Challenge Chat

[ohmypaper!]

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here. Today's challenge is the Inspiration Challenge. Stacy has chosen a gorgeous Etsy site. If you have any alcohol ink, nail polish, or marbling backgrounds in your stash the IC667 would be a great jump start for an art project today but if not that is ok, the challenge does not require any type of background. You can be inspired by the colors, images flow of the design, anything!

Photo inspirations are my favorite challenges. They jump start my creativity. THIS card stands out as one of my favorites. It IS several years old so I had less experience but I remember the joy of creating it for HYCCT.

What do you like about photo inspiration challenges? Do you have a favorite card that you have created from a photo inspiration challenge?

[Angelnorth]

I find photo inspiration challenges really hard! But a challenge isn�t a challenge if it�s easy, right?! I�m on a challenge blog DT where we have an �elemental� challenge as our first challenge each month - we�re to use at least three elements from the given picture. I surprise myself sometimes by making things way out of my �norm� that I actually like! I find I do best if I don�t take the photo too literally.

This one is one that�s not at all typical for me but I had great fun making it!

[ohmypaper!]

JoAnne, that is an amazing card! I remember seeing it on your blog post and liking it but now it's even more of a WOW since I read your thoughts on photo challenges. It's really stunning! I just left a comment on the card in your gallery.

[Cook22]

I'm with Joanne, I find photo (and more broadly, picture) inspiration hard. Give me a technique any day (most techniques). Maybe that's why I've found it hard to get back to the IC even though it's much less Pinterest-based now - it and the sketch were always the two challenging ones for me, back when I had time to play along most days.

I take a lot of photos, but rarely use them for inspiration - maybe I'm too compartmentalised in my brain?? But I have to say that Toni's inspiration for DTGD this year certainly inspired me as soon as I saw it.

[JBgreendawn]

For me it depends on the photo.

I am drawn to colors and layers of textures.
I have a harder time with things that are extreme graphic hard lines.

( I tend to like softer impressionist type art) so, the idea that you cans start with a photo and jump start to what ever you want is very freeing to me.

[UnderstandBlue]

I remember my very favorite challenge - it was a Moxie Fab one - a photo with orange and turquoise (now the colors of my studio) and Lori Craig won the challenge with a stunning card. I like inspiration photos because I can take whatever I want from them!

Thanks for sharing - off to take a look.

[ohmypaper!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cook22

I'm with Joanne, I find photo (and more broadly, picture) inspiration hard. Give me a technique any day (most techniques). Maybe that's why I've found it hard to get back to the IC even though it's much less Pinterest-based now - it and the sketch were always the two challenging ones for me, back when I had time to play along most days.

I take a lot of photos, but rarely use them for inspiration - maybe I'm too compartmentalised in my brain?? But I have to say that Toni's inspiration for DTGD this year certainly inspired me as soon as I saw it.

Isn't it fascinating how we are all different? I would so much rather have a photo then a technique. Looking at a tutorial hurts my head. Most of the time if I take it slowly I can actually do a complicated technique but if given a choice I would take the photo! I love it how we all have our own superpower. It would be a boring place if we were all the same.

[ohmypaper!]

Lydia, I remember Moxie Fab! I miss them.

Stacy, I agree about the freedom. I love the jump start a photo gives and then seeing where it takes me.

[ohmypaper!]

Today's daily challenge is the Featured Stamper Challenge. I love the Featured Stamper Challenge probably because it is similar to a photo challenge but I also love the aspect of getting to know another person's art that I might not have spotted before. Today we are celebrating Preethi. You can find the challenge HERE. I know that it can be hard to squeeze in crafty time on Sundays but there is no time limit to challenges at SCS so we have all week to really make the Featured Stamper feel special.

Have you played in a Featured Stamper challenge? Has your gallery been showcased by the challenge?

I have played in the FS challenge and hope to do so this week how about you?

[TexasGrammy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohmypaper!

Today's daily challenge is the Featured Stamper Challenge. I love the Featured Stamper Challenge probably because it is similar to a photo challenge but I also love the aspect of getting to know another person's art that I might not have spotted before....

Have you played in a Featured Stamper challenge? Has your gallery been showcased by the challenge?

I have played in the FS challenge and hope to do so this week how about you?

Every now & then when the stars are all lined up just right, Sunday afternoons are quiet here, and those little surprise times allow me to peek at the FS and try to play along. However, turtle-stamper that I am, I rarely get it done on the same day that I 'read' it. lol Hey ... speedy is for racetracks ... unless you're just 'talking'. ;)

[ohmypaper!]

Sunday's are full days here too. I am not speedy either. I like that 'Speedy is for racetracks"! Every now and then I stamp and Facetime a friend. She sets a timer and challenges herself to complete cards in a certain amount of time. By the time we are done stamping I might, if I am lucky, have one card done and she has made three!

[Angelnorth]

Weekends are the time I'm least likely to craft so I very, very rarely join in with the FS challenge (OK, I'm rubbish at playing along with most challenges in any case!). A bit like photo challenges, I find the FS challenge really difficult too - I'm CASE-challenged! I almost always have a peek to see who is featured each week though.


I was honoured to be the Featured Stamper last year - it was great fun to see which cards people picked out of my gallery and how they changed things up to make them their own.

[ohmypaper!]

JoAnne that is awesome that your gallery was featured! It IS a lot of fun to see how people are inspired and change up the original card design.

[ohmypaper!]

Need a jump start to your creativity on a Monday? There are two daily challenges on Mondays. Today the Technique Lovers Challenge shows us how to create a summer scene and the CAS challenge is to frame it.

Probably the technique I use the most is the Wrinkle Free Distress technique but I absolutely fell for Kelly's Sketched Stamping technique which she a couple of years ago on the Technique Lovers Challenge.

When I started stamping I followed a design team that created with LOTS of layers. Their cards were spectacular and of course, I wanted to be just like them. Funny thing, I never quite got the hang of creating with lots of layers and thought there was something wrong with my artistry. Only recently have I begun to realize and embrace that it's not a case of something wrong with the way I create instead clean layers are just my style!

What do you like about technique challenges and do you have a favorite?

I find in reading people's comments they usually feel very strongly about CAS (clean and simple). Either they love it or they say they don't care to create so simply. Where do you fall on the love it/dislike it scale?

[Cook22]

CAS - some of it appeals to me - especially the ones that are very minimalist. But I find they are not the type of card I would send, so I only make them by accident when a card turns out that way. And I find that when I do set out to make one, it can take a lot longer than most other cards because they are very unforgiving, no margin for error.

I CASE about once every three or four years, it is totally not how I create. I tried incorporating FS into my challenges when I first started participating, but it was too much work. I guess it ties back to the way I also find inspiration challenges hard most of the time. There's obviously some synapse not firing in my brain!

[UnderstandBlue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohmypaper!

Need a jump start to your creativity on a Monday? There are two daily challenges on Mondays. Today the Technique Lovers Challenge shows us how to create a summer scene and the CAS challenge is to frame it.

Probably the technique I use the most is the Wrinkle Free Distress technique but I absolutely fell for Kelly's Sketched Stamping technique which she a couple of years ago on the Technique Lovers Challenge.

I LOVE these - I might have to try Kelly's after I get the fan club gallery open. I did wrinkle free distress all weekend!

Quote:

When I started stamping I followed a design team that created with LOTS of layers. Their cards were spectacular and of course, I wanted to be just like them. Funny thing, I never quite got the hang of creating with lots of layers and thought there was something wrong with my artistry. Only recently have I begun to realize and embrace that it's not a case of something wrong with the way I create instead clean layers are just my style!

Me too - it was Beate who influenced me, but it took me years to realize that's not me!

Quote:

What do you like about technique challenges and do you have a favorite?

I find in reading people's comments they usually feel very strongly about CAS (clean and simple). Either they love it or they say they don't care to create so simply. Where do you fall on the love it/dislike it scale?

I love all technique challenges - those really get me out of my box.

And I'm a super fan of CAS!

[Covington Crafter]

Angie, what a great thread! Thanks for getting it going and drawing attention to our marvelous challenges.

I really enjoy technique challenges. They get me to look at my supplies in new ways and find new ones in interesting places, like scrunching up saran wrap to ink a background or brayering over drywall tape. Which is why I'm on the Ways to Use it team ;)

I love the look of CAS cards and find them difficult to create. Like Sabrina, mine are completely by accident. It's hard for me to find the right place to stop.

I'm a bit too literal for both photo inspiration and CASEing cards. I'm working on loosening up a bit. ;)

[ohmypaper!]

I am totally enjoying reading about your art processes!

Today's daily challenges are the Color Challenge and theTea Pot Challenge. There are three yummy colors to use in today's Color Challenge brought to us by Karen. Karen is a Color Combo Diva! The Tea Pot challenges usually include a destination for our cards once we have created them. It's not mandatory of course but it's fun to brighten someone's day. This week our destination is Carol (aka Bobbie’s Girl).
Carol joined SCS in 2006 and has an amazing gallery. it would be awesome if we could flood her mailbox with cheer!!!

If you have played in the color challenge was there a combo that you struggled with but ended up making one of your favorite cards?

Have you ever asked for an SCS tea party for a friend or have you been a recipient of one?

I asked for a tea party for my sis when she had an emergency surgery on her eye. She and her husband were amazed at all the cards that came her way.

I was the recipient after an auto accident this past December. The teapot theme was sunshine! I received the most beautiful cards with sunshine on them. I still have several of the ones with sunshine scenes sitting on a shelf in my living room and many others on display clipped to a wall decor frame. Every card meant so much to me as I struggled not only to get my body back in shape but my emotions as well.

[gregzgurl]

I'm most likely to play in the CAS challenges, the color challenges, and the inspiration challenges. Techniques are not...comfortable...for me, so I tend to avoid them - especially if it's a fancy fold. I should probably accept the challenge(!) and stretch myself, but I have limited time and don't carve out extra to learn new tricks (except once in a while). The "ways to use it" challenge used to be a favorite when it focused on a particular item - like eyelets or doilies or something. It seems that now it's a broader interpretation and includes a particular theme or something instead, so I'm less drawn to it.

I check the featured stamper challenge every week, intending to play, but it seems that my Sundays often go sideways and I don't execute. I have really enjoyed getting to know new-to-me stampers to be inspired by, though. It was also very validating and exciting when my gallery was featured.

Great thread, and a good reminder that I have not participated nearly enough in recent years - I'm more likely to be blabbing on the threads, lol... Time to "shut up and put up", maybe?

[ohmypaper!]

Sue, I always love it when I see your cards in the gallery! I hope to see you at an upcoming challenge soon! I agree, I love seeing all the Featured galleries. If people don't play in challenges I am less likely to see their art so FS is great for that!

[ohmypaper!]

Woohoo! It's mid-week already! How about a challenge? Wednesday is Sketch Challenge day and Scrapbook Variety Challenge. This week's SC715 challenge is a tall card with lots of space for images or patterned paper. The Scrapbook Variety challenge this month is TAGS.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on these challenges. I find that when I create I FEEL something. Have you noticed that? So instead of asking do you like, I am going to ask, how do you feel when you use a sketch to create a card?

If the sketch is an easy sketch I feel a sense of freedom. I kind of feel like I am floating through the creative process. I usually enjoy sketch challenges. If the sketch is overly busy, I get a buzzy feeling in my head and the entire creative process feels like work. I am guessing this plays into my CAS style.

Do you scrapbook?? Have you scrapbooked in the past?

This is something that I knew right off the bat that I would not be able to do. There is too much going on. The right pic, the layout, the papers, the embellishments. I personally need shorter projects but I love looking at the scrapbook pages people create especially if the object of the page is a cat!

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to read your thoughts on these challenges!

[Cook22]

Ha - how I feel when I follow a sketch is restricted and constrained. However, I know that I learnt a lot from following them and took part in the challenge consistently back in the days when I had more time and energy. While I find them challenging, unlike the colour combination which just freezes me in my tracks because I never know, say, if it's OK to add green for leaves if it's not in the list, I usually like the end result from a sketch and find them one of the easier challenges.


I guess that after a few days of this thread I'm starting to wonder whaton earth my card-making process actually is!?!?! Organic, random.

The TPT challenge did start as a pure inspiration way back on Cindy's blog, and I think I started at about #2. They're less structured now - we can be inspired by the Teapot TEAser image of the teapot posted over the weekend to give people a heads-up, or wait for Tuesday and see what the optional extra details are (like recycling this week), or just make a card we know the recipient will like if they're someone we know.

We're always happy to receive suggestions - doesn't have to be a major occasion. If anybody wants to find out more - HERE's where - post #1.

I have made a few scrapbook layouts for challenges and have liked all of them - but it's not something that's really for me. I don't need to produce more stuff to keep - at least I send most of my cards out.

[ohmypaper!]

Sabrina, that makes total sense about the way you feel when using a sketch from what you have mentioned before.

Thanks so much for giving us more info on the Tea Pot challenges and how it's changed over the years!

[susanbri]

I really like photo challenges. One of my favourites out in blogland was Merry Monday - they always posted a great photo to inspire a Christmas card. I almost always did one for it. I'm so sad they closed down the challenge recently. Does anyone know any Christmas challenges similar to it?

[Benzi]

Super thread, Angie. I love ALL the challenges but can only do so many.

I love a CAS challenge because they are so quick (usually). And, you can do so many different designs and still keep them simple.

I love the Inspiration because it seems to fit the bill for so many ways to create. You can use just the colors, or the style, theme, or layout. That's right down my alley.

I want to do the FS challenge but never have time on Sundays and who knows if I can combine it with something else or not. Probably, but forget.

Love the DD Christmas challenge and hope to get more involved with that one soon.

Let's face it, I'm an eclectic stamper and want to do every challenge. Time never permits.

[howdyheidi]

I actually tend to do the sketch challenges a lot, but I also have a problem. I stretch the sketch way too far and lots of times it is too far from the sketch that I don’t post it. However, it still helped me make a card.

I like all kinds of challenges, and wish I could play every one.

I always like to see the theme of the CAS and the Free for All, as for those ones I feel the least constrained.

[ohmypaper!]

Susan, this is not a photo challenge but it's a Christmas CAS challenge. CAS Christmas Card Challenge

It's always sad when our favorite challenge blogs close.

[ohmypaper!]

I am with you, Brenda! I would do every challenge if I could!!!

[ohmypaper!]

Heidi, I just checked out your gallery. Such cute cards! I encourage you to post your sketch cards! The motto at SCS is a card is never wrong. I hope to see you in the challenge galleries!

[Rebecca Ednie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelnorth

I find photo inspiration challenges really hard! But a challenge isn�t a challenge if it�s easy, right?!

This one is one that�s not at all typical for me but I had great fun making it!

I LOVE photo challenges! So many things to take inspiration from! The colours, textures, themes, specific elements, they are my faves!

[ohmypaper!]

The Thursday daily challenge here at SCS is the Ways To Use It challenge. This week'sWT706is to Monogram it! Are Thursdays good days for you to create? How often do you get to play in the WTUI challenge?

So today's challenge is Monogram it. Do you own anything with a monogram on it? The only thing I have is a cap which a friend gave me.

How about Letter Dies. Do you own a set? If so how do you use them and if not what would you use them for if you had a set?

I have a Vintage Capital Letter die set but haven't used them in ages. I have used them mostly to help my daughter with school projects! I also have a cursive lower case set and I have never used it except to help my daughter with an art project this past spring!

Your turn, tell us what you think!

[Cook22]

LOL, I have some old family silver with assorted monograms - none of them mine, mostly O for Oldfield. I do have a lovely enamelled pin, a mermaid in the shape of an S, which my grandmother gave me when I was about 9 or 10, and probably a couple of handkerchiefs hiding out somewhere. I have occasionally embroidered monograms on DH's pyjama pockets .
ETA - I reckon my grandmother had the brooch because her surname, and my maiden name, started with S. Just as well my forename does too!



I have a small Memory Box alpha set, both upper and lower case. I use them on a semi-regular basis (that's what I used on my tag), but they're quite small, more suitable for adding a short sentiment.

I used some earned Amazon vouchers to order a larger set of Spellbinders upper case - but can you believe, I ordered on the 10th and they still haven't even shipped yet. This challenge enabled that purchase (plus the fact that I earn the vouchers in a survey). Maybe if they'd arrived I'd have worked on finding time for an extra card today. I have two F stamps - one from Serendipity in the same series as the one Jeannie used on her card (mine is a flowering quince), and the F in Vintage Vogue, but since mine is the French set it's Famille not Friends, which would actually be far more useful. And I have a lovely set of cursive stamps from the WRMK L for Letterpress which I also use occasionally - but so far not actually for letterpress.

This is one of my every week challenges, being on the team :mrgreen:. Being able to work ahead helps, though, as the pattern of my life has changed over the last few years and I can no longer get to stamp every day.

[gregzgurl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by susanbri

I really like photo challenges. One of my favourites out in blogland was Merry Monday - they always posted a great photo to inspire a Christmas card. I almost always did one for it. I'm so sad they closed down the challenge recently. Does anyone know any Christmas challenges similar to it?

You should check out Jingle Belles! Our own SmilynStef and her friend Lauren have hosted these challenges for several years now. Originally they were weekly, but they've moved to fortnightly for the past couple of years. Great fun, lots of variety!

[One4Joy]

oh, my, goodness...ohmypaper! Angie, what a great way to get the challenges out there and hear what we like about each one. I have been blessed by SCS in so many ways, it would take a novella, at least, to answer this...

But short story...I've been on the receiving end of the TeaPotter Challenge when I suffered a shattered collar bone, I've been honored as a Queen for the Day (week), and was a Featured Stamper as well. I've also been blessed from early on by lovely women who became friends out in the ether. We have shared spiritual connections deep and wide. I've disappeared for months, and even more than a year, but when I come back, it's like I've never been MIA. I love this place!!! I love our tribe! I love our people!

My favorite challenge is the Inspiration Challenge. Hands down. I am most challenged by the Sketch. I love learning new stuff with the TLC and the MIX. The Featured Stamper is a way to honor others. I enjoy the Forums, though don't speed much of my time there.

I've a blog, but I can't keep up with it. I've tried outside blog challenges, and again, find myself not keeping up. Would love to hear others' views on this.

So thank you to everyone here, I celebrate your talent, creativity, friendship, and most importantly, the gift of your time! May you have newfound time for massaging that grey matter and bring forth something new!!!

[ohmypaper!]

Sabrina, that pin is gorgeous! What a treasure!!! I know what you mean about playing the WTUI challenge weekly! Chuckle! I always loved the IC challenge but now I really love it since I get the challenges ahead of time and can play every week instead of just now and then when no one needed me on a Saturday!

[ohmypaper!]

Susan, it's always a pleasure to view your art!!! It was so fun reading your thoughts on all the challenges and how much SCS means to you! Hugs!

[Cook22]

Susan asked about blog challenges...it was actually through participating in Beate's blog challenges that I started uploading here. I came to SCS through the tutoriaIs and didn't venture out from there for a while. It's not till my tenth upload that I took part in an onsite challenge, the TLC. One of my cards that Roxy used as the inspiration for a sketch challenge was from participating in another blog challenge I played along with but it didn't last long. I tried to take part in the ODBD challenges as much as I could, and was sad when they sound up even though by then I didn't have time to join regularly.
I also am somewhat of a purist in that I feel the whole aim of a challenge is to inspire me, so I'm not comfortable with retrospectively adding a card to a challenge that it happens to fit, because I know darn well I didn't have the second challenge in my mind while creating. Case in point, the card I made on Monday happened to be CAS in concept and happened to be framed, but I didn't see any details of the CAS challenge till after I had made it. The most I would do in that regard is have an image colored or a background made that I hope to incorporate into something. These days it always comes back to less time, less energy :-(.

[ohmypaper!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by One4Joy

I've a blog, but I can't keep up with it. I've tried outside blog challenges, and again, find myself not keeping up. Would love to hear others' views on this.

I have a blog and enjoy posting there. It's kind of like an electronic diary for me. I don't play in a lot of outside blog challenges but there are a few I visit. I do enjoy sketch blog challenges when I have stamping block! I also enjoy several large blog challenges but I am not a weekly player at any challenge except here at Splitcoaststampers!

[howdyheidi]

I have a blog and have enjoyed having “my own” space there in addition to posting here in the gallery. I also enjoy following other blogs, and developing relationships with other bloggers over the years.

So far as outside challenges, I keep an electronic list of the challenges (with a section for the SCS ones too). Most of the time, time constraints keep me from playing, but you never know when the a challenge will inspire you OR a combination of challenges will help you limit your choices and therefore get a card made faster.

I would not hesitate to add a card that fits a challenge. I think blogs challenges and challenges here want participants! Even if you didn’t make it special for the challenge, your card could show another cardmaker another point of view that might inspire them.

[ohmypaper!]

I too add cards that fit a challenge. The Featured Stamper is a great one for that. Since the challenge does fall on a Sunday there might be fewer participants that can get a card created the same day. It's so nice to flood a Featured Stamper gallery with cards! I was a recipient of Queen For the Day which was basically the same type of challenge and I was so excited with every card that was posted to the gallery that week!