One full Month of Challenges. M.O.C or EM OH Cee, or some call it MACH! Thirty-one days of scrapping challenges. An insanity that causes creativity to explode and stress that brings out the best in kindness! This started nine years ago, our Julie (aka mrs2a50) came up with this idea. We laughingly blame and love her for the idea! There are many returning scrappers that have done every year, others that finished some, and others that show up in January for the explosion of mojo that happens!
I have got to tell you the elves at North Pole got nothing on the Polly’s in the back room! The flurry of activity and pages scrapped then re-scrapped to make sure every single challenge is clear and “challenging “ is off the charts!
We have had years that other BIG stores closed along with their forums, and precious scrappers & designers orphaned came to the Lily Pad and found a new home. This causes an explosion of talent and designs to just flourish here at the Lily Pad. There are many hints and helps found in the forum for new and very curious scrappers. See thread here for complete “Got any MOC Tips?” Here are a few from the thread and a couple I wanted to add:
- Check your kits to make sure they are in the store. I have done a challenge or two with retired kits that I had to redo. Ugh! Not fun.
- Have a folder of photos you want to scrap. It really helps me to have this task done and ready to go.
- Read the challenge first thing in the morning, every day. Then you can at least think about it, even if you can’t scrap until later.
- Read the entire challenge while making your page so you don’t miss any parts that need to be included.
- Don’t overthink it. Done is better than perfect. Not every layout or creation will be your own taste and that’s ok.
- Make sure you understand what is required of a challenge. No not hesitate to ask for clarification.
- For an easy way to track my progress, I try to avoid posting in a MOC challenge thread until I’m sharing my layout.
- My biggest thing is HAVE FUN!! We do this because we love it, don’t we?!
- Save your PSD or TIF file so you can change things if you need to.
How does it work? This MOC 09?
First day, is officially 1 January, 2021. It kicks off with the mind that originated the whole crazy month of challenges event: our mrs2a50. Sometimes it is at a few minutes after midnight, EST. SOMETIMES. **please remember the Pollys live all over the world, and time zones. The actual posting will vary. We do have emergency postings in the backroom in case of emergencies(tee hee).
Here is what to expect:
Post with date and title of the challenge.
The challenge explained with clear bullet statements or full sentences to tell you what should be on your page.
There will be added rules for EACH challenge.
EVERY challenge will have these rules, that go with EVERY page:
Your page must be a new page in order to count for the Month of Challenges. Your page must be posted in three places:
- Uploaded to the TLP Gallery (not an outside hosting site).
- Posted in your page thread you created in the MOC Layouts Folder. You should have one post per completed challenge page. If you complete all 31 challenges, your thread should contain 31 posts. Please do not comment in the participants’ page threads so we can keep them clean.
- Posted in this thread. People can comment here if they wish.
Pages should contain at least 75% current Lily-pad product (currently for sale in the store from either permanent designers or guest designers).
It will be in the EVENTS forum with a SPECIAL area; Month of Challenges NINE – 2021.
There you will find a few pinned threads: MOC 2021 Guidelines, MOC How Do I?, MOC Q&A and each year, I do a MOC 9 – List of Challenges thread. It is up now. When I get up in the early morning, I will link the newest challenge and you will have a direct link to all the challenges as they are posted.
Each hostess of the daily challenges will have examples that are made just for this challenge to help you get a visual of the challenge also. The second post will be for the hostess also, to include any questions that come in the thread. This is a great place to read over.
Did I mention, EVERYONE who completes all 31 challenges is eligible for a $20 gift certificate! The MOC 2021 Guidelines, really are so important to read, so that the tallying and eligibility happens. #9, #10 and #11 ESPECIALLY!
There are a few other blog post that can help you achieve the best results:
- Preparing for the MOC16.
- Preparing for the MOC the Smart Way
- Month of Challenges MOC_5 is here!!
- Reflections from My First MOC
- Are You TOADally Ready for the MOC?
- MOC7 Prep Tips and Challenge Tracker
The most important part, is that if you do ONE or THIRTY-ONE pages, is to have FUN! The gallery is an explosion of some of the most remarkable pages ever. Each person’s interpretation of the challenge causes you to just be in awe! The goal is to play and enjoy the time scrapping, challenge yourself to try techniques or styles you haven’t or just HATE and embrace the spirit of the challenge to feel a little love towards each challenge.
~never lose your joy
Carol (Iowan) says
Great article Anne, just perfect for today. ❤️❤️
Donita says
Loving reading these articles – can’t wait!
Lynn says
Thanks for this great article! As always, you are full of endless scrapping wisdom! I will be stalking the forums waiting for the first challenge post as will many others, I’m sure!