18 June, 2021

Furry friends

We're having a new challenge over at our alphabet carousell, and we'd like to see "Furry friends" on your creations this fortnight. Show us your critters, big or small! 
I had a number of ideas for my DT task, but I settled on a transformation in the end. I took an old book that I got myself from an antique shop years ago for the purpose of using the old pages in some of my crafting projects. I was looking specifically for tattered vintage-looking pages in a language I don't speak, as it wouldn't cause me headache if my crafting theme interferred with the text in the background. In fact, I found an old French book that matched my idea. However, I never really went to work, meaning it remained untouched and ready to be used now in a completely different project. 
Namely, I decided to wrap it up in some pretty papers to create a fake book, probably to be used as a spring/Easter decoration. 
For the base, I used a dark brown cardboard, which I layered up with things that came to my mind. One of the first things I picked was this cute bunny among flowers by Nina Štajner. It's actually from a cover of Nina's paper album, but I found it too beautiful to be thrown away. 
For the upper layers, I wanted to play with Nina Štajner papers, too, but I just couldn't decide on "the one" among all the beauties in my stash. I almost picked a pattern of tiny leafs for the entire cover of the book, which would give an autumn-ish look, but it didn't quite match with the rabbit image. However, as I flipped the paper around, I discovered this wonderful forest scene on the other side. You might remember it from the woodland challenge, but I just couldn't not use it again :) I placed a polka dot paper under it, which is barely visible but still created a transit between the patterned paper and the dark background.
With the back side done, I began focusing on the front cover. I thought the forest background would be a bit too busy, so I opted for a piece of doily and the brown polka dot paper. To fill the blank brown space I intended to use pearls of different colours and sizes. 
While one side of the "book" is lined by the shabby pages, I embellished the spine with a vintage heart ribbon from my stash. 
Back to the front page, I added a small spring-themed sentiment to complete the centerpiece. 
Once the motif was glued onto the book cover, I began adding the pearls. I stuck to brown and beige shades mostly, with a bit of green and white inbetween. 
As the upper part seemed a bit empty, I originally thought about adding another sentiment, but I didn't want the message to interfere with my main motif. I opted for two floral pieces from my wood stash instead. I only planned one central pearl for each bloom, but then the little ones on the big blossom just popped up out of nowhere :)
And to round up your task, a little furry bundle hiding from the summer heat. 

challenges: 
- as you like it: favourite crafting tip (my tip would be to always look in your stash, or at least have an idea what is there - I managed to get to use some wooden flowers that have been in my stash for years (literally!), and I wouldn't even know I had them if it wasn't for an occasional check through my drawers. On the other hand, a stash with no overview will result in your stuff accumulating and you not using it because you just don't know it's there - a guarantee for desaster.)
- basteltraum: animals
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "animals"
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative inspirations: spring
- creative moments: ATG
- cute card thursday: ATG with optional twist "critters"
- do-all kreatives: small & tall
- everybody art: bingo (flowers, pearls, ribbon)
- fabnfunky: for a child
- little red wagon: bits
- love to craft: ATG 
- make my monday: outdoor fun
- morgans artworld: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG
- scrapping4fun: ATG with an animal
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02 June, 2021

At it again

I haven't been able to contribute to the Fadengrafik Challenge lately as the pricking and stitching takes quite some time, and I just didn't seem to be able to slow down enough for a project like this. After having skipped a couple of DT tasks in the past months, however, my guilty conscience made me get crafty over the weekend. I took this month's pattern and started to plan my first pick-point card in a while. 

I thought I'd duplicate the embroidered border on a sheet of white cardboard, and place it on the top resp. the bottom of my card while using a digi as the focal point. I picked this cute little Bugaboo monster from my stash of pre-printed images. All I needed to do was cut it to the right size. With the rose, I was leaning towards using red as my main colour, meaning I picked a red background paper and a piece of patterned paper with hearts that would enhance the digi itself. The hearts aren't as visible as in my recent anniversary card, but I think they still set the tone for the card in the making. 
To get a break from pricking, I coloured the guy first with coloured pencils and glued the image onto the background paper. Only afterwards, I opened my box of yarns to find some matching threads for the stitched pattern. 
Since I felt like there's quite a lot of red in the card already, I opted for grey and silver yarns, with the exception of the middle swirl. Also, I think the grey shades match with the grey I used in the digi. I used metallic yarns for a bit of bling and added a few extra pearls/gems to make the embroidered pattern pop. 
Still, something didn't feel quite right. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't like the outcome. The digi was fine, and so where the swirls in the top and bottom part of my card, but it just didn't work for me. Something was off and I couldn't point at it, no matter what. On the other hand, I didn't want to create a new centerpiece, or stitch the pattern again in a different colour. (And honestly, I wouldn't have time for it either, meaning I'd have to skip yet another DT task.)
In a moment of frustration, I flipped the card in a 90 degree angle. And suddenly, the monster seemed to have enough space to breathe. I guess the height of the image came just too close to the stitched patterns as long as I had the card standing vertically. Once the card was in horizontal position, the digi had enough space in all directions, which I think took away all the tension in my creation. Who would have thought that such a small change can make such a difference?
A little contribution to the collection of hand-stitching at made with Blümchen.

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: all occasions
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