Blue and Yellow

We're almost at the end of the alphabet, and we're having another task for you at the Alphabet challenge: Y stands for "your favourite colour combination", which is self-explanatory. Show us which colours are dear to you, and you're on board for this fortnight.

To me, the DT inspiration turned out to be a bit tricky still. Part of the problem is that I don't actually have a particular favourite colour, let alone a colour combination. I'll go with natural colours, but within that range I'm quite flexible in my crafting - meaning I'll be creating based on my mood rather than a specific colour scheme. 

Nevertheless, I've prepared a project originally, and I've done so well ahead of the due date, which is rather unusual for me. But in the last days of February, it all didn't seem to matter anymore. Even with increasing tensions and threats in the past weeks, I never thought the situation in Ukraine would turn into a war. Yes, the rhetorics have been nasty for a while, but the idea of invading a sovereign country, and destroying life and livelihood of its citizens is so beyond anything I can imagine that I've found myself randomly bursting into tears just thinking about the ongoing brutality. And amidst all this madness, Ukrainians have shown an incredible share of courage and determination. It would be impossible to sort my thoughts on what led to the situation getting out of hand, let alone predict the course of events or discuss possible outcomes. All I can say is that I hope the people of Ukraine get all the help they need in the fastest way possible - no matter whether they're running for safety abroad, hiding in their bunkers, or fighting on the front lines.

Anyway, in this horrible, horrible situation, the colour I'd like the world to see is the colour of peace. Not knowing what it looks like, I've opted for the combination of blue and yellow as it can be seen in the Ukrainian flag. When the #CardsForUkraine project came to life, my first thought was this pattern of butterflies. I had no exact image in my mind, but I immediately had this idea in my mind that I could stitch one row of butterflies in blue, and the other one in yellow. Also, butterflies seemed fitting to me because of everything they resemble: the fragility of their wings, the hope that comes with the sight of first butterfly after winter, the awakening of spring and life in general, the freedom to fly wherever you please, as well as the idea that the wind can blow you away anytime while you have no place to call home... 

And despite all the ideas, I just couldn't get myself to craft my time away while the world was falling apart. Finally one day, I had a look at my crafting supplies. For yellow, I think I managed to pick the right shade, but for the blue counterpart I had to improvise with a yarn that has different shades of blue. It may not be correct in the sense of heraldics, but I feel like this gives a bit of depth to the simple motif. Once the stitching was done, I added tiny brown pearls in an attempt to bring the butterflies to life.

Then, I placed them onto a strip of yellow cardboard, which I then mounted on a white background using 3D pads. Before placing the stitched motif onto my card, I had to verify the correct lineup of the Ukrainian colours in vertical position. I know that horizontally blue comes above yellow, but I wanted to make sure the colours would be displayed correctly - especially since I somehow like the vertical version of the card better, and this is how I imagined my card in the first place.

The white background has an embossed pattern which is barely visible, but I like to believe that it gives a nice touch to the card as a plain white surface would be a bit too plain. I can't remember the source of the white paper, but I think it comes from an old calendar, or maybe an old book?

For the card base, I opted for a kraft paper, which gives the card an earthy touch, and also matches the brown in he butterflies.

Next to crafting blockade, I've also had some issues following the unfolding events. I wouldn't consider myself "old school" by any means, but the idea that we're basically able to follow a war on live feed is probably one of the most bizarre things modern technology has brought. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that we're being updated on things as they happen, with all the positive and negative effects this brings. At some point, you end up clinging onto the internet for updates, while you'd like to hide in a cave at the same time just to get away from the latest breaking news. In the end, it's nerve-wracking to browse the internet at all, because updates are literally being shoved down your throat. 

As often, Ive found a bit of an escape in music, namely in the heavenly tunes that come from the Ukrainian folk instrument bandura. I figured I'll share some here in hope it might help you to balance yout internet intake and not drown in your own thoughts. 

challenges: 

- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- a place to start: ATG with optional twist "two by two"

- allsorts challengeblog: ATG

- as you like it: favourite interactive or not (I prefer non-interactive cards as I feel like they give me more artistic freedom, especially as I don't usually plan exactly how my cards are going to look like. Non-interactive projects allow me to focus entirely on whatever will unfold in front of me, as well as change things if I feel like it, while an interactive card will usually require more planning in order to make sure the elements line up in the correct way, with less flexibility for changes.)

- classicdesignchallenge: ATG DT 

- colorhues: blue & yellow

- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "colours of spring"

- everybody art: something with "B" (blue, butterflies)

- friendship challenge: ATG

- little red wagon: CAS

- love to craft: ATG

- modsquad: standing with Ukraine
- morgans artworld: ATG
- my time to craft: animals
- pennys papertake: ATG

- traumfabrik: a bug's life (butterflies)

- through the craftroom door: ATG
- use your stuff: masculine

- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG