Weekly Challenge and Winners {February week 1}

Hi everyone Darcy here,
Wasn't last week fabulous! We had a wonderful introduction from Pam Thorburn with some wonderful scrapping layouts with beautifully developed layers, and the return of yet more PaperArtsy friends.  We saw so much colour and beautiful texture, and even a zany circus type board from our very own Gillian, along with even more sneaks of new products. 

Thanks to everyone who joined in and made projects alongside all of our guests. And thank you also for all the comments left on blog posts. It's really encouraging for us to see your response to all the blog contributors.

1. And the winners are...

Random winner #1 from the First Challenge draw (every single entry linked, including multiple entries) is: Helen

 Congratulations, you have won a PaperArtsy A5 stamp of your choice. 

 Random winner #2 the winner from the Second Challenge draw, (only one entry per name)

 is: Margaret B

 Congratulations, you have won a PaperArtsy A5 stamp of your choice.

*Winners please get in touch with Darcy (darcydotneedles@hotmail.com) with your full  name,  address and choice of stamp plate. 

2. The week ahead...

Excitement builds at PA HQ this week, the UK's annual Trade Show for the craft sector, (Craft hobby and Stitch International) held at the NEC, Birmingham, is almost upon us (PaperArtsy will be stand A42). This means later this week we will start the first full reveal of some of the 85 new products we are launching over the next fortnight. 

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed Leandra keeps dropping hints among the week's blog posts, and the occasional picture finds it way onto her twitter feed @paperartsy So keep your eyes peeled!

But first tonight we start by welcoming back Clare Lloyd Since we saw Clare last month she has gone a bit 'face' crazy, which is perfect, as this is one of her talents she will be sharing this week in her blog posts.

We noticed Clare has joined this project for February, by the end of her posts this week, you might like to join in too with:

Click here for more info

And if you check out her blog, you can see she has diligently been practising 'faces' with different colouring methods - distress for example as below.

A squiggly touch to this 'selfie'

 And this one she has called 'scalped' and renamed 'vacant'... very funny, but I think she could become a queen should she sometime find an appropriate crown! 

Clare describes this as an affirmation card, those white JoFY stamps are so effective. 

Finally this wonderful piece done with watercolour pencils. Check out Clare's blog for all the details. 

I think its safe to say Clare is a prolific blogger, and really seems to enjoy a broad variety of crafting techniques. I know her posts for us this week are going to challenge you, and we really hope you will join in and have a go. The word for the week is PRACTISE.
 
3. P.A.Weekly Challenge from....{Clare and other guests}

Clare will be joined in the latter part of the week with other surprise guests, and of course, if you are inspired by any item you see on the blog this week, then please share what you get up to, and link your creativity here on the weekly challenge link. 

Your challenge entry can link to your own blog, Pinterest or Flickr pages, or any webpage that shows us what you have made in response to the posts on the blog this week. Just make sure you come back to this post, and use the linking tool below to show us your entry. We have extended the challenge entry deadline to 5pm on Sunday evenings.

Make sure on Sunday 9th February by 17:00 (5pm London time) you need to have your link entered below, and you will go into one of 2 draws to win new stuff.

To help you find the linky tool when you need it, just look at the final green paragraph on each blog post, there you will find a link that brings you back to this post.

Weekly Challenge guidelines
The first draw is for every single entry listed, so if you have multiple entries, you get entered multiple times. 

The second draw is only for one entry per name, and the winner of Draw 1 is not included in this second draw. Having 2 draws makes it fair for everyone, no matter how many times you can join in during the week.

As this challenge is to show how you have been inspired to action by this week's designer, make sure in your blog post you explain what prompted you to create.

Please don't feel you need to copy a designer's work exactly, it may be one small aspect or idea that you want to explore that sends you into the creative zone. You are also welcome to use any stamps/ products / substrates you have to hand, we do not expect you to exclusively use PA products - but of course it is lovely when you do!

The winners are announced Sunday evenings in the 7pm blog post (as above). It is your responsibility to check back and see if you have won. If you are a winner, email Darcy darcydotneedles@hotmail.com with the name of the stamp you would like, and your snail address. We do not chase people for unclaimed prizes.

If we are away at an event, then the winners post would generally be updated by Monday evening with draw details.