January Case Files - First Reveal | Deadline February 4, 2024 (and Beyond)

Happy New Year, CSI Investigators! And Happy 12th Birthday, CSI! We're excited to bring you a new month--and a new year--of fun and inspiring scrapbooking challenges and lots of beautiful inspiration. 

For this first reveal, we'll be sharing inspiration for our first Case File. On the 15th, we'll be sharing inspiration for our second Case File. 

GUEST DETECTIVE SPOTS

We'll be inviting some players whose work catches our eye to serve as Guest Detectives along the way. We'll investigate the albums on the 4th of the month, so if you're interested in serving as a Guest Detective, make sure you have your layout in the album by the 4th. (But feel free to use past Case Files as inspiration any time.)

And you never know, if your work really wows us, you might even be asked to join our talented design team.

CASE FILES 

Since it's our birthday today, we're celebrating with our first Case File. If you were here from the beginning, you know our very first Case File was Alice in Wonderland-themed, as January is the month of Lewis Carroll's birthday. And we wanted to make sure to have a Case File to document your New Year's Eve pictures or New Year goals, so we've got our second Case File dedicated to that. 

As always, you don't have to scrap these topics. Draw your own inspiration from The Scene on the Case File, or you can use the traditional clues, which can be found at the bottom of this blog post.

Image credit:  Best Cake Design

Image credit: Paula Doherty

The traditional CSI clues can be found on our Facebook page in the first entry under the album. Just click on the Case File images above. They are also posted at the bottom of this reveal.

To submit your layouts, click on the Case Files in our sidebar, which will bring you to the individual albums in our Facebook group.

INSPIRATION 

And now, are you ready for some serious inspiration? A reminder of our first Case File...

GUEST DETECTIVES

We're pleased to have Tatiana Lopez as a Guest Detectives this month! Tatiana's work caught our eye in the CSI album galleries.

Tatiana Lopez

Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to be a guest designer this month! My name is Tatiana and I’m currently a stay at home mom to two kiddos. My oldest is 4 and the youngest is 1.5 yr old. I used to do travel photography as a hobby and have traveled all over but now I have become obsessed with scrapbooking. I love documenting a memory with a photo and creating a layout with its infinite possibilities!

Here's how Tatiana solved our first January Case File:

CSI  DETECTIVES

Here's what our design team created with this month's first Case File. We will share creations for our other Case File on the 15th of the month.

Debbi says, I founded CSI 12 years ago on January 1. I've journaled on the back my reflections about how CSI has changed over the years and how for the past 5 or so years, every January I contemplate shutting down the challenge because participation has diminished so drastically over the years. At one point we had a couple of hundred people playing! But I'm not a quitter, and even if I inspire one person to scrap, it's worth it to me! (You can read my full journaling when I share on Instagram.)

CASE FILE CLUES 

Choose as many or as few as you are inspired to use! You don't have to use all of the categories of clues. Use what inspires you, or challenge yourself to use as many clues as you can. Or just use the image to inspire you as you wish!

Testimony Link: January Prompts 

Testimony Link: New Year Journal Prompt

We trust we've provided enough clues for you to solve the Cases! You have until February 4, 2024 (and beyond--read about this in the Guest Detective section), to solve both cases. We can't wait to see what you'll create! Upload your creations in our Facebook Group (album links in sidebar).