Top Talent Thursday

Welcome back to

Our Creative Corner

We've been talking about it and now it's finally here!

The wonderfully creative DT ladies have all agreed that the winners of our challenges need to have a special day set aside just for them to shine. No longer will winners have their works displayed with us, but they will have an entire day to showcase who they are, what inspires them and a project or card all of their choosing!

We would like to introduce and congratulate Alison for being selected as our Top Talent and for contributing such wonderful creativity to Our Creative Corner.

It's time now to draw back the curtains, turn on the spotlights and grab a comfy chair as we present to you our featured Top Talent for this Thursday.

Enjoy!

Here are few questions we asked Alison, because inquiring minds want to know.

This is what she said...

1) Where do you live?

You would think this would be easy to answer - but I’m somewhat itinerant... My family home is just north of London, UK, and that’s usually where I gravitate to, but over the last decade work has meant I’m just as often in the beautiful town of Stratford-upon-Avon, home to William Shakespeare; and I’m now embarking on new adventures which mean that I hope to spend part of each year living in the Czech Republic, and also mean that our much-loved family home of 40 years is being sold - so who knows where I’ll end up?!

2) If you could be a super-hero, what power would you possess?

I think I’d have to go for time travel - anyone who knows my work will recognise the vintage/nostalgia thread that runs through it. I would be so fascinated to be able to visit other times... and I would love to catch my favourite writers and composers at work. The spark for my creations often comes from words - quotes, poetry - or from music and lyrics. That’s the reason my blog is called Words and Pictures - it really is about being inspired by both, for me.

3) How would you describe your art for the general public audience if they had never seen it before?

Definitely with a vintage-y label; inky and stampy certainly; and it’s got to have texture (actual or metaphorical); but I wouldn’t want to pin it down to grungy or shabby chic or steampunk etc; I’m still exploring styles - I like combining them too. There are so many inspirational influences out there in Craftyblogland - Tim Holtz, the DTs here at OCC, Frilly and Funkie, SSSaS, and the Fashionable Stamping Challenge to mention just the tip of a huge iceberg... there’s just so much to try out!!

4) How would you describe what it means to have an "Artistic Outlook" on life?

For me it’s about allowing yourself time to stop and listen (with all the senses) to the world outside yourself and the world inside yourself, and allowing each to feed the other.

5) Picking only one color of paint, which would you prefer on your carpet?

Well, the floor is hand-painted as bleached wood (yup, by me, nine times on my knees over the whole area), but there’s a blue rug, so for the least obvious mess it would have to be blue, please...

6) Are you a daytime or nighttime crafter?

I have done a number of successful insomniac sessions - and recent work commitments have meant some late night and early morning crafting... but in an ideal world I would just sit there all day long, and then get a good night’s sleep!!

7) Any one tip to organize your craft room?

Um... not really. I do try to clear most of the work surface between projects, otherwise I find it hard to think - I need space for my mind to wander. But there’s no magic trick to it sadly. Generally what it means is the craft table itself looks organized, but everywhere around is crazy messy!

Also, without further adieu, here is Alison's project to inspire!

Applause, applause, applause!!!

Thank you Alison for being our Thursday's Top Talent and sharing such wonderful inspiration with us!

To leave Alison some love and read more about this sensational project, please visit her blog

 Words and Pictures.

If you'd like the chance to be part of

'Top Talent Thursday'

at Our Creative Corner, simply join in our current challenge Fall In The Circle.

There's still time to participate.

"The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe