26 January, 2024

Vogue (fashion)

Hello to the newest challenge over at the Alphabet challenge blog, and without much further ado, we're heading right onto the runway. The simple reason: our challenge theme this fortnight is "Vogue", meaning we're eager to see your fashion-inspired projects. I'm your challenge host this time, and I'll be picking the to creations, too, so I'm really looking forward to seeing your designs.
For my DT inspiration, I decided to use this beautiful digi from All Dressed Up for winning one of their challenges years ago. From the moment I saw her I wanted to put the "Beret girl" into action, and here she is ready to face the spotlight. Since I couldn't figure out which outfit would suit the young lady, I began my card with picking the background paper. As I was indecisive about the colour scheme, I opted for a neutral grey designer paper. I picked a part that features a bit of stripes and a bit of abstract text, and placed it onto my card base. 
I then went through my stash of paper flowers, as I knew I'd want to use quite a lot of them to embellish the card. I liked the purple shades most, which is what lead to my project looking as it does: I coloured the girl in different shades of purple, with a couple of pink accents. After that, I added matching background papers - one in light purple, and a darker one with polka-dots. 
Once that was done, I began placing the flowers into the corners of my image. When I figured out their respective spots, I glued them onto the card, adding a bunch of punched paper leafs. 
Then, naturally, I added gemstones in different shapes and sizes to bling up my project - the majority of the was bought on my pre-Christmas shopping spree. I still felt like something was missing, so I went through my sticker stash to look for a matching piece or two. I picked a huge silver swirl which I cut in half: I placed one half in the lower part of my card to fill the empty corner, and with the other half, I decided to decorate the inside of the card. 

Just a little fashion-related footnote before I'm off for the weekend: the purple shawl in the background was made by my little sister. I consider myself beyond blessed that she is obsessed with knitting and crazy enough to create random pieces of clothing "just to try the pattern". I can not possibly imagine how she manages to turn wool into projects that are so evenly, and she'll always surprise me with her knowledge of different yarns and their manufacturers. The particular scarf is not only mega beautiful but also super soft, and one of my favourite pieces in my wardrobe. Glory to the knitting queen!

challenges: 
- krafty chicks: all occasions
- as you like it: pearls or gems (I like both actually, but I see that I'm using more gemstones in my projects recently. I guess it's that not only they enhance a creation with a bit of colour and depth, they also have this shiny "bling" factor that pearls miss, and I seem to like this kind of bling lately)
- crafty catz: ATG
- do-all kreatives: ATG
- double D challenges: sparkle and/or shine
- little red wagon: never been used stuff (gemstones)
- morgans artworld: ATG
- moving along with the times: new craft item (gemstones)
- nachteulen: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG paper
- traumfabrik: My sassy girl
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12 January, 2024

Under something

Hello and welcome to another challenge over at the Alphabet challenge blog. I can imagine that many of you are exhausted after a creative winter/Christmas/New Year's time, so we're having an easy theme for the "U" challenge: our request is simply to create a project that is inspired by "Under something". What exactly the "something" will be, is entirely up to you. On our challenge site you'll be able to see that the DT has presented various projects for you, and I'm sure you'll discover some that inspire you in your own crafting journey. 
For my DT work, I'm showing you one of the remaining Christmas cards. The little desert village is a rather small motif I found on the internet ages ago. I finally put it into action by printing it and cutting it to the size of a kraft card base. I then coloured it with coloured pencils, adding a bit of blue in the background to represent the night sky. 
Once that was done, I picked my Christmas stickers from my stash. At first, I placed a huge golden star in the sky atop of the village, which should represent the Christmas star. After that, I just kept adding stars of different shapes and sizes, until the whole upper part of my card was full of stars. Some of them are "full" stars, others are merely star silhouettes, and for the tiniest stars I even used golden filler dots that usually remain after you use up other motifs such as the letter "o" or the number "0". For a bit of gold in the lower part, I then added a sticker sentiment saying "Merry Christmas". 
My idea was a card that would resemble the feeling of being "under the starry sky" or "under the star of Betlehem", and I hope you can take it as a bit of inspiration when joining us this fortnight. 

challenges:
- krafty chicks: Christmas
- crafty calendar: Christmas themed
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "no design paper"
- creative crafty uncles: Christmas/New year
- love to craft: ATG 
- pearlysparkles: CAS
- pennys papertake: ATG paper
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29 December, 2023

Texture

In what will probably be the last post of this year, I'd like to introduce you to another challenge over at the Alphabet challenge blog. Our theme for the letter "T" is "texture", which gives you plenty of artistic freedom with your creations. To see what my teammates have prepared for you, please have a look at our inspiration gallery. I for myself decided to make a little tag inspired by good wishes.
On one side, I placed a simple message saying "all the best". I framed it with a piece of red cardboard, and glued it onto a piece of white embossed paper. To emphasize good luck, I added a tiny wooden ladybug in the top corner of the tag.
On the other side, I started with a piece of red background paper, which I complemented with the image of an ambulance from my stash. I think I saved it from a folder once, but I'm not entirely sure as it was literally ages ago. I restrained from any sentiments here, but I did add two star-shaped gemstones that match the colour scheme of my project. This way, I managed to feature a bit of texture on each side of my creation.
I like how the kraft tag goes with both designs, bringing the colours together. Once the tag was done, I took a piece of raffia from my stash to create a ribbon. I'm not sure where my project will end up, but I could imagine it could go well with a chocolate bar as a "get well soon" gift. 
With that in mind, I hope you'll have a wonderful entry to 2024, and may the new year shower you with all the best.

challenges: 
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15 December, 2023

Stars

You may have already seen that we have another challenge up over at the Alphabet challenge blog. With the letter S, we'd like to see some stars in your projects. As always, you may interprete the theme as you wish, and I'll be more than happy to have a look at your creations. 
For my DT task, I prepared a stitched project again. I don't do many of those currently as they're quite time consuming, but I thought this geometrical pattern would go nicely with  the star theme. 
I stitched the pattern with a silver yarn, and once that was done, I placed the white cardboard onto a shimmering purple background paper. It may not be obvious as most of the paper is covered, but the motif on the paper is a galaxy of stars. I also like the different shades of purple it features, and in my opinion, the shimmer matches well with the silver stitching. 
For a bit more colour, I then embellished the stitched swirls with different gemstones. First of all, I added the big ones on the outside. Some of them are purple to match the background, but I decided to add some star-shaped gemstones as well to emphasize the challenge theme. I then moved to the inner circles by adding a round of tiny silver gemstones. In the end, I added bits of pink and white to the core. With the sparkly additions, the silver swirls look like the image of a supernova to me, which again connects to "Stars" as the theme of the current challenge.
I hope you can draw some inspiration from my work. If not, feel free to visit our challenge blog to have a look at what my teammates have created for you. 

I will also leave some actual stars to inspire you. I don't really like driving in the night due to poorer visibility, and I especially don't like driving at night in winter when the temperatures sink rapidly after sunset, and there's danger of ice on the road. I will try to avoid night journeys whenever I can, but since it's getting dark pretty early right now, I ended up on a dark road in the middle of nowhere just the other day. However, the middle of nowhere meant that the light disturbance was minimal, and driving above the fog soup that was brewing down in the valley, it meant that the whole sky opened up for me. I could get a glimpse of the starry sky from my car already (despite the headlights!), and I decided to stop by the roadside to take a proper look. In complete darkness, I was stunned by millions and millions of stars above me. I couldn't last long due to the icy wind, but I managed to snap some pictures which don't to justice to reality. 
It was an unexpected but lovely experience, and I can't help feeling sad about not being able to see skies like this more often. Living busy lives in cities, we seem to forget the impact of our lives on the environment, and it's moments like this that make me realize how even regular lights away stunning scenes like this. Of course electricity is what makes our lives easier, it makes it possible for us to be active after sunset, and makes us feel safe on the roads at night, but at the same time, we are missing the magic of nature by blinding ourselves with artificial light. I don't think that we need to turn our world into a dark place, but without a doubt we could cut down on unnecessary brightness: shiny billboards, illuminations of landmarks, shopping windows, and empty hallways outside of business hours... Less electricity for more stars, please.

challenges: 
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01 December, 2023

Reindeer

Can you believe it's December already? With  Christmas around the corner, we're having a festive challenge theme over at the Alphabet challenge. Matching the season, we'd like to see reindeer on your creations. Easy peasy, right? 
For my DT inspiration, I picked a lovely digi from my stash. I received this cutie a couple of years ago for a challenge win over at the Kreativtanten. It was designed by Peppercus designs, and even though I believe the shop doesn't exist anymore, the little reinder is still adorable. I coloured it with coloured pencils, and decided to frame it with a dark brown background paper. I used a punch to round up the corners of both papers. To cover the card base, I opted for a design paper with bold, colourful snowflakes. To enhance the image a bit, I added a Christmas greeting under the reindeer motif. Unfortunately, it's not very visible on the colourful snowflake background, and its dark green paper looks brighter in reality. 
For a bit of bling, I then added a couple of yellow shimmering gemstones. I thought about shading the background of the image with blue colour pencils, but in the end, I decided against it as I wanted to keep those warm shades on my card. I'm not sure whether this was the right decision as it seems to me like the reindeer is stuck in a white void. What do you think?
To wrap up my post for today, I'll give you a glimpse of Christmas feeling with this wonderful life size reindeer from the local Christmas market. 

challenges:
- krafty chicks: ATG
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a place to start: ATG with optional twist "for a child"
- as you like it: favourite person to craft for at Christmas (I don't really make Christmas cards for my immediate family as we see each other anyway, my favourite person to gift would be my friend. We don't keep in touch as much as we used to as she's working full time now, but I like to send her a surprise every now and then. With two little children in the house, I think this cute little reindeer is the perfect messenger to deliver Christmas greetings.)
- C.R.A.F.T.: Christmas
- cardz4guyz: festive creatures
- CAS on Friday: Christmas
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "make them smile"
- creative inspirations: ATG with optional twist "contemporary Christmas colours"
- creative moments: ATG with optional twist "winter"
- critter crazy: ATG animals
- cutie pie challengeblog: digis & die cuts
- friendship challenge: Christmas time
- love to craft: ATG 
- moving along with the times: winter animals
- pennys papertake: ATG paper
- scrapping4fun: non-traditional Christmas colours
- sparklesmonthlychallenges: winter animals
- timeout challenges: winter holiday
- traumfabrik: Elliot the littlest reindeer 
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19 November, 2023

Quadruple

Better late than never, I'd like to introduce you to the latest task at the Alphabet challenge blog. I've been in the hospital during the past days, and even though I was discharged yesterday already, I took the day off to rest and unwind. 
We've arrived at the tricky part of the Alphabet, but don't worry: our theme for the letter Q is "quadruple shapes or images". Have a look at that the DT has created and play along!
For my inspirational project, I opted for a very CAS card that is way off the current seasonal creations. I took a bugaboo digi from my stash, which couldn't be more perfect for the challenge theme as it featured four squares with different floral motives. Or, to be precise: three floral motives and one saying "Hi". At first, I disassembled the original digi by cutting out the squares to create four individual elements, which I decided to arrange in a single line unlike the original 4 x 4 setup. I then coloured the motifs with coloured pencils. For a long time, I thought about creating a bookmark, but in the end, I opted for a simple "just because" card. I took a kraft card base from my stash, and glued the bugaboo snippets to the card with double-sided adhesive tape. I then replaced the dot above the "Hi" with a tiny wooden ladybug. This way, I'd add a bit of colour to that square, and a bit of 3D feeling to my card. 
I decided against adding a sentiment to make sure the card can be used for different occasions. I even restrained myself from adding pearls and gemstones, to make sure the only pop of colour are those floral squares. I like to think the card turned out OK, but on the other hand, it does look a bit empty and I'm not sure whether I should try to improve it by adding something? What could that "something" possibly be?

challenges: 
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03 November, 2023

Peace

After a short break due to family/health issues, I'm back on track with the Alphabet challenge design team. Our theme this fortnight is "Peace", which I'm sure is a heartfelt wish at the moment. You may interprete the theme however you like, and I'm sure we'll get to see many Christmas cards already. If you need a little help to get your fantasy going, you can always have a look at what the DT has prepared for you.

I for myself immediately remembered this embroidery pattern of a dove that I had stored in my crafting folder. It took ages for me to find it, but it was all worth it. It turned out to be even more beautiful than I had in mind, and I immediately went to work with printing the image. Once that was done, I took white cardboard from my stash, and made sure to prick and stitch the motif as instructed. I opted for natural yarns, as I intended to add a bit more colour in the background later. 
To be precise, I picked blue and yellow polka-dot paper from my collection, and cut a piece of each to match the size of my card base. I placed the pieces onto my card to create the Ukrainian flag in honour of everybody who keeps defending the land and its freedom. In the very end, I added a tiny golden sticker to frame the motif of the dove, as well as a tiny gemstone for the eye of the animal.
As shocked as I was almost two years ago when the full-scale invasion began, I'm furious now at the lack of unity and support among world leaders when it comes to providing the Ukrainian defenders with everything they need. The sacrifice of the Ukrainian people deserves the greatest respect, and we should be supporting their fight for lasting peace with everything we have. Who are we to think that shallow words of concern and timid statements of condemnation will stop an agressor who understands nothing but sheer power? I'm sure that a strong and timely response of the democratic world would not only help end this particular war in time, but also prevent the bushfires of violence all around the world, as every autocratic/terror regime would know exactly what awaits them if they start chaos. Turns out peace is neither God-given nor self-evident, and it takes enormous vigilance to make sure we preserve this precious commodity. Oh, well... 
I don't know when peace will come to the people of Ukraine, but I wish so much for a victory, and the return of life to the settlements that have been razed to the ground in this destructive madness. 
With the winter season at our doors, I'm afraid there are difficult months ahead for the people of Ukraine. It might be the right time to look into charities that provide help in form of heating and energy devices that will help the country going through the cold and dark time of the year. 

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a place to start: ATG with optional twist "all that glitters" (golden sticker, gemstone)
- C.R.A.F.T.: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG
- critter crazy: ATG animals
- love to craft: ATG 
- pennys papertake: ATG paper
Posted by at 12 comments:
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