Little reindeer

Just a short post today to introduce July's Fadengrafik Challenge that says "Christmas in Summer". We'll be looking for Christmas-related creations this month, and you're invited to link up anything you wish as long as it has some kind of paper embroidery on it.

I for my part decided to make a simple Christmas card featuring a cute little Bugaboo reindeer, as well as a border stitched with silver and red yarn.

For the digi, I used colouring pencils in traditional Christmas colours. Once I was done with the motif, I decided to make the scene a little more vivid by using some colour on the background, too - namely, blending the background in a light blue shade. 

Before the colouring though, I created the second motif on the card, a simple stitched ornament in silver and red. When it was done, I glued it onto a strip of black background paper - not quite the festive colour of choice when one thinks of Christmas, but I thought it's a pick that wouldn't draw the attention away from digi and the stitching. 
The pattern itself is meant to resemble a Christmas garland, and upon a close look, one might or might not see that the red "light bulbs" are stitched with two different shades of red. 

Since the reindeer digi comes in a way as if the cutie was peeking from behind the corner, I decided to place the stitched piece of paper right where some sort of wall is implied in the image. 

For the background, I've chosen to go with a light bark-like background from a set of winter/Christmas paper. 
It was actually the very first thing I picked for my card after I've decided to work with the reindeer digi, even before choosing the colours, the stitching pattern, and yarns. It just seemed to work well with the image itself - a neutral paper in the back that would be able to match both of the centerpieces, while considering the fact that the stitching would be placed quite offside by the edge of the card.

No snowflakes in sight yet...

... except in the form of a winter-memory from Erlangen.

A little contribution to the June 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
- gem of a challenge: ATG
- Christmas crafts all year round: garlands/leaves/flowers
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative moments: ATG
- friendship challenge: ATG
- love to craft: ATG 
- love to scrap: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG
- 12 months of Christmas: ATG
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG

Jungle holiday

Just a really quick post again, featuring another summer-ish, travel-inspired project. 

I decided to put napkin decoupage aside for a while to make a card, sticking with my usual process of "I have an idea in my mind, but once I'm done creating the result will be something completely different". 

I picked a digi to work with this time, which in my crafting corner usually means one thing only: Bugaboo time! There's no way to hide that I absolutely love this company, and their digis were actually my very first prize many, many years ago when I was new to the whole blogging & challenges thing, merely trying to figure out how it all works. 
And I was sooo confused when my first ever GDT task was to create a card using this little piglet!

Turns out the little guy is now one of my favourite Bugaboo creations, even though I must admit there's no way to actually create a list of favourites as they all are simply gorgeous. 

Long story short told, I struggled with the colour scheme for quite a while, but after going through my paper stash, I thought I might as well go with this pre-cut flower power cardboard that remained in my drawer from another project. Matching the bright green and yellow colours, I painted the pig using colouring pencils. 
The colouring itself isn't something I'm especially proud of, but I'll blame it on the artificial light as I've completely changed my sleep rhythm with the ongoing heatwave: sleeping through the day with my blinds down, and trying to get things done in the night when the temperatures are a little bit more bearable. I still can't seem to cool my apartment down to less than 27°C, but I can't really blame Mother Nature for letting us know that we're going too far with our way of life. 

To round up the colour scheme, I dug this mint green card base from my stash, alongside with orange and dark green cardboards to enhance the main motif. In the end, I added a couple of huge yellow, brown and orange pearls for a 3D effect that brings life into the background pattern.

A little contribution to the June collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: ATG
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- gem of a challenge: ATG
- allsorts challengeblog: travel
- alphabet challengeblog: F for flowers
- as you like it: favourite stamp brand (Bugaboo - not only their stamps are super cute and they have loads of them for you to choose, the mere fact that the give away one freebie every week is absolutely stunning and something that deserves huge appreciation)
- craft-alnica: digi stamp
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty calendar: masculine
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "male"
- crafty gals corner: you're the man
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative moments: ATG
- everybody art: ATG
- fabnfunky: June blooms
- friendship challenge: ATG
- love to craft: ATG 
- love to scrap: ATG
- morgans artworld: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG
- pile it on: transportation/vacation
- scrapping4fun: summer
- unicorn challengeblog: men/boys
- wortartwednesday: ATG

And while the little piglet is enjoying his jungle holiday, I'm still trying to convince myself that the colour scheme I picked was the right one. I'd be lying if I said I'm totally comfortable with it, but given that the combination of bright green, yellow and orange exists in my favourite jungle so far, must be reason enough to use it in crafting projects. 

Prickly blooms

In order to breathe life into my crafting collection, I'll make a rather short summer post today, featuring another decoupage on wood. 

From the corner of my mind I remember last year's cactus-hype, which came with a wide selection of cactus-themed craft supplies from papers to napkins. Being buys with other projects, I managed to miss avoid it, however, not without purchasing a couple of spiky things here and there. 
Among others, was this beautiful napkin, which I dismantled in a short period of boredom, without having a specific use of it in mind.

In the end, I stored the cut-outs in my stash for another eternity, until I figured they'd look great on this three-compartment wooden box. It's a rather large box for me (32x11x9 cm), but it allowed me to arrange the cacti in a line that resembles your typical greenhouse with tropical plants on display. 

After making sure everything would fit, I used ivory acrylic paint for the background (white seemed to be a little too "sterile" to me), and glued the napkins on it with a colorless varnish.

After everything was done, the box vanished in my stash again, and I haven't found the perfect use for it yet. Considering that it perfectly matches the current temperatures, I might as well put it on display somewhere in my apartment, or it will become another one of by decoupage storage boxes for craft supplies.

A little contribution to the June collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: ATG
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- allsorts challengeblog: travel
- alphabet challengeblog: F for flowers
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty calendar: masculine
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "male"
- crafty gals corner: you're the man
- creative moments: ATG
- everybody art: ATG
- fabnfunky: June blooms
- friendship challenge: ATG
- love to craft: ATG 
- scrapping4fun: summer
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- unicorn challengeblog: men/boys
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG

On the other hand, the prickly blooms seem to perfectly sum up the greenhouse of Erlangen's Botanical garden, which is still one of my top places to go to whenever I'm in town.

And since it's still a "Travel" themed challenge over at Kreativtanten, I'd like to invite you once again to play along and link up your travel-inspired crafts for a chance of winning a cool prize. 

Summer treasures

Knocking on wood, I think I can see summer peeking from around the corner after all those weeks of rain and cold. I can't believe we've been heating our fireplace to the maximum just 4 days ago!

However, when summer won't come as it should, it's more than legit to bring a piece of sea-feeling by creating a maritime treasure box.

How fitting that "Travel" is this month's theme over at Kreativtanten, who have invited me to be their GD for June. Despite the fact that I've fallen madly in love with the Czech Republic over the past years, I opted for creating a travel-inspired project with what is probably the most cliche idea of a summer holiday: a maritime-themed decoration.

The project itself began ages ago when my sister decided to get rid of this wooden box. I've no clue about what she had used it for or where she got it in the first place, but being a hamster, I immediately volunteered to have it, even though I had no idea about how to use it. 
At some point, however, I decided to give it a new look using acrylic paint and napkin decoupage. 

Going through my stash of napkins, I picked a motif of a ship on stormy sea that had a tiny strip of a ship-pattern on the side. I decided to use the arrangement on the box as well, meaning I'd cover the lid of the box with plain white paint, add the blue strip on one side of the box, and place the ship onto the center of the remaining space. 
(Looking back now I probably should have added another layer of paint as this yellow-ish colour is shining through, even though I'm not sure where it comes from - the wood wasn't especially dark at all and there were no remains of glue that could have caused this beauty mistake.)

For the lower part, I thought I'd stick to the blue and white colour scheme, but I spiced things up a little bit by using crackle varnish, making sure the result resembles the waves or the sky.

I'm not sure how I'll use the box in the end. Due to its size (cca 19x11x9 cm) my collection of larger shells fits in perfectly, but so do my stitching yarns, meaning it will most likely be used for some kind of storage in my crafting corner. On the other hand, it might be handy for a giveaway as well - even to a guy, considering the masculine motif.

A little contribution to the June collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.

challenges: 

- krafty chicks: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- as you like it: his or hers (as I mostly create for the sake of creating rather than for a specific recipient, I'm quite unbiased when it comes to my projects - I'll create both male and female ones and often change my oiginal idea based on whatever I dig out of my stash. On a closer look, I certainly create more of the girly things, meaning I'll pick "his" as my favourite this time since a guy-ish project always bring some challenge-feeling which I usually don't get while creating feminine stuff)
- crafty calendar: masculine
- crafty sentiments: summer
- creative moments: ATG
- fabnfunky: recycling
- friendship challenge: ATG
- little red wagon: upcycle/recycle
- love to craft: ATG 
- moving along with the times: monochrome
- scrapping4fun: masculine
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG