We are thrilled today to reveal to you our brand new Main Challenge!
We know that you will absolutely be inspired by this one,
and we cannot wait to see how you will interpret the word
and incorporate the coordinating creative challenge.
First, though, we have some exciting news to share...
We have added an extra prize to our already extensive prize listing.
We will now award not one, but TWO mystery prizes!!
Of course, with a new prize comes a new sponsor, and we are so happy
to introduce to you
AB STUDIO who has agreed to join our sponsor lineup.
You can find out more details about this new company by clicking on
the SPONSORS tab above. We love all our sponsors!
And now, with no further delay, here is our July Main Challenge:
Our Main Challenge is based on a word inspiration and a creative challenge.
Word Inspiration - BEACH
Creative Challenge - SEASHELLS
What does the word BEACH 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 if it isn't obvious in your work.
It's time to get some sand between your toes and get inspired by the beach! To help make your creativity sea-worthy, we want you to add SEASHELLS on your project. Those who look for seashells will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls... of inspiration! If you can use real seashells that you collected from a walk on the beach, awesome! If you find a seashell in your stash, whether it be chipboard, resin or depicted on a badge or a sticker, fabulous! Every seashell tells a story.
Please check out all our challenge rules in the RULES tab above.
Now let's see what our fabulous designers have come up with!
Heike: The word BEACH inspired me to make this art journal spread. The beach, the sun, the sea... all this I associate with holidays. Lying in the sand and looking at the seagulls, this is what I love and need for relaxing in the Summer. For the creative challenge, I added lots of stamps depicting SEASHELLS.
Anat: I love the BEACH, even in the Winter, and I so miss the incredible Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! You can see by this picture how beautiful and unique it is. I added some icons that represent the Rio de Janeiro scene like coconut water, a delicious treat that everyone has at the beach, and Flamengo's (my favorite Futeball team) Havaianas. I always lived by the sea, like now, and I have added on my layout some SEASHELLS that I found and kept throughout my life.
Nicole: This month's word was fairly easy for me to scrap as I am lucky enough to live about a 5 minute drive from the Atlantic ocean coast, so you can say that the BEACH is almost at my doorstep. It's a place where I seek peace, harmony and sunshine. I incorporated the creative challenge on my layout by adding
some Dusty Attic chipboard SEASHELLS.
Janice: A favourite and happy place for us is this beautiful little BEACH. We have so many wonderful memories of time spent together at this little spot. No matter the weather, we always look for seashells. For the creative challenge, I have added SEASHELLS to my layout including one of our favourite shells, the Cowrie shell.
Mary: My family vacations are totally connected with the BEACH. Here in Greece, we have some of the most beautiful beaches, and in the Summertime we love to spend our free time there. I used a photo of a beach for the word inspiration and added lots of SEASHELLS for the creative challenge.
Torsa: To me, BEACH means lots of fun and freedom... barefoot, sandy toes, salty hair and the blue sea! I have used a photograph of a lady on a beach to represent the word inspiration and I have incorporated a few SEASHELLS
among my flower clusters.
Martina: Inspiration this month was easy for me. I live in a town on the Black Sea coast, so the BEACH theme is actually my whole life! I can't imagine living in a town with no water near. I used a picture of a beach that I took 5 years ago and everything else just fell into place. I also used lots of real SEASHELLS
and other sea-inspired pieces on my layout.
Di: I really enjoyed this challenge as there were so many fabulous options. For the word inspiration I have used a BEACH photo and for the creative challenge I have used several different SEASHELLS to decorate my layout.
Valerie: I really love the BEACH and the sun. I made this layout using a photo of my daughter at the beach. For our creative challenge I added some little SEASHELL plastic buttons on my design.
Asia: The word BEACH always brings to my mind the hometown of my husband in Bretagne. His family lives so close to the sea and every Summer we go there to spent quality time together. The walks on the beach are everyday's pleasure and a must, even in the windy weather! I together with my children and even my husband and his parents are always on the lookout for unusual SEASHELLS, stones and pieces of mica which I have added to my page. Those times represent to me pure happiness and a break from work and hectic life.
Rosalie: I thought I would go with soft BEACH colours to complement my photos of Goa, India that I took when I spent a wonderful day with my friends, near the gorgeous Arabian Sea. I have used chipboard SEASHELLS as part of the layout which I painted then distressed with oxide ink.
Daisy: I have not traveled much in my life, but I dream of it! Among the destinations I want to visit, there is the Elafonisi Beach in Greece. This beautiful BEACH is known for its pink sand. When my children are older, I will definitely travel, and this beautiful pink sandy beach will be one of my first holiday destinations. For the creative challenge I used paper cut outs of SEASHELLS.
Pamela: This has to be one of the most beautiful BEACHES I have ever seen! The Inverness Beach in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada is a stunning place to visit. The colours are breath-taking, and this is one of my favorite photos from our entire trip last year. There are SEASHELLS from that coastal trip on my page.
Anguree: I really loved our theme this month. My layout was inspired by this photo of my husband and I on Blouberg Beach in Cape Town. I love the times we walk on the BEACH and picking up tiny shells. For the creative challenge, I included some of the pansy SEASHELLS and other small white shells
which we have gathered on a local beach.
Sivan: The challenge this month is so perfect and enjoyable for me because I really like to design things related to the BEACH. There is something so pleasant and beautiful in the sea, in the colours and atmosphere that appeal to me very much. For me, the beach symbolizes freedom and magic of creation. It's fun to use SEASHELLS as elements and I used a lot of different sizes and shapes. It just reminds me of what an amazing world there is underwater and the seashells are only a tiny bit of it!
France: It's simple... my favourite family vacations over the years are the ones spent at the BEACH, catching waves and collecting seashells. I made this layout using one of our old Virginia Beach vacation photos. A few times we thought we would lose our son in the massive waves, but he absolutely loved it! This was nearly 17 years ago now and it still is one of my favourite vacation spots. On my layout are some SEASHELLS that we've collected during our travels.
Caroline: This month's challenge was easy because BEACH is my happy place. Nothing relieves stress like the sound of the waves and a good book! To fit into the theme and the creative challenge, I added a few SEASHELLS
molding I made with paper paste.
Aga: This month, I have an art journal page where as a focal point I painted a large watercolour SEASHELL. I was inspired by the word BEACH to create this project, thinking of our family holidays which we love to spend by the seaside where my thoughts find peace. I wanted to express that peace of mind and body in the creation of this page.
You will certainly agree with us that our designers have created
some dreamy BEACHY designs inspired by this new challenge,
and we hope that you will be inspired to play along!
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)
4 RUNNERS UP
(as voted by our DT, in no particular order)
$25 USD value prize from
MINTAY
(image below is for illustration purposes only)
(image below is for illustration purposes only)
RANDOM WINNER
(one entry picked at random from all eligible entries)
MYSTERY WINNERS
(hand picked by our Admin team - two entries not in our Top 5,
but that have that special something that captured our attention)
(image below is for illustration purposes only)
We are very grateful to all our generous sponsors for these fabulous prizes. To learn about any of them, click on the SPONSORS tab above.
We are looking forward to seeing your entries into our
July Main Challenge BEACH & SEASHELLS!
Link up your projects using our LinkyTool in the right sidebar
by July 31 at 11:55 pm EST.
