The Return Of the Our Creative Corner Challenge - March 2016

This month's challenge, I have to admit had me in a bit of tizzy, busy mess. We have the magnificent opportunity of returning to a challenge of our choice from the last three years.   

The details of the challenge  as it is laid out at Our Creative Corner can be found by going here - go on over and have a look - the design team have all chosen a variety of different challenges and there is a bounty of coolness to look at this month because it is so diverse.

In a nutshell - there is a list of challenges from 2013 through 2015 that you can choose from.  You have to state what challenge you have chosen, go to that particular challenge, read those specific challenge rules and then play along to those rules in this month's challenge.

I thought it was a brilliant plan - the problem was that almost every single challenge listed was a super fun one and I battled to settle on just ONE challenge that I wanted to have another go at.  Eventually I settled on Alison's "Words, Words,Words" August Challenge from 2013 because I love Alison (not in a creepy way) and darn it - it's an awesome challenge!

artistic-outpost link

As always there is a brilliant sponsor this month.  Click on the link underneath the badge there to go on over and have a look at their fabulous range of goodies.  If you play along in this month's challenge at Our Creative Corner - you could be the winner of the generous prize they will be sponsoring.  

For my project - I decided that I wanted to make a card that could also be detached to hang on the door of a private library or folded up to place on a reading table.

I loved making this for many reasons.  In addition to  highlighting "words" as a focal point of the project, I decided that I wanted to challenge myself to feature a colour scheme that I hardly ever use and also to make the entire project out of leftover crafting supplies.

I used the following craft supplies items.:

Distress inks to colour the image and create the background -Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Dried Marigold,  Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and Black Soot.

Archival Ink in plum to stamp the text background and Santoro Gorjuss Girl.

Santoro Gorjuss 

Satin Ribbon to create the "fire" flames.  I kind surprised myself when I realised how simply folding and glueing ribbon in loops could create the effect of a ribbon fire.

Brown craft wire to create the smoke effect.

Coffee beans for the logs in the fire.

Old piece of cardboard that was distressed to create a grungey contrasting background.

Tim Holtz' Sticky Alpha parts plastic letters to spell out my sentiment intentions.

Bakers Twine from "The Twinery".

If you see anything else on there that you see that I have not mentioned but you are curios abouthere please leave me a comment and I will let you in on it.

Hope I did Alison's challenge justice.

"Sew Sew" - February 2016 challenge at Our Creative Corner

It's February and it's "Sew Sew" time!

"Fabrics, wool, threads, lace - this months challenge hosted by Jan at Our Creative Corner is all about texture, layers and loveliness!
What scraps have you got hidden away? Any snippets of favourite clothes you can't bare to part with?
Anything sewing related can be used in your piece. You could use stitches, sewing machine or fake stitches. Don't forget to get out your sewing themed stamps and dies.
Have fun and create something!"

The rest of the Design Team's incredible work on this theme is so brilliant and if you haven't come from there to here - be sure to go on over and have a look-see.  I decided to challenge myself to embrace the South Africa cultural heritage, while keeping in mind the theme and the event of Love-day on the 14th, while trying to create something fresh and original (which turned out to be a much taller order than I anticipated)....  

"So she sewed shweshwe on the sugar sweet dolls!".

Shweshwe (/ˈʃwɛ.ʃwɛ/) from the Sotho name Moshoeshoe is a traditional Sotho (South Africa & 

Lesotho) printed fabric characterised by its geometric designs out of which traditional garments are fashioned.

I hand-sticthed some shweshwe fabric scraps "wool, threads, lace", sequins and ribbon onto card and  created these quirky African Valentine Paper Dolls.

The Sponsor this month is 

As always there is a generous prize to be won - 

"Darkroom Door is sponsoring one Rubber Stamp Set, valued at $31.95 AUD, to our randomly drawn winner.  http://www.darkroomdoor.com/rubber-stamp-sets"

To be eligible to win - all you would have to do is create a project following the guidelines above and upload your project on the "Sew Sew" post at Our Creative Corner before the end of this month.

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)

Wish Upon a Star– December 2015 Our Creative Corner Challenge

Isn’t it crazy that this year is almost over?  It’s been a whole year since I joined the Design Team at Our Creative Corner and a year of Star Quality projects from everyone who have submitted their talented work have left me awed and inspired by the creative genius.So what a fitting theme Trish, the challenge host has chosen to end off the year with this month’s theme “Wish Upon a Star”. 
With Christmas coming up and the rush to find personally meaningful and personal gifts for everyone, I thought it would be a cute idea to deck the stockings hanging in the hall with a set of star themed cards. 
I must apologise for my blurry photography in this post – I found it impossible to take a picture on the tiny point and shoot without shaking. Forgive me, this pic was the best I could do!
My family have always kept the tradition of giving useful gifts at Christmas and each year we try to come up with ideas for Christmas presents that the person receiving the gift could use throughout the year.  We’re also big on handmade gifts.  So with that in mind – what I have created for this month’s challenge is a set of constellation-themed cards in an attempt to create a gift that keeps on giving. 
On the front of each card is a Zodiac configuration against a sparkly galaxy type background. The idea is that the receiver of this set of cards would be able to send the appropriate Zodiac Star Constellation card to the person who was born under that Constellation.


I cut out a window from craft cardstock and painted it to look like weathered wood. 

I patiently handwrote a star-themed sentiment on each one (this was the hardest part!)and left the inside of the card blank to use for whatever occasion it needs to be used for.


To make the cards look like a gift-pack of stationery that I intended it to be and not like some random cards that forgot to be sent - I cut a strip of vellum to use as a cigar-band sleeve to bundle the cards and co-ordinating envelopes together, and tied a piece of red and white bakers twine around that piece of vellum and finished it off with a Star embellishment.

Here are few more up close and personal crops of the process.
I downloaded constellation maps by searching for it in Google Image search.

I copied the constellation mapping by drawing the map onto black cardstock with a ball head embossing tool.
 I did this with an embossing tool so that I wouldn’t have any pencil lines to erase and to give me some sort of guide to 
where I would place the stars and rhinestones that I used as the stars. 
I drew in the connector lines with a gold or silver metallic gel pen which I sprinkled some Fine Detail Embossing powder onto while still wet and then heat embossed to create some raised dimension.


To create the galaxy background I made some glittery embossing powder.  That’s right I made the glitter embossing powder and today’s tutorial is a quick description of how I did that.



You’re going to need different colours of glitter and a bottle to chuck it in. Do that – chuck it in altogether and shake that like Bond likes his Martini.



Next you going to need a 1:1 ratio of glitter mix to Embossing Powder – I used Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel for this purpose. I shook that together so that it distributed evenly as well.

Using the ranger big embossing dauber bottle – I smear this goo all over where I want the galaxy to be.
I sprinkle my awesome glitter embossing powder over it and heat set with a heatgun.
Now you have a twinkle twinkle galaxy!
This ends my how-to for this post. Do be a star and add your “Wish Upon a Star” project to the Our Creative Corner challenge this month.  You could be up for some starry delight!
If you haven’t been over there already here are the details and rules of the challenge:

 “My challenge to you all this month is a very simple one...Stars!I have a passion for stars. Stars are incorporated into my email addresses, internet log ins, business name and even my tattoos :)I would love for you all to share your creations, full of stars!Star stamps, star die cuts, star embellishments, star shaped backgrounds, it's up to you!Use lots, or just the one, as long as there is a star somewhere, you're good to go!”

 As always there is a generous prize goodie-bag up for grabs in a draw by our sponsor for this month Tando Creative – you will be eligible to enter the draw by submitting your own “Wish Upon a Star” project – remember that the best thing about Our Creative Corner challenges is that any creative enterprise is allowed.
Remember - Shine like the star you are!

*******Candice(aka Tincan Crafter)*********

Topsy Turvy–October 2015 challenge at Our Creative Corner

Top of the Topsy Turvy morning to you.  Have you had a look at the October 2015 challenge this month at Our Creative Corner?  It is such a fun theme hosted by the lovely Lys. 


My design team contribution is this Topsy Turvy Top.

Let me take you through the process.  Lys challenge reads like this:  

“We often try to do the right way, use the suitable thing, organize our creations following definite lines or intentions… and sometimes it doesn’t go the way we wanted to. Sometimes it goes to the bin, sometimes we discover something new… and we love it!

On the right side or topsy turvy… Is there a right side in art?

So let’s play!:  whatever it is: upside down,  inverted, reversed or escaping from the right order…. Please show me one “topsy turvy” creation, and how it came to life in your hands!”

I have 2 very unfortunate quirks – Firstly, when I am urged by inspiration I get carried in the way in the creative moment and will splash and throw and fling paint and ink with abandon in the attempt to recreate the vision in my head to whatever medium I am applying it to.  Secondly – I will indulge the inspiration regardless of whatever nice new thing I am wearing and it almost never occurs to me, in the giddy delirium of the moment to wear some protective gear.

I had a new nice ice-white crisp t-shirt  on one day when a particularly compelling Jackson Pollack type vision overwhelmed me and I was forced to relieve the tension by acting on it.  The good news is that I was happy with inky splashes on that canvas and I did have a 75% hit rate in terms of contact between ink and canvas.  The other 25% found itself in random arrangements on my nice ice-white crisp t-shirt. 

So what I had was a t-shirt that meant to stay white but now had pretty splotches of inky paint on it.  I am also a big fan of festivals and festival gear, I was thinking the other day that I should update my festival wear.  The other thing is that I love taking things, rethinking it and then upcycling or refashioning it into something different.    When I saw Lys’ challenge, I knew that I could hit all her boxes if I would make and share the topsy turvy top idea I had in my head to give new life to my splotched t-shirt.  Plus I would have a new shirt to wear to the festival this weekend.

So here is what I did:

• I chose a graphic from a colouring page site to copy that I thought would be a funky, festival worthy and fun design to paint

• to transfer the graphic onto the t-shirt plaster the face-side of the print with Dala Picture Perfect (which is really thick Gel Medium).

• Smooth the print  (Picture Perfect side down) onto the shirt

• Wait for it to dry – the bottle recommends at least 6 hours.
• The Gel medium wicks the ink into itself and so the image is transferred onto the “glue” that is stuck to the shirt.
• Once it is dry.  Wet a paper towel and place that onto the back of the paper with the image on it.  Leave it to sit for about 5 –10 minutes.

• Rub the wet paper pulp off until you are left with just the image transfer in the gel medium – be gentle if you rub too hard you might rub the glue off of the shirt.

• Wait for that to dry.  Paint it with dye or Fabric Paint.

• Dye-paint the rest of the shirt if you want.

• If you want a funkier topsy turvy top, grab a pair of scissors and start cutting strips into the back of the shirt and interweave or braid the parts that you want braided.

• You got yourself a 2-in-1 number here.  You can wear the print in the front as a regular t-shirt (i.e TOPSY WAY) or turn it around and wear it like a stringy vest top (i.e TURVY WAY), if you are bold you can wear it over a bikini top like this and I admire you if this is the case – for me though I always wear a bandeau camisole of some sort, if that is what you were wondering.

• Isnt that fun?

So folks – cast your crafty Topsy Turvy Creation into the OCC lot this month and you could be the lucky lot drawn for a super prize from

and remember topsy your turvy, topsy your turvy gooood!

- Tincan Crafter (aka Candice) -