Week #7 - "Comforts of Home"

Using this photo for inspiration, create a card or project that shows us what your 'Comforts of Home' are! We are very excited to see all of your wonderful and creative designs this week! Audrey is our Week #7 host and supplied this fabulous picture to inspire us all! You may be inspired by the theme or the colors ... or both!

Note: You must use the Week #7 challenge requirements and DIRECT LINK your project back to The Shabby Tea Room in order to be considered for the weekly prizes. Please only link your card or project POST and not your entire blog or multiple project submissions. Questions? Contact me!

I am pleased to introduce you all to our talented Guest Designer this week ... JOANNE BASILE! I simply {adore} Joanne's paper crafting style - so cute and fun! Joanne is a DT Member for some great companies ... one of which will be an up-coming sponsor here in the Tea Room very soon! I'm so happy that Joanne could take a bit of time out of her busy schedule to play along with us this week! the card she created for this week's challenge is simply wonderful! Please hop on over to Joanne's blog when you have a chance and check out her adorable creations ... simply cuteness unlimited!

Joanne Basile - Just a Little Something

And now for some more inspiration from our Design Team Members ...

Debbie Marcinkiewicz - Simple Treasures

Audrey Pettit - Audrey Pettit's Weblog - Week #7 Host

Jill Hilliard - Jill's Card Creations

Melissa Hubert - My Paper Obsession

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Hop on over to our Design Team individual blogs to see lots more creative and beautiful inspiration!

We will award a "The Shabby Tea Room Tea Time Terrific Top Three" badge to the three most creative projects!!! One lucky participant will earn "The Shabby Tea Room Winner" badge and a fun prize package donated this week by our wonderful sponsor ... COSMO CRICKET:

The folks over at Cosmo Cricket have graciously agreed to partner with us here in the Tea Room for this week and several future weeks as well! Each of our lucky winners will receive a bundle of 6" x 6" patterned papers from both the Material Girl and Garden Variety lines -- how cool is that?

Please take a minute when you have a chance to visit the Cosmo Cricket Store Site to take a peek at all the lovely goodies in their current line, and then hop on over to their blog site for some delicious inspiration! Who will win this week ... maybe YOU! The Cosmo Cricket patterned paper prize up for grabs is worth giving our 'Comforts of Home' challange a try for sure!!!

Please link your creations below by Sunday, May 2nd to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, May 3rd. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 3rd as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

Week #6 - "Sketch This" WINNERS!

WOW! I am truely amazed each week at the incredible talent we are seeing here in the Tea Room! From brand new paper crafting designers to seasoned veterans, everyone is bringing an incredible amount of creativity and inspiration to this shabby little blog site! We received an incredible 49 submissions this week ... each and every one was unique and special! Thank you all so much for your support and participation. We truely value your time and talents!! It was nearly impossible to choose a winner -- all submissions were fabulous!

Thanks also to those that left such {sweet} comments for us here in the Tea Room this week. We truely love to hear from you all and read each and every single comment personally!

From comments and e-mails I received, it appeared that last week's sketch proved to be a rather challenging one for many, so we're going to make it easier on you this week and give you a beautiful photo to be inspired by and ask that you share what 'comforts' you in your design! For all those that couldn't play last week due to spring breaks, Holy Communions, vacations, sinus infections and even pneumonia, please know that you were missed, we hope that you are feeling better soon and hope that you will be well enough to get back into your craft rooms this week and get inky with us here in the Tea Room :) Spring is tough ... especially for those with spring allergies.

Thank you to our wonderful Guest Designer, MISH WOODERSON, for sharing one of her lovely creations with us all this week!

A special thank you to our fabulous sponsor this week - FROST IT PINK! Amy graciously donated a large box filled with goodies, so please stay tuned to our challenge blog because Frost It Pink will be sponsoring again with us in a couple weeks!!

And now onto the honorable mentions and winners who captured the essence of the 'Sketch This' challenge by creatively using the layout from the photo inspiration in their designs:

WINNER OF THE BONUS PRIZE - 12 yards of Shabby Vintage Seam Binding from Deb's Simple Treasures Etsy Shop (winner drawn randomly):

Kirsty Vittetoe #15 - and her unique tea bag party invitation was fabulous too!!

HONORABLE MENTION CUPS OF TEA:

1. Lori Ann #5

2. Beth C. #10

3. Melissa Sauls #24

4. Linda, the funkie junkie #26

5. Sally Shield #40

6. Tracy #41

7. Rae Barthel #45

8. Leigh G. #48

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM TEA TIME TERRIFIC TOP THREE WINNERS:

1. Cathy #2

2. Christine (creative journey) #13

3. Heather H. #32

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM WINNER - Week #7:

Geri #46! Geri's design for this week's challenge just blew me away! First let me say that the absolutely gorgeous blossoms Geri handmade from vintage seam binding are scrumptious! I'll definitely need a tutorial on that technique! The way she stratigically placed them spilling out of the tea cup was brilliant and I love the backdrop of lush green leaves to fill in. Every little element of Geri's design had such attention to detail from the pearls, glitter, letters, cut out paper doilie and lace borders, to all the different patterned papers to deliniate the separate compartments of the sketch layout! Geri's design truely captured the essence of the 'Sketch This' challenge this week! Thanks so much for sharing your talents and time with us in the Tea Room this week, Geri! Because of Geri's #1 pick this week, she will now be eligible to be a Guest Design Team Member for an up-coming weekly challenge!

Congratulations to ALL! Tea Time Terrific Top Three and Winner, please contact me via e-mail to claim your winner badges that you can proudly display on your blogs and the winner prize from FROST IT PINK!

Week #6 Challenge - BONUS PRIZE!

I've tea stained some more yardage of Shabby Vintage Seam Binding and it's been posted to my Etsy shop ready for all your crafting creations!!!

Besides the wonderful prize package offered by FROST IT PINK this week, I am sweetening the pot for one lucky winner!

Submit a project for the Week #6 challenge - 'Sketch This' and earn one chance to win. Want more chances to win? You can submit and enter as many designs as you wish -- more submissions equals more chances to win!

DT members are welcome to submit an additional project for the chance to win too!

You do NOT have to be The Shabby Tea Room Winner or Tea Time Terrific Top Three Winners in order to win this bonus prize!

The extra prize will be 12 yards of Shabby Vintage Seam Binding from my Etsy Shop :)

Now go ahead and get busy in your craft rooms!! We can't wait to see your 'Sketch This' creations!!!

Week #6 - "Sketch This"

Using this photo for inspiration, create a card or project using the sketch as your layout design (you do not need to use these colors).

Note: You must use the Week #6 challenge requirements and DIRECT LINK your project back to The Shabby Tea Room in order to be considered for the weekly prizes. Please only link your card or project POST and not your entire blog or multiple project submissions. Questions? Contact me!

I am tickled {pink} to introduce you all to our Guest Designer for Week #6 ... Mish Wooderson from the Papertrey Ink DT!! Oh my shabby-dabby goodness, look at the absolutely adorable creation Mish designed especially for The Shabby Tea Room this week ... love the pink, love the shabby style, love the tea pot, love the patterned papers, love the scalloped border die ... {heart} it all :) I've been following Mish's wonderful blog for quite some time now and have been inspired by her lovely designs more often than I can say. Please hop on over to Mish's blog when you have a free minute and check out all the creativity this gal has ... simply wonderful!

Michelle {Mish} Wooderson - Mish Mash

And now for some more inspiration from our Design Team Members ...

Debbie Marcinkiewicz - Simple Treasures - Week #6 Host

Audrey Pettit - Audrey Pettit's Weblog

Jill Hilliard - Jill's Card Creations

Melissa Hubert - My Paper Obsession

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Hop on over to our Design Team individual blogs to see lots more creative and beautiful inspiration awaiting you!

I have some exciting news ... beginning with week #6 and moving forward, we are beginning to offer sponsorships from business owners and private Etsy shops! Our very first business sponsor is one of my {favorite} on-line boutique shops - FROST IT PINK!

The owner of Frost it Pink, Amy Stahl, has been keeping my craft baskets happily stocked for quite a while now by filling my orders with all of my favorite treasures, including goodies from Melissa Frances, Prima, Webster's Pages, Maya Road and more!! Hop on over to Frost it Pink when you get a chance and visit Amy's blog and shop! Tell Amy that you heard about her shop from The Shabby Tea Room!

Amy graciously put together four fabulous prize packages and will be sponsoring with us four separate weeks over the next several months! Here is this month's prize package, which includes 4 pages of patterned papers from My Mind's Eye & Chatter Box Inc, chip stickers from Basic Gray and some yummy embellies:

Link your Creations below by Sunday, April 25th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, April 26th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 26th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

Week # 5 - "It's Hip to be Square" WINNERS!

WOW ... I'm totally amazed by all of the wonderful submissions we received this week in the Tea Room. Our following has been growing by leaps and bounds in just the first month -- I'm tickled {pinkl} that you all are having fun with this shabby little challenge blog ... I LOVE it too! We received an incredible 66 absolutely fabulous projects this week for our "It's Hip to be Square" challenge and are rounding the corner of 300 followers. It's been a very busy and fun month. I so enjoy seeing all of your creativity -- it's fun to see each person's unique take on the challenges! You are ALL winners in my book :) The decision process for picking winners has become extremely difficult - your submissions have absolutely wow-ed me!!!

The Design Team needs your assistance! Please be sure to read and understand the guidelines for the challenges if you want your project to be considered for the weekly prizes! I've received many e-mails with questions from participants the past couple of weeks, so I'm going to review the linking process and challenge guidelines again for everyone:

• Please be sure to link your project back to The Shabby Tea Room challenge blog - only the post for your specific project and not your entire blog or multiple projects for multiple challenges. You do this by creating a hyperlink or inserting our challenge title URL into your post.
• Please try to follow the challenge requirements as closely as possible.
• Please try to keep your project post specific to TSTR weekly challenge.
• You may play as often as you wish and you may combine our challenge with others!
• Most important ... HAVE FUN!

We do love hearing the stories of how you were inspired to create with our challenges and how you came about coming up with the design and concept for your submissions!!!

The reason we are asking everyone to adhere to these guidelines is that as the site grows and we have more and more submissions, we (the DT members) are finding it very time consuming to read through posts with a lot of additional information, as you can imagine! All of the DT Members appreciate you taking the time to share such lovely and inspirational work with us here in the Tea Room and we want to be able to leave comments for you all! By following the guidelines, you will be helping the DT members out tremendously -- we thank you in advance!

Also, you may want to consider turning WORD VERIFICATION off and COMMENT MODERATION on. It's another time saving measure for those interested in leaving you comments. The word verification is just one more step for the commentor. If you have comment moderation turned on, you are the one in control of monitoring which comments you choose to accept and which you choose to reject.

Lastly, I want to thank our wonderful DT Members for providing such lovely prizes during the first five weeks of our shabby challenges! I really appreciate all the DT gals' genorosity and talents! I have some exciting news for everyone ... beginning with week six and hopefully thereafter moving forward, we've partnered up with some fabulous sponsors who have graciously donated products and prizes for our weekly winners! We have some {fabulous} companies and prizes on tap for you all ... so come back and play often -- and tell your friends about us too :) If you are a shop or business owner, or are affiliated with a paper crafting related business, please contact me if you are interested in sponsoring a week at The Shabby Tea Room!
Okay, and without any further ado ... here are the projects that caught my eye this week for capturing the essence of the "It's Hip to be Square" challenge using {lots} of squres in their designs:

HONORABLE MENTION CUPS OF TEA:

1. Cathy #5

2. Beth C #18

3. Lalo #31

4. Geri #37

5. Lizzidroege #40

6. Grace N #47

7. Jinny Newlin #58

8. Jean FB #61

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM TERRIFIC TOP THREE WINNERS:

1. Leah C. #29

2. Heather H #35

3. Kathy J #64

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM WINNER - Week #5:

Carol R #60! Carol's stunning design included THIRTY squares - WOW!!! I love the soft colors of the pretty patterned papers! The shabby and vintage look Carol achived by using the lace and shabby vintage seam binding is beautiful. All that stitching and what looks to be a {handmade} crocheted embellishment in the center topped with a button is simply a-mazing! Carol, thanks for sharing your creativity and talents with us in the Tea Room this week! Carol will now be eligible to be a Guest Design Team Member in the future :)

Congratulations to ALL! TEA TIME TERRIFIC TOP THREE and WINNER, please contact me via e-mail to claim your winner badges that you can proudly display on your blogs and the winner prize!

Week #5 - 'It's Hip To Be Square'

Using this Vintage Quilt photo for inspiration, create a card or project using squares ... lots of them ... the more the better! (You do not have to use the colors in this photo).

Note: You must use the Week #5 challenge requirements and DIRECT LINK your project back to The Shabby Tea Room in order to be considered for the weekly prizes. Please only link your card or project POST and not your entire blog or multiple project submissions. We love all of your lovely work, but will only consider those designs that have been properly submitted and linked for prizes in fairness to all. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.




I am pleased to introduce this week's Guest Designer that will be playing along with us ... I first had the pleasure of seeing some of DANA GUSTAFSON'S wonderful creations when I became a follower of the Just Us Girls Blog last fall. Dana's work is beautiful and I adore the bright and cheery attitude she brings to her paper crafting! She always takes the time to leave such sweet comments and is always extremely encouraging. Please take some time to hop on over to Dana's blog when you have a chance this week and check out all the fabulous inspiration and creativity she has to offer!

DANA GUSTAFSON - Paper Daydream

And now for some more inspiration from our Design Team Members ...

Debbie Marcinkiewicz - Simple Treasures

Audrey Pettit - Audrey Pettit's Weblog

Jill Hilliard - Jill's Card Creations

Melissa Hubert - My Paper Obsession

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Hop on over to our Design Team individual blogs to see logs more creative and beautiful inspiration!

We will award a "The Shabby Tea Room Terrific Top Three" badge to the three most creative projects!!! One lucky participant will earn "The Shabby Tea Room Winner" badge and this prize package donated this week by Host and Design Team Member, Nicole:

Link your creations below by Sunday, April 18th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three designs will be announced Monday, April 19th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 19th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

Week #4 - 'Embrace the White' WINNERS!

WOW! This challenge was a hit with you all ... we received 70 A-MAZING and beautiful submissions this week. I was afraid that this would be a difficult challenge for most, but you all excelled beyond my wildest dreams. Simply stunning submissions from all -- thanks to everyone who participated this week :)

Just a reminder again, moving forward please be sure to link your submission project post back to The Shabby Tea Room and be sure to link only your project post and not your entire blog to be considered for the weekly prizes. Linking your entire blog requires extra time for those wanting to leave a comment trying to locate the correct submission from your blog.

Also, you may consider turning word verification 'off' and comment moderation 'on'. This will save tons of time for everyone interested in leaving comments on all your lovely work, but still allow you to choose which comments you want to accept or decline. You do this by going into the settings tool on your blog and then editing comments accordingly.

Thank you to our WONDERFUL GUEST DESIGNER, SHARON JOHNSON, for sharing one of her lovely creations with us all this week!

And now, without further ado, here are our Honorable Mentions (EIGHT this week - so many beautiful submissions, it was next to impossible to choose!), Tea Time Terrific Top Three and Winner for capturing the essence of the 'Embrace the White' challenge for Week #4:

HONORABLE MENTION CUPS OF TEA:

1. Cathy #4

2. Sarah Martina #28

3. Anabelle O'Malley #29

4. Lumberjack Jan #44

5. Sabrina aka okimom2girlz #50

6. Heather #55

7. Jean FB #56

8. Carol R #57

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM TEA TIME TERRIFIC TOP THREE WINNERS:

1. Clare Buswell #66

2. Annette #9

3. Linda, the funkie junkie #51

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM WINNER - Week #4:

Lizzidroege #13! Lizzi's design this week wow-ed me beyond words ... her creation was absolutely stunning, so layered with so much loveliness and shabby vintage charm! The flowers, the paper doilies, the cute little birdie -- simply beautiful! Thanks from all of us, Lizzi, for sharing your incredible talent in The Shabby Tea Room this week!

Congratulations to ALL! Tea Time Terrific Top Three and Winner, please contact me via e-mail to claim your winner badges that you can proudly disply on your blogs and the winner prize!

Week #4 - 'Embrace The White"

Using this gorgeous photo for inspiration, create a card or project using mainly white or cream and one other subtle color.

Note: You must use the Week #4 challenge requirements AND DIRECT LINK your project back to The Shabby Tea Room in order to be considered for the weekly prizes! Please only link your card or project POST and not your entire blog. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

I am pleased to introduce you all to this week's Guest Designer, Sharon Johnson! I've enjoyed visiting Sharon's blog, No Time To Stamp?, during the past several years and always find such beauty and inspiration in her lovely designs! Sharon's creative use of stamps, embellishments and gorgeous silk ribbons is truely breathtaking! I am tickled pink that Sharon agreed to take a bit of time out of her busy schedule to join us this week in the Tea Room! Please hop on over to Sharon's blog when you have a minute and check out her beautiful creations!

SHARON JOHNSON - No Time To Stamp?

And now for some more inspiration from our Design Team Members ...

Debbie Marcinkiewicz - Simple Treasures

Audrey Pettit - Audrey Pettit's Weblog

Jill Hilliard - Jill's Card Creations

Melissa Hubert - Week #4 Host - My Paper Obsession

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Hop on over to the Design Team individual blogs to see lots more creative and beautiful inspiration!

We will award a 'The Shabby Tea Room Terrific Top Three' badge to the three most creative projects!!! One lucky participant will earn 'The Shabby Tea Room Winner' badge and this prize package donated this week by Host and Design Team Member, Melissa Hubert:

Link your creations below by Sunday, April 11th to play along. Winner and Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, April 12th. We will have an all new challenge for you to play along with on the 12th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

Week #3 'Let's Get Scrappy' WINNERS!

WOW - thank you to the record number of partipants in the Tea Room this week -- 59 FAB-ulous submissions to be exact! It's so exciting to see you all enjoying the projects and inspiration that our shabby little challenge blog has to offer! The creativity is amazing and I'm simply in awe of you all - so much talent. THANK YOU for sharing your lovely work with us! You are making the task of selecting winners at the end of each week a very daunting project -- you're ALL WINNERS in my opinion :)

A special thank you to our {sweet} GUEST DESIGNER, MELISSA PHILLIPS, who was kind enough to share one of her beautiful vintage and shabby creations with us here in the Tea Room this week. I don't know about you all, but I find so much inspiration each time I visit Melissa's blog - simply fabulous!

And now, onto our Winners for Week #3 ... these are the top designs that not only caught my eye with wonderfully creative and beautiful designs using mostly scraps in their projects, but also followed the challenge rules by properly linking just their project posts back to The Shabby Tea Room:

HONORABLE MENTION CUPS OF TEA:

1. Crafty Dawn #22

2. Karola #24

3. Julie Day #39

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM TEA TIME TERRIFIC TOP THREE WINNERS:

1. Lynn Put #34

2. Simply Shaz #41

3. Sarah Martina #42

THE SHABBY TEA ROOM WINNER - Week #3:

Cathy, The Papier Girl #7. Cathy's shabby and vintage style is absolutely beautiful. The layers of goodness that were incorporated into this project were so gorgeous - lovely lace, shabby vintage seam binding, stamping, patterned papers, trinket pin, rhinestones, paper flower - yum! Cathy's card wow-ed me with the fact that it was all created with 'Just Scraps' -- simply stunning! Thanks from all of us, Cathy, for sharing your talents with us this week in the Tea Room!

Congratulations to ALL! Tea Time Terrific Top Three and Winner please contact me via e-mail to claim your winner badges that you can proudly display on your blogs and the winner prize!

"Follow Me #2" Contest WINNER!

A big thank you and hugs to everyone who joined in during this second round of the "Follow Me" contest. So many lovely comments were left on both blogs ... I really appreciate all your support and kindness :) I'm astonished at how quickly this little shabby challenge blog has taken off ... but I know if you're all anything like me, you all {love} to paper craft and share your passion with others!!

The winner of 10 yards (1 yard each of 10 colors!) of Shabby Vintage Seam Binding from my Etsy Shop is:

Beadz - Gini Cagle

Congratulations, Gini!!! Please contact me via e-mail to claim your prize!