19 January, 2017

Winter wonderland

It took rather long for this years's snow to appear, but suddenly one day last week I realized the road outside looked unusually bright for the late afternoon hour. Or was it maybe... Could it be that being lost in crafting, I didn't realize a white blanket of snow was spreading on Ljubljana? 
In a sudden drive of energy, I went from comfy tracksuit to trousers, pullover and winter jacket, and off we go! 
Being embraced by heavy snowfall, I soon realized my most important gadget would be the umbrella and I probably would have returned home soaked trough and through without it. Given the amount of snow falling, I found myself on a completely covered Prešeren square with the poet himself overlooking the scene of people rushing home.
Others however couldn't be happier with the real winter. (Because there's no real winter until it's a white one - ha!)
After a little crafting-related shopping just to get warm inside the store it was time to head home again. By the way, does anyone else do that, get inside the store just to to thaw when it's really cold outside and you can't feel your fingers anymore? :)

... And after a rather short night, it was time to explore more of the white. On one hand, the fist day of snow of course offers snow that is not too trampled and peed on, on the other hand, with many of the side streets being neither plowed nor strewed with salt, any time later the walked pavements are turning into a wicked frozen track that makes it hard to walk on. How comes Ljubljana seems to forget its pedestrians every year? 
On that very first day however, everything was perfect and I planned to do a big leap through park Tivoli, the city center, and maybe even the castle hill. Until I peeked outside. Even though I could't think of a way to dress more and better, it was already at the Northern City Park that I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. 
However, nature rewarded with white on white everywhere. From tall trees to small branches...
... And a lonely girl reading in the park... 
... One of the few sights of colour
... And which of the trees could possibly be real?
And in this peacefullness, the Navje Memorial Park seemed especially lovely.
Life between the graveyards...
Snow dragon
By the end of day, Navje was as far as I would get before rushing home inside a shop to get warm again. Not without learning that snow can make familiar sights appear in a totally different dmension ;)
A little contribution to the gallery of sky images at Raumfee.

06 January, 2017

Snowflake

Matching the upcominng 100th Fadengrafik Challenge, which is themed "Winter", I made a huge silver snowflake some time before Christmas. 
It was meant to be added to a Christmas present, but after I decorated the stitching with gemstones, I just couldn't find a matching cardstock to finish the card. Instead, the sewed star remained in my stash, waiting for better times. Then, I remembered this funny scrap paper with silver and blue shaded snowflakes I used in one of my winter cards last year, and - voilà: 
With such a huge snowflake/star in the middle of my card, I decided not to use any other embellishments. The only thing I added between the white papet atop and the patterned one in the background, was a shimmering light blue paper that acts like a border to the stitched image.
A little contribution to the January collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.

And since this is all from me today already, I'll just add a couple of winter-ish Ljubljana impressions from before the Christmas lights went on. 
As for the Fadengrafik Challenge, make sure to join us by linking up your winter themed creations here, given they are made with paper embroidery. We're hitting the big "100" this month and as always, you might win a cool prize so make sure to join the fun ;)

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- allsorts challengeblog: something new (new stitchingpattern)
- christmas cards all year round: snowflakes
- 4 crafty chicks: scrap papers
- crafty gals corner: something new (new stitchingpattern
- crafty sentiments: something new (new stitchingpattern)
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- cutecardthursday: what's new? (new stitchingpattern)
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- inspiration destination: ATG
- love to craft: ATG
- 12monthsofchristmas: ATG
- throughthecraftroomdoor: ATG
- little red wagon: something new (new stitching pattern)
- friendship challenge: snowflakes
- wordartwednesday: ATG
- crafting with an attitude: ATG