28 January, 2022

V for Vehicle

We're slowly approaching the end of the alphabet, and our newest challenge over at the Alphabet challenge blog is "Vehicle". It's as simple as that, you may link up any of your creations given it features a vehicle. As always, the DT has prepared quite diverse inspirations to help you in case you're stuck with the theme this fortnight. 
For a moment, I thought about re-using my love truck digi, but I think I'd create a project very similar to the one I've done for an Alphabet challenge almost a year ago. Instead, I opted for a piece of patterned paper I've bought a couple of years ago. I'd usually never get something like this for myself, but I thought it might come handy for a masculine project, even for a kid. And since I'm not that good with crafts for boys, I like to have a sortiment of "boys stuff" to use if needed. 
Since the motif of vehicles is literally all over the place, I decided to just cut a piece that would fit onto a plain white card base. No sentiment, no embellishments. I'm not sure whether it counts as a CAS design since the paper itself is quite playful, but I don't really feel like the card needs anything else at the moment.
There is, however, place for a short sentiment at the top or bottom of the card, should it be needed. I can easily imagine a small "Happy birthday" as the card seems perfect for a guy's birthday. The pictures are a bit dark unfortunately. In reality, the paper is a rather bright golden/orange, and the vehicles stand out nicely in their specific colours. 

challenges:
Posted by at 16 comments:

14 January, 2022

Unequal

I'm going to cheat on the current Alphabet challenge and present a project that I've done a while ago. But first, I'd like to present you the challenge theme for this fortnight, which is "Unequal". Show us something big and something small on your creation and you'll be eligible to play along.
I spent the first days of the new year at home and have attempted to bring a bit of order into my apartment, maning I haven't done any major crafting recently. I did prepare for some upcoming challenges, but I just couldn't come up with something unequal. In the end, I decided to bring in this flower pot which I've decorated ages ago using napkin decoupage. 
I'm not sure whether you can tell, but it's a rather large pot and probably the biggest crafting project I've done so far. The backstory to my piece of art is that I once had the brilliant idea of growing my own ginger. The idea didn't come overnight, but in form of a forgotten ginger root that began to sprout on my kitchen counter. I thought why not give it a try and began exploring my options. Starting with a small sized flower box, I soon had to realize that I'd need a bigger pot since ginger roots grow rather horizontally. 
And boy did I go big. Once I brought the grey monstrosity home, I began to think of ways to make it look presentable. Since I didn't want to hand-paint it using acryllic paint, I bought a couple of spray paints. After all, that's what you see being used for almost every upcycle/recycle/alteration over at YouTube. However, I soon realized that my cans won't do. I'm not sure whether it was some kind of "expectation vs. reality" thing, but they seemed to be empty after covering only a small portion of the container, and I made quite a few visits to the crafting store buying can after can until I added enough layers to turn the grey surface white. 

Once that was done, I took the weirdest napkin from my stash: a thing with huge roses alongside with smaller blooms in between. I fussy cut them by a wet brush to tear the napkin apart, and placed them onto the pot using every single bloom there was. I placed the roses first as they'd take up most of the space, and later worked my way around them by distributing the smaller pieces. I managed to create a tear here and there, and there are a couple of wrinkles, too, but overall the decoupage was the easier part here. I tried to document the process in the best way possible, but did I mention that the pot was really huge?
In the end, I placed a layer of grey felt underneath the container to make sure it wouldn't scratch the floor while being moved around.
Then, I filled the pot with soil, placed the ginger root inside and waited for the result. 
Was it successful? The greenery grew quite well in the beginning, but the leaves began to turn brown after some time. I guess I've been too eager with watering since the main root rotted away, but I managed to harvest 2-3 smaller bulbs of new growth. I wouldn't call it a success as such, but it sure was an interesting experience and I might try again one day by being more careful with the plant care. However, I learned that ginger leafs spread the most beautiful fragrance when they grow - and it intensifies when you gently touch them. 

challenges: 
Posted by at 14 comments:

01 January, 2022

Little snowflake

New year, new month, new challenge over at the Fadengrafik challenge. Our theme in January is "Snowflakes", meaning you should include icy creations in your project. For my DT inspiration, I stitched a little snowflake using silver yarn. 
I haven't created many stitched cards recently, so it was a delight to create one again. When it was done, I took a couple of light blue pearls from my stash and placed them onto the embriodery. To match the embellishments, I added a layer of light blue background paper. 
The card base I used is smaller than a regular one, meaning rather than a classic Christmas/winter card my creation is meant as a little note towards a present. Before I could think of anything in particular, my friend called me up from night shift, so I headed out yesterda evening for a quick coffee in the hospital basement. The little snowflake turned out to be the perfect something to slip in a doctor's pocket alongside with the best wishes for the upcoming year. 
For more snowflake inspirations, make sure to check out the rest of the DT project once the challenge goes online. Also, you might enjoy some early snowflake photographies by Wilson Bentley which I stumbled upon recently in a Seznam.cz article. Those "ice flowers" certainly are tiny miracles of beauty!

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- a place to start: ATG with optional twist "blue Christmas"
- basteltraum: CAS
- C.R.A.F.T.: Christmas
- Christmas with the cuties: Christmas cuties (challenge #51: CAS)
- crafty gals corner: merry & bright
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- creative crafty uncles: Christmas/Happy new year
- creative inspirations: Christmas time
- creative moments: ATG
- double D challenges: lots of white
- everybody art: Christmas
- use your stuff: snow/winter
- vesela hiska: gold & silver as sparkle
- winter wonderland: ATG Christmas
- pinspirational
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG
Posted by at 25 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)