Time for Winners and a goodbye

Hello everyone, I am sad to say this will be the last post to this blog. I will miss all of you and my design team girls as well! I greatly appreciate all the participation we have had with our challenges and as promised - the winner of the October Challenge will receive 10 sheets of their choice of paper from the store. Remember, to qualify to win, you had to participate in BOTH of the month's challenges. We had 3 people do that this time and since I hate having to choose a winner each month and tell others that they didn't win - this month, in honor of our last challenges, I am awarding all 3 participants the prize!!! So, Kelsey, Libeeti, and Hilda - e-mail me at customerservice@leaveapapertrail.com and tell me your choices of which 10 papers each of you wants!!

Congratulations ladies, and thank you to everyone for participating in our challenges and following us for these months.

Happy Trail Makin'
~Karen

Cardboard Projects Challenge

Hi everyone and welcome to our Second Challenge of October. I have recently opened a brick and mortar store and this challenge came to mind while packing and unpacking moving boxes and also all the boxes I accumulated from all the product and store items I had to order came in. I thought that using cardboard to create some paper crafting projects would be a lot of fun so that is what we are challenging you to do. Use some cardboard on your projects this time - it can be as your base for your layouts, cards, or mini albums, or use it as an accent on your project. You can leave it as is or paint it, ink it or spray it with mists. You can even use it in your Big Shot, or other die cutting tool to make different shapes, etc for your pages. The ideas are endless and projects are only limited by your imagination!!! So, show us some recycling and use cardboard in your projects this time! I can't wait to see all the fun ways you guys use this!

You have until Mon. Oct 31st to upload your project to mr. linky. Remember that our TEN challenge is still going as well and in order to be eligible for your choice of 10 papers from the store, you must participate in BOTH of these challenges.!

Good luck and happy creating!!

~Karen

TEN!!!

Hi everyone and welcome to October and our first challenge of the month.
Since we are in the 10th month already - we are going to be challenging you to use 10of something on your projects! It can be 10 buttons, 10 flowers, 10 letters in your title, 10 journaling strips, even 10 photos or 10 of anything else you can think of!! (can you use 10 different papers????) :)

This month's prize will also include 10!!!! The winner of October's prize will receive 10 sheets of their choice of patterned paper or cardstock from the store!!!!

We are limiting your chances to ONE project per challenge, and as always you must participate in both challenges that are held this month in order to qualify for the prize!! You can submit as many times as you want, but you only will get 1 chance per challenge.
You have all month to submit to the challenges and a winner will be drawn around the 1st of November.

Happy Trail Makin' and happy month number 10!!!
~Karen

Sniff by Shannon

I created my layout using the Echo Park Happy Days Collection!! It's bright and cheery and so versatile!! I love the polka dots and all the great stickers that come along with the line. I used some of them on my layout here and they were the perfect touch!! :)

Friends at First Sight - by Tenny

I love adding corrugated cardboard to my layout. It's a great way to recycle and also giving your layout a unique look.

On this layout, I used the corrugated cardboard as a background and also an accent. Love the way the both turned out.

Love the paper collection, Garden Girl, from Bo Bunny. It's just soo pretty,
Thanks,

Tenny

Vacation by Yara

This past summer I went to Spain with my family. We had a great time together. I made this layout with Imaginisce Bon Voyage collection which is available at The Paper Trail store. The navy and burgundy colors were the perfect fit for the cardboard challenge. The cardboard was inked with gold ink. It adds a touch of dimension and rustic feel to my page. I love the die cuts from this collection, the stamps with the travel images, and the sentiments. There was no need to use alphabet stickers for my title.

Sincere regrets

Today it is with a bit of sadness in my heart that I write this blog post for you. I have had to make a tough decision about the challenge blog and design team. I have LOVED working with my design team - some of them have been with me from the beginning over a year ago. I have found that my iron is in too many fires right now so the item that has to go for now is the challenge blog. As of October 31st we will be officially "closed". We will not issue any more challenges and the design team's term will be over with TrailMakers. I will not be taking the blog down completely for two reasons. One - I think the inspiration from the DT work is phenomenal and you may want to stop by occasionally for a look see back at what the team has done over the past year with our challenges. And, two - if the time comes that I can stoke this fire again, then I want to be able to come right back to what we have here.

My online store at www.leaveapapertrail.com will continue to function. As always, you will be able to shop online with us and find current products.

All current challenges are still a go for the rest of the month, it is not goodbye quite yet! Keep playing along so that you are eligible for our prize at the end of the month.

I want to say a huge thank you to every single one of our followers. I also want to thank every one of you who has participated this year in our challenges. YOU are the reason we were able to make this blog a success! I have loved "meeting" each of you and seeing your work - what an awesome group of talent out there.

One last thank you is a heartfelt and deeply sincere thank you to my design team. Krystle and Sandi - you have been with me the longest - from the beginning and you saw and supported each and every change I made with the challenge blog and the store - thank you - your support and patience means the world to me. Tanya, Yara, Tenny, Shannon, Marilyn, Jessica, and Sara - you guys are all so awesome and I have really loved getting to know each of you in this short time.
For all of you - I will miss you - but wish you all the very best in all of your creative endeavors and in life!

Remember, always, that this beloved craft of ours is intended to leave a trail of US for generations to come.
Happy Trail Makin'
~Karen