Interests

May I interest you in another task over at the Alphabet challenge blog? 

I'm sorry I couldn't help, but this pun was absolutely intended. Jokes aside, we'd like to see "Interests" in your creations this fortnight, and by that we mean everything related to interests and hobbies. It could be your personal hobbies or hobbies in general, everything is fine as long as you make that the main topic of your project.

For my DT inspiration, I prepated a card which features two of my interests actually. The first one is paper embroidery which is displayed in form of a stitched border. I created it using one of my favourite stitching patterns and silver yarn. I've worked on it two days in a row, and once it was done, I decorated the swirls with a couple of rhinestones. I placed the embroidered piece of paper onto a light blue background paper, and that was that. 

My second interest is cycling, which is represented by the image of two bicycles on a beach. The original photo was featured in one of those desk calendars with serene images and wisdoms, and I saved the photo of two bicycles on a beach to use it in one of my future projects. I cut out a detail of the whole piece and adjusted the size in order to make it fit inside the embroidery once the border was done. 

Now, I'm no cyclist by all means. I used to ride my bike as a child, but it would mostly be short trips with family. However, me and my sister used to be a huge cycling nut years ago, following every move of Lance Armstrong and the team USPS/Discovery/Astana/RadioShack up to the point that I could recognize the riders based on their socks and sunglasses. Going to races became as obligatory as painting the streets with encouraging messages and getting to know the team-members we'd meet regularly. I'm not sure what they must have been thinking about those crazy girls who'd patiently wait next to the team vehicles for hours only to get a glimpse at the athletes, but friendly chit-chats, merch giveaways and even rides in the team car suggest that we must have done a really good job as fans. I'm not a hardcore fan like that anymore - mostly due to the fact that the riders I originally supported are more or less retired and I haven't found myself proper replacements in form of other riders/teams. However, even though my interest for cycling has faded over the years it never really went away. I'm still following cycling news and race results (even though not as frequently), and I'm still over the moon when my favourite riders do well (and since favourite now equals Slovenian, it means I've been over the moon many times in the past couple of years). 

Since the card as such sends off holiday vibes, I originally wanted to present it for my "Holidays" challenge theme, but I had run out of time to create the stitched border. I'm happy to be able to show you the card in this challenge instead, and hope you'll be able to get inspired by the works of the DT.

A little contribution to the collection of hand-stitching at made with Blümchen.

challenges: 

- krafty chicks: all occasions

- 613 avenue create: ATG

- a place to start: ATG

- allsorts challengeblog: summer

- basteltraum: ATG
- cardz4guyz: recycle something (picture from an old calendar)

- classicdesignchallenge: ATG DT 

- creative inspirations: summer sun
- creative moments: ATG

- fabnfunky: ATG
- friendship challenge: summer, sun, beach

- intaas: masculine

- little red wagon: stitching

- love to craft: ATG 

- make my monday: outdoor sports

- my time to craft: ocean/sea (beside/on/under water)

- pennys papertake: ATG

- through the craftroom door: ATG

- vesela hiska: summer
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG