Red & white

Just a quick red & white post from me today, a stitched Christmas card that I've started ages ago, but never finished until recently. I've used the flower-ish part of the pattern before, but I wanted to use it in combination with the "Noel" sign this time. However, once both parts were done, I didn't seem to like the combo at all. Was it too plain? Too full? Too red & white?

As I still didn't want to throw the sentiment away, I put it aside while trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the embroidery. Since my original plan included a floral pattern on each side of the sentiment, I was hesitant to cut the embroidered cardboard in half to use it on two separate projects. On the other hand, I couldn't seem to find a replacement motif that would fill the space of the missing "Noel".
Additionally, my problem was that the embroidered cardboard itself wasn't white as in "white". Rather than that, it had some kind of ebony/beige shimmer due to the fact that I was stitching on the back side of a recycled paper box. And what turned out to be helpful when it comes to put the focus on the white yarn, turned out to be a curse when I tried to add background papers which included the actual "white".

Then, however, I came across a vintage red & white background paper which proved to go well with the Christmas spirit last year. I remembered my old red & white Christmas stitching and gave it a try, but I didn't expect to really like the result. 

Long story short told: I was wrong. I did like the subtle red and white pattern in the background, and, even the "Noel" seemed to fit suddenly. The only thing I added were a couple of whte pearls for the flowers and some tiny ones to decorate the sentiment.

A little contribution to the October collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
A little contribution to the collection of hand-stitching at made with Blümchen.

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- allsorts challengeblog: Christmas
- C.R.A.F.T.: Christmas
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative moments: ATG
- friendship challenge: ATG
- kreativtanten: ATG
- love to craft: ATG 
- moving along with the times: for a man
- pennys papertake: ATG
- 12 months of Christmas: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG

And as it's a stitched card I'm showing, I'd like to invite you over to our new Fadengrafik Challenge. We're looking for autumn-themed creations this month, so if you happen t create something using paper embroidery, feel free to play along and maybe you'll be the one winning a cool prize ;)

Finally, to make the red & white post complete, I have bought some red and white flowers at the flower market. A little bit of everything with some greenery, placed in a simple dark grey vase which was - if I remember correctly - a souvenir from Greece. 

A contribution to the Friday Flowerday at Holunderbluetchen.