Ready to Be Challenged?

In the digi scrap world there are SO many challenges to help inspired you and encourage you to scrap meaningful pages for your cherished (and not so cherished) memories. Challenges really helped me develop my digital scrapbooking skills when I was first starting out — challenging me to try new things and stretching me and growing me. But since designing, my scrap time has taken a drastic hit. So, this year I set a goal to scrap 120 pages from me — 2 years ago, that would have been easy. This year, that’s going to take quite a bit of work and focus. I’m getting really behind in my scrapping, so I really need to get back on track. To help me accomplish my goal, I’ve decided to get back into challenges. And today I’m going to share with you 3 of my favorites sites for challenges, and the 3 pages I’ve scrapped so far.

SWEET SHOPPE DESIGNS

I’ve been playing along with the challenges at SSD since April 2008, when I first discovered their site. Over time, their challenge format has changed, and I am so excited about this year’s format — Sweet Shoppe Portfolios. And since they’re one of my favorite places to shop, I love to play along so I can earn discount coupons. Sadly, I didn’t play in as many challenges as I would have liked to last year, but this year I plan to be more active! I love the Treat of the Month challenge, and I’m so glad it made it to their new portfolio format, so I decided to start my portfolio with that one. Each month, SSD spotlights one of the scrappers on their site and then challenges you to lift a layout from the scrapper’s gallery — this month they’re featuring Jaclyn Bernardo (mrs_jb). I lifted her layout Together. And this is what I came up with (kit is Slink Slither and Plod, my collab with Misty Cato):

Some of the January portfolio challenges I want to try next:
#7 Before I Die …
#9 January Looks Like …
#10 Colorific
#18 Iconic
#20 Eyeball Benders
#25 Two Sides of Sweet
#30 Digi Scrap Rewind
#31 Book of Me 2010 — definitely this one!
#33 Mini Album — because I have a color printer now and I want to try it out!

Just remember, Sweet Shoppe Designs requests that you use mostly products by their designers on your layouts — so be sure to follow the rules if you’re going to play along!

THE DIGI DARES

I must admit, I don’t play along with the dares as often as I would like, but I’m challenging myself to play along once a month if I can manage it. I was especially moved by this week’s dare to scrap about change. Here’s what I came up with (using a background from Krafty Stash #2, paint splats by Sara Amarie (retired), Alpha Files No. 4 by Krystal Hartley at SSD, Foamy Stamp Alpha by Traci Reed at SSD, and burst shape clipping mask by Britt-ish Designs at ScrapMatters):

Why play along with The Digi Dares? Well, they pick 2 winners each week — one is random, and one is picked by the darer … and the winners receive gift certificates to one of the sponsors of the month. Sweet deal, huh? Who knows, maybe one of these months I’ll be a sponsor …

SCRAP ORCHARD

And I couldn’t leave out Scrap Orchard! I’ve been a member of their site since they first opened their doors nearly 2 years ago, and I’ve been a sporadic participant in their challenges in the past. But, now that I design there, I’ve been wanting to be more active in the challenges. If you play along, you can earn discount coupons to the store. You earn 1 point for each challenge you complete — 2 points if you use more than 90% SO products on your layout. (I believe SO’s current gallery policy is at least 1 item on your LO must be from an SO designer.) They post a new challenge every day, and you have the rest of the month to work on them. I decided to play along in the color challenge first (using And Many More … {Bright}, Stitch Hiccups #1, and Tag! You’re It! Alpha):

So there you have it, 3 of my favorite places to be challenged — and where I intend to be challenged this year! Of course, my creative team always hosts a challenge here on the blog, and you can win a $10 coupon to my store. There’s still time to play along in Melissa’s scraplift challenge this month — it’s on my list!

So, where what challenges do you participate in?