A Challenge Good-Bye, our Final Top5 and Future Plans

 Servus, hi and welcome back to our last post on this particular blog, my dear and true steampunk and industrial style mixed media friends! 

Several circumstances and developments in the last one and a half years - some concerning Maura's and my health, others affecting our generous prize sponsors' production processes and shipping (and therefore forcing us to stop the give-aways) and also the latest trend that sees most of the creative social media activity having moved from blogs to other faster paced platforms like Instagram for example - well, all of these together have led to our decision to end the challenges, but we will still keep our public SASPC Open Studio group on facebook. We will also provide a platform for sharing/searching your and our makes on Instagram via the hashtag #steampunkspiration.  

So these both will stay up and open! This way we can all keep sharing steampunk and industrial style makes to inspire each other and get shared on a platform. What I really love about this is that this way we are all equal - no more design team members here and players there, but all of us contributing equally to one pool of incredible inspiration! 

The challenge blog will also stay up (only without new challenges being added) to act as a library of inspiring projects of all thinkable kinds of steampunk and industrial style art (as the Top5 in the Top5 posts and the design team makes are always linked to the projects' post sources, you can simply browse the blog whenever you are in search of some mixed media inspiration, a technique tutorial or a quick boost for your steampunk crafts). 

This way SASPC will not be totally gone, your future makes will still be seen and inspire and the good-bye for now is not too hard as it isn't a total one. ;)

Maura also wants to let you know that...

...It has been such an honor to work on the design team to inspire all of you. I am in awe of the wonderful and amazing talent you share with us each challenge. You are truly an inspiration to me, and keep my love of steampunk going. I'm looking forward to continuing our creative journey together on new paths. Our airship is rising on a new adventure and I am looking forward to the journey! Maura

Couldn't have said it any better... XXX

Really hard in fact though was picking our final Top 5! As we had several picks with equal votes,  I have decided to do a

 Top7 

this time. Well worthy of a final Top post, don't you think? 

So without further ado here they come (as always in no particular order): 

Yulia

from

Fox's blog

wowed us with her amazing steampunk watch!

inka-art

blew us away with this incredible piece:

Senna

from

becreative

created a wonderful piece of mixed media steampunk poetry

Louise aka Zuzu

from

Zuzu's Blog

enchanted us with this heavenly rusted piece: 

Angela

from 

Felix the Crafty Cat

has shared this amazing underwater-steampunk themed beauty with us: 

Yulia

made it into our Top 5 with another project - 

two gorgeous steampunk balloons! You can tell the team loved these a lot! 

and finally

Chaitali's

incredible astrolabe with the even more incredible surface treatment!

Very well done, ladies! 

Please, feel free to grab the "badge of honour" for display on your social media. 

***

Our last prize bundle - generously sponsored by lovely Glenda

from 

boozybear - 

goes to 

entry #18 - Zoe 

I also promised to draw a winner of a special prize (a little something, handmade by me)

among those who would share one of their older but still favourite makes (and tell me why they still love it so much) - and at least a few persons have obviously read my blurb on the last challenge post and shared their favourite makes with me... ;)

This little handmade something goes to...

entry #31 - Yulia from Fox's blog

Congrats on your prize wins, Zoe and Yulia! Please, contact me under the vonpappe Email address given in the right side bar to claim your prizes! 

***

Well....it seems I've reached the end of our last Top post...but before I say good-bye on behalf of the whole SASPC team I would also like to take a last look back and shout out a massive THANK YOU to all those who were part of our challlenge journey: 

Sandra aka SanDee (without whom this journey wouldn't even have begun), Brigitte, Susan, Agnieszka, Kerstin, Niki, Maura, Dee, Zoja, Laura, Nate, Alexa, Retro Kraft Shop, DecoArt, Glenda aka boozybear, Drycha from 3rdEye, Chris and Sharon from ReadLead, Tusia from Mixed Media Place/7 Dots Studio, Iris from Irishteddy's, Tando Creative, many wonderful guest designers and (please, forgive me!) whoever I have missed to put on this list. Be assured - I will be forever grateful for your help and contribution! 

And to my wonderful team I would like to say: thank you all so so so so much for making this the most rewarding and inspiring challenge blog journey I could ever have imagined! You will always stay "my creative family" and in my heart and I will never forget the incredible design team work you have been doing all these years or the many times you have jumped in and saved me! I may have been the brain of this whole thing, but you have definitely been the heart of it!!!! Love you loads, ladies! Mwah! XXX

The team and I would like to thank everyone, our sponsors and all our wonderful true players, for being part of this indredible and rewarding adventure! Without you and your fabulous makes or prizes this challenge blog wouldn't have become the creative and inspiring spot is has been throughout those last wonderful nine years! You all rock and will always keep you in our creatives' hearts! 

We hope to see you on Instagram and/or our Open Studio on facebook! 

Stay safe and creative and keep inspiring us! 

Hugs and wishes,

Claudia & the SASPC Team

xxx

SASPC May/June 2021 Top5 and Prize Winner

Welcome back friends! Here comes the best part of "the job", getting to announce the Top 5 and Prize Winner! You are the heart and soul of our challenge, and it is truly my pleasure to make the announcement for our May/June steampunk/industrial "Anything Goes" challenge.

 

********

PRIZE WINNER!! Our prize winner is drawn at random from all proper entries. Our generous friend, the lovely Glenda at Boozybear provides an amazing prize! 

 A surprise package of awesome steampunk chipboard from boozybear goes to

#28 Senna

 Congratulations on your prize win Senna, and thanks so much for joining us in our challenge! Please email Claudia (vonpappe2 - her address is in the sidebar) so she can forward your shipping details to Glenda.

 ******* 

 Drumroll please!!  Our Top 5 from the May/June Challenge (in no particular order)

#2 Matilde

 "On the Wings of Love" is a beautiful industrial style make with lovely patina and rust...a beautiful home decor piece

#10 Ngaere

is sharing a super fun top hat that is chock full of  all kinds of interesting bits, gears...so many amazing details

#16 Zuzu

must have a bit of mermaid in her to envision this gorgeous ocean scene filled with such detail and texture

#22 Nancy

created an amazing steampunk style birthday card filled with cogs, and gears and so much detail

#30 Chaitali

made an awesome book suitcase filled with amazing details...I'm sure this holds an interesting story

  Thank you for sharing your amazing makes and wonderful inspiration with us!  Please feel free to grab the Top 5 badge from above (or the sidebar), and display it on your blog.  Congratulations!! 

MANY THANKS to everyone who entered our May/June challenge! It is always so difficult for the DT to pick the Top 5 from all of the awesome entries, because we truly are inspired by the creativity of each and every one of you. We are so happy to have all of you playing along with us at SASPC - you rock our little steampunk universe!

 ******* 

 The July/August challenge is open until the end of the August, so you still have plenty of time to create and share with us. We would love to see you link up your makes and enter our grade finale challenge, so please join us in our steampunk/industrial mixed media challenge!  

 Keep the cogs and gears of creativity turning. 

Hugs and happy crafting! 

 Maura & the SASPC team xxx

SanDee & amelie's Steampunk Challenges: Our Grand Finale

Hello, Maura here! Welcome to our grand finale challenge at Sandee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenges!

It is a bittersweet moment as we come to the final chapter in our challenge...the story began in 2013, and is coming to a close 9 years later. It has been an amazing journey with all of you, our players, and we are so grateful to each and every one of you! Many, many thanks for the wonderful and inspiring makes from our fabulous team over these many years! Together, players and team, we have shared hundreds of steampunk/industrial projects to kindle inspiration for newbies, and keep the fires of creativity burning for long time players. The airship may be rising for its final journey, but our creativity will go on!

We are so very grateful to our sponsors, especially as we navigated this past difficult year together. Thank you, thank you, Glenda at Boozybear Chipboard and DecoArt!! 

Glenda will be providing the prize package for this challenge, and be sure to check out how the team has used her chipboard in their makes.

Our JULY/AUGUST challenge is STEAMPUNK/INDUSTRIAL 

Anything Goes

(remember: you may enter up to five times!)

We will draw a prize winner and announce our Top 5 on the 15th of September.

We have an amazingly talented design team, and many of you have had the pleasure of viewing their work over the years. It is time to thank each and every member of the design team from 2013 to 2021 for your dedication to our challenge and the incredible talent you have shared with us...THANK YOU!

Without further ado, on to the wonderful and inspiring projects from the team...please pop over to their blogs and leave them some comment love! 

Some of the projects are using some awesome chipboard from Glenda at Boozybear - she has an amazing variety of chipboard on her site - so make sure you check it out! 

Kerstin

is joining us for our "farewell tour" and is sharing two lovely pen boxes she created with silicone molds. So good to have you with us again, Kerstin!

Maura

altered a bottle to create a rusty, crusty treasure dragged up from the ocean

Susan

is sharing this wonderful summer journal, and how appropriate is that "new journey" on the cover?

Zoja

 is sharing her gorgeous creation using her favorite colors. Her flying heart is mounted on a large wooden gear.

and finally 

Claudia

who is taking you on a sentimental journey 

with a make from the very first years of SASPC, 

which is a very personal version of the 

Wizard of Oz:

Claudia says:

"Servus, everyone! The time to say good-bye is near (and we will do so accordingly when announcing our final Top5 and prize winners, of course) and letting go is not easy for me, but I feel it is the right time to do so. Don't we all reach points in our (creative) lives, when we feel we need to re-invent ourselves or the way we create...or the way we make creativity part of our lives...? Sometimes we are forced to focus on more serious stuff instead (like maintaining/ regaining good health, caring for family, starting a new career,...reasons are endless honestly, right?)

Anyhow - I wish all of you who joined me and my wonderful team and sponsors on this journey during the last fantastic nine years the very best and say THANK YOU SO MUCH from the bottom of my heart. You all rock, have been rocking and will be rocking this creative online world - of that I'm sure! 

Love you loads! Mwah! XXX

...and because I am sharing my maybe most-loved steampunk make that I ever created for SASPC (I made this one six or seven years ago I think and it still never fails to put a smile on my face when I see it on my shelf), I want to add a little twist to this very last challenge of ours: one of your five entries may be an old make - but it has to be a or even THE favourite steampunk/industrial style project of yours and I want to learn about the reason why in your post! Among these entries I will do a little private extra prize draw and the winner will get a little handmade something from me (at least I hope that this is something someone would like to get...)"

***

I hope the projects have inspired you to play along with us! Remember, the challenge will run through the end of August. 

Also, pop back on the 15th of July for the Prize winner and Top 5.

May we say one more time how thankful we are for all of you who have made this  steampunk challenge such a success for 9 years!!

May the cogs and gears of creativity continue and inspire your journey through the steampunk universe. With love and hugs, and a few tears we wish you the very best,

Claudia, Maura & the SASPC team 

XXX

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

SASPC March/April 2021 Top 5 and Prize Winner

 Servus and welcome back, dear steampunk and industrial style friends! It's time to announce our Top 5 from the March-April challenge and the boozybear chipboard prize winner! 

As always the team and I have been blown away by your amazing entries and picking our favourites was as hard as ever - but we did. So here they come (in no particular order):

Top 5 

(if you want to learn about any project in more detail and check out further images,simply visit the players' blogs by clicking on their names. You can also click on the images here for a larger view)

Megumi

aka

Ink-Lady Blue

introduced us to amazing steampunk style Arthur.

Look at all the detail! We love him so much! 

Barbara

from yaya scrap & more

delighted us with this cool green version

of the "Professor":

Riet

from "I need to stamp"

amazed us with an incredibly cool background

and card!

Margarita

from "I'm a dreamer"

wowed us with this fantastically altered clock:

and

Louise

aka Zuzu from 

"Zuzu's Petals 'n Stuff"

blew us away with this incredibly imaginative

steampunk egg machine:

Thank you so much, ladies, for the fantastic inspriation and huge congrats on making our Top5! 

Please. feel free to grab "the badge of honour" for display on your blogs!

***

Now, let's move on to announcing our prize winner

of the fabulous steampunk chipboard surprise package

sponsored by lovely Glenda aka 

boozybear

...and the chippies go toooo....

entry #8 - Zoechaos from "This little place"

Congrats, Zoe, on your prize win and thanks so much for playing along! 

Please, email me under the vonpappe2 email address given in the right side bar, 

so I can forward your shipping info to Glenda asap. 

***

Glory, honour and a prize have been awarded - so there's only one thing left to do for me today: 

remind you of our actual challenge that is up and running until the end of June. Remember - it's five entries per player for our two-months long challenges! So don't miss your chance to win some of Glenda's amazing chipboard pieces 

(of course you can also just visit her cool etsy store and shop some ;) 

Hugs and happy steampunk crafting!

Claudia & the SASPC Team

xxx

SanDee&amelie's May/June2021 Steampunk Challenge

 Hi, servus and welcome back to another two-months long steampunk and industrial style challenge, dear creative friends! Claudia here again and I hope you have been making it through the pandemic well so far and are all safe and sound. I am slowly coming back after a long creative break - definitely not my old self again yet, but maybe that isn't what I want to return to anyway - crises is a chance for change they say and I plan to take on that one. ;)

Are you ready for another challenge? I do hope so! The theme is our usual

Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial

one and the rules still apply as usual as well - with one slight change though: you can enter up to five makes during the next two months instead of just three. We will draw a prize winner on the 15th of the following month after the challenge has closed  and then also announce our Top5 of course. 

Sadly I was informed that DecoArt are still under production and shipping restrictions due to Cov19 pandemic production guidelines and will not be able to send out prizes outside the U.S. until at least Fall - so I'm very sorry to have to tell you that there will be no more DecoArt prizes this year. The team and I would like to take this opportunity though to say a huge THANK YOU for the generosity and for having DecoArt with us on our challenge blog journey for so long! 

We still have lovely Glenda from

boozybear 

by our side though! So at least one fabulous bundle of surprise steampunk chippies will go out to one lucky winner! And each project you enter is a chance to win these, so: don't hesitate - create!And maybe your entry will make it to our Top5!!! So there's fame and honour to be gained too. ;) 

The team has once more come up with some fabulously inspirational projects and I hope these will lure you into playing along in the final run! Some of the projects also feature mentioned boozybear chipboard pieces - so look out for these! And of course you can also visit the teamies' blogs by clicking on their names to find out more. If you can spare a sec or two to leave them a little love, that would be so lovely! Thank you! 

Zoja

came up with a giant sea horse - as always done in her beautifully unique monochromatic layering style. 

Another picture - this time featuring the artist herself - to demonstrate the size of the sea horse:

What a wonderful and impressive decorative piece!

Susan

used one of the beautiful boozybear umbrella guys on her fabulously creative "snail mail" project. 

Maura

is sharing a project she made in a class with finnabair. She says:

"It's Mime...don't you wonder if the characters in the stories live inside the book?"

The back: 

and I 

- Claudia - 

decided to indulge in some delicious crusty rustiness and create a travel themed tag duo

using mainly boozybear chipboard pieces and some of my favourite embossing

folders. 

I hope the projects have inspired you to play along! 

 The challenge is open until the end of June and the team and I cannot wait to see your fabulous entries!

And don't forget to visit us here on the 15th to find out about our March-April Top5 and the boozybear prize winner!  

Hugs and happy steampunk crafting!

Claudia & the SASPC Team

xxx

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

January/February Top 5 and Prize Winners!

 

Welcome back friends! Here comes the best part of "the job" - getting to announce the Top 5 and Prize Winners! You are the heart and soul of why we do this, and it is truly my pleasure to make the announcements for our January/February steampunk/industrial "Anything Goes" challenge.  

******** 

 PRIZE WINNERS!! 

Our prize winners are drawn at random from all proper entries. Our generous friends at DecoArt Media,  and the lovely Glenda at Boozybear provide the amazing prizes! As always, we are very thankful for their support. 

Please Note: Due to the ongoing pandemic, DecoArt is on hold due to production issues. We are drawing a winner, but please understand and be patient. We do not anticipate DecoArt shipping until April at the earliest. (it could be summer) (Prize will vary from the photo)

 The fabulous bundle of DecoArt media goodness  goes to

#7 Maggie

***

 and a surprise package of awesome steampunk chipboard from boozybear goes to

#18 Barbara

***

 Congratulations on your prize wins, and thanks so much for joining us in our challenge! Please email Claudia (vonpappe2 - her address is in the sidebar) so she can forward your shipping details to Glenda and DecoArt asap. DecoArt winners, please include a phone number. 

 ******* 

 Drumroll please!!  

Our Top 5 from the January/February Challenge (in no particular order)  

#2 Kathy

has created this amazing primordial piece using an old vinyl record as her base...how cool is that?

#5 Kat

worked in her art journal and made this awesome page filled with wonderful steampunk images and twists of wire

#9 Rituparna

is sharing this wonderful make with us, filled with memories of some of her favorite things and hobbies from earlier in her life

#21 Barbara

is embracing the creative journey here in her wonderfully grungy steampunk tag with lots of crusty texture

#23 Zuzu

has us looking through the porthole into the engine room, filled with rusty pipes in her gorgeous make

Thank you for sharing your amazing makes and wonderful inspiration with us!  

Please feel free to grab the Top 5 badge from above (or the sidebar), and display it on your blog.  Congratulations!! 

 MANY THANKS to everyone who entered our January/February challenge! It is always so difficult for the DT to pick the Top 5 from all of the awesome entries, because we truly are inspired by the creativity of each and every one of you. We are so happy to have all of you playing along with us at SASPC - you rock our little steampunk universe! 

*******

 The March/April challenge is open until the end of April, so you still have plenty of time to create and share with us. We would love to see you link up your makes and enter our challenge this month, so please join us in our steampunk/industrial mixed media challenge! 

 Keep the cogs and gears of creativity turning, Hugs and happy crafting! 

 Maura & the SASPC team xxx