Zodiac

Hello and welcome to our last challenge of the alphabet wheel over at the Alphabet challenge blog. Despite the fact that the end of the alphabet comes with a couple of tricky letters, we'll finish it with a theme that should be comfortable to everybody: Zodiac. You may draw your inspiration from the zodiac (i. e. the 12 constellations of the stars), but you could also take the respective signs to create something inspired by stars, animals... I'm sure you'll come up with ways to surprise us!

I for myself thought I'd use some actual zodiac signs as I have a nice collection of embroidery patterns that feature (western) zodiac signs. I've used one of them ages ago to use it in a star-inspired card. However, I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough time for the time-consuming paper embroidery. To be on the safer side, I opted for an alternative interpretation of the challenge theme. As the season of confirmations and first communions is coming, I thought I'd use the symbol of a fish to create a simple confirmation card. I had this wonderful fish background in my stash for ages, and decided to finally use it on my card. I like how the colour scheme is kept in silver and white, meaning the final card would be gender neutral. I also like how the background paper will shimmer depending on the light conditions, making the tiny fish come to life. 

Since I absolutely wanted to show this beautiful background, I tried to keep the rest of the card rather simple. I even took a grey marbled card base to begin with, since I thought that a white card would create too much of a border. To break the geometric lines, I used zig-zag  scissors, which helped me turn the straight lines of the cardbase into a wavy edging.

I then took a couple of fish stickers from my sticker stash and placed them onto a piece of white cardboard to create the main motif. Once that was done, I took a strip of shimmering silver paper which I placed over the background paper. I wanted to show as many fish as possible, but I thought that an entire background of fish in addition to the main motif might be too much. The idea was to cover a bit of the background to create a bit of depth and diversity. To prevent the silver strip from being too boring, I blinged it up with two ribbons: For the base, I took a grey piece with tiny loops on the sides, atop of which I placed a plain white ribbon. I then added a row of tiny white pearls for additional bling and a bit of a 3D effect. 

I then looked for ways to merge my main motif into the scenery. In my stash, I found a paper with a subtle check pattern, which fits nicely as it reminds me of a fishing net. It doesn't lock the sticker fish into their white compartment, but rather creates a transition between the white square and the fish pattern in the back. 

Since the card has no recepient yet, I decided to finish it like it is. Any additional elements such as a dedication will be placed on the inside of the card, as there's enought space there for that purpose, while I feel like the outside doesn't need anything else to be complete. 

challenges:

- krafty chicks: all occasions

- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a place to start: ATG

- allsorts challengeblog: ATG

- as you like it: people or critters (Unless I have a really great "people" image or a specific request, I'll always pick critters over people. For one, I'm not very confident with colouring people, always worrying about the hair and skin. Other than that, I'm never sure about how to incorporate people in my crafting projects at all. With animals on the other hand, I feel lots of creative freedom: I use them in main motifs as well as in form of embellishments (bugs, butterflies), and I never get tired of them in general.)

- C.R.A.F.T.: ATG

- classicdesignchallenge: ATG DT 

- crafty catz: ATG

- creative moments: ATG

- critter crazy: ATG animals

- everybody art: animals/pets

- fabnfunky: lots of layers
- friendship challenge: ATG

- lil patch of crafty friends: ATG handmade

- love to craft: ATG

- morgans artworld: ATG

- pennys papertake: ATG

- use your stuff: animals

- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide crafters and colorists challenge: ATG