White

Trying to catch Friday-Flowerday at Holunderbluetchen with an all-white bouquet. 
The flowers caught my attention the other day as I was standing in the queque at my local supermarket, and I couldn't help adding white lillies and chrysanthemums in my basket :)
Back home, arranging them in my crystal vase, I realized the bouguet looked a little empty. Off to the supermarket to get another set of chrysanthemums :)
As the bouquet slowly opens up, I prefer to remove the pollen-packages rather than having the red dust all over my desk.

Matching the white bouquet in my kitchen, I managed to make a quick (almost) all-white card. 
It's done according to the sketch at freshly made sketches, and I had originally planned something quite different, but as I searched through the files on my laptop, I found this wonderful image of Marilyn Monroe. I simply *had* to use it, alongside one of her quotes, "A smile is the best makeup any girl can wear".

As it's meant to be a CAS card, I didn't experiment much with colours and shapes. Matching the black and white image, I used black cardstock and a white floral background paper. The only embellishments that stand out are the red-framed quote and the decorative border with pearls.

challenges:
- freshly made sketches
- C.R.A.F.T.: black, white and one other colour (red)
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG

Last but not least, a lovely little note I saw in front of a front entrance as I hurried to my department the other day. A late-night-goodbye or early-morning-hello? 

Rainy afternoon

A little something from before the weekend turned out to be lovely.

A lazy Friday afternoon that almost feels like Saturday... 

Looking for colours between sunshine and rain...

A stroll through the old city center and up the castle hill...

Soon, trees will shake off their clothings and nature will go to rest...

But there will always be a rainbow, no matter what awaits. 

Sunshine 2 Go

The recent rainy days and cold(er) temperatures clearly announce the end of summer 2015. I've already turned the heating on, and wrapped myself in sweaters and socks, a state that won't change until April. *sigh*

It's not all-grey yet though, after all it's Friday-Flowerday at Holunderbluetchen.
A bunch of Topinambour, or Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosis) caught my eyes on my walk home recently. They come from an abandoned railroad embankement and I just couldn't walk by without taking some with me, regardless the rain or the mud by the roadside. 
It's a quite simple bouquet and I'm not sure whether the wildflowers fit in a crystal vase, but they sure bring some sunshine in my little kitchen :)

Incidentally, I brought this little thing home, too. I'm not sure whether he likes rain or not, but I decided to release him anyway. Not without a little photo-shooting before :)

Pink again

Another card, another fairy. 
I'm not going into detail about boobs month awareness as I've already said enough last year, so without further ado: a card stitched with white and soft pink shimmering yarn, decorated with white and soft pink pearls. In the middle of the stitched frame sits the Candy Tuft Fairy by Cicely Mary Baker. As I only recently finihed her purple fairy sister, it might seem I can't get away from those lovely Flower Fairies. If I had time, I guess I'd use them all some time in future :)

You may wonder, Where is the pink ribbon? As I run out of envelopes, I had to create some wrapping, too, and there it is. After lots of thinking and trying combinations, I decided to use a white swirly paper which I decorated with a stripe of pink paper with a ribbon and a single white rose.

To make it a little bit more special, I added tiny white pearls to the punched edge of pink paper - not an easy task with just cut fingernails :)

Peek-a-boo in pink :)

For the dessert, a soft pink bouquet I got myself a while ago. It came pretty nice in the crystal vase, however the roses weren't as fresh as I expected. They did last a couple of days, but certainly not as long as promised. Will buy from another flower shop next time, I guess. 

challenges:
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- allsorts challenge: no design paper
- as you like it: monochrome or colour (I like both, but I find myself using shades of the same colour often, so - monochrome)
- clear it out: white + 1 colour (pink)
- craft-alnica: pink ribbon
- crafting from the heart: ATG
- creative card crew: ribbon
- creative fingers: ATG
- deep ocean: fairies & angels
- evrybody art: flowers
- inspiration destination: ATG
- morgans art world: pink or breast cancer awareness
- moving along with the times: fairy enough
- ooh-la-la: pretty in pink
- papertake weekly: two by two (two colours)
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- use your stuff: ribbon

Purple

It's been a bit quiet on my blog, but it's not due to learning (yet). 

Rather, I started the autumn season with an all-inclusive heavy cold package featuring fever, sore throat and sinusitis. However, being busy with internship and not being allowed to skip a day, I ended up being the sickest person in the consultant office. Isn't it lovely to ask people whether they need a sick leave foe common cold while you can't breathe at all and barely make it through the day on NSAIRs? With a lovely supervisor though, I could still get (some) proper rest, and as soon as I got better I could dig deep in my papers and stitching patterns again.

The result is a set of stitched card for different occasions, which I'll present in near future.

For the start, a purple birthday card for a dear friend. It features the Heliotrope Fairy, one of the wonderful Flower Fairies by Cicely MaryBaker. 

Fitting to the image, I used shimmering purple yarn in purple shades to stitch the border around it. You may have noticed that this pattern has already appeared in some of my previous cards, and I'm sure I'll use it again sometime soon. It seems to fit any occasion and motif, and yet looks so differently when it's done with different colours. 
To complete the card, I added two different shades of purple background paper, matching pearls and rhinestones. 

It may not be visible on the photos, but as the image is placed on 3D adhesive pads, it pops out very nicely.

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- allsorts challenge: nature
- clear it out: things with wings & glitter
- crafting from the heart: ATG
- crafty catz: fantasy/fairy
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- deep ocean: fairies & angels
- glitternsparkle: ATG
- inspiration destination: ATG
- moving along with the times: fairy enough
- papertake weekly: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wordart wednesday: ATG

And since there's no birthday without sweet treats, there had to be chocolate, too :)

I wrapped up a yoghurt-cranberry chocolate using a floral cardboard, which I decorated with a punched tag and some more flowers. In the end, I added a couple of pearls and a silver sticker saying "Happy birthday".

challenges: 
- as you like it: sweet or savoury (definitely sweet! Even though I'm not the chocolate monster I used to be, it's very unlikely for me to turn down chocolate, muffins, cake, ice cream or else)
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- dream valley: recipe (pearls, patterned paper, flowers)

Fitting today's purple post: purple evening sky above Ljubljana that looks as if it was made especially for the sky gallery of Raumfee, and a lovely purple flower ;)