Pink fantasy

How come I find the most wonderful stitching patterns when I should be learning? I'll never know :)
What I do know is that as un-disciplined as I am, I had to try some at once. Next to the swirls that ended up on the christening/communion/confirmation card, I used a wonderful fantasy pattern. And the outcome shows that I'm obviously in a pink phase:

I used soft pink yarn, and combined it with a silver one. In the middle of the pattern, I placed a pink shimmering piece that has a long history of waiting in my storage. I once got it from my sister to "use somehow" and it's rather a piece of junk than a gemstone you use in crafting, but it looks like I finally found the perfect spot for it.

Once the pattern was stitched and the pink piece fixed, it all still seemed a little boring to me, so I added a couple of pink gemstones, and white pearls in various sizes.
As the centerpiece is rather rich, I decided not to use any special ornaments in the background, just a simple pink floral background paper.

challenges:

- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a gem of a challenge: flowers
- allsorts challenge: happy birthday
- alphabetchallengeblog: G for glitz and glamour
- crafting from the heart: ATG
- craftysentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- in the pink: stitching, real or faux
- creative fingers: ATG
- abc-challenge: J for jewels

Holy sacrament

A quick card for the newest challenge at craft-alnica, "holy sacrament".
For the central motif I used a well known Slovene prayer to the guardian angel, which I combined with stitched swirls in the corners. 

To match the little swirls, I added a couple of pearls and punched the lower part of the prayer with a flower punch.

The card has no recipient yet, but as it's all pink it will probably be for a girl. However, I decided not to go for a certain sacrament - it may be either christening, holy communion or even confirmation.

challenges:

- craft-alnica: holy sacrament
- in the pink: stitching, real or faux
- wordart wednesday: ATG
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- crafting from the heart: ATG

A glimpse of sunshine

Another card featuring stitching and flowers, this time a reminder for the current Fadengrafik Challenge that says "Ann's Paper Art". If you have any of Ann's beautiful patterns, join the fun and enter your stitched card til the end of May! If not - visit her site and get some of the freebies ;)
I decided to stitch my pattern with yellow and green yarn that match the main motif - a set of 3D sunflowers. Then, I combined it with yellow embossed paper and added a couple of pearls to the swirls.

For a little shimmer, I used a golden glue-glitter on the sunflowers and golden stickers on the edges.

Even though I made the card without a recipient in my mind, it already found a new home at a dear friend. After all, friends are the very best approximation to sunshine you can get :)

challenges:

- 613 avenue create: ATG
- city crafter: focus on flowers
- crafting from the heart: ATG
- crafts and me: circles
- creative card crew: embossing
- deep ocean: flowers
- fan-tastic tuesday: ATG with a twist: add some flowers
- papertake weekly: in the garden
- ladybug crafts: favourite colour (yellow)
- use your stuff: sunshine

Miss Fairy

I just can't believe how green everything became in the past few weeks. No wonder my cards are more and more spring-ish, too :)
Today's one is a GD project for scrapping4fun (thanks, ladies!). Their newest challenge asks for "Techniques", and you may interprete the task as you want. I decided to go for my favourite technique which is - as you might have noticed - stitching, or card embroidery.
So, first thing to do was choosing the stitching pattern. Then, I started looking for something that would be suitable for the central motif. In the end, I picked one of the wonderful Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Baker.

I'm not sure why I ended up with the Poppy fairy, but the combination of red and green seemed to be perfect. I used those colours to stitch the central part of the frame, and additionally picked brown and black for the corners.

Finally, I added shimmering brown gemstones to the corners, and three black gemstones to each of the red swirls, which now look like poppy blossoms.

challenges:

- 613 avenue create: ATG, optional twist Let's celebrate
- clear it out: ATG
- CAGI: flowers
- crafty calendar: things with wings
- deep ocean challengeblog: flowers
- dream valley: things with wings
- fabnfunky: May flowers
- handmade challenge: spring
- ABC challenge: I for inspire us (my style: stitching)
- ooh la la: pre-coloured image

Kraków part VII - No words

Another must-visit when going to Krakow, one that takes you beyond anything you can imagine and leaves no words to describe.  A small town called Oświęcim that would probably never be known if it hadn't been renamed to Auschwitz and used as scene of the most systematic destruction in history. 

Infamous entrance to the main camp Auschwitz I, with brick-build barracks that once belonged to the Polish army



Even though the outside looks like a collection of abandoned row houses, the inside tells a different story...

From all over Europe, through the selection process to the gas chambers - with every step precisely documented and pictured

Empty zyklon B canisters

Symbolic urn in one of the barracks

Numbers that are too abstract to comprehend - behind each lies a pair of shoes, a pot, a suitcase, a prosthesis, glasses, a broken toy, a pile of hair...

Block No. 10, in which sterilization experiments were conducted

"Wall of death" between block 10 and 11

Surgery & protection ward - needless to say whoever got inside was anything but protected

Apell place & "Death block"

Gas chambers & crematory

Gallows on which camp commander Rudolf Höss was hanged in 1947

 

Sight of the labour camp Auschwitz III - Monowitz.

 

Outside of town, a small village named Brzezinka after birch trees, known under it's German name Auschwitz II - Birkenau.

Unlike tha main camp that tells the story through museum exhibits, the camp in Birkenau is an open-air museum, with brick barracks on one side of the tracks, and wooden barracks/its remains on the other



Endless fields of chimneys and barbed wire...

Sanitary facilities for 2000 people

At the end of the tracks, a rather unsuccessful attempt to cover up the gas chambers and a memorial with plaques in several languages

 

~ the end ~