All around the paper crafting internet, you see and read about "challenges." Even right here on our very own blog, we have two monthly challenges to play along with. But, what are challenges? Do I not have enough challenges in my daily grind? Paper crafting should be fun, not challenging, right?
With out over thinking this too much, I think “challenge” is the wrong word. Upon occasion prizes are offered to participants or winners of a challenge, but I feel the word inspirations is more suitable. Looking at the content of the challenge ( whether it is a sketch, color palette, list of supplies or other criteria) is simply a way to help organize our at times unmanageable craft stashes, ideas and/or huge piles of photos. A stepping stone if you will.
This month I took advantage of a couple challenges found around the internet and a great stash of goodies from January's and February's kits from The Sampler.
Over at the green frog studio, I encountered a weekly sketch the blog author posts every wednesday it seems. It was a very simple sketch but got my mojo flowing and a layout quickly pumped out that I’ve been meaning to work on.
To be perfectly honest, sketch challenges are my favorite. You can take a simple idea for a layout or card and really make it your own. I get a lot of layouts and cards done when i can just sit down with some sketch inspiration and my kits!
At the online store and community, I found another kind of challenge taken from an inspiration photo found on pinterest. (yes, I just added the word pinterest in my computer’s dictionary…) This was a really fun challenge because it had great techniques posted in the video, was very open to allow me to get creative, yet it still served as a guide to create a unique layout.
In my opinion, monthly kits and challenges are the absolute perfect fit. They take so much of the stress out of paper crafting. The designing and creativity is still rests in your hands, but the kit and the challenge let you get right to work with an concept and box of goodies! I'm not going to say all of my projects are created this way, but a good challenge will certainly get me out of a funk.
Keep an eye out for The Sampler’s TWO monthly challenges. Get inspiration for card making on the 10th and layout inspiration on the 20th of every month!
love challenges...and totally love your projects.
Posted by: Nancy | 01/30/2012 at 01:46 PM