Color Your World Challenge

Seeing all the wonderful creations for our challenge “Color Your World” is month has been so enjoyable and now I have the great pleasure of introducing you to our Guest Designer for April………

 Becky Colvin from Becky's Creative Scraps

This incredibly talented lady has a style I truly admire. She can go from a lovely shabby-chic to vintage yumminess. She always puts her heart into what she makes. Her projects will inspire you and her sweet personality will bring a smile to your face. 

And now, without further ado, here is my good friend Becky......

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I am very excited and honored to be invited here as a Guest Designer by Laurie for her very first challenge of Color Your World.

When I was first asked to be a Guest Designer I immediately thought of this birdhouse that I picked up at a thrift store. It looks old and rusty and is just waiting for spring to hit it and that's just what I did!

Here is the before picture of the birdhouse....

And here is the after...

I white-washed the birdhouse with some gesso mixed with water. After that was dry I then applied some Art Ingredients Micro Beads mixed with Art Ingredients 3D Gloss Gel and some Viva Decor Rusty Paper mixed with sand to give it that rustic look. You can get all these products at Laurie's store Moore Art From the Heart. I am absolutely in love with the Rusty Paper; you should go pick up some and try it for yourself! 

Here are some close-ups of the sides and other areas where I applied these products...

I also used some Spanish Moss under the Wild Orchid Craft flowers and Prima Flower Vines. The flowers mixed with the rustic colors reminds me of what it looks like in my area when Spring starts to come alive. The dark and dreary from the winter months mixed with the fresh pink and purple spring flowers. The fresh air...look even the little birdies that I got from Kraft Supplies 4 U are even coming out to enjoy the colors of spring time..lol!

If you would like to know more about the details you can watch the video below from my YouTube channel:

I hope I have inspired you to come play along and show us what color your world is in the spring time!! :)

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Thanks so much Becky for being our Guest Designer this month! That is an amazing birdhouse - What an absolutely wonderful spring creation to share with everyone today!

Has Becky inspired you to create with the colours of spring?

If so, you have until the 28th April to join in the challenge - You could be our winner and appear at OCC as our Top Talent. You could be our randomly picked winner and receive a $25 voucher to spend at Creative Embellishment! You could also be one of the Top 3 and be put on our Pinterest board for all to see!

Come and join in the fun at my Color Your World challenge

Happy Crafting!

Laurie xxx

Junk in your Steampunk Trunk

Hi there everyone.

I am so excited to introduce to you the amazing Belinda of Bella's Scrappin Place.

With an originality of note in her creative enterprises and inventiveness in her approach to art materials, supplies and tools - she quickly caught my admiration in the crafting blogworld.

I always love reading her blog, where she makes and shares fantastic things.   I was thrilled to find out that she is a fellow South African like myself and that she teaches art and craft at her studio in Cape Town.  Recently she has joined the U-stream circuit and made her creativity and ideas instantly accessible to anyone, anywhere.

Without taking much more time I am going to hand over to her to amaze you with what she has come up with. I know that you are going to love it.

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I am very excited to be invited here as Guest Designer by Candice and accepted her challenge of using the Junk In My Trunk!

All I can say is that I must have been a magpie in a previous life!  I cannot pass by an interesting object or product without it coming home with me for the sole purpose of making something out of it eventually.  I am always on the lookout for things I can use in ways that were never their original designers intention!

Therefore, I have various trunks from big to small to scratch through for this project.

I eventually settled on my mini trunk of keys and my general trunk of useful items to raid for this project.

As an art teacher I land up with many sample canvases which I have used in my day to day classes to show paint techniques on, so I decided to recycle one of the 12"x12" ones into a steampunk creation using the "DIY" straws which I found at our local Mr Price Home Store in the entertainment department.  When I bought them about a year ago, I knew that they needed to become copper pipes on a project, quite when that was going to happen was debatable, until Candice invited me to do this challenge!  Sometimes one just needs a little nudge to get going!

They are meant to be used for drinking straws as a fun party idea.  However, after a light coat of copper spray paint they soon looked like real tubing!

I then set about laying out the cogs, clocks and various items I had in my stash to see what needed to be glued down before adding some distress paint.  The white clock is a Sizzix die by Tim Holtz and the manila cogs are by Spellbinders.  The embossed clock is a Couture Creations folder called Renaissance which I cut out by hand after embossing it.

Below you can see the wet distress paint which I added over the top of the glued die cuts.  The paint looks very different when it dries.

Here is my mini trunk of keys.  I took out my two favorite ones and made a silicone mold of them and poured some polyurethane into the molds and made my own keys.  This way I can use them again and again and again!  The brown ones in this photo are the originals and the white ones are the molded ones.  The nice thing about the molded ones is that they have flat backs and glue down so easily to a canvas or project.

I used ordinary acrylic paint in raw umber to paint the keys and then when they were dry, I lightly brushed them with some Inka Gold gold cream paint by Viva to bring out their textures and patterns.

Once the spray paint was dry on the tubing, I used a paint brush with my distress paint in Gathered Twigs and Black Soot to give the pipes a more aged look at each joint.

Having made all my embellishments, I glued the whole lot down and added some rusty buckles and studs from my general trunk for added interest as well as some distress inked and Rock Candy crackled Tim Holtz Sizzix cogs cut from left over mount board for added texture and depth.

I could make a canvas/project a week for the rest of the year and not use up all the junk in my trunks...I think I feel a personal challenge coming on!

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Holy Steampipes Belinda, I had no doubt that you would come up with something incredible but this just blows my mind. What an amazing transformation.  I can hardly believe you took that and made it into THAT. Totally loving it.

I hope that seeing Bella's wonderful Steampunk creation will inspire you to come along and play with us this month.  

Remember, we're looking for creations made with JUNK items - lets see them remade into works of beauty!

You have until 28th March to play - and you'll find all the challenge details here as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Our Creative Corner design team...

Happy Crafting!

Laugh and Live More!

Hi Julia back again. 

I have the greatest pleasure today to introduce our Guest Designer. She is a lady I have known and admired for some time: the lovely Alison Hall or Craftytrog (LOVE that name!).

Alison's art is vivacious, fun, beautiful and if I had to describe Alison, I would use those three words about her personality too. She produces the most gorgeous jewellery and her artistic talents span many genres and mediums.  I spent a year doing a mixed media course with Alison and she is fun to be with and inspirational in what she produces. Over to you Alison:

Hi, Alison (Craftytrog) here! I would like to thank my good friend Julia for inviting me to be her guest designer in February. Julia has chosen a great theme for this month...

TIC TAC TOE

For this challenge please choose one line from the grid shown. This can be a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line but you must select the middle square as one of your choices. What you make is your choice but please ensure that the three items you have chosen are clearly visible on your make. Please state in your post which line you have chosen. Inks, stains, sprays etc can be used as necessary on your project.

I absolutely adore paint, so that was definitely going to be in the line that I chose, so therefore I have used stamps and stencils also

I started by painting a PaperArtsy Grey/White board with Eggplant Fresco Finish Acrylic. It's a translucent colour, so I gave it two coats. I then painted some Chalk Fresco onto a piece of bubble wrap, and pressed the board onto it, to get a mono-print.

I used a small brayer to randomly apply some further Fresco Paint colours to my board. I used Bora Bora, Spanish Mulberry, Inky Pool, and then some Eggplant around the edges.

I used a stencil brush to apply Little Black Dress Fresco through Dina Wakley's Affirmations Stencil. This is where I got carried away, and forgot to take photos! Then I painted a little Artemio wooden frame with two coats of Eggplant Fresco.

I stamped an image from PaperBag Studio's 'Laugh' sheet, cut off the words, and cut the image to fit behind the frame. I added the words to the frame, together with some tiny brads.

To finish, I glued the frame to my board, then added some silver eyelets and chain to the top.
Thank you for joining me here today. I hope that I've inspired you to give this fabulous challenge a go.

Alison xox

Finnabair Inspired - Guest Designer

Hello Everyone!

Pamellia here and I am so excited to finally get the chance to introduce you to our surprise guest for January. This lady has been such an inspiration to me. She has taught me new techniques and improvements on old techniques, she pushes boundaries and steps outside of her comfort zone to try new and exciting things! I do hope you will all join me in welcoming INGRID of Ingrid's Crafts Corner!!

Ingrid is an amazing crafter, and not only is she talented, but she is kind-hearted and fun-spirited, just the kind of person you know you want to get to know better the minute you meet her. I feel so blessed to have found her in blogland and even more blessed to call her my friend!

Ingrid can do it all...vintage, CAS, shabby, grungy, altered art, cards, journals...you name it, she has mastered it! She even makes jewelry out out Tyvek, I kid you not!!

I think you will all agree that Ingrid is a creative force to be reckoned with and I am so proud of the project she put together for my Christmas Leftovers theme! Feast your eyes on this!!

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Hello and Happy New Year to you all! 

Ingrid here! I hope you all enjoyed the festivities and are ready for 2015! May it 2015 bring you everything you ever wished for! Mine started with a big bang winning the Card Designer 2014 competition with the UK leading magazine Simply Cards & Papercraft and I am looking forward to my new venture! :)

I would like to thank Pamellia for inviting me to be her Guest Designer in January. I am very honoured to be joining such amazing and talented group of crafters. I love playing along the challenges here at Our Creative Corner and hope you will be able to join this month's challenge too! Pamellia has chosen a great theme for this month.... 

Christmas Leftovers

 I am blessed to call Pam my friend and know how much she loves to give the occasional lucky cereal box a makeover and a makeover it is! This girl has magic hands and a very, very good taste. If you haven't visited her blog yet then I would urge you to, you will not be disappointed. 

I am a little texture-mad and love to create some seriously messy abstract art. I have always admired art by Finnabair, but have never had a go at it myself! Yes, a bit risky to try when guest designing, but isn't it what our creative journey is about? About not being afraid to experiment, try new things and explore the unknown? If you follow my blog then you know that I very much enjoy experimenting and developing new techniques. So I thought I'd give it a go and today I'd like to share the result of my messy play with you.

I gathered my Christmas leftovers which include a cardboard that my Christmas pressie arrived in, the base of a gorgeous iced star biscuits made into a Christmas tree cake I got from my new work colleagues (They thought I really liked the biscuits, but secretly I had my eye on the base ;)), some bottle caps from my partner's festive beverages :), tissue paper, some wrapping paper, a jumbo bubble wrap, ribbons, etc..... I am a bit of a craft hoarder too it seems :/ 

I removed the foil from the cake base, covered it in a tissue paper, added some papers including the cardboard, some netting from our oranges and all tiny little bits and bobs like buttons, clock cogs and glass beads for texture... 

I covered the entire piece with a white Gesso and let it dry. The impatient me got the better of me and I dried it with my heat gun.

When satisfied with the condition of the surface I sprayed it with a mix of Dylusions sprays (Midnight Blue, Calypso Teal, Cherry Pie to create a deep purple colour.. ).

When dry I added some brass embossing powder by Wow! and sponged the edges and raised areas with a black Stazon. I wanted it to be dark enough with some lighter areas peeking through.

I also added a crackled Docrafts frame (Tim Holtz clear Rock Candy crackle paint) and an embossed butterfly die cut (Xcut).

I think I will choose a rectangular canvas next time, but all in all I was happy with the result and enjoyed the process. I do hope you like it :)

Here are some photos for you... 

Thank you for joining me here! Feel free to leave me a comment or two here or on my blog - Ingrid's Crafts Corner - and I look forward to seeing your creations this month! 

Big hugs, 

Ingrid xxx 

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WOW, is about all I can muster! My vocabulary escapes me because my brain is filled with all of the beauty of this amazing project! I told you she was talented, didn't I! Somebody pass me a tissue, I'm drooling!! lol

I hope that seeing Ingrid's wonderful Finnabair Inspired creation will inspire you to come along and play with us this month.  

Remember, we're looking for creations made with....

Christmas Leftovers

You have until 28th January to play - and you'll find all the challenge details as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Our Creative Corner design team by clicking on the challenge link.

Happy Crafting
Pamellia!

A Merry LITTLE Christmas

Hello all, and a warm welcome on this winter's day!

I'm back to introduce our guest for December, and I'm absolutely delighted to welcome the lovely Kasia of Papierowy Wymiar (Paper Size) to Our Creative Corner.  I'm a huge fan of her work, and I'm lucky enough to be the owner of some of her amazing handmade books.

She's a brilliant user of texture and layers and all sorts of wonderful materials and fabrics.  She's a recycler, an upcycler, a scrapper, a book maker and a fabulous ATC creator… so I knew straight away she was the perfect guest for my Have Yourself A Merry LITTLE Christmas challenge.

If you've never visited her blog, I really urge you to do so.  There's so much inspiration, and a unique creative style on show, as well as beautiful photography - not only of her creations, but of lots of other things too - all of them showing her eye for an unusual angle or quirky close-up.

I'm sure you'll be blown away by what she's created for us today… and it would be lovely if you could drop over and leave some love for her over at Papierowy Wymiar too.

Take it away, Kasia!


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Hi  everyone! I have a great pleasure to be a Guest Designer for the December.  Thanks so much Alison, for choosing me with a group of very talented creatives!

The challenge Alison chose for Our Creative Corner this month is to make Christmas Artists Trading Cards.  I created some ATCs and decided to make them into an album. So, here is ATC Christmas album :)

The cards of album are ATCs. The base of  the ATCs are pieces of card dyed by coffee and tea. I spread a sheet on a baking tray, pour the coffee and tea, and put into a warm oven :)

'First star'

'Chrismas tree'

 I used  old lace, a piece of fabric, some paper napkin, little wooden stars, tea bag, a piece of  jewellery, white litlle balls (from Alison :)) and tiny metal and glass balls, and some scrapbooking papers.

'Choco tea time'

Snowflakes are closed in one of the tabs.

'It's snowing'

Lace and fabric are also dyed by coffee.

'Oh, deer'

 Here is back cover of this little album. 

Another look at my ATC album :)

Thank you for looking at my work!

Take care everyone!

Kasia

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Glorious work - thank you so much Kasia!

I hope that will inspire you to come along and play with us this month.  

Remember, we're looking for festive ATCs, ATBs and/or chunky ATCs, so you can really 

Have Yourself A Merry LITTLE Christmas!

You have until 28th December to play - and you'll find all the challenge details as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Our Creative Corner design team by clicking on the challenge link.

Have fun, and happy festive crafting all!
Alison xx

It's Magic - Natural Moments

Welcome back everyone!

Today I have the special honour to present our November Guest Designer here at Our Creative Corner!  

                                 Heather Jacob! Wow!

I am really proud she said "Yes" when being invited over to Our Creative Corner! I have been admiring her work ever since I discovered scrapbooking and her special way of doing it!

She has an incredible talent for composition and I love how she works with colours and textures! Her layouts speak of her love for nature and family and it shows especially with the love and labour she puts into detail. I adore the wonderful monochrome vintage colour schemes she creates and her grunge or shabby chic style. They're perfect!

Her work never fails to inspire me as it always tells of freedom in self-exploration through art. Something I truly admire with art in general. I am so grateful that Heather followed my invitation to share some of her fantastic art with us today at Our Creative Corner!

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Hi there everyone and a warm welcome to Our Creative Corner. I was both thrilled and excited to be asked by Kerstin to Guest design for the month of November. Thanks so much Kerstin, for including me with a bunch of talented creatives .

I love Vintage and I decided to use a photo of my beautiful Grand daughter Ella Jai taken by my talented daughter Tara .The sepia photo has been de-saturated, to create an aged look.

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Below is my completed Layout .

I feel by having a kraft BG , this immediately suggests Vintage .All things Vintage and aged Old Keys, Sepia photos , chipboard, earthy/rusty  colors, clocks, kraft and lace .

The second tag is folded around the edge of the Layout .

 Begin layering and adding embellies

the chipboard has been colored with Distress stain / Rusty hinge .

Stamping and layering add interest and texture and also add to the Vintage feel .

I like to position my embellies around the page, moving them until I am happy .

Finally I adhere them with glue .

I altered the metal clock with black paint to follow the 

Vintage theme.

 The Dusty Attic chipboard title has been altered with Rusty Hinge Distress stain and then I stamped with a Kaiser stamp in black soot distress ink.

 Apply Ranger Distress Crackle Paint /Clear rock candy ..I use a palette knife to avoid brush strokes.

When the crackle is dry (I usually leave to dry overnight for the best effect ) I apply some black paint by dabbing over the crackle and then wipe the excess off with a wipe. Love this effect .

Another look at my finished Vintage Layout .

I hope you are inspired to try some of these vintage techniques. I feel the crackle gives a rich interesting effect .Thanks for looking at my work .

With love, light and warm hugz from me xoox