A New Year

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the first post of the New Year! I really think 2015 will be a good one!

      Over at OCC we have lots of new DT members who are so thrilled to lead the way in the first challenge of the year. They have really impressed me already with their amazing creativity and positivity...it is a joy to have them on the team :o)

We have four new Sponsors this year taking our total up to seven! These wonderful companies have been so generous this year! You will all be thrilled with the prizes being offered! 

Another change to the team is that Claudia is no longer on the Design Team.....but before you panic, don't worry! This is not a goodbye! Our wonderful Steampunk Queen won't be going far. While she isn't doing any DT work to inspire you for the challenges, she will be at OCC as the Resident Guest Designer - Claudia will be posting inspiring projects throughout the year with tons of tips and ideas - so make sure you don't miss any of them!

There are so many good reasons to be watching Our Creative Corner this year....

• A huge range of styles of creativity being demonstrated each month. 
• Our Challenge Hosts coming up with unique and interesting challenges.
• Our Resident Guest Designer sharing tips and ideas. 
• Our Top Talents basking in the spotlight and answering our questions
• Guest Designers to add further inspiration for our challenges
• Sponsor Spotlights each month using products we love from the Sponsor companies
• Mega prizes from wonderful companies

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And here we go...the first challenge of the year at Our Creative Corner! 

January's challenge is being hosted by Pamellia - who has so bravely stepped into being CH in the first month of being on the Design Team - she barely had time to glance around before she agreed to take on being a CH. She has dazzled us with her expert organization of everything and we all have really enjoyed making the creations to inspire you....This is how she described her challenge.....

 With the holidays merely a shadow behind us, my guess is you still have bits of Christmas leftovers stashed everywhere, not to mention bags of Christmas bits meant for the recycle bin. I am a hoarder of all things I think I might get around to using one day, and Holiday bits are no exception! Every closet, drawer and cupboard is overflowing with the little things I collected throughout the holidays. Things I think I might use and things heading to the curb.

Christmas wrapping, gift bags, tinsel, ribbon, gift boxes, tissue paper, Christmas crackers, wine boxes, empty gift wrap rolls, Christmas cookie tins, even the images from the fronts of cards I received...you name, I hoard it!

Let's put those bits to good use this month!

With that in mind, for my introductory challenge theme, I have chosen........

CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS

To be clear, your project does NOT have to have a Christmas theme, I only want you to recycle your Christmas scraps.

If it's not obvious what Christmas leftovers you used, make sure to tell us about it, somewhere in your post.

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I was thrilled to get a pashmina as one of my Christmas presents this year....and while I loved the pashmina, I was very pleased with the tissue it was wrapped in - as it gave me the perfect item to use for this challenge.

   A gorgeous gold snowflake printed tissue paper....I got a leftover candle (we always have too many candles despite lighting up loads of them over Christmas) I also used some leftover ivory ribbon and Christmas snowflake wooden die cuts....

And I transformed that plain ivory candle into this...No tricky techniques here at all...just gluing and painting - but it makes a very beautiful decoration and means nothing gets thrown away....

So now I have one decoration already made for next year! I am thrilled with how organised I am - I just know by early December I will have fallen way behind as always - but to be this far ahead right now makes me very happy! :o)

I cut tissue paper to size and stuck it onto the candle with Mod Podge glue. I love working with tissue paper as it is less delicate than serviettes and less likely to tear. It can be smoothed out more and left with a neater finish.

I tore a piece of card and used some new Gold Decoart Media fluid acrylic paint - I love how bright the gold is. It is very much (in my eyes) the effect of gold leaf, especially if you brush it randomly and allow brushstrokes to appear. I love it!

I used several script stamps in Potting Soil Archival ink over the torn painted card. I then pinned it to the candle and wrapped some ivory ribbon and white cord around it....

I painted a wooden die cut snowflake with the gold paint and then stuck tiny pearl beads onto the snowflake

So there it is - a candle decorated with items that were headed to the bin.....

Why not come over to Our Creative Corner and see what everyone else has made?!

You could be the randomly selected winner of the prize donated by our Sponsor this month 

Nicecrane Designs

 You could be our winner and be invited to appear as our Top Talent. 

You could be one of our Top 3 and be pinned onto the OCC Pinterest board!

      Remember you gotta be in it to win it! So come on over to Our Creative Corner and have some fun!