A Three Colour Challenge Top Talent

Welcome back to another Top Talent spotlight at Our Creative Corner!

This month we are shining the spotlight on the winner of the 'A Three Colour' Challenge that was hosted by Jenny! Our Creative Corner is so pleased to be welcoming Julie from Juliz Design Post who won the challenge with her amazing butterfly canvas.

As usual, before we show you Julie's lovely creation - let's find out a little bit more about this talented crafter.......


1) Where do you live?

I live in Central Scotland.

2) What is your favourite childhood memory?

 
My dad worked in the Merchant Navy and could be away at sea for up to 9 months at a time, so my favourite childhood memory would have to be going to pick him up from the Airport.

 
 
3) Indian food or Chinese food?

 
Indian food wins every time.

 
 
4) Which one craft product that you would love to try for the first time?

 
 I would love to try Tim Holtz new Wallflower paper pad but just can't seem to get my hands on one. A technique I would love to try is making Lace, I have small lace circles about 4 inches in diameter my Great Grandmother made, which are such a keepsake to me. I have a couple of them placed safely in my dolls house over the beds to look like linen.

 
 
5) Where would you love to visit in the World?

 
My ideal dream visit in the world would be to tour Italian cities to see all their Architecture and Art, followed by a Safari in Africa to see the Lions.

 
 
6) What finally convinced you to start getting to grips with mixed media?

 
I feel after all the work you put into a handcrafted card its sad to see them displayed for a short while then into a drawer it goes. I like to have my projects on display around the house and love to up-cycle things, so I guess this is what made me start to play with mixed media.

 
 
7) If you were to run a challenge what would the theme be?

 
My theme would be to Craft something in 3D. I love making a flat piece of paper come to life in 3D yet never see a challenge specifically for this.

Julie has created such a wonderful box for all of us to see. As always the work and attention to detail that goes into her creations is amazing - This is such a treat!

Thank you Julie for being such a wonderful Top Talent in the spotlight for us today..... and thank you also for taking the time to design such an amazing project for us. It has been such a pleasure to feature your work.

     If you want to see more photos and details of how it was made, then please go along to Julie's blog Juliz Design Post and say "Hello" - I am sure she would love to see you there!

**********************************

                    Would you like to see your work here in the 'Our Creative Corner' Spotlight?

You could be here as our 'Top Talent' with the spotlight shining on something you have created! All you have to do is enter Linda's 'Love those Leftovers' challenge

You could also be one of our Top 3 and there is even the chance to be 

the winner of a super prize kindly donated by Crafty Individuals...

          There is one more week of Linda's challenge left, so why not have fun creating!
    

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx

Birthday Quiz - Claudia

Welcome to another quiz session due to Our Creative Corner celebrating the first anniversary under the lead of wonderful, lovely Laura! Wow - where has time gone? A year already?

This time it is my turn to answer some questions....and while answering them I got really really nostalgic and a bit driven away too...so I think you might learn a bit of the less "cool" side of me today ;) . At least more of it than I had intended to show you *smile.


What story do your friends still banter you about?

I still am being told the story when I drove my brand new (!) car down that one steep step towards a shop window. I had parked it there when it had already been dark outside (so I didn't see that step) and forgot that I had left the car in first gear (which I usually don't...but new car, you know?) when I restarted it. So my car almost "jumped" towards that window when it suddenly rolled over the edge of that step. Then there was a loud and ghastly shrieking of metal against concrete....I could just sit and stare at that window pane coming closer and closer, pressing down on the break with my foot like a madman - without any effect. Gladly there was enough space between the show window and the parking spot....*phew.

Luckily one of my friends had some logs in his car, so we could haul up my small car rather easily (at about 2 am in the night). I remember that I drove home (in the dark of night) - always looking into the rear mirror to see if any parts had fallen off my new car yet. But luckily I only lightly scratched the car's bottom side.


Whats the most unusual thing you've ever eaten?

Roasted termites. They were a souvenir of a dear friend's parents, who had traveled to Africa, and he presented them in a bowl without telling what it was. So they looked like some nuts or seeds. They were pretty crunchy and tasted a bit burnt. After I had eaten one I took another, but this time I saw the tiny curled-in feet....well, no need to say that I didn't eat another.


Do you believe in destiny, fate or free will?

I don't like the terms "destiny" and "fate" honestly. And within certain boundaries free will is an illusion we want to believe in so we don't feel too controlled by "fate" or "destiny" (or whatever it is we want to call it).
And it scares hell out of most people if they would admit (to themselves) or come to the conclusion that all the things that happen to them only happen accidentally...as the results of some unforeseeable chain reactions and without purpose.
But I do believe in the fact that we always have a lot more choices in situations when we feel trapped and think that there's only one way out (most of the time not an easy or comfortable one and combined with sacrifices). We just don't see them as they are out of our usual ways of dealing with that kind of matter.
And I also believe that everything that happens to us (even something bad or sad), happens to us for a reason - we only cannot see it yet. Having gone through more than just one crises yet, I believe in this even more, as I always found myself having grown and gotten stronger by enduring and getting through those hard times.


What makes you feel nostalgic?

The smell of box tree. The moment it catches my nose I find myself transported back to the age of four or five, "inhabiting" a castle at the lake's shore with my grandmother, walking through enchanted forests that still surround the castle and rowing the boat over the incredibly deep and dark lake. There was a wonderful big parkway next to the castle and it had lots of box tree hedges and paths and when the summer sun was really hot the smell of the box tree was everywhere. 
My grandma often used to take me with her to "Villa Castiglioni", which was at that time a recreation place for the employees of the company she worked for. It was a romantic castle, built 1881 by Franz Ritter von Winniwarter. It was bought by the rich Camillo Castiglioni in 1920 and has been called after him since then.
It was one of the most enchanted places I have ever been to and I still miss it dearly since it was sold to some independent gentleman in 1999.

The small girl steering the wheel of the electric boat is me (although I preferred rowing mostly), driving my mom and my granny around (being very proud of course). You can see a bit of the Villa Castiglioni and its surroundings in the background. And there were swans. A lot of swans and we all loved to feed them (and they knew...so they always followed us around). So swans do make me feel nostalgic too.


If someone could give you the 'perfect day' - money, events, people, places all available to you - how would you spend that day?
No hard guess after you have read the previous passage I suppose....;)

My perfect day would be spending it at Villa Castiglioni with all my loved ones to show them that special "world" I come from and the place that influenced most of my love for and approach to creativity, arts, nature and poetry. We would of course stay in that enchanted castle tower room with the lovely metal spiral stairs and the balcony, looking down at the lake at our feet and all the mountains surrounding it. We would stroll the parkways, smell the box tree hedges, have a picnic at that hidden spot with the mysterious obelisk in the forest and row the boat along the deep, black Grundlsee's shore until we reach that place where the large daffodil fields used to be (and hopefully are there still). It is the one place on earth where I left a piece of my heart back then - and still feel that I miss it.


Which of the four seasons do you prefer and why?

Definitely Autumn!
Not only early autumn when the trees' leaves start to create their fireworks of colour and also later drown the forest's ground in a sea of red.

But also late autumn...when everything has already started to lose colour, crumble, rot and fade away.

Autumn to me means the most colourful, textural and meaningful time of the year's cycle. It is decay and at the same time promise for re-growth...winter to me just seems to cover up what autumn has already prepared for spring to do its renewal magic. Autumn is the real source of spring's power. Autumn tells stories about faith and letting go. Autumn shows us that nothing is lost forever. Autumn slowly turns down the volume of nature's song and prepares our minds for a time of rest too I think.

Autumn is that time of the year when I love to hike the Vienna Woods with my camera ready to capture all of its beauty and miracles. To me it is the most inspiring season of all. I added some of my favourite autumn photographs I have been taking throughout the years. I hope they explain what it is that I so love with this special season.

***

Thank you for stopping by today to celebrate with us! I loved telling you a bit more personal and non-art-related stuff (but in a way it is related to my art I assume - or rather the other way round...;) about me. And sometimes knowing more personal things about an artist also changes the way you look at the creations she makes, right?

As always: hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia x

Crafty Individuals Sponsor Spotlight II

Hello all, Alison here with another Sponsor Spotlight celebrating this month's generous sponsors, Crafty Individuals.

I had a lovely time playing with the beautiful Wild Flowers and Butterflies stamp...

... and the gorgeous Dancing Dragonflies masks.

This wasn't at all what I had in my head when I started, but I do quite like where it ended up.

And I'm giving you two views straight away since this is one of those makes where the lighting is all... now you see them, now you don't!

I started with an inky background with plenty of splattery texture, graduating in my usual way from greens to blues, earth to sky.

I stamped the lovely Wild Flowers in Olive Archival ink along the foot of the tag.

Then I used the masks as a stamp too.  I daubed various colours of Luminarte Silks onto the masks and then pressed them down onto my tag.

(The bonus is that I also have a really cool bit of leftover card where I did the daubing!)

The Silks have loads of shimmer to them, so there was already a fair amount of dragonfly iridescence, but I wanted more!

Specifically, I wanted the whole of the dragonfly wings to shimmer, not just the outlines, so I played with washes of pale Shimmerz colours and with diluted Liquid Pearls used as a paint...

... until I had the iridescent look I was after for my dragonflies.  You can really see that the wings are "coloured in", and are different from the background behind, but they remain translucent.  And then when the sun hits them at the right angle... bingo!

I added an Idea-ology Word Band in the centre of the meadow grasses, altered with the same Silks paints.  And I mounted the whole tag onto a Prima pre-printed tag from one of their Tag Pads, and trimmed it to fit.

There was a happy accident with the topping... this gauzy ribbon did something really weird with the Silks.  I promise there was nothing approaching purple in the shades I used, they were all blues and greens, but look what I got - pretty perfect for the dragonfly look, I suppose.

So those are my shimmering dragonflies for you. 

I hope you like them darting and dazzling in the summer sky...

... above the meadow grasses, gently waving in the breeze.  That ought to awaken the soul, no?

If that's inspired you, then come and play along in Linda's Love Those Leftovers challenge this month.  You could be in with a chance of winning a wonderful prize package from Crafty Individuals, and we'd love to see you there.

See you soon!

Alison x

Birthday Quiz - Julia

Hello everyone and happy birthday to Our Creative Corner! I can't believe it's been a year since I started on the blog and what great fun it's been.

All the DT members are answering a 'birthday quiz' set of questions so you get to know us a little better. Here's my questions and answers - I wonder what you'll make of them?!

What’s your most listened to song?
This is a difficult one for me as I love listening to music and still attend live concerts whenever possible. Probably the track I always come back to time and time again is Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. I suppose that gives my age away a little although I was quite young when first introduced to their music. I love the haunting, heart thumping beat that is part of this track which builds to a crescendo in a most glorious way. Just closing your eyes and listening to this piece is as good as meditation for me! Click on the link below to hear this majestic track:
 Kashmir by Led Zeppelin

What makes you feel nostalgic?
Music, flowers and family photos make me feel nostalgic. Like many people, I associate certain songs with a particular individual, time of life and sometimes a place. Flowers remind me of my Mother because she loved them - in particular freesias which I always smell whenever I see them. It's like having her back for a split second in time. Photographs, because they record so much of our lives and leave behind a visual reminder for all to treasure.

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?
I have always wanted to climb a mountain in the Himalayas! In my younger days I walked quite a number of hills and mountains in Wales, Debyshire, and The Lake District. I read avidly about those adventurous souls (some would say otherwise!) who climbed snow and ice covered peaks across the world. In reality, I could never do this but I'm pleased that many make it back in one piece and write thrilling books of their adventures.

What is your favourite painting, who was/is the artist and why do you love it?
My most favourite painting is 'The Lady Of Shallot' by John William Waterhouse. It is a stunning depiction of a tragic lady based on the poem by  Alfred Lord Tennyson. The composition of the painting is superb from the pale lady in her long boat in the foreground to the hills on the distant horizon. I fell in love with the picture because the way Waterhouse paints fabrics is simply amazing. I was also mesmerized by the haunted look on the young woman's face. Don't know this painting? Look no further:

Such a small image doesn't do this painting justice. Look at a larger image and you'll be amazed.

 Which of the four seasons do you prefer and why?
I love the Spring best of all. Winter can be dark, damp and cold for weeks on end so the onset of Spring is something to rejoice about. The beautiful colours of spring flowers, the lambs in the fields and the longer daylight hours make everything seem so much better. The earth wakes up and I think I do too!

How much time does it take you to create one of your projects?
I had to laugh when I read this question! I think I take forever to do the smallest thing! Sadly, I'm a very boring perfectionist and I have to get things 'right' - in my eyes at least! I use lots of layers and added items in my art and this can be time consuming but it's how I work. I've tried to make quick projects but it's just not me. I wish it was! I truly admire those people who can sit and produce something beautiful in one day.

Thank you so much for visiting today. I do hope you enjoyed the little quiz! Other members of the team will be doing their quiz throughout the rest of the month so do find time to drop by. All our usual activities will also be taking place so remember to look out for Sponsor Spotlight and Winners Posts.

Julia xx

Birthday Quiz - Jenny

Welcome to another of our birthday month spotlight sessions and this time you get to find out a little more about the girl who once wore a teapot cover on her head!!! They are surprisingly warm I'll have you know...

If you could have been a child prodigy what would you have wanted to be skilled at? When I was young I learned to play the flute and played in an orchestra (which was tutored by some big names in the classical music world). Apparently I did have something of a natural gift for it and could possibly have taken it much further. You don't fully appreciate as a young person that the decisions you make will have a lasting impact and I often wonder "what if I'd pursued it and worked harder with my music..." but then I wouldn't have met the love of my life and had three wonderful boys.

How much time does it take you to create one of your projects? On a few occasions I can have such a clear idea in my head that a project can come together in a couple of hours. Mainly though I start with a rough plan, start on it, hit a block mid way through, and have to step back to get some perspective. This means on average one card equals one day, especially when most of those cards are a little more involved as any regulars to my blog will know! I do seriously need to speed up though!!!

If you had a time machine, what historical figure would you love to see in 21st century life? That's easy. I would love to see what the creative and imaginative genius Leonardo Da Vinci could come up with if he had access to all the information and technology we are blessed with today. With him I think the possibilities really would be endless...

Is there a product/media type out there that you haven't yet used but would love to try? You have no idea how tempted I am to try out Faber Castell Gelatos, but with so many other products currently demanding my attention there may not be enough hours in the day to head down this road at the moment. Never say never though.

Which of the four seasons do you prefer and why? Spring definitely gets my vote. After the darkness and misery of winter weather the promise of spring, with it's ever lightening nights and burst of activity in the garden always makes everything feel better. Our garden positively comes alive with birds, frogs, bees appearing and the magnolia, wisteria, clematis, apple tree and large collection of acers looking at their very best. Even when it rains my spirits feel lifted.

Do you believe in destiny, fate or free will? I honestly think things happen for a reason. You don't always see or understand it at the time, but when I look back there are so many occasions where my hopes and dreams have come true in unexpected ways. It's often a question of learning to be patient and enjoying the present and I'm a firm believer in grabbing opportunities with both hands if you can. Fate may present you with just such an opportunity but you must decide if you are going to take hold and run with it. And before you ask, no, there isn't a 'self help' book in the pipeline!!!

I hope you've enjoyed this spotlight session as much as I have. Next up is the lovely Julia so make sure you return here on May 16th to find out more about this very talented lady.

From me for now, take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Scrap Happy Hanger

Each month here at Our Creative Corner we have a special guest designer.  This month, I have chosen a talented blogging artist Mo Stokes. Mo does lovely vintage style paper crafts and mixed media work and I knew she would do my leftovers challenge proud.  Mo is sharing an absolutely gorgeous shabby chic wall hanging that she has made out of scraps.

 
**************************************************************************

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited and honoured to have been asked to be Guest Designer on Our Creative Corner for May which is being hosted by the very talented Linda Coughlin (aka the Funkie Junkie).

 Linda has chosen a great theme this month 'Love Those Leftovers!' The idea being to create something using all those left overs from previous projects we cant bear to part with. Now as some of you know already I do a few local craft classes and the amount of scraps of ribbons, paper, card I end up with in my stash is nothing short of huge, so this challenge was just perfect for me, I piled all my bits onto my desk and made some of them into this sweet little 3 panel wall hanger.

         It started off with a few 4" canvases that I had used whilst demoing on a class and

 a strip of mount board

I placed 3 canvases onto the mount board to see where they would fall, and 

covered the areas where any gaps might be with a couple of scraps of paper.

I chose a selection of papers that seemed to co-ordinate arranged them over the three canvases and stuck them down with a wet glue making sure there were no bubbles and the edges were stuck down well. I used a craft knife on the reverse side of the canvas to cut off any overhanging bits of paper I didn't want.

I decided to seal them with embossing powder one edge at a time and dabbed it into the versamark pad, made a row of embossing powder on a scrap piece of paper and then dabbed the edge into it. I carefully heat embossed the edge and repeated the procedure for all four edges of all three canvases. This took a little time and effort, but I think it gave it a nice finished look and also helped to seal the edges of the papers down

The next stage is where the fun really started. I started to pick out small scraps of lace trimmings, muslin, and ribbons and played around with them putting them along the joins where two papers met was the first obvious choice, then I tore a few paper sentiments and edged them with ink. The muslin is so beautiful when it is frayed back, and gives a lovely soft backing to the sentiment. I used the muslin this way on all three panels.

I wanted the rosette around the bird image and the Peace dove to pop out just a little bit more from the background, so I used pencils to go around them to pick out the detail a little more.

BEFORE



AFTER

I then used various die-cuts and left overs from previous projects, cut them up, and punched butterflies from them to use on the various panels.

I had a second print of the bird I had used on the third panel, so I cut this one out to decoupage over the top to give it some depth.

I glued the 3 panels in a row onto the strip of mount board I had prepared earlier and added to small screw eyes into the very end of the top one. I then threaded a ribbon through them for a hanger.

On this photo of the first panel you can see the dove in the background, the cut off piece of oval die cut, the muslin under the ripped sentiment and the punched butterfly glued only in the centre so his wings lift up. On the right hand side we have what was left of the heart die-cut we saw earlier, I just inked this a little with DI and two punched flowers with pearl bead centres. The blue in the very centre is just a little dab of blue stickles. The larger pink flower is a left over from another project ages ago which I made one or two too many. It is hand made from 2 torn circles of watercolour paper that had been spritzed with water and torn partway down from the outside edge to create 5 petals. The petals were pleated, dried carefully then stretched out again and inked. The centre is again just a small daisy punch finished with a pearl. 

 

 This photo shows the 2nd panel in more detail and here you can see the remainder of the oval die-cut used in panel 1. It has had the inside cut away so we get the pretty lace pattern, but we do not lose the roses on the paper behind. A larger piece of muslin can be seen at the back with a sentiment torn and inked in the same way as before and another die-cut over this for a nice layered effect. The metal butterfly has been dabbed with blue paint and a piece of inked ribbon left over from a previous project has been wrapped around his body with a couple of pearls. Again you will see that I have covered the join where the two papers meet, but this time with a tiny strip of contrasting rose paper (this was actually part of the strip you cut off from 12 x 12 papers) 

 

 This last close up shows you the bottom panel. The frayed muslin sits at the back of another cut off top strip from 12 x 12 papers and I loved the way the butterfly was just the right size to still be seen framed with the pearl heart buckle. Two of the roses have been die-cut with a spiral die and hand rolled and curled and the bottom left one is not hand made but matched in perfectly. The green stem of this one has been curled around a pokey tool, you may just be able to see the spiral pointing downwards towards the bottom lace. The largest scrap of paper on any of this project is just 4" x 3" and as you can see it is so easy to paper piece to get your background, it doesn't even have to be that big! Any stiff card ie grey board, mount board, corrugated cardboard can be used for the panels and back so it is so easy make one.

I do hope you have enjoyed seeing the step by step of this little wall hanger as much as I have enjoyed making it. Thank you for joining me today.

Hugs Mo x