered behind my photo.

NICOLE DOIRON

Nicole: To me, the word BIRTHDAY spells fun, party, cake, family and friends. I created this page using photos of my boyfriend's 30th birthday, way back in 2007, that we celebrated with his parents and for which I made him a homemade cake, topped with a multitude of candles. I wonder if I was part of his wish as he blew them out! The creative challenge was very easy for me as I tend to use TAGS on most of my layouts; I absolutely love them and I have an endless stash.

PAMELA ELLIS

Pamela: My grandson Jaxon recently celebrated his fourth BIRTHDAY. He is such an awesome little person and is often the focal point of my scrapping. I've captured him here awaiting his birthday guests for his party. Such a pensive face for a little boy. I love this kid beyond words! There are TAGS throughout the project.

TORSA SAHA

Torsa: To me, BIRTHDAY means a fresh new start! Blow off the past by blowing out the candles and be prepared for a whole new journey. For the creative challenge, I have used not just 2 but 5 TAGS on my project.

VALERIE OUELLET

Valerie: This month's word inspired me to use this picture of my daughter with her big BIRTHDAY cake. For the creative challenge, I used some plain TAGS that I altered with modeling paste, 3 sprays and a stamp. I then glued my tags on my background and added some pretty twine matching my colour palette.

What a great start to the new year, isn't it?!

We believe that our DT has interpreted perfectly this month's word and creative challenge and we cannot wait to see what you will be inspired to create.

Now, let's take a look at the prizes up for grab this month!

All our prizes include free international postage!

MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER

(as voted by our DT)

$50 USD value prize from CUTS2LUV

(image below is for illustration purposes only)

4 RUNNERS UP

(as voted by our DT, in no particular order)

$25 USD value prize from DUSTY ATTIC

(image below is for illustration purposes only)

$25 USD value prize from MAJA DESIGN

$25 USD value prize from THE SCRAPBOOK DIARIES

$25 USD value prize from MINTAY

RANDOM WINNER

(picked at random from all eligible entries)

$25 USD value prize from CREATIVE EMBELLISHMENTS

MYSTERY WINNER

(hand picked by our Admin team - an entry not in our Top 5, 

but that has that special something that captured our attention)

$25 USD value prize from FABRIKA DECORU

We are very grateful to all our generous sponsors for these fabulous prizes,
including a few new ones that have agreed to sponsor us in our 3rd year.

To learn about any of them, click on the SPONSORS tab above.

We are looking forward to seeing your entries into our

January Main Challenge BIRTHDAY & TAGS!

Link up your projects using our LinkyTool in the right sidebar

by January 31st at 11:55 pm EST.