Monday, December 1, 2014

Our last challenge ....

Hello everyone! 

It is with a sad but somewhat relieved heart that I share with you that this will be the last month we post a challenge at Once Upon A...Sketch. 

For me personally, although I am saddened as I write this, I do feel that this challenge blog did its job for the time it was active and I REALLY wish I could have continued it all but it is JUST TOO BIG . In fact the last few months I have stepped away from it and it has been continued all these months by Anna, Tracey, Lizzy, Wilma and at one time Val Thorpe as well. It takes THAT many people to run it and it is a demand I have hated to put on people.  Ladies, I have said it many times that without you this blog would have ended many months back so THANK YOU for continuing on. 

Life changed so much since 4 years ago when I started all this up. I will not got into the details but personally for me , I called this blog my "baby" while I was waiting for my own real baby to arrive. She finally did, in May last year and being my 3rd child well... it pretty much meant that whatever little time I had for anything extra vanished! I am not complaining AT ALL but yes decisions needed to be made and I have very little time these days to even just scrap . I always said I would not continue this unless I could give it my all and I just cant anymore.. 

SO firstly I would love to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to all of you that joined in our challenges each and every month. From the very first month we had a HUGE amount of entries! It was mind blowing and throughout the years this job was HUGE for the DT as they voted, commented on etc on each entry. Sadly this job also became too big for them too. We felt bad that we could not get around to visit everyone's blog :( 
But THANK YOU ALL very very very much and I am sorry we could not continue this for you all :( 

Secondly a VERY VERY VERY VERY big thank you to all the people that served on this Design Team. You have no idea just what these people are like and SO many of them were around for a very difficult time in my life and helped me personally so much. They have all been patient, professional and understanding and I will miss having a little family online. 

Lastly, thank you to all the sponsors that for some reason donated AMAZING prizes month after month. We could not have continued all this without them as we just LOVED giving prizes out so THANK YOU VERY much :) 

I am not sure what else to say.. I think I better round it up as I am feeling emotional. ..

SO ... goodbye my friends, I hope we provided some inspiration while we were around. Thank you all for all the stories you told..

Goodbye my challenge blog.. thank you for filling the emptiness and for ALL those nights you kept my mind busy from wandering to sad thoughts .. 





Journalling Theme: "It's December..." 

You are free to interpret our theme ANY WAY you like. It is for your inspiration and this theme word DOES NOT need to be part of your title or journalling. But please make sure your layout is based on the sketch below and includes journalling (hidden journalling is fine). Acceptable journalling is MORE than just a sentence, or generic writing such as date/place etc. It needs to be present and at least 3 lines long. Remember, hidden journalling (under a photo/tag or behind your page) is perfectly fine but please DO let us know in your post where your journalling is! 




The winner of our October challenge is the FABULOUS scrapper, TERHI KOSKINEN:


"Hello all! I'm Terhi from Finland and I'm thrilled to be OUAS guest designer for December! I'm a scrapbooker, mum. full-time employee, wife, friend, sister, daughter, horse-back-rider... But mostly I'm a paper crafter with lots of inspiration and addiction to make beautiful things.
Scrapbooking is more than a hobby for me, it's a lifestyle - it starts with photograph session and ends when I get my creation where I wanted. And then it starts again.
My creations are filled layers, straight lines, and techniques I want to try out. If using a lot of different techniques and materials makes me a mixed media artists, then I am one.
I've done a lot of tutorials to my YouTube channel and I hope I can inspire you - hop on to my blog to learn more!
Thank you so much for letting me visit here with you today! Happy scrapping :)"
And here is Terhi's STUNNING take on our sketch:



 Now here is what our Design Team came up with. Please click on their blogs for more details on their creations. I am sure they would love to hear from you !!!

Olga Heldwein


Olga Vasilieva



Zaneta Glowa (Sweden)

December it's s my birth month, it's also my 12th month with OUAS DT and I'm celebrating this with a layout about me. On the backside I placed a personal note to myself.


Lizzy Hill (Australia)



Stephanie Schütze (Germany)

It's about me and a photoshooting for December I had to made and a and a new, secret, Challenge 2015 (Journaling behind the flap/frame).




Ulrika Blomfelt (Sweden)
(I turned the sketch a bit. My journaling about this photo shoot is on the back of the layout.)


Stacey Young (Australia)




Patricia Basson (South Africa)



Jelissa Mei (Singapore)


(Start to finish video tutorial here, and my journaling is on the back. It's about what December means to me and the special feeling it creates. Made with supplies from 13arts)




Tracey Sabella (USA)
(Journaling on tag tucked under photo)



Yuko Tanaka (Japan)




Daria Pneva (Russia) 





Aida Domisiewicz (Poland)
*journaling at the back of the page



Natalia Shalygina (Frau_Muller) (Ukraine)
 *journaling at the back of the page




Song Li (USA)

********** NOVEMBER WINNERS **********

                                          For the last time ..................... our WINNERS!

                                     Thanks everybody who played along in November.
                                  It was hard , we had a lot of great entrys to choose from!

                                                              1. Sharon Fritchman !!!!!!!

No doubt about the first place , you had by far the most votes with this beautiful layout!!
The way you mirrored the picture, super creative.
How you did this can be seen on your blog here 
No guestdesigner place can be given to you since this was the last winnerspost.
But you won a beautful price :) from our November sponsor:
Designs by Ryn has donated WONDERFUL prize for our November winner!
The winner of our challenge wins a pack of three wonderful rubber stamps in our sponsor's store!
                                               plus free domestic and international postage :-)
                                            You can contact : designsbyryn@gmail.com
Congrats Sharon !



2. Lesya (curly girl)

Lesya, you did such a creative colorfull layout , your background fitts so well with the picture!!
I was very pleased to see you high up amongst the winners. 

You have won a AUS$50.00 prize pack from 2Crafty Chipboard ! Please contact Vanessa  at salesat2crafty@optusnet.com.au and please write "OUAS WINNER" in the subject field.






3. Elena
How Beautiful in color , so soft and delicate as the mood in the picture!
Congrats Elena, you won a :
 US$50.00 gift voucher by The Flying Unicorn  to spend at their store ! Please contact Alda Stevens at cs@flyingunicornllc.com to claim your prize. Please write "OUAS WINNER" in the subject field. 







4. Valerka 
When I look at your layout I see:
3D feeling, contrast, fun in scrapbooking, original thinking and fantasy!
Congrats !
You won Die-namites dies prize pack to the value of US$30.00 with free domestic and international postage. Please contact Lynne Forsythe at rangerjunkie@rocketmail.com to claim your prize. Please write OUAS WINNER" in the subject field. 






5.Irina Gerschuk

A lovely colorfull layout Irina, and that picture is so sweet !
Tresor de Luxe  is donating a prize pack with their beautiful lace to the value of about 20 US$  with free domestic and international shipping and YOU won it!
Please contact Lucy at: tresorsdeluxe@yahoo.com




6. Valerka (again!!)

Talking about fall ! Beautiful colors and so much eye for detail!
This must be your lucky day , 2 layouts from you amongst the winners.
Big congrats!
You have won a gift voucher  from Lindy's Stamp Gang valued at  US$20.00 gift voucher with free domestic and international shipping. Please contact Sharon at sharon@lindystampgang.com and please write "Once Upon A..Sketch WINNER" in the subject field to claim your prize. 




7. Amy Petrou
You worked out the background in a great way Amy, beautiful dreamy layout! 

Wiff Of Joy stamps is donating 1 stamp set from the Stephanie Schütze Design collection stamps valued at  EUR14.90 with free domestic AND international postage. And you won it!
Please contact Lizzy at lizzyhill12@yahoo.com.au





8. vera Shelemekh
Not only a fabolous photo as you wrote, but so is your layout.
Light and cheerfull, love it!
You have won a AUS$10.00 ribbonpack from Scrapbooking Fantasies
Please email Alicia at scrapbookfantasies@bigpond.com and please put "OUAS Winner" in the subject field.





9. Christina Lampropoulou
Allover a happy feeling on this layout with all the perfect little touches!
Congrats Christina
You have won a AUS$10.00 ribbonpack from Scrapbooking Fantasies
Please email Alicia at scrapbookfantasies@bigpond.com and please put "OUAS Winner" in the subject field.





Dont forget to look at our facebookpage to see or YOU are the random winner off our 13 arts price pack!

Sorry for all the beautiful entrys that did not make it in the top 9 , althought there were so many more great layouts. Choosing is hard and sometimes it is just a matter of a  few points in difference wioth the voting!

                                     Have a great weekend all over the world !
                                                                  xxx











Saturday, November 15, 2014

November Challenge - Team 2

Hello everyone!
Today it is a time for Team B reveal :-)

We are impressed by Your wonderful projects and stories in our gallery. We are so happy that You are playing with us!



Journalling Theme: "Inspiration/I am inspired by etc..."


You are free to interpret our theme ANY WAY you like. It is for your inspiration and this theme word DOES NOT need to be part of your title or journalling. But please make sure your layout is based on the sketch below and includes journalling (hidden journalling is fine). Acceptable journalling is MORE than just a sentence, or generic writing such as date/place etc. It needs to be present and at least 3 lines long. Remember, hidden journalling (under a photo/tag or behind your page) is perfectly fine but please DO let us know in your post where your journalling is! 


 Now here is what our Design Team came up with. Please click on their blogs for more details on their creations. I am sure they would love to hear from you !!!

Lizzy Hill (Australia)

Stephanie Schütze (Germany)

Ulrika Blomfelt (Sweden)
Paper and flowers from Papirdesign

Stacey Young (Australia)

Patricia Basson (South Africa)
 
Jelissa Mei (Singapore)
(with chipboard from Blue Fern Studios and mediums from 13arts)

Olga Vasileva (Russia)

Elena Smoktunova (Russia)
I am inspired by history...
journaling under a photo


Maja Stokk (Sweden)







The winner of this challenge, as voted by the Design Team will win the prize from our main sponsor.
Our main sponsor for November is


Designs by Ryn rubber art stamps are designed by hand and manufactured using high quality red rubber. Each piece is mounted on cling-cushion and is deeply etched into the surface of the rubber. This means that the design is set at a depth which is twice the industry standard, allowing the stamp to be used on a variety of materials. In addition to paper crafts, try pressing the designs into clay or stamping them onto fabric! Follow the blog HERE Follow the Facebook Page HERE




Designs by Ryn has donated WONDERFUL prize for our November winner! The winner of our challenge will be able to choose three wonderful rubber stamps in our sponsor's store! The prize's value is about $30 plus free domestic and international postage :-)




Now here are some more AMAZING prizes donated by our wonderful permanent sponsors for 2014.



First up is our Facebook sponsor. Please don't forget to upload your entry to our Facebook Page HERE for your chance to win this price..

13arts is donating 10 colours of their gorgeous paint tubs , in your choice of colours, with free domestic and international postage. 



The Flying Unicorn online store is donating a US$50.00 gift voucher to spend at their store !



2Crafty Chipboard is donating a chipboard pack to the value of AUS$50.00 with free domestic and international postage



Die-namites dies is donating a prize pack to the value of US$30.00 with free domestic and international postage


Lindy's Stamp Gang Store

Lindy's Stamp Gang is donating a US$20.00 gift voucher with free domestic and international shipping..


Tresor de Luxe  is donating a prize pack with their beautiful lace to the value of about 20 US$  with free domestic and international shipping


Scrapbooking Fantasies is donating a ribbon pack  for 2 winners valued at over AU$10.00 each plus with free domestic and international shipping 


Wiff Of Joy stamps is donating 1 stamp set from the Stephanie Schütze Design collection stamps valued at  EUR14.90 with free domestic AND international postage. 



The deadline for this challenge is November 30th (Australian Eastern Standard Time - Sydney Time) 2014!!