SASPC Summer Special Challenge Reminder and Throwback in Time

Hi, servus and welcome to a summer special challenge reminder that is a little different from the ones from the last years. As the whole team have already posted their makes on the 1st of July (HERE), I thought I could use this opportunity to look back at the very beginnings of this challenge blog and pick some projects that deserve to be put into the spotlight again.

All the details and the collection to enter your projects for our summer special challenge into, can be found HERE (or by clicking on the badge on the top of our side bar). There is still time until the end of August to enter up to five makes (instead of the usual three) to try to win one of our two fab prize bundles that will be given away by lovely Glenda from boozybear and DecoArt media.

But let's start with our throwback in time! Sandra and I founded this challenge blog and soon started having special guests (so there were more than just two "design duo" projects). I still remember having lovely Candy Colwell as our guest in our very first year. The little miniature dresser made for our "matchbox steampunk" challenge was just breathtakingly amazing and so beautiful!

Karolina Stopyra aka Drycha was our guest in June 2013 and created this adorable steampunk fish card with cogs scales for us!

Sandra, whom I still miss dearly, was the one who had the idea of setting up our own mixed media steampunk challenge blog - so we actually owe her this wonderful creative spot! I am so happy that she made me do this! She sadly had to turn down her creative hobby and we have lost touch. I hope she is happy and doing well!

Our wonderful and true Brigitte finally turned our duo into a team of three in November 2013...and this was her first project as a regular DT member:

 In March 2014 Susan Janicula aka klistersoster joined the design team (and I am so happy and proud to tell that she has been with us since then!) with this cool steampunk steampunk card.

Dear Kerstin joined the design team a little later and this lovely altered box was her first project as our new member:

And I am still in love with former design team member Agnieszka's adorable steampunk bowler hat!

Lovely Nate, who had been with us for quite a while too, amazed me with this beautiful project (well, not just with this particular one...lol):

And fabulous Zoja has been creating the most amazing assemblage pieces since she has joined our design team (and hopefully will do so for much longer :) 

Wonderful Maura has rejoined our design team some time ago - which has made me very happy! She has been making the most inventive and funniest projects ever since - like this Tyvek charm she has created from used envelopes and acrylic paints and media. 

And my wonderful and dear friend Laura was part of our amazing design team too! I miss her and her wonderful projects. 

And of course there were the most inspiring makes by amazingly talented Niki to be admired on our challenge blog...

...and not to forget about Dee, who has enriched our design team with her unique projects too!

Lovely and evenly amazing Alexa was the last talent to join our design team and I am so happy to have her!

With all these amazing talents I have had or still have the pleasure to work alongside I can call myself a very lucky challenge blog owner, can't I? 

I hope you have enjoyed this little creative time warp as much as I have! I can't believe that this is year six on my journey as a challenge blog owner! And I can't believe how far we have come! I am so thankful and proud of all the wonderful guest designers we have had and of all our true and fantastic players, who join in so regularly, and I am also thankful for our fabulous current prize sponsors boozybear and DecoArt media, and all our former prize sponsors too! Thank you all so much for helping and having helped making this place the special spot it is today!

Our summer special challenge is open for one more month and you can simply click on the badge at the top of our sidebar or scroll down to the previous post to learn about the details and to get to the actual DT makes and the inlinkz collection to join in! Thanks for stopping by and happy summer holidays!

Claudia & the SASPC DT

xxx

Boozybear Special IX

Servus, hi and welcome to the last post of our boozybear special feature!

Claudia here with this final project featuring Glenda - the designer and owner of the boozybear etsy shop  - and her fab steampunk chipboard pieces by showing steampunk/industrial style projects done by my wonderful DT - each using the same boozybear parts but in totally different projects and ways of using them.

So throughout the last months you have been provided with extra project posts over here and I have been so happy to have the opportunity to not only show some of Glenda's amazing chipboard designs but also let my DT each have the stage to herself. (to make it easier for you to compare the projects there's a list of previously posted boozybear projects with links to every new project post...see below)
I find the idea thrilling to see how differently the same chipboard pieces can be approached. I hope you do too. ;)

*Here's the link list to previous boozybear projects done by the DT:

Boozybear Special I
Boozybear Special II
Boozybear Special III
Boozybear Special IV
Boozybear Special V
Boozybear Special VI
Boozybear Special VII
Boozybear Special VIII

So today it is my turn to share some boozybear inspiration - so here we go!

As you can see I didn't use the largest clockface pieces in the back, but the others immediately sparked the idea of a mechanical wind up heart with wings and a propeller. 

The balsa wood heart and the old picture stand had been waiting in my stash quite a long time to be used....now was the time!

I started with adding a base coat of Raw Umber DecoArt Student Acrylic paint to the heart and painted the wings, key and propeller with DecoArt Extreme Sheen "Vintage Brass" and "Bronze".

Once dry I created a feather-y texture on the wings using DecoArt media Heavy Gel Medium and let it air dry. 

I also used the Heavy Gel Medium to adhere the clock face and gears to the heart. 

This is how the texture from the Heavy Gel Medium looked on the finished project:

While the assembled heart was set aside to dry I painted a quick coat of DecoArt matte Decou-Page to the stand to provide more tooth for some paint to adhere. 

Once the Heavy Gel Medium on the wings had dried I applied some DecoArt Sparkling Turquoise Metallic Lustre to the raised areas using my fingertip. 

The steampunk heart got a coat of Bronze Extreme Sheen that I stippled onto and inbetween the glued on pieces and the heart with an old and worn bristle brush. 

Once the bronze paint was dry, I stippled on some DecoArt media Carbon Black fluid acrylic paint here and there. 

I did the same with Quinacridone Gold...

...and to finish my steampunk parts off, I dry brushed them with a mix of Titan Buff and Prussian Blue Hue fluid acrylics. 

The wire stand was treated pretty much the same...only that I started with the Metallic Lustre as a base coat instead of the Extreme Sheen.

I felt the wings and heart still looked too "clean" - so I added some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint to the wings with a palette knife...

...and sprinkles of Carbon Black, Turquoise and White Shimmer Mister to the heart:

The little propeller was fixed to the bottom of the heart using a round toothpick. I hand drilled the hole and inserted the toothpick with some glue. 

Then it was time to assemble my flying wind up steampunk heart with matte Decou-Page. 

The stand and the propeller came last.

Done!

Steampunk and hearts always go together so well, don't they? 

I hope you've enjoyed the read and recommend you check out Glenda's wonderful range of chipboard pieces over at her boozybear etsy store! 

***

Our January challenge is still open until the end of the month and I would love to see you play along! And if you haven't taken a look at the makes of Team A and  Team B yet, I highly recommend you do so...loads of inspiration there to find! I promise ;) 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

XXX

Boozybear Special - Part VIII

Hi, servus and welcome to part VIII of our boozybear sponsor special feature!

We're still not done with featuring Glenda - the designer and owner of the boozybear etsy shop  - and her fab steampunk chipboard pieces by showing steampunk/industrial style projects done by my wonderful DT - each using the same boozybear parts but in totally different projects and ways of using them.

So throughout the last months you have been provided with extra project posts over here and I have been so happy to have the opportunity to not only show some of Glenda's amazing chipboard designs but also let my DT each have the stage to herself. (to make it easier for you to compare the projects there's a list of previously posted boozybear projects with links to every new project post...see below)
I find the idea thrilling to see how differently the same chipboard pieces can be approached. I hope you do too. ;)

*Here's the link list to previous boozybear projects done by the DT:

Boozybear Special I
Boozybear Special II
Boozybear Special III
Boozybear Special IV
Boozybear Special V
Boozybear Special VI
Boozybear Special VII

Only two more projects to go - as Brigitte's and mine are still missing.

So today it's time for Brigitte to share her boozybear project with you.  And believe me - this really makes me want to alter a brush too now! ;) Enjoy!

***

Colors of time/

Couleurs du temps

Altered paintbrush / Pinceau altéré

Brigitte started with priming a paintbrush...

 

...with white DecoArt media Gesso. Then she added DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints to create a kind of patina look. 

The boozybear cogs, gears and other steampunk chippies were "rusted" with brown, violet, orange and blue paint...

...and then glued onto the brush:

The top of the brush was given a dreamy face cast from a self made mould 

and painted with the same colours. 

As the chipboard cogs and gears are a bit flexible, 

they could easily be attached to the handle of the brush

to create a kind of relief effect. 

Et voilá!

***

So cool! I HAVE TO try this too! Your altered paintbrush is just amazing, Brigitte! Thanks so much for the fantastic inspiration! XXX

***

Our actual January challenge is still open until the end of the month and before we will be sharing the makes of Team B on the 15th, we will also announce the winners and Top 5 of our winter special challenge next week. So stay tuned! And of course we hope to see you play along with us soon (maybe we will see some altered brushes being entered too? Who knows.... ;)

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia 

xxx