23 April, 2021

Chuck chuck, good luck

It's another Friday, and we have a new task over at the Alphabet challenge for you: show us your feathered creatures, because we're looking forward to seeing "birds" this fortnight. I've created a rather simple masculine card for my DT inspiration, featuring a busy woodpecker.
The photo is from an old calendar, I've once cut it to size and enhanced it with a layer of white cardboard. However, I didn't quite figure out how to use it, so it eventually disappeared in my stash. Now, I cut away the white border and opted for a black background instead. I then took this wonderful wooden background paper which I've purchased a couple of years ago in Pardubice. Why Pardubice? Because I love the Czech Republic and Prague in particular, but I also like to explore new places and the city was recommended in one of the Honest Guide episodes. 
After spending a beautiful summer day there with my sister, a shop for crafting supplies has caught my eyes, and long story short: when we returned to Prague, my bag contained not only gingerbread the city is famous for, but also a bunch of colourful papers and other crafting supplies. Also, I now know that "crafting supplies" means "výtvarné potřeby" in Czech, which makes looking for this kind of stuff so much easier :) 
Anyways, once the diligent woodpecker found its home among tons and tons of wood, I still felt like something was missing. Due to the prominent background pattern I found it hard to add a suitable embellishment, but in the end I opted for another thing from my stash. 
I remembered my box of half-finished decorations, which among others hides a couple of stickers that are placed on colourful cardboard, and are waiting to be used some day. 
I picked a red cardboard triangle with a golden sticker on it, and it seemed perfect for some extra bling on the card. However, I decided to partially cover it up in order to keep the main focus on the bird. And suddenly, I didn't feel like changing anything else on my project.

challenges: 
krafty chicks: all occasions
C.R.A.F.T.: recycled (old calendar)
crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "all creatures great and small"
creative crafty uncles: fathers day (masculine)
creative moments: ATG
love to craft: ATG 

09 April, 2021

Anniversary

It sounds like a cliche, but boy does time fly! We've barely finished the "Z" task over at the Alphabet challenge, and already we start all over again with the letter "A", meaning we'd like to see your "anniversary" themed creations this fortnight. 
For my DT inspiration, I contemplated the usual anniversary things like hearts and swans and rings, or silver/gold for certain jubilees, but I have no specific events coming up anywhere near me, so I decided to create a rather generic love/anniversary card. 
And for this occasion, I'd like to introduce the newest addition to my stash: a cute little gnome I've received from SheepSkiDesigns just last week. The forget-me-not indicates rememberance, and seemed suitable for the challenge theme (I hope!).
After settling for the motif, I went through my stash looking for a suitable cardbase and background paper. I opted for a red tri-fold card, which results in a design that might remind you of my recent Easter card. Still, I tried to create something that wouldn't be  the exact copy of the bunny project. 
The digi itself is coloured with coloured pencils as usual. However, I only painted it after I've picked everything else for the card - a rather unusual sequence of events as I'll normally finish the main motif first, and only later search my stash for things that might go with it. 
The heart-themed pattern in the background seemed a nice addition to the red card base, and the love theme in general. However, I can't help thinking it distracts the attention from the main motif. Maybe I should stick to the "motif first" thing in future?
In the end, I lined the image with a silver sticker, but it just didn't seem to work for me. After sleeping it over, I replaced the border with a string of tiny white pearls, which seem to fit much better with the overall design. Also, I decided to add a sentiment which could be translated with something along the lines of "still forever".