MAKE TIME - January 2016 Our Creative Corner Challenge

Happy 2016 – It’s been a full year since I joined the awesome team at Our Creative Corner and I am so thrilled to be doing this again this year, you would be too if you had the inside scoop on what we have got in store for you this year!

Claudia has charged us with a terrific challenge this month – simply called “Make Time”. 

Aren't you just drooling at how open this challenge is and what is even better is that she has done given us the most exquisite moodboard and palette to work with. 


So many beautiful ideas arose out of this moodboard for me and I have to admit that I did make about 3 or 4 projects before I decided that this mixed media panel was going to be my submission.

Right after I tell you what Claudia invites us to do for this challenge and why you should jump in and join the fun, I will show you how I put together this little panel that I made for my 18 month old nephew Luke’s bedroom door – that’s him over there – and he loves gadgets and things and I have a feeling that he is going to get into Mecano which naturally leads into steampunkery soon!

So here’s how January at OCC breaks down -
Here is the moodboard where you will draw your inspiration from:

These are the rules of the challenge as stipulated by Claudia, the challenge host -

“I challenge you to calm down, enjoy what you see and let yourself be inspired by it (*the moodboard there on the left). No precise theme to narrow your creativity down - just the colours, shapes, directions, textures and hints of possible themes.
Whatever you make of it - it will be good! Whatever it sparks in you - I want you to show it and have a good time at your studio desks!”

 So if the thrill and gratification of creating something is not already urging you to join in this challenge – let me provide an added perk to get you in on this timely game. 

The sponsor for January is Creative Embellishments.  They will be sponsoring a generous gift to a randomly drawn winner from all the entries in this month’s MAKE TIME challenge.  In addition to that – special kudos are also given every month to the challenge winner and the Top 3!  

So get your crafty on and get jiggy with it!

Moving on…..
Here are a few highlights from start to finish with its varied texturing techniques and treatments on this project.  

You will note that I ended up with less gears but more pronounced gears and cogs.  

The end result seemed adequately grunge and steampunky to me – perfect for a little man who loves fiddly things!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE – right now I reckon that I am stomping my boots off at an awesome Psytrance New Years party in Shongweni, Kwazulu Natal – hope you are having fun too!

 Candice (aka Tincan Crafter)

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2014 May

With 1st Semester exams underway for my students, my time has finally freed up a little for me to devote some much craved for time to make my “tag” entry for the May 2014 edition of the Tim Holtz challenge. Over there on the left was what the talented Tim challenged us with.The focus was on using all those ideology trinkets that we all love to collect and framing them on little paper tiles.  He also showcased the new shadow embossing folders there on the bottom right.  Those haven’t arrived in my part of the global woods yet so I had to change it up a little.


For this month’s “tag” – I decided that I wanted to make something more functional than a tag. Father’s day is coming up and that requires an awesome card for Dad.  I put tons of work into this piece inspired by the TH May because I have a brilliant dad who deserves every bit of detail and attention and coolness.


I also got inspired for the design of this tag by how much I loved the effect of the pipes in my previous post (Click the grey text to go there -the rosey pipe-line for Linda Ledbetter's CC3 Challenge).  I decided to mess around some more with pipe configurations and I really love how this card turned out.  I think my dad is going to like it too.


For the background of the card I used the diamond plate from the diamond plate and riveted metal texture fade set by sizzix and the Brick wall stencil from Enmarc. 

Making the glazed brick texture was one of those salted UTEE experiments.  I inked through the Brick Wall stencil with Archival Ink first in Monarch Orange and then lightly in Plum and then with my salted UTEE heat embossed. 

The effect it created was a lovely, rough and sandy looking glazing.  I have to remember this trick for later. Over that I layered the riveted metal piece that I painted with distress paint.  I wanted to create the effect of an industrial basement in a building with some exposed face-brick wall and valves and gauges and pipes.






To make the pipes – I did the old drinking straw trick again – you can find out how I did that in the post that precedes this by clicking here: http://tincanhandmade.blogspot.com/2014/05/everything-is-coming-up-roses.html












I used a variety of Ideology tinkets and the Gears Die to embellish the tiles.  The tiles are cut from a variety of Tim Holtz papers and I stamped on some of them with some industrial blueprint looking stamps from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Collection.



So I think I kept the theme of the May challenge – don’t you?  I’m entering it as my version.  It is all about what those tag challenges inspire right?  Hope Mr Tim doesn’t mind that I didn’t make a tag.  More importantly – I love that this is going to be dad’s father’s day card – getting all those straws etc. to glue and stay glued at the proper angles was a proper mission, I fiddles with the details for hours.  Dad is the only guy who can be trusted to treasure and appreciate all the work and of course all those lovely ideology trinkets!