Top Talent Award Spotlight

Welcome back one and all and to my newest followers thank you and enjoy:) It's a bit of a milestone time at the moment both in crafting and in my 'real' life. You may have noticed that I have just reached the 100 followers milestone. This needs celebrating - leave it with me, I have a bit of a plan and will sort it out asap, promise.

Now, you were also promised you something special yesterday. A little while ago I was chosen to receive a Top Talent Award by the Our Creative Corner design team . What an honour, but wait, it didn't stop there. I was given the opportunity to be given my own 'moment in the spotlight', and that happens today!!!

I'll show you my project here, and then pop over to the Our Creative Corner blog to get a bit more of the lowdown on lil' 'ole moi:) And so without further ado...

With four men and a 5.5 stone Malamute in the house there is precious little space available for random projects to hang around. This means anything I create has to have a purpose, hence the cards and tags to put on cards (large family, many birthdays) or pots to put crafting stuff in. I have an academic diary which is beyond boring - burgundy leatherette, gold lettering, nothing remarkable. Time for a change!

The starting point was the 'red' stencilled background. Those of you who have seen my previous two posts will know this started life as bright yellow card. After a slosh of Brushed Corduroy Distress Stain, stencil through an Impressibilities stencil with Fired Brick Distress Ink. Tim Holtz has recently blogged about the use of stencils with Distress Embossing Powders (HERE). I used a Stamps Away trellis stencil with Walnut Stain Distress Embossing Powder. Love the texture this creates and the fact that it 'protects' the embossing.

This was matted/layered and had a Spellbinders edge added over a gold punched border. I'm really gonna be using this every day at work so it needed protecting with a good cover of Ranger Glue n Seal. Then the fun really began!

I'm not afraid to admit I'm VERY OCD about the details. As a result the choice of toppings changed three times - I made all sorts of stuff and then changed my mind. There is even another version of the blue tag on the reverse that will never see the light of day again:)

My final choices included; a folder made from a piece of recycled cardboard packaging coloured with Wild Honey Distress Ink, with added file tags and a piece of K&Co Ancestry paper (suitably stamped and inked); an MDF pocket watch painted with mica paints and an MDF typewriter coloured with Promarkers (both from Crafty-Emblies); a stamped gold pen, clear triple embossed; and a tag covered in Faded Jeans and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, stamped, gilded and clear embossed to finish.

And there you have it, a piece I am genuinely proud of. There is no way I would have been able to achieve this back in April when this blogging/crafting adventure began, and the thought of getting one follower was a dream. For all those of you out there who are new to this lark yourselves,

DREAM BIG, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way and a special thank you to Hels Sheridan for giving me the kick up the preverbial backside to start. I am eternally grateful. Finally a huge thank you to the team at Our Creative Corner for giving me this opportunity, especially the ever present/supportive Linda Coughlin, the Funkie Junkie herself, and my super guide for this process, Lisa.

Thank you for sharing this with me, don't forget to hop over to the Our Creative Corner blog HERE, and see you all very soon. Huge hugs, Buttons x