411 (stuff you need to know to play along)

So you've seen the challenges and now you wanna know how to play along. Here's how ::

1) Upload all layouts to our Flickr Group before the end of the month if you want your layout to be considered for the monthly voting process, which means your page could win you a special parcel full of random scrappy goodness! You'll have to create an account if you don't already have one but it's not a big deal.

2) When you upload your LO to the Flickr Group be sure to "tag" your page which you can do in the photo uploading process. We need your tag to look like this { challenge101 } Notice how there's no space between the word "challenge" and the number "101"? That helps us find your page when we (the design team) choose the three finalists. But don't worry if you forget. We check out the Flickr Group all the time and one of us will add it for you if you miss it. We've got your back!

3) We choose the three finalists by the whole design team collaborating on whose layouts are their favorites. The admin (Vanessa & Tania) narrow down the favorites to ensure that there's always new artists making it to the finals, increasing the odds of everyone having a shot at winning. That's just how we roll.

4) You can use any products you like in your layouts. When creating for the challenges, just try to take inspiration from each of the challenges and have fun. You are not required to duplicate the sketches in order for them to "qualify". Interpretation is the name of the game!

5) We consider a month to be officially OVER when the first challenge of the new month goes "live" , that means in order for your layouts to qualify for the voting process, they need to be uploaded before that time.

6) We're always looking for guest designers. If you think you're up for the task, just fire off an email to us at (info at lotuspaperie dot com) with "guest designer" in the subject line and a link to your blog and we'll let you know if there's an available spot for you to guest with us!

7) When scraplifting our monthly Guest Designers' layouts, you need to leave a link to your layout in the comments section of said designer's introduction post. There is always a link on the top right hand side of the web page to make it easy for you to find as the month wears on. You need to leave your comment by the time we introduce the next month's Guest Designer. If you want to upload your scraplift layouts to the flickr group, just be sure to tag them that way {DenaScraplift}

8) Sadly, participation in the Guest Designer Scraplift contest has been really low so we've decided to ditch the contest...but if you lift one of the lovely layouts shared by our GDT, please post the link to your layout anyway...we'd love to see it!

9) We will re-introduce Couture Collection Page kits in the future.