CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration: November 2017

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Congratulations to Our October Sponsor Prize Winners

We'd like to thank everyone who participated in our October challenges, and a HUGE thank you to our generous sponsors!

Randomly selected from our players who were placed Under Surveillance:

Winner of the FabScraps prize pack - Tanya Kalendareva
Winner of the Maja Design collection - Polina
Winner of the Swirlydoos store credit - Linola's Blogg

Randomly selected from all of our players who solved our October Case Files:
Winner of the Scrapmatts prize pack - Rachel Dutko

Randomly Selected from our American players:
Winner of the prize from Cat's Meow - Sindi J
Winner of the Bowdabra prizes - Carol A

Aussie Apprentice winner:
Winner of the Scrap Matrix gift certificate - Unfortunately we didn't have any new Aussie players this month. Please spread the word about this wonderful prize for new players from Australia.

Star Witnesses:
Winners of the Scrapbook Fantasies prizes - Polina and Peg Hewitt

To claim your prize, please send a me a private message with your email, mailing address, and phone number via the CSI Facebook Page by December 20.

Under Surveillance - October Case Files

I am so sorry for posting this so late. A big thank you to everyone who participated in our October challenges. We have chosen our favorite layouts from the October Case Files.

Congratulations to all of our players who are highlighted! You can grab your badges here.

Here are our favorites from Major Case File No. 239. Here's a reminder of the Case File they used:

Tell your story. It's our tagline, and here at CSI, it's one of our missions to get our members to delve deeper into journaling--to document the meaningful bits and pieces that make up our lives. We would like to shine a special spotlight each week on a member who did an exceptional job telling their story. And we'd like to thank Scrapbook Fantasies for donating a wonderful prize to our Star Witness for each Case File.

Polina

We love the clean look of Polina's layout and how all the photos stand out and tell her story. We really like how Polina presented her list of seven things, with the enamel dots serving as bullets.

Star Witnesses, please send me your mailing address via private message on our CSI Facebook page for your prize.

For each Case File, three of our favorite layouts will be chosen to feature as our "Most Wanted."

Tanya Kalendareva

Gunilla R

Libeeti Frenkel

And a few more that caught our eye...

Peg Hewitt

Tracey B

Emma Fryxelius

And here are our favorites from Case File No. 240. Here's a reminder of the Case File they used:

Peg Hewitt

We love the cool grunge look of this page and how Peg showcased so many photos to document "the mistake." We giggled at Peg's fun story and thought the handwritten journaling was perfect for the look of her page--so cool how she wrote in white on the black paper and then continued with black writing on the white journaling strips. Plus, we love her handwriting!

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Case File No. 242 - Deadline: November 30, 2018

We're back with our mid-month challenge, and we've got a serene new Case File for you! Don't forget, our first November challenge stays open for the whole month too.

AND did you hear the news? We've got a design team call running AND we've given you a sneak peek at our exciting new change in the Case File for 2018. Starting in January (and we'll give you a chance to try it out this month), we're making the challenge wide open for interpretation, whereby you can draw your own inspiration from The Scene, however you'd like! But don't worry--if you like the clues the traditional way we do it, that will be an option for you too.

So, are you ready for the new challenge? Grab you forensics kits, CSI players, and get ready for some serious sleuthing as we open Major Case File No. 242.

CASE FILE

We're mixing things up in November with the themes for our Case Files. Did you know that November is I Love to Write Month? We found a beautiful Scene at the design blog Lushlee.

Remember to scroll all the way down to the bottom of this reveal post for RGB codes, color descriptions, and more detailed explanations of the Evidence and Testimony prompts.

For our Russian players, Detective Anastasia has translated our Case File into Russian:

Правила на русском языке вы можете прочитать здесь.

And for those who want to try out our new twist on the Case File, be inspired your own way by The Scene:

SPONSORS

We're so excited to have eight generous sponsors this month! Our sponsors are among the best in the crafting industry, offering unique and trendy products. CLICK HERE to read more about these generous sponsors and the prizes they're donating.

GUEST DESIGNERS

We're excited to have the Swirlydoos and Scrapmatts design teams join us as Guest Detectives this month.

INSPIRATION

So...are you ready for some serious inspiration?

Our Guest Detectives from Swirlydoos rocked the Case File:

Kim's blog

Jan's blog

Lauren Tomecek from the Scrapmatts design team did an awesome job solving the case:

Lauren's blog

This is how the CSI Detectives have expertly cracked the case:

CASE FILE DETAILS

THE SCHEME - USE ALL 5 COLORS

236.237.239 – pale gray
165.153.111 – khaki color
254.254.254 - white
109.129.58 – moss green
85.65.41- coffee brown

EVIDENCE - CHOOSE AT LEAST 3 CLUES

Text pattern
Textured paper
Clips
clothespins
Leaves/branches/ flowers
Stamps
Buttons
Tags
String
Ruler/tape measure
Ribbon
Use an x-acto blade or fussy cut something
Clipboard
Letter stamps

TESTIMONY - CHOOSE AT LEAST 1 CLUE

Topic: Document something you love to do
Prompt Idea: Choose a Paperclipping journal prompt.
Presentation: Write on a tag
Writing Format: Handwritten notes to your lover (or someone else you love)
Inspiration Words: thank, hello, think

We trust we've left enough clues for you to solve the case!

The deadline for completing this Case File is Thursday, November 30, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Be sure to link your layout using the link tool in the sidebar, and mention the Evidence and Testimony clues you used. Also, please title your link with your name and country.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Design Team Call (AND an Exciting New Twist on our Challenge for 2018)!

CSI would like to add a few members to our talented team of Detectives. The design team term will run from January 2018 through June 2018 and could possibly be extended after that time.

Design Team Expectations:

Create one layout per month using our Case Files (you will be assigned to one of two teams and challenges will be sent to you at least a month in advance).
Comment on participant entries (we have five commenting teams, so you will be assigned one fifth of the layouts for commenting).
Have a Facebook account so you can communicate with the team.
Be a follower of the CSI blog and post the design team badge on your blog with a link to our blog.
Post our challenge and your layout on your blog within a few days of reveal day with a link back to the CSI blog.
Have fun!

How to apply:

Create a layout with one of our November Case Files and post them by the deadline (November 30).
Post your layout on our sidebar using the inlinkz tool.
Send Debbi a private message on the CSI Facebook page that you are applying to the team by December 3, 2017. Please include a picture of your layout and include links to your blog and any online galleries.

The Twist:

We've heard you, and we're changing things up a bit in 2018! Starting in January (and in November for those applying for the team), you have the choice of using the traditional CSI clues or drawing your own inspiration from The Scene. Here's what our new Case Files will look like:

Or...you may use our traditional Case File. Your choice! CSI wants you to be inspired!

We welcome applicants from all countries. No design team experience is necessary. We look forward to seeing what you create with our November Case Files!

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Major Case File No. 241 - Deadline: November 30, 2017

Happy November! With a new month beginning, we present our Major Case File, which features an awesome Composite Sketch created just for CSI by The Nifty Pixel. This challenge will stay open for the entire month. We've also got a brand-new line up of sponsors, which always makes playing even sweeter!

So, are you ready for the new challenge? Grab you forensics kits, CSI players, and get ready for some serious sleuthing as we open Major Case File No. 239.

CASE FILE

The leaves are finally changing and the world is aglow with warm color here in Maryland, so we're celebrating autumn with our first November Case File. Our Scene inspiring this challenge is from Tokkoro. Don't have autumn photos? No worries! The color scheme is very versatile and suitable for just about any theme.

Digital scrappers can find a free template for the sketch, created just for our players by the Nifty Pixel, here.

Правила на русском языке вы можете прочитать здесь.

GUEST DESIGNERS

We're delighted to have the design teams from Scrapbook Fantasies and Scrapmatts joining us as Guest Detectives this month!

INSPIRATION

So...are you ready for some serious inspiration?

Our talented Guest Detectives from Scrapbook Fantasies rocked the Case File:

Alicia's blog

Joanna's blog

Our inspiring Guest Detectives from the Scrapmatts design team also did a beautiful job solving the Case File:

Elena's blog

Lauren's blog

And here is how the CSI Detectives have expertly cracked the case: