Replenish your scrapbooking stash and get your crafting station ready — we’re rounding out the 2023 Worldwide Virtual Crop with Day 3 and the final quartet of sketches! Remember, Creative Memories Advisors from the U.S., Canada, Australia and Japan have created layout inspiration for YOU to show off your savvy, scrappy skills, so let’s get to it — here are Challenges 9-12!
For a refresher on Virtual Crop instructions, you can get all the details about Virtual Crops here. Read this post in Japanese ⇒ 日本語はこちらです
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The Prize for All 12 Challenges:
The prize for all 12 challenges of the Worldwide Virtual Crop will be the exclusive 12×12 Boysenberry Dotted Stripes Album Cover! Prizes will be awarded to two (2) participants in each challenge — one (1) prize to anyone who completes the sketch using any products on-hand and one (1) prize will be awarded to a participant who includes product(s) from the Secret Box #3. We will award the prizes randomly, but to win, it must be evident that you have used the sketch we provided as inspiration to create a project using predominantly Creative Memories products. Prize winners will be announced on Thursday, Sept. 14, at 3pm CT.
Challenge #9 — #2023World9
Challenge #10 — #2023World10
Challenge #11 — #2023World11
Challenge #12 — #2023World12
Worldwide Virtual Crop Challenge #9:
Jennene Doyle was introduced to Creative Memories at a friend’s Beginner Class when she had four young children and lots of photos. She loved everything about Creative Memories, so she became an Advisor. Her children love to get together with her albums and reminisce, reading all that she has written out loud. Now with grandchildren, the photos keep coming and she gets the chance to make more pages and albums to share.
Jennene’s Tip: “When using a piece of multicoloured double-sided designer paper, you can use each section as a separate colour. Careful cutting and punching make a page as coordinated as the original piece of paper.”
Collection Used: Lullaby Lane
Maggie Hughes is from the heart of the Australian Outback where she works with wildlife. She created her first scrapbook when she was nine. Since then, she has kept journals and captured her adventures around the world. She enjoys creating 12×12 albums, but loves Happy Albums; she uses them to document her daily life and work. She enjoys the challenge of creating layouts that push crafting boundaries and being able to tell her stories in a unique way.
Maggie’s Tip: “Don’t be afraid to change the colours of a typical punch to suit your layout and hide your journal notelet to make more space. I layered the colours of the punch to match the cockatoo’s feathers and mounted the embellishment on Foam Tape to allow for a pull-out journal notelet.”
Collection Used: Tropic Time
Here’s another idea on how to use this sketch with the 2023 Secret Box #3 products from CM Japan!
Worldwide Virtual Crop Challenge #10:
Yoshiko Okada is an Advisor based in Hiroshima. She has been participating in Virtual Crops since June 2020. She is energized by the community connections from Virtual Crop participants and enjoys making albums.
Collection Used: Tropic Time
Natsuki Totsugawa lives in Hiroshima. She has two children — a high school student and a fourth grader. She has been making Creative Memories albums since her high school son was one. Making albums is one of her favorite things to do and she cherishes preserving her children’s growth.
Collection Used: Serenity
Here’s another idea on how to use this sketch with the 2023 Secret Box #3 products from CM Japan!
Worldwide Virtual Crop Challenge #11:
Originally a CM Consultant since 1998, Leah Hoeve rejoined the new-and-improved CM as an Advisor over four years ago. Photography and scrapbooking are her passions and she loves to share CM with everyone.
Leah’s Tip: “When your layout has tiny pieces, I always use the Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive Pen — you can just do little dots of liquid adhesive to hold everything in place perfectly! For adding dimension or a little depth, I use the Foam Squares Variety Pack — love the variation of sizes!”
Collection Used: Croptoberfest 2023
Tasha Walsh is an Advisor from Calgary and is married to her husband, Mike. They have two amazing teenage girls and a cat named Briar. Tasha fell in love with CM over 20 years ago when a friend invited her to a home class. Since then, she’s gone from hobbyist to running a successful business and inspiring a team. Tasha loves being able to connect with people and have them connect with their pictures and stories.
Tasha’s Tips:
- “The Square Punch was so easy to use and made cutting the squares for this layout so quick. If you don’t have the Square Punch you can cut 1-3/4″ x 1-3/4” squares with the 12-inch Trimmer.“
- “I love using sketches in different ways. Why not turn it 90 degrees to give it a different look or stretch the sketch for a double-page spread?!”
- “Cluster embellishments look better in odd numbers and different heights. I made the little rosettes by cutting a circle then cutting the circle into a ‘cattail’ and rolling it up. Add a drop of glue to hold it all together and you have a cute little flower. Don’t forget to add a little bit of sparkle to your page with a few gems or pearls.”
Collection Used: Totally Tonal Kelly Green
Here’s another idea on how to use this sketch with the 2023 Secret Box #3 products from CM Japan!
Worldwide Virtual Crop Challenge #12:
Allison Starr has been a Creative Memories Advisor in Richmond, Va., since 2003. Her CM business has been a huge blessing to her, from the dear friends she has made to the extra cash that comes in doing what she loves, not to mention all the albums she has made over the years with awesome CM products.
Allison’s Tip:
- “To create the sunflower background paper edges, I used the Mandala Burst Border Punch (a personal favorite). I marked the paper at 6″ on each side of 12×12 paper to make the first punch. Flipping punch over to see the ‘undercarriage’ for those first punches, one on each edge in the center of the paper’s edge. Then flip the punch back, right side up, to do the next two punches on either side of the first punch. Don’t punch the corners yet! Next, fold each corner at 1-1/2″ diagonally, using our Cutting Mat. Flip over the punch again (undercarriage), carefully center the folded corner into the punch and punch the paper four times — once at each corner.”
- “I love using our mats as title and embellishment cluster bases. They are easy to ‘gut’ with our CCS or trimmer, so they can still be used behind a photo as a mat.”
Collection Used: SNEAK PEEK (launching Sept. 11) Sunflower Fields
Katrenia Taweel lives in West Fork, Ark. She has been scrapbooking for 20-plus years and has been a CM Advisor since 2007. Her scrapbooking motto is “Done is better than perfect,” so her style tends to be more simple.
Katrenia’s Tips:
- “I love the bright stripes, but it is a busy layout! The Navy Cardstock tones it down a bit from the top and is strong enough to show through the design left by the Confetti Border Maker Cartridge.”
- “I used the Confetti Border Maker Cartridge to create the design on the striped paper. To recreate it, you’ll want to punch along each side of the paper, skipping the first and last positions on the guide. Next, cut the corners off the page using the 45-degree angle on the 12-inch Trimmer and lining up the corner at the 1-1/4” line. Save these triangles to use as accents on your photos! Turn the paper upside down and lay it on the edge of a table for stability. Turn the BMC housing upside down and punch each corner. Make sure the flat side of the trimmed corner is all the way against the back of the cartridge and that there are no previous punches/holes showing through the window on the bottom of the cartridge.”
- “To save paper, I cut a 9″ x 9″ square from the Navy Cardstock base to use on top of the stripes paper. In making this, it’s easier for me to think of it as a 1-1/2” frame. Use binder clips on the 12-inch Trimmer to make sure you don’t cut too far. Line the cartridge up so the white line is pointing at 1-1/2” and put the binder clip above it to act as a stop. Line it up again at 10-1/2” and put another binder clip below it. Line the cardstock up on the trimmer arm at 10-1/2”, then make a cut from one binder clip to the other. Turn the cardstock and make the same cut on all four sides. To assemble, layer the frame, stripes paper, then 9” square.”
Collection Used: Birthday Bonanza
Here’s another idea on how to use this sketch with the 2023 Secret Box #3 products from CM Japan!
Want to Try Out the Virtual Crop Digitally?
Check out our demo of how to create your sketch using Custom Refill Pages, Custom Albums or Custom Album Covers. When you complete the sketch, instead of snapping a photo of your layout, take a screenshot and submit it to the Virtual Crop Facebook Group.
- For how to take a screenshot on a Mac, get details here.
- For how to take a screenshot on a PC, get details here.
Thanks for joining us! When posting your projects on social media, use #2023WORLD1, #2023WORLD2, etc., and #CreativeMemories to share your excitement! Happy Worldwide Virtual Crop!
These inspired layouts from the sketches have so many ideas, tips, scrap-hacks, and creativity! Would LOVE love love if CM highlighted each of today’s designers as a guest blog host and/or a video with Noreen! Maybe they all have some spot they share more of their creativity with getting amazing mileage from CM tools, paper designs, and sketches? For us all out over the globe:) Would love to see/learn more scrap-hacks for the Fast2Fab papers along with F2F pages. And Jennene’s use of the Lullaby Lane papers & her tip – that was a “could’ve had a V8” tip for me. TY ty for sharing!