Our Creative Corner - The Next Generation!

Good morning, dear friends, visitors, followers and those yet to become!

Today I have some really exciting news to tell - the "Our Creative Corner" challenge blog has been undergoing a relaunch with a totally new decor, format, a stunningly fabulous design team (I - humble me -  am part of...yiipeeeeh!) and brand new challenges to come!

And I will be part of this, having been invited to join their new DT! Whoop, whoop - I am so proud of this!

I loved the "Old" Creative Corner very much (as it was one of my very first challenge blogs I stumbled upon as a stamping newbie and I felt at home with their style and challenges immediately) - and I hope I will be able to fill those shoes as a member of the new DT.
I am not allowed to reveal too much information by now, but I can already tell you that the new owner has put a lot of work and - what is even more important - all his love into turning Our Creative Corner into a newly decorated home for followers old AND new!

I hope you will visit me and this wonderful design team I am in soon and I am impatiently looking forward to meet you there - playing a lot of great challenges together!

Hugs,
Claudia - die amelie x

Help Heather shine!

I am on a mission... the first moment I saw Heather, I knew she needed someone to make her a bit more happy again.

"Who is Heather?" I hear you ask. Well, "Heather" is one of the newly released 3rd Eye stamps which I really love as they are very unique in design. This month's challenge over at 3rd Eye wants to see something "sunny" - so it should not surprise that they call it the "Sunny Challenge" ;)

But let me introduce you to Heather first:

As she looks veeery melancholic (maybe she writes poetry or does some art journaling using dark colours...??) I wondered what could be done to help Heather shine again (not too much and too often, but at least from time to time...as I think a little melancholic streak is necessary to create poetry or other art that has some depth... ;)

For the tag background I used Distress inks and Distress paints with water and after drying I stamped the "branch" stamp on top using DI "chipped sapphire".

 
The white paper I stamped the leaf stamp on several times (to use as sun beams) was coloured using the "DIs with water spritz, dap and flick" technique (one of my all time favs).  After that had dried I cut out the single leaves and glued them to a punched card circle and Heather's cut out face on top. Voila - Heather had turned "sunny" - but somehow she still did not shine right... maybe you can help?

Heather's face was also coloured using white, blue and red gel pens. For a finishing touch I used the leaf stamp again to create a border with the whole tag.

I also enter Simon Says Stamp's "anything goes" challenge with this tag.

Hope you like it!!!
Thanks for visiting!

die amelie xoxo

"Inventions" at Try It On Tuesday!

Sometimes it is scary how time flies - another fortnight has passed (better: flewn by) and it is time for a new challenge theme over at Try It On Tuesday!

This time our theme is 

"Inventions"

As usual our challenge is "anything goes" as long as your project follows the theme.  (As you may well know, Tuesday is also the day I invite you over to FunwithATCs - so, please, scroll down to the previous post to have a look at this fortnight's challenge!)

Of course I had something "Steampunky" in mind when first reading our challenge theme and I wanted to use my new stamp from Crafty Individuals as well as the new Tim Holtz Alterations "pediments" and "layered wings" Sizzix dies, my beloved cogs and gears dies from Xcut, some of the Perfect Pearls Mists, my selfmade Steampunk wordstamp (the How To can be found here) and lots of alcohol inks!!!! 

I created a little "Steampunk engine shrine", using a left over chocolate box (yes, I have to face the truth that  I can no longer hide the fact that there are chocolate boxes to be found at my place ...er...from time to time *lol, but I guess I mentioned the sacrifices we have to make for our art earlier on...). 

I had a lot of fun creating this box, stamping, glueing and doing a lot of die cutting, layering and alcohol inking. I hope the close ups show a little of the variety of effects on the gears and cogs!

The outside of the box was covered using washi tape, blending some of it with alcohol inks too. 

The background for the gears and stamped images was covered with papers from the Prima "Craftsman" and "Romance Novels" collections.

Stamps used are from Crafty Individuals, Oxford Impressions and Tim Holtz. 

Some of the cut out gears were partially folded and glued to the inner sides of the box, thus creating some depth and additional layers. 

The moveable pointing hands with the cogs were mounted using tiny brads and the panels they are on were glued onto the back using foam sticky pads.

The words on the side read "Achtung Zerbrechlich" ("Attention! Fragile!"). Love this tape! As it was only black&white I added alcohol inks to achieve some contrast with the ruler tape on the front. 

To some of the alcohol inked parts I also added some sprays of Mr. Huey's "gold" and Perfect Pearls Mist "blue patina". 

The pediment was given the same treatment:

I wanted to create the impression of a lot of mechanical movement - even though I didn't "invent" something useful *lol. 

I hope I will see a lot of awesome entries from you over at our challenge blog!!! And you have to hop over and see the great projects my DT fellows made too!!!! 

This month's sponsor is 

who are giving away a $25  Gift certificate ! 

As I made all the rusted looking pieces used on this project from white glossy cardstock treating it with alcohol inks, patina and metal colour sprays (I used the backing of one of my Tim Holtz paper stashes...they are perfect for being used with alcohol inks using their white insides), I enter Simon Says Stamp and Show's "Color" challenge with this project.

I also enter the challenges at

Crafty Boots - "Recycle"- recycled chocolate box

Love to Scrap - "Cut it out!"- a lot of die cut gears, cogs, wings, pediment

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Hugs,

die amelie

"Magic"

is this fortnight's theme over at FunwithATCs!

As usual you can interpret the theme as you wish, as long as you create an ATC (Artist Trading Card) for our challenge, which means you have to stick to a format of 2.5 to 3.5 inches.

This time I took it "clean and simple" (which I rarely do to be honest). But I do not own a lot of "magical" stamps.... or magicians images.... only some gentlemen wearing stovepipe hats....and that made the idea for this ATC finally pop up before my eyes.

And how else would you understand that raised eyebrow of this magician (which he obviously is) than this quiet approach of despair as the expected rabbit still hasn't popped out of his hat yet? (Well, maybe he should have taken it off first to do the trick...hm?)

I hope you  like my CAS ATC (LOVE all those abbreviations *lol) and look forward to seeing your magical creations over at our challenge blog soon! You have to hop over to see the enchanting ATCs my DT mates made!!!

Stamps and die used with this ATC are Tim Holtz designs. The words were written by hand.

Hugs,

Claudia - die amelie

WOYWW #201

Have to squeeze this one in but I just couldn't bear missing another WOYWW over at Julia Dunnit's blog hop visiting event!

Gladly the postman brought the three more Distress Paints I ordered two days ago just half an hour ago...so I could try them out before preparing to leave the house today.

Those who visit my blog regularly will know that I struggled a bit with the Distress Paints, not getting them to look like what I wanted them to. Well, today I guess I finally mastered this challenge: the secret to the paints working - as far as I see it -  is to use plenty of them and not be shy to water sufficiently...

So that's what I came up with today and what's on my workdesk this wednesday:

I found out that you have to have at least one darker colour of the Distress paints to get the marbelized look effectively looking. "Forest moss" did the job with my tags today.

I love how some of the spots of the backgrounds look like maps or satellite images. Don't they?

So I shout a short "Heureka!" (for finally mastering that technique) and have to hurry getting dressed and made up for today's photo shooting (for some new passport images for my son and me...grrr...I hate it to be photographed!)

Have a wonderful Workdesk Wednesday, dear followers, crafting friends and new visitors! I will try to come by your desks as soon as possible!

Hugs,

die amelie

"Windows and Doors" at FunwithATCs

Let me welcome you to another challenge at FunwithATCs!
This time our theme is

Windows/Doors

(If you also want to know the challenge theme over at TioT, please, scroll down to the previous post).

Doors are a very mighty symbol... no surprise then that doors come with many sayings. One of my favourites says:

For each door that closes there is a new one that opens. 

I love the idea that we first have to close doors (or sometimes fate closes them for us) to be able to open new ones and step through  - without carrying too much of the old stuff with us. And I like the thought that we never have to be afraid of having nothing to step forward to... fate always will provide us with new goals and challenges worth being met. There's always the chance to evolve by opening unknown doors.

I had this awesome stamp from DarkroomDoor which I used on a background cut from a paper scrap left over from a selfmade background.

and I also stumbled upon my (seldom used but) gorgeous Lynne Perella stamp showing a door opening and a mysterious man standing in it...

On this ATC I did some metal leafing with IndigoBlu guilding flakes and I applied the glue (and some thin layers of white Gesso in other places) using a stencil, thus creating a couple of dotted layers.

I hope you like it and will hop over to our challenge blog to see what my DT mates have created for your inspiration! 

See you at the challenge!

die amelie x

"Spring has sprung!" - Challenge

is this fortnight's theme with us at Try It On Tuesday!

We would like to see something that moves on your cards or projects. 

I chose to try another 3D pop up card similar to this one.
Only this time I did a smaller version.
The card folds flat to fit with an envelope and opens up by pulling the tab below until the "stage" unfolds to its full depth. The mechanism is quite tricky and uses a hidden ribbon attached to the pull tab and the bottom of the stage.

Stamps used are from  Pictorial Webster's stamp set, RedLead and Art Journey.

All images were stamped with Ranger jet black ink onto white card. The rabbit and the snail were cut out and glued onto a piece of acetate so the rabbit would look as if it was just making a big leap.

As usual there is a prize to win this month! This time our sponsos are

who are giving away a $25  Gift certificate! 

If you need some inspiration hop over to the challenge blog to see the awesome projects my design team mates made!

I look forward to seeing your spring-sprung projects soon! :)

Hugs,

die amelie x

More Distress Paints and Tim Holtz

I am still practicing my Distress Paints background making skills...

The background for this tag was made using DPs "broken china" and "frayed burlap" together with some "White Linen" Dylusions ink spray.

I also used my new Sizzlits film strip and tickets die and my newly bought Tim Holtz "Ultimate Grunge" texture stamps. The umbrelly man was stamped using embossing ink and heat embossed with Ranger "rust" embossing powder. Some of the textures and the saying were heat embossed using white embossing powder.

Tickets and film strip were sewn to the tag instead of glued. Done.


I enter Simon Says Stamp 's "Birthday" challenge with this tag.

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Hugs,

die amelie x

12 tags of 2013 - April (take #2)

I wouldn't be me if I let go of trying to master a technique or challenge theme... so I tried the April tag of the Tim Holtz "12 tags of 2013" again today and discovered that I am better at lighting up the marbled background than trying to darken it by applying dark Distress ink tones...

So my April tag #2 again looks quite different compared to Tim's original according to the colours. But this time I tried to incorporate wings and his design.

After doing some layers of marbelizing with Distress paints, covering that with a layer of Distress inks and flicking some water onto it I got this background:

As I used light colours I added silver metal paint instead of copper... I am really proud that this time you could (finally!!) see the effect of that second stained distress ink layer! (even though most of it was going to be covered up anyway...*lol).

I used a lot of Tim Holtz goodness on this - stamps, embellishments, tissue tape...

As I had no metal corner embellishment I stamped the corner image from one of Tim's stamp sets onto acetate and fixed that to the tag using an attacher.

The letter "a" was coloured using the technique Tim shows on his April post but I also used the scratching tool on it to add some texture.

The tag hole for the ribbon was embellished using one of the Tim Holtz ring fasteners and I especially do love the tag label in the upper right corner!!!

I hope you like this one too! :)






With this tag I enter Simon Says Stamp and Show's "very strict" challenge. 

Hugs,
die amelie

"Nature Studies" altered book project

Easter brought some chocolate and that came with a lovely small book box which was perfect for altering!

So I created this:

First I gave the glossy surface of the chocolate box a coat of Gesso. Then I applied a coat of glue over the front of the cover and covered it with sandwich paper I crumpled while trying to keep the center flat and even. After that was in place I continued with the spine of the book where I had glued three thick pieces of cord which were now covered in the same way. The back was most fun as I could crumple the paper here as much as I wanted!

After all had dried I trimmed the edges leaving some for glueing it to the insides to get nice edges.

For the inside of the cover I stamped some cut to size card with images of the "Nature History" stamp set from DeStempelwinkel (which I love veeerrry much), blended the edges and the card with walnut stain Distress ink and flicked some water over the finished piece to get a stained look.

The inside of the box was painted with turquoise acrylic paint.

The outside of the sandwich paper covered book was first painted with a dark brown and then dry brushed with a lighter brown to highlight the creases and some areas. I also used Inka Gold, which gave the book a lovely leathery, old and precious looking finish!

The book panel was also created by using stamps from RedLead and DeStempelwinkel, blending with DI walnut stain and flicking water onto.

I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun making this (and have another of these chocolate boxes in store ;).

I enter The Artistic Stamper's challenge "Texture"  , Craft room challenge "In the Library" , City Crafter's "anything goes" challenge and  Simon Says "Anything Goes" challenge, with this project. 

Hugs,

die amelie x