Sunday, December 28, 2014

I made the Design Team on a rad Craft challenge blog and other Hot Air Balloons…..




Can you see that twinkle in my eyes????
I am so super excited. 
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!

Please take our badge for your blogI have been asked to join the Design Team for Our Creative Corner

Our Creative Corner is a design and craft challenge blog where your creative expression is unlimited in terms of what you create.  Readers are invited to take  inspiration from the creative process of an Internationally diverse (Canadian, Slovenian, French, South African ~me~, English and American) design team. Each Month, a challenge theme is hosted by one of the design team and readers are then invited to contribute their own interpretation or inspirations. 

From the Readers creative contributions, the best creative entry as well as 3 Top mentions will be chosen and will be gifted with some awesome crafty supplies from fantastic sponsors.  There is also a random draw where a random creator can win some more stuff.  There are sponsor spotlights – where the design team has a go at showcasing some of the cool products from our sponsors – and even then – readers are invited to contribute their creative interpretations and a randomly drawn winner will receive some prize goodies from that sponsor.  The Calendar for each month is as follows:

OUR CREATIVE CORNER CALENDAR

1st - Challenge issued
4th - Sponsor Spotlight
8th - Winner announced
11th - Surprise Guest Designer
18th - Sponsor Spotlight
22nd - Top Talent
25th - Sponsor Spotlight

Its all so exciting! I am so darn well stoked to have been asked to be on this amazing design team.

To celebrate my induction into the OCC fold – I decided to do an upcycle project.
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(THIS CRAFT CHALLENGE BLOG JUST LETS YOU GO WILD IN YOUR CREATIVITY)

I like hangy things – and I have a thing for Hot Air Balloons.  I think they are perfectly whimsical.  So I decided to update the mobile efforts in my home and made some Hot Air Balloons from old lightbulbs, Christmas Tree Baubles, string, pegs and paint and ink.

Super cute huh?
Here is a very simple tutorial on how you can do that too!
You need this:
HOW TO:
  • I used Distress Paint to paint the big baubles in the accent colours that would match the colour palette I have going in my lounge.  I used Dala Glass Glaze (but I think you could use Ranger alcohol ink as well), to stain the light bulbs.  I didnt bother hollowing them out because I wanted the fitting on the end so that I could make that into a basket.  Leave that to dry thoroughly.
  • While that is drying you can start to work on making the easy-peasy macrame string wrap.  This is easier than it looks.
  • You are going to to need 4 to 6 pieces of equal length string. When the string is folded in half or doubled, it should be long enough to be twice the length of your “balloon” .  If you plan on attaching the basket of the balloon to the same string wrap, make it a little longer.
  • Get a small loop or ring of something. Thread each piece of string through the loop or ring so that it doubles over on itself and the tie it off with a love-knot.  For the purpose of showing you what I mean – I am using a curtain ring and red cord, but for my project, I used a beading jump ring and cotton string (or twine)
  • The next step is to join the adjacent tails of each set in a knot so that it makes a diamond shape – so it should go like this
  • First row:
  • The second row is done by joining the original set of strings back together. So A1 + A2,  B1+B2, C1+C2,  D1+D2,  E1+E2,  F1+F2 must all join back up together so that you have a another concentric row of diamonds. 
  • And for third, fourth, fifth, sixth, however many concentric rows – you just alternate between joining the adjacent strings (ie - A2+B1, B2+C1, C2+D1, D2+E1, E2+F1, F1+A1) and then bringing the string set siblings back together again for the next concentric row (ie - A1 + A2, B1+B2, C1+C2, D1+D2, E1+E2, F1+F2 ).  That really is how easy it is to make the string wrap.
  • Slide the String Wrap over the bauble or the Lightbulb and wiggle it around until its nice and centred and snug.
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  • To make the basket, for the big Baubles, cut a small piece of toilet paper inner tube down to size.  Take apart about 6 pegs so that you have 12 pieces of peg legs.  Glue those on to the inner tube.  To make it stay fast – you can secure it with a rubber band – like this:
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  • Attach the “basket” to the String wrapped Balloon.  My mom and dad came over for a visit and I got them to be props for me to show you this.
DSC_0229 
  • If you want to you can use a dye-spray to add a little more colouring and distressing to the whole balloon like I did.  But they look just as cute uncoloured I think.  For the lightbulbs – I just wrapped jute cord around the base of the lightbulb and added some beads for interest.
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  • Final Product Drying:
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So there you go – be sure to go on over to Our Creative Corner and  check out the amazing projects the other Design Team members have come up up with leave a comment here or there if you liked this tutorial. 
See you soon
Tincan (Candice) Crafter

13 comments:

  1. You are so clever with your hot air balloons, it is great that you shared the macrame string holders, I always wondered how that was done. Congratulations on your wonderful news, they must be thrilled to have you on board! Love your hot air balloons!! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for 2015 Candice! Hugs, Anne xx

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  2. Congratulations on making the OCC Design Team Candice. Looking forward to seeing many more of your creations. Jean.x

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  3. HUGE and well deserved congratulations Candice! I'm so pleased you will be showcasing your amazing talents over at OCC. As for your clever tutorial - think I may need to download it and take it one step at a time as it's such a great idea. Have a fabulous 2015 and I can't wait to see more. Jenny x

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  4. Finally it's time for the official welcome - I know you're going to have a wonderful time at OCC, and so happy that you'll be sharing your amazing creativity there. I've never taken art or design at any kind of educational level either, but I don't think that's what creativity is about - and playfulness and originality you definitely have in abundance! I love this debut project - so much fun and so much detail and so much creativity.
    Alison xx

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  5. Congratulations on your DT position! This project is fabulous...They are so effective.

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  6. Yay, I can finally call you teamie!! These are wonderful Candice, what an amazing recycle / upcycle project! I look forward to getting to know you better in the New Year! big hugs, Pamellia :)

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  7. Fantastic project!! I am so excited to be working with you at Our Creative Corner teamie!! XXX Happy Crafting, Laurie

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  8. Hi Candice and congratulations for being part of the OCC team! Happy to play beside you, such an inventive and clever and sparkling creative lady! I love your project, especially your lightbulbs. See you later!

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  9. OMG!! FABULOUS, Candice!! I'm soooo happy to be on the OCC Design Team with creatives like you!! These introduction upcycled hot air balloons are phenomenal!! OMG--how lame is my little ornament, compared to everything you put into your projects!! :) I'm sooo looking forward to creating with you for this term at OC and know I am going to learn a lot from you all!! CHEERS and CONGRATS!! XOXO-Shari

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  10. Hi Candice, sooo exciting to be LIVE at last and can tell everyone! Love the project, reminds me of macrame which I enjoyed making, very inventive. I am looking forward to creating together on the team. Hugs, Jan x

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  11. Good heavens! That heat would have killed me! We had a nice cool drizzly kind of a day. Just right for eating boiled pudding and roast! Thanks for the visit and lovely comment.

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  12. Oooooh, I am so glad you said "yes" to Laura's invitation, Candice! Your whimsical and joyful art will make such a wonderful addition to the fantabulicious DT over there!
    Hugs and happy new year to you!

    Claudia xx

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  13. Hello dear teamie...isn’t this so exiting, especially because we hide the secret so long! I am thrilled to be in a group of awesome artists, like you are! Love your artistic mind and your first project for OCC is superb...balloons looks gorgeous and I love them even more because you recycled “trash”...the trash for “normal people” is treasure for us!
    Greeting from Slovenia

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It makes me happy when you stop by the Tincan deli - I love interacting with other bloggers, crafters and anyone else who is up for a chat. If you leave a comment I am going to come over to your blog and visit there for a while!!!>