April Case Files - First Reveal | Deadline: May 4, 2023

Happy April, CSI Investigators!  We're excited to bring you a new month of fun and inspiring 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. 

PRIZES

CSI has been running our challenges for 11 years, since 2012, and our savings have dwindled over the years, so we no longer have the ability to provide a monthly gift certificate, but we do have enough to give away a prize every 4 months this year, so we'll be awarding a $20 (U.S. dollars) gift certificate to your favorite online craft store (must take Paypal) to one lucky player according to the following schedule--so the more you play, the more chances you'll have.

January - April Case Files will be awarded on or after May 4

May - August Case Files will be awarded in on or after September 4

October - December Case Files will be awarded on or after next January 4

You will see the customary due date on the Case Files because I'll check those for guest designers, but feel free to go back and play with Case Files that have expired. As long as they're in the albums by the May, September, and January dates listed above, you'll be eligible for the prize.

We'll also be inviting some players whose work catches our eye to serve as Guest Detectives along the way.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

And we're excited to be collaborating with Scrap the Boys this month! Scrap the Boys is a super-fun  monthly challenge dedicated to scrapping the boys and men in our lives. Several CSI Detectives are also members of the Scrap the Boys design team, so they'll be serving as "Double Agents" this month, and you'll see their layouts appearing in two places on this reveal. Please make sure to share your layouts for our first April Case File in both the CSI Facebook group album and the Scrap the Boys Facebook group. Be sure to follow and tag both CSI and Scrap the Boys on Instagram too.

CASE FILES 

We had to create a fun Case File for April Fools Day, and of course we have a challenge celebrating Easter.  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:  Freepik

Image credit: Advocate Art

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 DETECTIVE

First, we have a beautiful layout from our Guest Detective, Lisa-Jane Johnson.

Here's a bit about Lisa-Jane, in her own words: I've been scrapbooking for about 12 years now, mostly about my family, including my wonderfully supportive husband & my two babies teens (yikes where does the time go??) Unfortunately 'life events' in the last few years, including being diagnosed with ADHD & ASD, have rather got in the way of much creating but I’m clawing myself back. As I gradually find my feet again (as well as lots of un-opened collections & half-finished layouts...) I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences of crafting with neurodiversity on my poor neglected blog (PrettyMyPage.com) and Instagram (@PrettyMyPage).

How Lisa-Jane solved the Case: As soon as I saw the case file with all the fun and action I knew immediately that I just had to document one particular 'Silly Saturday'. We go away on a scrappy retreat twice a year and our Saturdays often descend into a daft few hours of Snapchat filters, singing and laughter. We new regular barn has a mezzanine floor so we set up the camera to take a photo of all of us on the balcony. However, this involved one poor scrapper (not me!) pressing go and running through the barn and up the stairs to be in place by the time the camera went off!

I normally go straight for the colour scheme in a case file but I was planning to use Hey Crafty Girl by Simple Stories for this retreat so I had to pull out as much as I could from the other inspiration. Of course I had to use 'fools' in my title and then I used a starburst to include lots of crazy colour & pattern in my background incorporating stripes, dots and circles. I added my journalling to some labels and then used round embellishments such as the die-cuts and then added enamel dots & some puffy fruit stickers among the acrylic stars. Finally I added some sparkly green felt stars for the fuzzy element and had a little chuckle to myself remembering the fun we had that night, which is why I love scrapbooking so much!

CSI  DETECTIVES

Here's what our design team created with this month's first Case File. Scroll down for inspiration from the Scrap the Boys challenge. We will share creations for our other Case File on the 15th of the month.

SCRAP THE BOYS GUEST DETECTIVES

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: Bzoink and How to Write a Limerick

Testimony Link: April Prompts

We trust we've provided enough clues for you to solve the Cases! You have until May 4, 2023, 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).