The Return of the Challenge Winner and Top 3

            Laura here to bring you my Winner and Top 3 for my 'Return of the Challenge' challenge

I loved all the wonderful entries - Thanks so much to all who entered. We hope you all had fun revisiting the old challenges here at Our Creative Corner!

As always the entries were so amazing and it was very difficult to judge. I really didn't have an easy time choosing my winner and Top 3...I wish I could pick everyone!

But before I announce those winners I would like to announce the Sponsor prize winner 

Our wonderful sponsor last month was

Artistic Outpost

The randomly drawn winner for the $15 voucher for Artistic Outpost stamps is....

sarascloset

Congratulations Sara! Please contact us via the email on the sidebar to claim your prize


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And now onto the winner of the challenge.....


Two Mad Dahlias

 

This is so beautiful! I totally adore this creation. I really love photos being used in this way. 

It is so gorgeous, creative and just amazing. 


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And now for my Top 3 (in no particular order)

 Aisha

Amazing texture, love the blend of colours and beautiful decorations - I love this altered notebook

 Sew Paper Paint

This creation is stunning! I love the mix of colours, texture and images. I have always love vivid green and blue mixed with vintage sepia - and this is such a wonderful example of how well these colours work together

Felix the Crafty Cat 

Beautifully made and full of grungy gears - gorgeous!
Such a unique and quirky creation - really wonderful!

Thanks to all who entered this challenge - It was lovely to see all the amazing entries!

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If you want to be the a winner here at Our Creative Corner and appear here as our Top Talent then this month is your last chance to do so.....

Join in Candice's Gypsy Fayre Challenge and you could be appearing here as our guest and show off your work and answer some questions so we can find out more about you!

We are also featuring Tando as our Sponsor this month - you could be randomly picked to win a surprise package of Tando goodies!

Happy Crafting!

Laura

xxxx

Gypsy Fayre

Hi everyone!

Laura here! It is time for a new challenge here at Our Creative Corner, but first we have some very important news!

We have a new team member joining us this month! I am sure you will all know her amazing work and will welcome her with open arms!

Joi @RR

Welcome Joi! We hope you will have a wonderful time here at Our Creative Corner! We are thrilled that you have joined our team!

We also have some more news....

There will be some changes to Our Creative Corner in a few months time. 

From July we will no longer be providing Sponsor prizes to randomly selected winners.

We will also not be featuring a Top Talent each month.
The interview format of Top Talent has been running at OCC since October 2012 and, although it has been so wonderful to showcase our winners, the time has come to move on and do new things....

....so if you have ever wanted to be our Top Talent this month is your last chance!!!!

Enter this months challenge and you could be at OCC designing something to share with us and answering some questions....

 Our Creative Corner will still be featuring a monthly challenge and it will remain the inspiring challenge blog it has always been and the wonderful DT will continue to share with you some brilliant inspiration along the way....

We will be focusing on things a little differently and there will be lots of new surprises and fun in the future....

So stay tuned!!!

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Hi everyone! Candice here!

 This month I want you to craft with the soul of a gypsy and share the wonder with us.... 

Gypsy Fayre

Blessed are the gypsies. The makers of music, artists, writers, dreamers of dreams, wanderers and vagabonds, children and misfits: for they teach us to see the world through beautiful eyes

This month's challenge invites you to let us see your gypsy nature.  

Gypsies are wanderers, purveyors of exquisite things, mysterious things, free-spirited bohemians curating the beauty of life and sharing the wonders with you as the travel along.

So for the challenge let your creativity run wild and free like a gypsy 

I want you to create interesting items you might imagine finding at a traditional Gypsy Fayre.

You may create whatever your gypsy heart desires, but it must....

contain at least 3 colours from the featured colour palette 

or 

  show us how your project is inspired by this gorgeous ode to the gypsy soul!

Come and share your Gypsy inspired creations with us and you would be a winner!

Our Sponsor this month is

Tando Creative

Tando will be sending our randomly selected winner a bundle of surprise goodies this month! Definitely a prize worth winning!

You could also be our last Top Talent here at Our Creative Corner! You could be our Top 3!

Come and see what the wonderful team at OCC made to inspire you this month....




Candice

I can't imagine a gypsy fayre without lots of bright, colourful, jewelry and whimsical accessories. I am a huge lover of Bohemian headbands and bohemian glass and metal jewelry. I took free rein, made some flowers, sewed some sequins, did some braiding and macrame and incorporated all the colours in the colour palette into a bohemian headdress, with a matching ring and earrings.  

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Jennie

I took as many colours as I could from the Gypsy Palette and then added 

different elements which reminded me of the wonderful colourful caravans 

I have been so lucky to see. A colourful adventure for one who does not 

normally work with such bright colours!

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  Ana

For this challenge I decided to show you a journal page....

a page full of secrets and dreams of  beautiful soul...gypsy soul... 

 She had the heart of a hippie, 

the spirit of fairy, and the soul of gypsy.

 She wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in eyes.....

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Julia

 

When I was a child, gypsy folk regularly came round selling heather 

for good luck. I've re-created one of these sprigs using some dried heather

 I collected in the Highlands of Scotland. I've imagined that the sprigs 

could be displayed on a vintage style tag for selling at the fayre. 

The second photo is just to show you the colours as the light was so poor today!

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Lys

I was carried away by the gypsy fair and I imagined a travel: my

carousel turns and shows different tags, as different sides of the rich

 and open gypsy soul...

 

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 Trish

I created a bracelet..... Whilst bohemian and individual, the 

handstamped 'gypsy' charm grounds the wearer with her sense of 

identity, wherever her gypsy soul may travel. 

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 Jan

  

 I took three colours from Candice's Gyspy pallette and created 

a wall hanging from found objects, vintage lace and silk. 

 I used old sari silk in an embroidery hoop 

because the true Romany Gypsies are meant to originate from India.

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 Laura

An unusual bracelet is what came to my mind when I first found out
about Candice's challenge and this really fits the 'Ode to the gypsy soul'-
because I was certainly in need of a change and adventure -being a bit mojo-less-
I definitely went on a wonderful adventure creating this rustic piece of
 jewelry that would fit perfectly in a Gypsy Fayre.

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 Joi

Meet Misty the Gypsy Nag!
Misty is a mystical horse with old gypsy soul. She has pulled a Conestoga Wagon with pride most of her life. She comes from a long blood line of Gypsy Fayre and has the right to 'nag' others with her wisdom!  When her wagon is parked... she loves wandering through the paths and woods with a happy adventurer on her back. Misty also loves to just run free - going no where - flying across the terrain!  Inviting YOU to FLY FREE with this challenge! 

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WOW!!! What beautiful projects everyone! I am blown away with all the exquisite creativity!

 Can't wait to see everyone's Gypsy Fayre creations this month!

Happy Crafting

Candice
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Top Talent For 'Make Time Mood Board' Challenge

Morning everyone. Julia here for another Top Talent spot. Today we are going to meet the very talented winner of Claudia's Make Time Mood board Challenge. It is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to:

Mari from Pöydän kulma

Mari made a gorgeous card for Claudia's challenge which perfectly reflected the inspiration mood board. Please make sure you pop over to her blog and see the wonderful creations there. Let's learn a little more about Mari:

1. ​Where do you live? I live in Vantaa, Finland.
2. Name one artist who inspires you to create and tell us why. I don't follow any particular artist. I'm inspired by different crafters, craft magazines, DT work in challenges and especially new crafty stash.
3. What is your favourite crafting technique and why? I love stamping and colouring character images. Colouring is so relaxing.
4. What do you usually do when a project doesn't go to plan? Embellish. I rarely throw anything away.
5. Name one technique you have never used and explain why. I don't like to get too messy so I don't use techniques where I would have to use my fingers to spread the product.
6. If you could be any figure in history, who would it be and why? I'm happy being me and wouldn't want to be any figure in history.

I'm sure we can all identify with some of Mari's answers there! Rarely throw anything away. . . . inspired by different crafters. . . . . and new crafty stash!! Love those answers Mari,

Without further ado, let's here what Mari has to say about her project and see an image of her beautiful piece:

"I'm so honoured to be the Top Talent this month. Quite unintentionally the colours and embellishments I chose for my card resemble the ones I used in the card I won the Make Time Mood board Challenge with. The inspiration for this card came from a steampunk design paper I bought from a sale. I embossed and inked the paper and embellished the card with cogs which I decorated with ink, embossing powder and distress stain. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added some ribbon, enamel dots and rhinestones."

Lots of gorgeous layers and techniques Mari in your wonderful card! A beautifully coloured and fussy cut image too which finishes of that clever background. Having never used a Promarker ever, I'm constantly in awe of people who are able to use this product with such skill.

Thank you so much Mari for joining us as our Top Talent in March. You were a dream to work with!

There's still time to join in with our latest challenge: The Return Of The Challenge.  Just click on the link for all the details and some wonderful inspiration from the design team. Our generous sponsor this month is:

Artistic Outpost

Artistic Outpost will be donating a $15.00 gift certificate to our randomly drawn winner to spend at their on-line sister-store Our Daily Bread Designs, where Artistic Outpost resides.

One not to miss in my opinion! Just link up your project with us and you could win that randomly drawn prize, be one of our top three talent or perhaps even our new featured Top Talent guest for the month of May!

Look forward to seeing our next Top Talent in April. Thanks for joining me again this month.

Artistic Outpost Sponsor Spotlight No.2

Welcome to the second of our Sponsor Spotlight posts at OCC in March.
This month our Sponsor is....

Artistic Outpost

.

Today we have our wonderful Ana showing what she made with some AO stamps and, as always, she has provided us with some totally amazing inspiration...

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Hello friends…

I am here today to show you what I created with my new Artistic Outpost stamps. 
I struggled with my decision which AO stamp set to choose…so many beautiful choices. 
Finally I chose Jane's Countryside set…gorgeous delicate designs and words….

When I unpacked my stamps, I really didn’t have any idea what I would like to make. In such cases I start working in bigger format of paper, which can be cut later if needed. I let my head relax completely and just started playing around….

Usually I get inspiration on some point. If not, I set everything on the side and try again later….

With this project I got the inspiration when I stamped the quote: 

"To sit in the shade on a fine day"

I could imagine me, sitting under the tree and reading the book or sketching….an idea was born...covers…

Yes, I will made covers for small notebook….

…but before I came to this idea I already made some steps:

I started colouring cardstock with black acrylic paint. Paint was applied with dry brush and cross motions…some tiny parts of cardstock left unpainted, so white background pop up in a beautiful, distressed way. 

When the paint was dry, I added white circles…a thin layer of paint was applied with my finger through a homemade stencil.

 

I stamped beautiful Jane's Countryside stamps on white paper with black ink…I decided to use gorgeous Victorian ladies images and quote which is just perfect for me (at this point, I got idea what exactly I would like to make)

I stamped the Pattern stamp on cotton fabric with red ink. 

All images were cut to fit the circles on the background….I also added some vintage paper with distressed edges.

 

When everything was glued, I used black marker and traced around the edges. Then I cut paper to fit the notebook, added fabric and sewed together.

 

Now I have new covers for my notebook....

....to sit under the tree, sketch and admire beautiful Artistic Outpost images…..

Hugs, Ana K.  


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WOW!!! Ana, this is so gorgeous! You have really shown these stamps in all their beauty

If you would like to be in with a chance to win a voucher worth $15.00 to spend at Artistic Outpost and get one of these amazing stamp sets, then all you have top do is join in the challenge this month.

We are re-visiting old challenges - so take your pick of the ones on the list and join in the fun!

You could be the prize winner or even picked to be here as our Top Talent!!!

Happy Crafting

Laura
xxx

Artistic Outpost Sponsor Spotlight No.1

Welcome to the first of two Sponsor Spotlight posts at OCC in March. This month our Sponsor is....

Artistic Outpost

.

Today we have our amazing Jennie, who got the chance to play with one of my favourite Artistic Outpost Stamp sets - and she has really inspired me to get that gorgeous stamp set out again and play! 

Her beautiful, delicate work is perfect for this stunning stamp set and I am sure you will agree....she has really done Artistic Outpost (and us!) proud!

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I am a great fan of Artistic Outpost stamps, not just because they suit my vintage style, but they stamp so beautifully despite being incredibly detailed.

I chose the Think and Wonder set as it has been on my favourite list for a long long time but more importantly because I have always wanted to create a Triptych and I thought these would be just perfect having three main images. We also live in an old Manse (c.1840) here in Shetland and I often think of the young children who grew up here in Victorian times and these stamps are a lovely reminder of them.

I have used mixed media and stamping on my background and created layers with the stamps on the top using different techniques.

I used my die cutting machine to cut three backgrounds from heavy grey board and gave them all a coat of gesso. I then lined them up on my craft mat and and used crackle paste and a flourish stencil across all three backgrounds so there was a "flourish flow" across them all.

Once the crackle had dried everything got sprayed with Vintage Photo Distress Spray Stain and lots of water.

I also over stamped here and there with a little text stamp and some other small stamps using Archival Brown Ink.

And then it was time to have fun with the stamps! I created a focal point for my middle section by layering papers and the stamped images. The images were stamped on white cardstock but good old Vintage Photo (blended and splattered) gave me the colour I was looking for - slightly lighter than using cream cardstock.

I used some of my usual favourite embellishments to create a thick layered look on this central panel.

For the side panels I stamped the images on tissue paper which I then layered over the top of the crackle paste and then stamped and fussy cut the images again to create a subtle layer and detail. You can see I have also added some tissue tape at the edge of this panel to add a little definition,

I did the same on the right hand panel for these two gorgeous little girls.

 The images on the side panels needed something to ground them and so I stamped a part of the  central image which has a lovely vintage style pattern at the bottom of the frame and used this as their grounding piece.

There are so many wonderful quotes with this stamp set it was difficult to choose one, but I felt that the blocked Think and Wonder worked so well with the detail of the panels.

 The stamps were a joy to work with and I was very pleased with my first attempt at a Triptych.

A huge thank you to Artistic Outpost for the opportunity of letting me play with this fabulous set.

Jennie x

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WOW!!! Jennie I LOVE this - so vintage, delicate and amazing - I could look at it forever!

If you would like to be in with a chance to win a voucher worth $15.00 to spend at Artistic Outpost and get one of these amazing stamp sets, then all you have top do is join in the challenge this month.

We are re-visiting old challenges - so take your pick of the ones on the list and join in the fun!

You could be the prize winner or even picked to be here as our Top Talent!!!

Happy Crafting

Laura
xxx

Sew and Sew Winner and Top 3

Hi Jan here! 

Welcome to the finale of my challenge "Sew and Sew". 

I am so excited to announce the winner and the Top 3.
 

I asked you to create texture, layers and loveliness using a sewing theme and wow you certainly did that. There was a great variety of projects and I had so much fun looking at them and finding out how you created them. A huge thank you to everyone who participated.

Before I announce my winners I just have to announce the prize winner who was selected via Random.org.

This lucky winner wins a Rubber Stamp set valued at $31.95 AUD kindly donated by our generous Sponsor last month......

Darkroom Door

The randomly selected winner is....

No 12. Tracey V

 Congratulations Tracey! Please contact us via the email on the sidebar to claim your prize

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Sooooo the difficult decisions have been made and the winner is...



Roni



I loved everything about this project!
There are so many layers and vintage sewing embellishments.
When I look at this I can see how much Roni enjoyed making it.










Now to the Top 3 (in no particular order)


Branka



I loved the layers in her work, the texture and use of unusual items.
The tea bags over the photos is so subtle.
Brilliant work Branka!





Helen



This just looked so much fun!
The colours, patterns and layers went together beautifully.
Great work Helen.




Tone



There is so much going on here, lots of little details were used to
 create texture and layers. I liked how Tone used the sewing theme to
create a masculine page for her son.



Thank you again everyone who joined my challenge.


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Don't forget our new challenge 'The Return of the Challenge' is now active. Its a fun retro challenge where you choose a previous theme from the list that is featured here


Have fun and create

Hugs Jan x