Sunday, September 22, 2013

'Captured Memories' Top Talent



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

   This time we are shining the spotlight on the winner of the 'Captured Memories' Challenge hosted by the Funkie Junkie - Linda.


    Our Creative Corner is so happy to be welcoming Susan from klistersøster who was also one of our most recent Top 3 - She is definitely an artist to watch! If you haven't been to her blog to see her amazing work then you really should head over there!

     Susan has done as she always does - created an artistic wonder!.....but before we show you the amazing creations - let's find out a little bit more about this very talented lady.......


1.)  Where do you live?
    Copenhagen - Denmark

2.)  Describe yourself in five words
    I'm a curious, homorous, aesthetic and stubborn collector.
 
3.) What makes you happy?
  For many years I've been collecting papers of every kind, and often I've been asked: "Is there a Paperwar coming up?" Colours - watercolours, pencils, pads, acrylic - you name it. My holidays must be by the seaside, and I love listen to music when I create my scraps.

4.) Describe a real life experience that inspired you artistically
Three years I lived on the little island Samsø, and its landscape with bright light and colours gave me great inspiration, and still does.
 
5.) What is the most useless item that you have purchased for your craft?
In the beginning when I was making scraps, I had to own a machine for diecutting, and I invested in a Double DO and accessories. On a fair I bought a small set of Tim Holtz movers and shapers that I liked very much. When I came home, they wouldn't DO. I complained so much, that on the next fair my husband took part and bought a Sizzix big shot for me. Now the Double DO is collecting dust.
 
6.) If you had a time machine, that worked only once, what point in the history or the future would you be most inspired to visit and why?
I would visit the medieval time/renaissance, and it would be cool to be a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci! His steampunk creations I really adore ;-) 

7.) Do you have any personal goals you have attained or would like to attain in the future?
 I like to be in a constant developing state, and be able to follow all the new trends.

           


     And now lets take a peek at Susan's stunning creation in the spotlight...

Susan made some gorgeous Tarot ATC and Tags for us....



  
Thank you so much Susan for being here today in the Top Talent Spotlight and creating such beautiful ATC's and Tags for us......



If you want to see more photos and details of how these were made then please go along to Susan's blog Klistersoster and say "Hello" - I am sure she would love to see you there! 




Would you like everyone to see your work here under 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 Anne's 'Forgotten Things' challenge.  There is one more week of her challenge left, so why not have fun creating! 

Make anything you like - containing an item that has been forgotten about for a long time or a technique that you haven't used for ages. Please remember to let us know what the forgotten thing is.
         

      We all hope you will come back to see us on the 1st October when Julia will be presenting her challenge for all of you....See you then!










Sunday, September 15, 2013

Forgotten Things Part 2


Hello everyone, Anne here again to welcome back to our mid-month dose of inspiration for our Forgotten Things challenge.  Thank you so much for all the wonderful entries we have had so far into this challenge!  We hope that more of you will find the time to play along with us.  You can find all the main details, challenge rules and the linking feature in this post.  Please don't forget to tell us what your Forgotten Thing is!


Here are the Forgotten Things creations from the other half of our design team:





Anne's suggestion to use "forgotten things" reminded me of a lovely Alice in Wonderland stamp set I purchased at one of my earliest stages as a stamping newbie. They came in a set of four - tiny stamps in lovely tins. I admired them when they arrived, stored them well....and forgot about them. 
They were the perfect size to use with an altered domino booklet. See? ;)


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Anne


When I was cleaning up and clearing out my craft room I came upon this fabulous Tim Holtz Assemblage Clock base which I bought last year and had totally forgotten about (how could I?!).  I do love how Tim's products can take both grungy and feminine approaches.

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My Tattered Leaves die is one of my all-time favorite dies and it mostly sits forgotten on my shelf.  But when fall comes, it gets a workout.  I also used the TH Ultimate Grunge stamp set as well as Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, both of which needed to be dusted off a bit.  I created a fall luminary sort of candle.  No worries about a fire though, it's battery operated.


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 Alison



This was tricky...  Given that my stash is only about a year and half old, there's nothing that's truly forgotten yet!  But I did have one genuine "Ooh, I haven't used that for ages!" in the last few weeks, and it was when I was making my ICADs for the swap that's just happened.  The beautiful, huge hedgerow flowers were an obsession at the beginning of this year; I used them on project after project. But they hadn't been out for ages...


There's also the 'made by' label stamp, which I did sort of forget I'd bought on ebay - I found it still in the envelope! - so I hope all that will make my ICADs count.

This is the front and back - if you want to see the holders I made for them, you'll have to come and visit Words and Pictures, I'm afraid.

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There are two more weeks of this challenge left, so why not have fun creating something that contains a Forgotten Thing.
  
The deadline for this challenge is Saturday 28th September at 11.55pm.
The winner and Top 3 from this challenge will be announced on the 8th October.


The winner will be invited to appear as 'The Top Talent' here at OCC, have a short interview (so we can find out all about them) and there will be a 'Spotlight' on a new project they have created.


The winner's Top Talent interview and creation will be on the 22nd November.
 
Make sure you join us again for those dates and remember that the next challenge will go 'live' on 1st October when Julia announces her theme. Come and see what we have in store for you and where your next OCC challenge journey will take you!








Sunday, September 8, 2013

Words, Words, Words Winner and Top 3

Hello everyone... Alison here, reeling from the task of selecting the winner and top 3 from all your amazing entries to the Words, Words, Words challenge last month!  It was wonderful to see so many of you really putting the words at the centre of your creations.  Thank you all so much.

Believe me, I had a LONG shortlist, but I had to whittle it down, so here they are... and I promise you every single one is worth visiting for a closer look - just click on the links.


Our August Words, Words, Words challenge winner is - 

No.153 Manu - Vintagesavonette


Manu's amazing altered box is simply beautiful - and I particularly loved that all the objects and decorative features were so clearly inspired by the words of the poem (also lovely), even down to the delicate yellows of the colour palette.  Just a wonderful creation, inside and out.


Thank you so much, Manu, and congratulations on being our winner this month.  
We can't wait to see what you come up with for your Top Talent feature, 
and look forward to getting to know you better then.



So, now for the top 3, and this is in no particular order...

No.80 Joycekers - Scraps of Elegance


This trio of ATCs is stunning - so beautifully composed and full of dimension and texture, but my imagination was immediately captured by the words.  They make me want to know the full story behind such bitter-sweet thoughts.  Raw and beautiful.


No. 118 valerie-Jael - Bastelmania


A fantastic trio of canvases, with such depth in the layers of colour, and those dramatic silhouettes.  But the real texture and depth of meaning for me comes from those fragments of actual 1940s airmail letters - preserving the words of the past in these works of art.


No. 147 Susan Janicula - klistersøster


There's just something so delightfully simple and fresh about this journal page.  I love the two different kinds of text in the background - the script sky and newsprint landscape - and the handwritten quote framing the whole piece is absolutely wonderful.



So there you have it... an eclectic collection, but all with words at the heart.  Congratulations to all our winners!  Please feel free to grab your respective badges from our sidebar.  

And thank you again to all those who took part - I could have had a list of Honourable Mentions as long as my arm.  

I hope you'll be able to come along and play in this month's Forgotten Things challenge, hosted by the lovely Anne.  You'll find the challenge details and rules here, along with some stunning inspiration from my team-mates, and I'll be back with the rest of the team on the 15th of the month to give you another nudge.  And don't forget there'll be another Top Talent revealing all on the 22nd too!


Sunday, September 1, 2013

Forgotten Things

Hello everyone, Anne here to welcome you to our brand new challenge at Our Creative Corner  for September.  I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who entered Alison's Words challenge last month, we had some fabulous entries.  Alison will be back on 8th October with the winners's post so please be sure to pop back on that day.

The challenge for September is Forgotten Things. As crafters we tend to have so much in our stash that some things inevitably get forgotten.  You know how it is, you buy that 'must have' item and then you put it away in a safe place...... and it gets forgotten.  Or there might be a technique that you used to love, but have not used or even thought about for ages. So, whether you are re-discovering a forgotten item, or technique, we would love to see your creation.   Please remember to make it very clear in your entry what the 'forgotten' element is.

Just to whet your appetite and to inspire you, here are some fantastic creations from my team-mates.  I will be back with some more inspiration on the 15th so please check back to have a look.






I bought this little tin well over a year ago during one of my Charity Shop trawls. The little mulberry paper flowers seem to have been with me forever because I prefer to make my own these days. After lots of thought (and struggling with an empty brain!), I decided to combine these three unloved items and finally make a tiny bit more space in my room! If you want to see what's inside, please do hop over to my blog and have a look.


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       I wasn't sure what I could use here because I seem to use everything all the time!...then at the bottom of a drawer I found some pale pink glittery Fimo - bought way back in 2003 and was still unopened. Time for it to come out and play. Oh, and I couldn't resist bringing back my favourite cream roses which I haven't used for about three months - Shocking!!!

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         Margie



This tiny book was made from instructions I first downloaded in 2007 and I just came across them recently so was delighted to be able to recreate it again for this challenge, together with the box to hold it.  If you fancy tackling something really small, pop over to my blog to find out how I made it and see some more pics.  See you there!
                
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                                                                               Jenny


I haven't used Tim's 'Riveted Patchwork' technique in ages but it fitted perfectly for a background to this altered heart tag. Can you guess who it is for? Utterly grungy (as are my fingers now) I was so pleased to be able to use an idea from the talented Trace Metcalfe here too. You can see some much needed close ups over at my blog and find out how Trace inspired me.


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Bring your creations to Our Creative Corner and you could be our WINNER!

(Please check out the rules at the end of this post to make sure your entry can be accepted).


Challenge Winners

The winner and Top 3 from this challenge will be announced on the 8th October.

The winner will be invited to appear as 'The Top Talent' here at OCC, have a short interview so we can find out all about them and there will be a 'Spotlight' on a new project they have created. This will take place on November 22nd.

We have a page on this blog called 'Winner's Corner'.  The winner's name will be featured on this.

For entrants who have won our challenges and been featured as 'Top Talent' three times there will be a very special 'Gold Winner' badge for you to display proudly on your blog - now there's a challenge for you.

Of course, there's only one way to collect your badges and have your name placed in 'Winner's Corner' for all to see - let's see your entries!

Remember, Alison will be back on the September 8th to announce the winner of the 'Words, Words, Words' challenge, and on September 15th the rest of the Design Team will showcase their creations for this month's challenge.



And now for THE RULES:

1. You may enter this challenge a maximum of THREE TIMES - they must be different creations and posted on your blog separately.

2. If you post any more than three entries they will sadly have to be deleted.

3. NO back-linking. Please do not enter a creation that was published on your blog before the start of our challenge.

4. Please link to your actual post, not just your blog. If you just link to your blog the team will not be able to find your entry and leave any comments.

5. Please include a link to our challenge in your blog post.

6. You may combine our challenge with as many other challenges as you wish.

7. If you want the team to comment on your entry then you have to link to a site that does not require us to sign in/become a member.

This challenge is open until 11:55 pm Saturday, September 28th.


Thanks for visiting.  Can't wait to see what Forgotten Things you come up with!