02 December, 2022

Reduce (make it CAS)

Hello and welcome to another task of the Alphabet challenge, I'm your host tonight and I'll be picking the winners, too, so you're more than welcome to play along. To make sure you have plenty of creative freedom, I've chosen a rather simple "Reduce" theme, which can also be translated as "make it CAS", meaning that I'd like to see simple designs on your projects this fortnight. I'm sure you'll enter loads of winter/Christmas related cards, but in fact you can work with any occasion you like, and it doesn't have to be a card either. Without further ado, here's my DT inspiration for the CAS challenge (the lighting has been horrible in the past couple of days due to clouds & rain, but I'd like you to imagine an overall bright card with no weird shadows and/or grey tones). 
I knew that my challenge would be placed in the winter/Christmas time, but nevertheless, I decided to create a sympathy card. Or rather: I saw this motif of a falling feather on the cover of one of my scrapbook albums, and as I went along with it, this sympathy card happened. I didn't want to throw this beautiful motif away, so I carefully extracted it from the album cover. However, after I removed all the words, it ended up being this weird size - too narrow for a regular card base, and too small for a slimline. I solved the issue by adding an additional layer of light lilac paper. It doesn't show very well in the pictures, but the lilac colour goes well with the feather, and the lilac paper itself has a subtle shimmer. 
Since the feather is quite high on the card, I decided to surround it by a couple of tiny gemstones. Then I placed a sentiment in the lower part of the card base. I worked with a simple condolence message which I framed with a tiny piece of silver shimmering paper. 
What do you think of the result? Shimmer might be a weird flex on a sympathy card, but I thought it would complement the motif of a feather, which was the main reason why I used the paper in the first place. I understand that not everybody might be comfortable with a shimmering condolence card, but I thought there might be people who like it. Also, I tried to incorporate the glitz it in a very small amount while leaving lots of empty space in my card, so that the main focus would be on the falling feather, the subtle branches in the background, and the emptiness that remains when somebody passes away.

challenges:
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18 November, 2022

DIY card

Just a quick post from me today to introduce the newest challenge over at the Alphabet challengeblog. We're getting closer to the tricky letters of the alphabet, but don't worry - Q is an easy one with a "Quilt" theme. I didn't know what to create since I don't have any stencils or dies, and I didn't want to do any cutting by hand. In the end, I remembered I had some sort of quilt-papers in my stash. I opted for a sheet with hexagons in an autumn-ish colour scheme with different patterns and blooms, cut it to the right size and placed it onto a kraft card.
Then, I began to think about something that would go with the colourful background. I had an extra print of the Mirtillamente mushroom house still on my desk, and even though I didn't plan to use the digi that I've just shown in another project, I think it fits well with the current season. 
However, I decided to leave it blank for different reasons. For one, I simply didn't have much time left since I've been in and out of hospital again, and only began to prepare my card shortly before the due date. Colouring would take a while, and since I have other things going on, too, I felt like I wouldn't make it. Other than that, I always wanted to create some kind of DIY card, a card with a blank digi as a centerpiece. I had the scenario in my mind of finishing the card with everything from papers and embellishments, and just leave it to the recipient to colour the main motif - or leave it blank if they prefer so. 
And since the card was pretty colourful thanks to the quilt background, I added a piece of yellow cardboard to frame the image. After that, I added a couple of wooden leaves from my stash. What do you think of a DIY card, is it something you'd consider giving away? Or does it look like an unfinished project? Could this kind of deliberate emptiness be useful in background patterns that are super vibrant which sometimes makes it difficult to find the right colours for the digi? Or is the purpose of an image to always be coloured, no matter what? I'd love to hear your feedback on this as I've never created anything like that and I'm not sure yet how to feel about it. 

challenges:
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16 November, 2022

Mushroom house

I'm here for a quick post today to show you the card I've created for the latest challenge at the Mirtilamente challenge blog. I won some of their digis in one of the recent challenges over at the Creative Moments challenge blog, and I was invited to be a GD for the sponsor's own November challenge in addition to the digis. I understand there will be no November challenge due to unforeseen circumstances, but I think it would be a shame to not show you my creation anyway. The only requrement for my GD task was to use one of the sponsor images I won, and I went for this lovely image of a mushroom house - such a perfect image for the season!
I coloured the digi with coloured pencils, and picked some whimsical papers for the background. Since the leftover green paper was a little bit too narrow for the card base, I decided to improvise by cutting it in half in order to be able to place it on the outside of the card at least. I was left with a gap in the middle, which I covered up using a strip of dark brown paper with a swirly pattern. 
I then added a simple birthday message which I placed onto a piece of brown cardboard. In the end, I tried to placed a couple of green rhinestones onto my creation. I needed a few attempts until I was satisfied with their position, but I think I'm happy with how everything turned out.

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04 November, 2022

Precious

I can't believe we're turning another page on our calendar already! We want to see "Precious" projects this fortnight, and as always, you're more than welcome to join and show us your interpretation of the challenge theme on the Alphabet challenge blog. Since I've been quite busy lately, I'll show you a card that I've created a while ago. It's a welcome card for a little Ukrainian refugee that went into a care package for a baby that has been or will be born far away from home. 
I can imagine that the arrival of a new baby brings many emotions to the family, a mix of wonderful expectations and joy as well as different fears and insecurities. However, I cannot possibly imagine the stress of fleeing your home land with a newborn in tow, or leaving your home while being pregnant to birth your child in a foreign land, not knowing when you'll be able to return home, let alone whether there'll be a home waiting for you upon your return. 
To make the start a bit easier for one little child at least, I packed a box with the most necessary baby items. As with my other boxes, I decided to include a little welcome card, too.
Not knowing the baby's gender, I decided to make it neutral and working with a sunflower motif instead. I stitched the pattern and embroidered it using a pastel yellow yarn. I added a bit of depth by colouring the image with coloured pencils. Then, I added a sentiment saying "Welcome" which I placed onto a brown piece of cardboard since I wanted it to blend with the center of the sunflower. 
After that, I placed everything onto a layer of soft blue background to resemble Ukrainian skies. This way, I'd be able to recreate the colours of the Ukrainian flag, even though in a slightly pastel version. 
In the very end, I added a tiny wooden ladybug for good wishes and good luck. For Ukraine to win this war. for people to return home and be reunited with their loved ones. For babies to be born into happy families, for children to play in endless sunflower fields of their independent country. 

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21 October, 2022

Outer space

We're starting a new challenge over at the Alphabet challenge blog, and with the letter O, we'd like to see "Outer space" in your creations. Show us your un-earthy projects to play along, I'm sure you'll come up with plenty ideas to get creative this fortnight.
I for myself had an eye on this cute astronaut for quite some time. It's a Bugaboo digi (obviously!), and I decided to use him to create a quick & fun card. First of all, I selected a couple of papers that would go with my image: to match the space theme, I picked a starry background paper. I then added a layer of yellow to go with the stars, and one additional layer of dark blue to enhance the astronaut image. To make it a bit more playful, I used corner punches which I thought would give a nice effect to the overal look of my card. 
I then coloured the digi with coloured pencils, and placed the various papers onto the card base. I flipped the astronaut image a bit to create some sort of movement, and added a bit of sparkle by using two star-shaped gemstones.
How do you like the little astronaut? I certainly hope he'll inspire you to play along this fortnight!

challenges: 
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07 October, 2022

Nature

After a short break, I'm back with another card for you. I skipped the "Magic" challenge over at the Alphabet challenge blog, and now jump right into our next task which is "Nature". I couldn't decide which part of nature I should focus on, so I featured a bit of everything here.
For the main motif, I picked a cute badger (or is it a skunk?) drawing by Nina Štajner. I cut it from the cover of a paper set that was too beautiful to be thrown away, and decided to place it on a green-ish background paper which I purchased recently. I like how it looks like a green and brown watercolour painting without any specific pattern, and I think this alone makes it suitable for many different occasions. I added another little piece of green paper, and placed the badger onto a layer of black cardboard. An odd choice maybe, but I think the black goes well with the animal itself, and makes sure that the picture stands out from the background. Additionally, I placed the badger on 3D adhesive pads.
Once the outline was done, I added a couple of paper flowers, as well as pearls in different colours and sizes. I think they complement the watercolour-like drops in the background, and give a nice 3D effect as well.

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a place to start: ATG with optional twist "circles and squares"
- basteltraum: autumn
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "autumn colours"
- crafty gals corner: signs of fall
- creative inspirations: autumn
- creative moments: ATG with optional twist "autumn colours"
- critter crazy: ATG animals
- double D challenges: everything October
- everybody art: autumn magic
- love to craft: ATG 
- make my monday: autumn flora and fauna
- nachteulen: it runs and crawls
- path of positivity: celebrate something about your favourite season (I don't really have a favourite season as such, but I try to find good things in every part of the year. In autumn, it's warm sunny days and colourful leafs which make up for the fact that the temperatures are sinking and I have to keep adding layers to my clothing in order to keep warm as soon as the sun is gone.)
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09 September, 2022

Leaves

Another Friday, another task over at the Alphabet challenge blog. We have reached the letter "L", and fitting for the upcoming fall season we'd like to see "Leaves" on your projects. 
I've created a simple card reusing the cover of a Nina Štajner scrapbook paper set, since it would be a shame to throw it away. Instead, I decided to cut out a piece of paper that features branches and falling leaves. 
With a simple and serene motif like this, I created a simpathy card. I placed the paper piece onto a kraft card base, complementing it with a simple sentiment of condolence which I enhanced with a strip of dark brown paper. I like to believe that despite of the warm colours being used, the card is still acceptable for a sad occasion. But then again, I might be a weirdo :)
Other than that, I decided to leave the illustration as it is. I even restrained myself from adding tiny pearls, because I think those branches don't need any additional bling. 

challenges: 
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