Wednesday 29 February 2012

Challenge of Music

Thank you for stopping by!

Today is the day, time to reveal what we've made for Erin's Challenge of Music. I can't begin to tell you the problems I've had getting this done these last few days (on top of having been in a bit of a rut lately, creatively and otherwise), but at last I've got something to show.

It took a long time to choose which song to work with. Should I go with the 80's music I grew up with on the radio? The early 90's music I've partially forgotten until they pop up on VH1? The songs from school that I've sung hundreds of times and mark the excitement of summer break or longing for christmas break? Or some of the bands and singers I listen to now, perhaps choosing someone I don't think that many (at least outside Scandinavia) knows of?

In the end, I settled for another type of nostalgia as my sis and I one evening (once more) searched YouTube for intros to all the tv shows we remembered from childhood. After looking trough a dozen or so videos we stumbled upon the serene intro and outro to Skymningssagor, "Twilight fairy tales". Skymningssagor was a children's television series that aired October 1988 through March 1990.


Intro

Outro


I wanted to capture the atmosphere; the simple melody, the lightness, the colours of dusk, the serenity. At first I was working on a totally different idea, but it had to be scrapped yesterday when I couldn't find a good way to finish the design. Frustration. What to do? So little time, so little materials that seemed to work with the images that popped into my mind. Went through half my stash and in the end settled for some thin (7 mm wide) silk ribbons in periwinkle blue and a variegated rose-purple. But what more? Some ideas had to be scrapped due to the fast approaching deadline. After a while I instead started to focus on a focal.


I found a matte transparent violet plastic flower button (38 mm) and looking for something to layer it with found a pink MOP flower button that I had sprayed with a matte lacquer. Finally something that could work as an eye-catcher! I like how the mother-of-pearl gives a subtle glow to the plastic (a bit like the Polaris Polsweet beads I showed a week or two ago). A brooch back was attached to the layered flower so it can be used as both a pendant and a brooch.



For this image I added the silk ribbons to turn the brooch into a necklace. Don't know how the pic looks -- it was tricky trying to get the right colours in both the flower and silk in the photo... Not too happy with the look right now so it'll have to be altered a bit later.I'm also thinking of adding some seed beads to the centre of the flower, a nice detail that I totally forgot in my haste to finish in time. Hopefully it doesn't look too bad though.

And so... That's it, my contribution to the Challenge of Music and my -- somewhat sidetracked -- interpretation of a song that brings back memories of childhood, children's books and beadtime stories to me. I hope you like it and be sure to visit all the other participants too -- of cause including the fab hostess, Erin of TresoriTrovati.

  1. Erin Prais-Hintz (hostess)
  2. Marcie Abney
  3. Christine Altmiller
  4. Elisabeth Auld
  5. LJ B
  6. Lori Bowring Michaud
  7. Shannon Chomanczuk
  8. Cece Cormier
  9. Jenny Davies-Reazor
  10. Malin de Koning
  11. Beth Emery
  12. Michelle Escano-Caballero
  13. Erin Fickert-Rowland
  14. Therese Frank
  15. Amy Freeland
  16. Tanya Goodwin
  17. Stephani Gorman
  18. Amy Grass
  19. Beth Hemmila
  20. Kristina Johansson (YOU ARE HERE)
  21. Jennifer Justman
  22. Tari Kahrs
  23. Susan Kennedy
  24. Ema Kilroy
  25. Kathleen Lange Klik
  26. Kirsi Luostarinen
  27. Paige Maxim
  28. Beth McCord
  29. Natalie McKenna
  30. Alice Peterson
  31. Cat Pruitt
  32. Bobbie Rafferty
  33. Johanna Rhodes
  34. Cynthia Riggs
  35. Sally Russick
  36. Sarah Sequins
  37. Amy Severino
  38. Staci Smith
  39. Kristen Stevens
  40. Lola Surwillo
  41. Stefanie Teufel
  42. Sandi Volpe
  43. Holly Westfall
  44. Shaiha Williams
~*~

27 comments:

  1. Spectacular! Your colors are wonderful. :) Music is so important! Have you heard of a band called Nightwish?

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    1. Thanks for your comment! Yes, I'm familiar with Nightwish and have heard some of their songs -- now that you mentioned them I got one of them, Sleeping Sun with Tarja, stuck in my head. My sis is kind of a fan, somewhat more in to them than I am.

      (A few years back they were featured in the local morning paper as their new singer's from a nearby town, Helsingborg.)

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  2. I enjoyed watching the intro! It really is calm and serene. I love finding the theme songs of my favorite childhood shows (and also re-watching episodes).

    I love the pendant! What beautiful colors. :)

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  3. Simple and beautiful! What fun!

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  4. A beautiful piece! I love that it brings back memories of a favorite childhood show!

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  5. What a gorgeous necklace! And the colors are spot on for that intro ;)

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  6. The music was so delightful and sweet and you really nailed the delicate-ness of it with this piece. It's so pretty!

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  7. Sweet! You created a lovely piece!

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  8. I love how the petals are translucent. At first, I thought it was a real flower! Fantastic!!

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  9. I like the simplicity and the serenity of the piece. And I do feel spring coming on. I loved the intro to the show - made me wish I could view an episode...

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  10. Perfect feeling of light and innocence! xoxo Beth

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  11. Sweet and light and absolutely perfect for the song! (which is the prettiest intro to a children's show I've ever heard!)

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  12. Very sweet and pretty. Some seed beads or crystals to the center would be darling.

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  13. Kristina, The flower is so pretty and sweet. When I look at it I can still hear the sweet tune from your music choice.
    Therese

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  14. Such a lovely representation of a beautiful childhood memory! Beautiful!

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  15. I think that what is so cool about this is that you chose something that is not only a childhood memory but a strong cultural reference. The opening is so charming, with the houses the mountains the train. I can see how children would be enthralled by this. I want live in that little house on the mountaintop! This was hard for a lot of people to do. Choosing the song from the millions that are possible is no easy task. And then it seems that many had a similar problem that the images in their head didn't match their horde of supplies... I can totally relate. I had some similar hiccups. But you made something very ethereal and lovely. I am so happy that you were able to participate Miss Kristina! This is truly a world beat and you are contributing to it! Enjoy the day!
    Erin

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  16. Wow - and the colors - bummer!

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  17. Love the flower focal, it reminds me of a watercolor painting! Just love the simplicity of it!

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  18. Thank you for all you nice comments!

    That model landscape might be one of the reasons I like trains. (It could be added that the landscape depicts the different settings for the stories. In this case it zooms in on Pettson's house where he lives with his cat Findus.)

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  19. Very sweet necklace. A beautiful sentiment of childhood memories. When you are a child, life is (mostly) simple. Running, playing coloring. You captured that simplistic innocence with your design!

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  20. So beautiful. The colors are soothing to my eyes and just flow so beautifully together. Kind of like childhood...it just flows without any worries. I love it.

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  21. I love the focal. The colors are just so sweet and innocent. The ribbon is a great choice as well. Thank you for sharing.

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  22. This is so sweet and light. I love the colors and it's perfect for Spring. Lovely piece!

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  23. That is a gorgeous focal and I think the ribbon really compliments it well! Great job!!

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  24. Such a beautiful necklace! - perfect for spring with those great colors!

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