Late August Spotlight

As many of us over here (including me) were on holidays during the last weeks, I thought a rather late August challenge spotlight would be better than none ;)

As always we had wonderfully creative entries full of "esprit" and "thinking out of the box" and I really loved how all our contributors took matchbox crafting to a new level!

So today I want to shine a spotlight on these two lovely makes for our "Steampunk Matchbox Challenge":

the first one was made by Sam from Sambo's Craftart and I love the tiny bottles and the web on top, which makes it look like a long forgotten drawer in some alchemist's cabinet.

The second make is from Tina over at Tina's Craft World and I really admire how she managed to make her box look like an old artefact. A true treasure!

Thank you, ladies, for sharing your fantastic artwork with us! Please, feel free to take the badge and display on your blogs!

Prize winner and Top3 will be announced in a few days, so please come back then to have a look.
Hugs and happy crafting!

SanDee&amelie xx

"Dolls 'n Robots" - our September Challenge

Hi there and welcome! We gladly welcome you back to our new Steampunk challenge for Septemer, dear followers, Steampunk friends and crafters!

This month's theme is 

"Dolls 'n Robots".

You may enter our challenge with stamped/drawn/painted... paper projects like cards, tags ..., paper dolls, paper jumping jacks (which I would count as 2D projects) or something 3D - altered objects, robots from upcycled materials, vintage ladies made from whatever you can think about ....well, actually you can enter our challenge with whatever projects you come up with as long as they fit our theme and as long as they are Steampunk. (For our general challenge rules check the rules stuff page, please).

This is our last month with a guest designer we invited (and had the luck to join us and our challenge). For future challenges we hope to get the chance to have YOU with us - if you want to be our guest designer with one of our challenges, please add a "GD" to your name when entering our challenge via the inlinkz tool, to let us know.  So this is a Guest Designers Call ;)

And again you surprised us with awesome entries with our August challenge! It is so wonderful to have all you talented people out there play with us! Thank you so much! We will announce our Top3 and the prize winner in about a week. So, please, check back then to find out if you are among them.

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But now, please, welcome mixed media artist and creative mind Elly Pirally from "Mixed Media and more"! Woohoo! Applause, applause!

She created a really crazy altered doll for your inspiration:

I love the texture on the altered dolls head and the colours of the tin! A terrific artsy creation indeed!

Elly also agreed to tell us a bit about herself and her art:

Im April 2010 fand ich bei YouTube durch Zufall ein Video über Scrapbooking und war sofort infiziert. Die Inhaberin eines Bastelgeschäftes wurde mit Fragen gelöchert und der erste Embossing Fön ausgeliehen. Im Juni 2010 habe ich dann mein erstes Werk bei YouTube hochgeladen. Ein paar selbstgemachte Minialben und einige Videos später, war ich bereits bei Mixed Media angekommen. Die skurilen Arbeiten von Michael DeMeng hatten es mir besonders angetan, nur wie bekommt man so etwas hin? Techniken dazu suchte ich im Web vergeblich. Eine neue Tür ging auf, als ich im Internet auf Andy Skinner traf, der Online Workshops anbot. Mit ihm trat dann auch die grosse Palette der Acrylfarben als Basis in mein kreatives Leben. Verbunden mit Upcycling entstand so eine neue Leidenschaft, denn es gibt nichts verblüffenderes für mich, als einer alten Verpackung neues Leben zu geben. Meistens in Richtung vintage, steampunk mit viel Rost und Patina.

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Since i've found a video about scrapbooking in april 2010, i was infected. I asked a hobby shop owner a lot questions and borrowed my first embossing gun. I uploaded my first video to YouTube two month later. A view mini books and videos later, i was already addicted to mixed media because i found the art of Michael DeMeng but there wasn't any video to find about the how to do. Another door opened, as i found Andy Skinner and after my first online workshop with him, i was infected with acrylic paint and all the possibilitys with altered art in vintage and steampunk style.

Mixed Media is unlimited possibilitys. Creating art with whatever i can get my hands on.

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Her awesome and inspirational blog "Mixed Media and more" is definitely worth more than one visit! :)

Thank you so much, Elly, for being our fantastic guest this month!! :)

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To get your mojo flowing, SanDee1899 and me made some more projects for your inspiration. Here we go:

SanDee1899


I thought I might try some complete different technique this time and chose to draw this Steampunk Sci-Fi-Robot  in ATC Format inpired by an image I found in www...

die amelie 

Inspired by the film "Robots" I created Mrs. Copperbottom (designated shopping queen). If you hop over to my blog, you will also learn about some ancient classic Greek "trick" for making standing figures appear more natural and "alive" *lol.

We hope you leave us inspired and that you immediately head over to your workdesks or crafting spaces... to be able to enter our challenge soon! We are so curious about your dolls 'n robots you will come up with!!!

Don't forget: this time we have again a separate 2D and a 3D projects collection to enter your creations with!

Hugs and happy crafting!

SanDee&amelie xx

August's Sponsor and Prize

Servus, dear Steampunk friends, followers and crafters!

Time to announce the prize and sponsor for this month's challenge ;)
There are still two more weeks left to enter our "Matchbox Steampunk" challenge and become eligible for the prize draw (which will be a random draw as always) or even one of our Top3!

This month once more Tusia from MixedMediaPlace is our generous sponsor.

She will give away the lovely "Messy Head Collection" pack from 7 Dots Studio. Awesome, isn't it? Her very well sorted mixed media online shop is definitely worth a visit!

Thank you so much, Tusia, for providing us again with such a great give-away!


So get your matchboxes out if you haven't already - and have fun! We look forward to seeing your entries soon ;)

Hugs,
SanDee&amelie

July Winner and Top3

Hello, dear Steampunks!

It's time to announce (proudly of course) the Top3 of both the 2D and 3D entries for our July "Rust" challenge!

We had once more a hard time choosing because all of the projects you entered were absolutely amazing and full of creativity! We are so proud about all our great players who join us so constantly. And we are happy about all those who stumble over our place for the first time and let us know how glad they are that they found it :)

The comments from you that let us know our efforts are appreciated (and noticed) are a lovely reward for us. Thank you.

But now to our Top3. Here they come in no particular order:

2D

Astrid Maclean

Monique

Susan Janicula

3D

Rosie

Esther

Tina

Congrats to all of you (please, feel free to grab the winners badge for display on your blogs) - but also to all who entered a project to our challenge!

You all did an awesome job and if we hadn't promised to choose Top3s, you would all be our winners. 

Now finally to our prize winner, who will receive the wonderful "Real Rust" and an edition of the "Just Stamps" magazine from Daniela Rogall, who was our generous sponsor for this prize. Thank you once more, Daniela, for the great gifts!

And random.org chose my lucky number:

ELLY!

Congrats to you too! Please, let me know the adress Daniela has to mail the prize to. Have fun!

Our August challenge - "Matchbox Steampunk" is open until the end of August and we hope you will all join in again (or for the first time ;)!

Hugs,

SanDee&amelie

August challenge "Matchbox Steampunk"

Welcome back, dear Steampunk friends! Die amelie here, to bring to you the challenge for August.

But first we want to thank you again for entering all those fab projects with our challenges all the time! We are definitely blown away by all your artistic and creative work. It is you who make this place so special! :)

This month we want you to 

incorporate one or more matchboxes 

with your Steampunk projects. 

As usual our challenge is "anything goes" 

as long as it is Steampunk and you stick to the rules and theme.
Top3 and prize winner of the July challenge will be announced within the next few days, so, please, come back to check if you are one of them.  

We have the special pleasure to introduce to you this month's guest designer:

Candy Colwell! 

I am so glad she said yes, when I asked her if she wanted to join us for this month's challenge to create something for your inspiration. And inspirational it is what Candy creates (and contageous too of course ;). Her make for our challenge proves it so well:

So fantastic, isn't it? When I first saw what she had made for our challenge, I really couldn't believe my eyes.... a miniature dresser, made with so much care and thought. Even the smallest details are worth giving them a closer look!

I also asked her if she wanted to tell us a bit about herself and she agreed:

I am married to my high school sweetheart and we’ve been married for 38 years.  We have two wonderful children; a girl and a boy, and four precious grandchildren.

 

I have always loved art although I’ve never had any formal training, other than being fortunate enough to attend Ranger U in 2011.  I am currently a design team member for Simon Says Stamp and Show.  This has been so much fun for me on two levels.  The different challenge themes really make you have to stretch your imagination to come up with new and unique ideas every week.  I really enjoy that.  But even more than that, I have met so many wonderful and talented people that have become friends all over the world through our interactions from Simon Says Stamp and Show.  Claudia, you are a perfect example of this! 

 

What inspires me?  Everything!  Sometimes it’s the lyrics of a song.  Sometimes it’s simply a color.  You never know what is out there, waiting to inspire you.  Just keep that creative eye open!  I do know that I am fascinated by how something is put together.  Once I understand the construction of something, I like to really try to create something with it that I’ve never seen before. 

 

I love Steampunk because you can be “quirky” with your art.  You can take things that you normally wouldn’t think would go together but somehow, in Steampunk, they do!  I love metal, detail and vintage style.  The combination of those three things is perfect for Steampunk pieces.

 

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Thank you so much, Candy, for the Q&A session and for your brilliant and utterly gorgeous design piece! So without any further ado....here come the projects of the DT:


Sandra gave the fab Andy Skinner Timeworn Techniques a try with her matchbox and created a wonderful tiny keepsake with loads of awesome texture and detail:

SanDee1899

I approached the theme from a more abstract angle and by doing so (quite accidentally) developed a new form of art: Steampunk Cubism *lol

die amelie

I hope we have inspired all of you to have your very own joyful play with matchboxes, turning them into something Steampunk-y!

We wish you a lot of fun and a happy time crafting and look forward to seeing your wonderful entries with us soon! You always create such awesome projects for our challenges by all of which we are sooo proud as they are all so veeerrry, very creative and so very well made too! So we can hardly wait to see your matchbox Steampunk!

We will announce July's prize winner and Top3  in about a week, so, please, come back then to check if you are one of them.

Aaaand last but not least: 

GUEST DESIGNER CALL

We have decided on a new addition to our challenge blog: in future we would love to choose the candidates for a guest designer appearance on our challenges from you - our true and highly talented players. So if you want to be our guest designer for one of our challenges, please, add a "GD" to your name when entering our current challenges via the inlinkz tool. We will put up a list from all those who signal that they want to be our guests and contact you for a guest designer's appearance when the time has come (but not later than three weeks before the challenge with you as our GD goes online).

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Don't be shy!  We would be happy to be able to welcome you as our guest designers soon! ;)

As this is a 3D project due to the theme, there is only one collection this time ;)
So, please, enter your project using the inlinkz link below (and add the "GD" if you want to be our guest designer soon).

Please, enter your project via the inlinkz-tool below. 

Hugs,

SanDee&amelie xxx

Second July Spotlight

Hi there and "servus" from overheated Vienna! Die amelie here to bring you another spotlight on one of this month's fantastic projects that have already been entered with our  challenge.

cbee aka Caro

Isn't her card awesome? I love all the layers, the lace and the browns and blue! Thank you, Caro, for entering this gorgeous project! Please, feel free to grab our spotlight button for display on your blog :)

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There's still one more week left to enter a project and become eligible for the wonderful prize sponsored by Daniela Rogall! 

Happy crafting!

SanDee&amelie xx

July Spotlight and Prize

Servus and hello, dear Steampunk friends and crafters!

I welcome you back to our tiny Steampunk space to show you our first spotlight of this month and to tell you about the prize we will give away to this month's randomly drawn winner. So all who enter our challenge with a project that follows the theme and the rules are eligible for this awesome gift from this month's sponsor, Daniela Rogall, owner of creavil store.

Daniela is giving away a jar of "Real Rust" and a copy of her awesome stamp magazine "Just Stamps" - awesome, isn't it?

Thank you so much, Daniela, for being our sponsor this month!

And now to our July spotlight.  I LOVE how Jenny aka Buttons used the various metals with her project and the corrugated card gear is so brilliant! For those who know how hard it is to master the very small format of an ATC it will be obvious how great she managed to create the impression of a large canvas... a stunning effect and loads of awesome texture!

Thank you, Jenny, for entering our challenge with your wonderful art! Please, feel free to grab the spotlight badge and display it with your blog.

And you, dear readers and players, be reminded: there are still (or only? I don't know ;) two more weeks left to enter our Rust challenge and thus get eligible for Daniela Rogall's great prize!

Hugs and happy Steampunk crafting!

die amelie xxx