Monday, December 30, 2019

Saying Goodbye . . . and Hello!

Hi everyone!

As 2019 comes to a close, Challenge YOUrself says goodbye to a very special,  
longstanding design team member.

Rachel Lowe's last day with Challenge YOUrself is on January 5, 2020.  She has been with us since June 1, 2016. 
Saying goodbye is never easy, especially to such valued design team member.   Words are inadequate to express how much we appreciated the amazing work Rachel contributed during her time on our design team.  Not only was she always early with her beautiful submissions, she was also very supportive of everyone on our team.  Working with Rachel has been a joy and a privilege!  

We wish you much happiness and success in 2020 . . . and beyond!
From all of us at Challenge YOUrself.


And don't forget . . .we have new design team members starting January 7, 2020:
 









Just in case you missed our blog post in November, 
you learn more about them here!

Welcome Tracy, Ashley, Cathy, Kim, Lauren, Laurie, Lisa-Marie and Lori!

We'll be back on January 6, 2020, with the winners for our current challenge, and on January 7, 2020 with a new challenge.

Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Challenge YOUrself #72 . . . Snowflakes!

Hi everyone!
It's time for a new challenge :) 
And we are very excited about this one which is our last challenge of 2019!!

This month is all about snowflakes!  You can interpret the snowflake theme any way you like, but please remember to include a photo with YOU on your page!

Here's what our wonderful Design Team members created:









Asa

Maya




THIS MONTHS PRIZE:
Play along and link up a new layout below for a chance to win this 
FABULOUS prize:
Yes, it's an adorable 12 x 12 Echo Park scrapbook kit!

We are looking forward to seeing what all of you create!  Happy Scrapping!




You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Friday, December 6, 2019

Challenge YOUrself #71 - Top 3 and Random Winner!

Hi everyone.  It's the 6th of the month and time to announce the winners for Challenge YOUrself # 71!

But first, we'd like to take a minute to thank all those who joined
in on the fun last month :)


We want you to know that we absolutely LOVED all of your entries about friends!  We were blown away by your creativity and loved your photos and journaling about your friendships! Thank you so much ♥

The DT has voted and here are their Top 3 favorites:

6.  Rainny Renee


And there was a tie for 3rd:





Well done ladies!  Here is a button for your blog :)

And the random winner is:



Congrats Anna! 
 You have 2 weeks to contact me at sjkfritch@rcn.com to claim your prize!

We'll be back tomorrow with our next challenge.
We hope to see you then!

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Hello . . . with Rainny Renee!

Hi everyone!


We hope everyone is enjoying this month's challenge which is all about friends:

Today we are featuring a beautiful layout made by Rainny Renee!

We love the photo of Renee with her friends, and the creative way she scrapped it  Thank you so much, Rainny Renee!

You have until December 4, 2019, at 11:55 PM EST to link up your layouts here.
Don't forget to check out our challenge rules if you haven't already done so.


And remember, you have a random chance to win this fabulous prize:
It'a a 12 x 12 Echo Park scrapbook kit.


We are looking forward to seeing what YOU create this month!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Introducing the New Design Team Members!

Hi everyone!  We would like to introduce you to our new design team members today.  We are looking forward to seeing their beautiful work starting in January

As promised, here are they are!

Say Hello to Ashley . . .
Hi, I'm Ashley and I started scrapbooking when I was 16. I've been playing along with Challenge YOUrself for a long time so I'm really excited to join the DT. My husband and I have three dogs and we just bought our dream home in the country. I love to travel, garden, and work out. I've been a registered nurse for 12 years and I love to spend my evenings in my craft room.   

Meet Cathy . . .

Hi, my name is Cathy and I live in Keelung City of Taiwan with my husband and 21 year old daughter. I started crafting when my daughter got interested in making cards. When I found out about scrapbooking, 6 years ago, it quickly became my new passion! I always want to spend more time scrapbooking. I think it is the perfect way to save memories from my daily life. I am so happy to be joining Challenge YOUrself -I always like to challenge myself in crafting. Here is my Blog: http://cat677c.pixnet.net/blog Please feel free to check it out.


Here's Lisa-Marie . . .
My name is Lisa-Marie and I live in the leafy, wine producing suburb of Durbanville, which is in the Western Cape, South Africa.  I live there with my most beloved 9-year-old daughter and my darling life partner.  Lucky for me, I am a stay-at-home mom and you will find me in my scrapping room Every Single Day! I have been scrapbooking for about a decade and it is that one art / craft form that I have tried that has just 'stuck'.  I love that with each layout I create, I also get to preserve a memory for my daughter to pore over one day when she is older; my favourite part about scrapbooking is telling a story.  It has to be said that I also just love how scrapbooking continues to evolve - AND I love being inspired daily by the incredibly creative and talented artists out there!


Say Hi to Tracy . . .

I'm Tracy and I'm from NW Indiana.  I live a blessed life with a great, supportive husband and together we've raised a loving and happy blended family of four.  Along with five grands, all of which bring us so much joy!  I started scrapbooking in 2003 by taking a local class out of curiosity and that's all it took.  I've been addicted ever since.  I've taken a short hiatus due to lack of motivation and just life in general... but now I'm back and so ready to get started!!


Please Meet Lori . . .
Hello!  My name is Lori Stroup and I am thrilled to be joining the Challenge YOUrself design team!  I live in a small SW Missouri town with my husband of 30 years.  We have 3 kids (29, 21, 19) and a granddaughter (5) who just started kindergarten this year.  My family is my favorite thing to scrap.  I started scrapbooking in 1998 after my sister bought me a Creating Keepsakes magazine.  I fell in love with all of the pretty papers and stickers and haven't looked back since.  I've got a pretty clean and simple scrappy style, but once in a while, I do love to add lots of layers to my projects.  Along with scrapping traditional 12x12 layouts, I also love to do Project Life and work in my Traveler's Notebook.  You can see more of my work on my blog - My Happy Life.

Say Hello to Lauren . . .

My name is Lauren and I'm from Philadelphia, PA.  Ive been married to my husband, Mike, for 12 years.  We have 4 fur babies, 2 dogs and 2 cats.  I work as a senior account manager for a yearbook publishing company.  I also burdened a couple of nights per week at a local Irish bar.  I was always into arts and crafts as a child and I started scrapbooking in 2002.  I'm primarily a 12x12 scrapper.  I love antiques and all things vintage, so my layouts tend to have a bit of a vintage vibe.  My other hobbies include reading, traveling, photography, gardening, and renovating our 100 year old house.  

Here's Kim . . . 
Hello!  I am Kim and I am a wife, a mom, a recently retired teacher and a maker.  I love crafts of all kinds.  Card making and scrapbooking have become my passion and I truly enjoy sharing papercrafting techniques with everyone.  I’ve fallen in love with mixed media projects that usually include some form of watercoloring. 



And last, but definitely not least, please meet Laurie . . .
My name is Laurie (rhymes with "sorry"), and I'm a Midwest transplant on the East Coast.  By day, I review toys, but by night (and every other hour I'm not at work) I'm a blogger and scrapbooker.  I've been scrapbooking since high school, but my scrapbooking style has definitely evolved over 20 years.  I blog at CookScrapCraft, sharing my scrapbook pages plus other crafts and gluten-free food adventures thanks to my Celiac husband.  I am also a first-time mom to a preschooler, so I always have a lot of pictures to scrap!  And I'm getting better about making sure I'm in front of the camera and not always behind it.



I truly enjoyed "meeting" the new design team members and learning more about them!  Look for their creations on our blog beginning in January!

And don't forget, our current challenge is still going on until December 4th! 

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Design Team Announcement!

Hi everyone!

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who applied for
 the Challenge YOUrself Design Team.  I was overwhelmed with so many applications, yet very happy that there was so much interest in our challenge blog!    Thank you for applying!  



I wish we could have picked everyone, because all of the applicants were very talented!  But unfortunately, there were just too many, so we narrowed it down to 8 new members.

With much excitement:  here is our 2020 Design Team:





Without further ado, here are our new design team members:

Lisa-Marie Watling

Tracy Pinkepank

Cathy Lu

Kimberly Skinner

Lori Stroup





Congratulation to all of the new members!


I am very thankful for our returning members . . .

Asa Johansson

Carmen Henriquez

Sherri Caramico

Taru Jehkonen

Maya Yang

And sadly, at the end of this year, we will be saying goodbye
to a very talented, long-standing member: 

Rachel Lowe

Thank you SO MUCH, Rachel for your amazing and tireless contribution to the team and for your inspiration!  We will miss you!  

♥ ♥ 

I will introduce all the new DT members tomorrow so that you can get to know them a little better! 

And a reminder:  our current challenge is still going on and will close December 4th.  

Have a great week everyone!  Congratulations to the new DT members!

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Challenge YOUrself #71 . . . it's all about Friends!

Hi everyone!
It's time for another challenge :) This month is all about friends!

You can interpret the theme any way you like, but  please remember to include a photo with YOU (and your friends!!) on your page!

Here's what our talented Design Team members created:













THIS MONTHS PRIZE:
Play along and link up a new page below for a chance to win this 
FABULOUS scrapbook kit:


We are looking forward to seeing what all of you create!  Happy Scrapping!



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter