29 January, 2021

V for vellum

What's shimmering between the branches? 
A strange bright light in the middle of winter, just as a tiny fairy up the tree on Christmas day.

But first things first. We're starting another two-week task at the Alphabet challenge, looking for "vellum" on your crafting projects. I had to look it up, I admit, as I only know it as parchment. 
After a short time of blank confusion, I remembered a stack of vellum sheets in my stash. 
I thought I'd use one of them in the background of a card and place a pretty image atop of it. And I soon figured out which image I'd like to use, too.

I got to pick my prize from All dressed up for being a winner over at the Path of Positivity recently. And since the festive season was still in full blow, I just had to go with this adorable Christmas fairy!
When I started to prepare my DT inspiration for you, I decided to match the wonderful digi with a snowflake patterned parchment paper. To make the pattern more visible, I worked with a kraft card base from the very beginning. I had no idea on the collour scheme yet, but I soon found myself picking unusually bright colours, and quite non-traditional ones: I dressed the fairy in a bright pink dress, and wanted to have the wings stand out, too. 
For the Christmas tree and ornaments, I went with bright green and colours. 
I also added a bit of a blurred yellow fairy dust around the Christmas sentiment.
I added a bit of traditional bling with a sheet of golden paper to enhance the printed image, and I wanted to add some sparkle, too. 
But instead of a golden shimmering coloured pencil, I went straight into my sticker stash. I picked a sheet of tiny stars and placed them where all the digi stars used to be in the original image. 
All the stars? Not exactly. To make the fairy magic stand out amongst all the golden stickers, I decided to use a star-shaped gemstone atop the magic wand.

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22 January, 2021

Relax

Breathe in... breathe out... relax...

Amongst all the craziness, 2020 has brought me four wonderful weeks of rehabilitation, and in one of the booklets I received in my welcome package, I found this image of a meditator. I think it was part of a leaflet featuring relaxation methods or something like that, but I'm not sure anymore to be honest. Of course, I'd save it for one of my crafting projects - after all, I'm a hamster when it comes to saving scraps I *might* use one day. 
For a long time, the figure was just meditating in my stash, but here it is featured atop a very simple CAS card.
Since the image says it all, I didn't feel like changing it a lot. I opted for a light grey cardboard as a background, partly because it goes well with all shades of rainbow that are depicted in the yoga scene. On the other hand, the leaflet had a text printed on the back side and I knew it would shine through if I had picked a cream/beige background as I originally planned. 
To make sure the grey picture frame wouldn't end up too meh, I combined it with another grey paper which is a bit darker but actually quite cute due to the glossy swirls.
When everything seemed to be complete already, I found the card a bit too simple. I remembered a set of colourful star stickers from my stash, and picked a star in each colour to match the rainbow ornaments (well, the pink does stand out a bit, but it was the closest match to light purple I could find). In a fun coincidence, the glossy appearance of the stickers matches the grey swirls in the background. 
There isn't much more to add in the end, other than to redirect you over to scrapping4fun where there's an easy ATG challenge going on this fortnight. I've been invited to contribute as GD this time so you won't be seeing me among the linked entries for a change, but I'll sure have a look at what you'll come up with. Also, you'll have the chance to win a little something sponsored by

And for a little more Zen feeling, a beautiful sunset above the old town of Ljubljana. While the nights are pretty cold right now and it takes quite some time for the atmosphere to thaw in the morning, it is still possible to catch a bit of vitamin D in the afternoon hours without turning into an ice cube.

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: CAS
- craft-alnica: ATG
- morgans artworld: ATG
- path of positivity: look for the positive (To me, mindfulness has a great deal to do with positivity, as well as focusing on the good things you find along the way even in bad times. I'm not a supporter of the "everything happens for a reason" attitude though, because, well, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's just a bunch of coincidences that pile up in the wrong way. And when they do, a person has every right to be sad/angry/disappointed/... But of course, despair isn't a state that should be kept alive forever, and at some point, you need to move on. 
I believe that everybody should develop coping strategies that help them along the way - either by themselves, or with the help of family, friends and/or professionals. What will work for you? You never know until you try. 
I for myself tried several techniques of relaxation during my rehabilitation last summer, and to my surprise, I couldn't really help myself with any of them. Not because something was wrong with the therapist, the group or the exercise itself - the methods as such just didn't suit me. I guess my kind of positivity lies within nature, crafting or being alone, rather that in a gym circle listening to somebody's voice. And I'm totally fine with that, because seeing what doesn't work for me made it possible to look for something else, something that would work better towards my needs. Above all, it allowed me to realize that when coincidences line up, I'm the person who starts looking for a tangible plan rather than a CD of relaxation music. Which is fine because that's the thing that works best for me. Still, the simple meditating figure will always be connected with the wonderful care I received during rehab, and I honestly can't wait to go back due to the overwhelmingly positive experience I had - when all they did was basically just let me be and support me along the way.)
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- unicorn challengeblog: CAS
- use your stuff: out with the old (image of meditating figure)
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG
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17 January, 2021

Christmas in a box

A quick and rather easy post from me today, just to get rid of a Christmas box I've created a while ago. It's base is an empty box of cappuccino powder, which I've once used in a similar project already. This time however, I decided to give the cardboard box a festive cover featuring Christmas ornaments. This paper, too, might seem familiar to you as I've used it before on a CAS Christmas card. 
I don't have much to say about the process of creating other than that I glued the paper to the base after cutting it to the right size. To pop things up a bit, I added a strip of white lace to the upper part of the tube. 
I like the different patterns as you turn the box...
... as well as the fact that the ends managed to meet in without disturbing the scenery.
And for those who've been good all year, Santa sure left some goodies in the box itself.

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: Christmas
- C.R.A.F.T.: ATG
- crafters castle: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas (optional twist "sentiment")
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative moments: ATG
- love to craft: ATG 

However, since Christmas time turned to regular winter already, I decided to bring more simplicity into my apartment, too. For the first time ever, I purchased a few branches of eucalyptus to bring a bit of life into an arrangement of baby's breath. 
I thought about adding some colour, too, but I liked the white simplicity. For a touch of life, I complemented the display on the shelf with a beautiful animal print of Nina Štajner in the background. 
A contribution to the Friday Flowerday at Holunderbluetchen.
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15 January, 2021

U for umbrella

We've reached the letter U today, and have a new task over at the Alphabet challengeblog waiting for you: this fortnight, we'd like to see an umbrella on your creation. 
I for myself thought about using one particular image from Precious Moments, a sweet little umbrella girl that I've used in a card ages ago. Literally. However, as I grabbed my box of pre-cut images to check whether I have her at hand already, I spotted another cutie: a little penguin jumping through puddles. The image comes from the wrapping of a children's face cream for winter days and I just had to save it from the bin because, well, it's absolutely adorable.
It had a couple of cons, though. First of all, the whole scene is rather autumn-ish with the colourful leafs in the wind, but I decided to see what I could do with it. Also, I was a bit unsure about the combination of blue and orange, as well as the fact that the image itself is really small. The size of less than 5x5 cm would probably fit best on a bookmark or a tag, but I figured I might as well try to use it on a snippets card. 
I soon found the matching background paper - a subtle combination of white and blue that resembles the clouds. I placed the little fella in one of the lower squares and positioned a piece of embossed paper in the opposite corner. To me, the swirls represent clouds, and I decorated them with a couple of white pearls just for fun. On the remaining surfaces, I added silver leaf stickers that go with the autumn wind theme of the image.

Matching the blue-ish sky, a winterly impression of Radensko polje. I performed a masked & socially distanced drop-off of goods to mom's elderly aunt recently, followed by a walk to Kopanj hill. And for a short moment, the sun managed to break through the fog barrier. Because you don't need to pick the most crowded tourist destinations if you want to stretch your legs outside of your municipality. Who knew? :) 

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- a place to start: ATG
- allsorts challengeblog: favourite colour (I don't have an absolute favourite and don't despise any particular colour either, but I'm very fond of pastel shades in general, and blue in particular)
- C.R.A.F.T.: ATG
- craft-alnica: ATG
- crafters castle: ATG
- crafty calendar: make it cute
- crafty catz: ATG
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- creative inspirations: animal antics
- creative moments: ATG
- everybody art: ATG
- friendship challenge: winter animals
- little red wagon: friendship
- love to craft: ATG 
- make my monday: something new in your stash (penguin image)
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01 January, 2021

T for traffic

One year gone, another one on the horizon. It's my turn to host the first challenge of the year over at the Alphabet challengeblog and it will be my task to pick the winners, too.
For the letter T, I thought I'd not pick the traditional "trees", "teal" or "things with wings". Instead, I opted for a bit of a brain tease with a "traffic" theme. I hope it won't be too much of a challenge, and there's really no need to be afraid as you can create any project you wish using anything traffic related: vehicles, traffic scenes and signs, traditional vs. "green" forms of transportation... Set your fantasy free and show us what comes to your mind when you think of traffic! 

I for my part knew from the very beginning that I'd like to work with one particular digi. It's the digi of a truck by scribbles designs which I received as a prize over at the Path of Positivity ages ago, and I decided to embed it onto a CAS card. I like the combination of heavy machinery and the load of hearts, and think it makes a perfect masculine Valentine's card, or even a New Year's card with a twist. And I certainly hope the new year will be generous with everything good!
I coloured the motif with coloured pencils as usual, using two different shades of red for the hearts. However, the card seemed a bit too empty and I couldn't figure out how to resolve the issue without adding elements that would disturb the main scene. I thought of a sentiment or a corner embellishment, but nothing seemed to work the way I wanted. I tried heart-shaped gemstones that should match the hearts in the truck, but they caused way too much distraction with their bling.
Not knowing what to do, I just put the card aside for a while. I already figured out I'd like to place the image on a kraft card base, and suddenly I remembered the colourful hearts I used for my rainbow themed Christmas tree. I wondered whether I could punch two hearts in two different shades of red - and they turned out to be the perfect solution! Not too large, not too small, and visibly two different colours (unlike the colouring). 
But the card was still a bit too empty. 
Finally, I retreived traces of black coloured pencil from a sharpener and carefully blurred them underneath the truck to make sure the vehicle and its load don't just float in the air. It helped a lot to complete the scene, but I also added a few dots here and there to turn the grey/black stain into some kind of gravel road. 
In the end, I hope the card clearly brings across the "Loads of love" message. Honestly, it seems a bit as if the hearts have been dumped in the middle of nowhere, rather than unloaded at somebody's front door :)

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: ATG
- path of positivity: rejoice (I will not go with a single big bold positive thing here, since I believe that joy/happiness consists of all the beautiful things along the way, no matter how small - just like there have been good moments in 2020 if you look very closely: moments of self-reflection, loads of time to work on things you thought you'd never have the time to, slowing down a bit in this crazy world. I must admit I was losing it at certain points, but then again there were those tiny things that kept me going one step at the time. Also, did you realize how many people found relief in their pets? And if our domesticated roommates aren't the definition of unconditional joy/love, I don't know what is! 
Still, I hope that 2021 will be generous with joy for everyone. After all, we have a vaccine on the horizon and more of them to come and that alone should be a reason to throw a party (sometime later once everyone is safe and things get back to normal:))
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