Clare’s Craftroom Challenge :: Complete!

At the beginning of the month (last month? How is it September already?), Clare put out the call for creative types who were up for a challenge.

A WHAT? You know where this is going, don’t you? So Car, Kirsty and I all signed up, and received our prompt photo and colour. This is the loveliness that appeared in my inbox:

I have had lots of thoughts, and took my time to let it sit and stew. I knew I wanted to try and keep my interpretation really loose and very tangential. I tossed up sewing and arting, but since the point of the challenge was to get us crafting again, I decided against my two current main creative outlets.

The idea of using beads kept floating up – my plan was to find a house charm, or maybe a door charm. You know what they say about the best laid plans? Yeah, well when you do plenty of planning and not enough shopping, the wheels fall off those plans pretty quickly. Maybe I could do something out of Fimo? I heve some clay sitting there, in what I thought was the right colour… did I mention in between the planning and the falling off of the wheels I hasn’t checked back at my emails and was working from memory? Yeah…

So I pulled out my beads, and in the bottom of the box, found a very cute little pewter tree, left over from who knows what (just wait, in 18 months or so I will try and finish the project I stole it from and have some very naughty things to say when I realise), and I was sold. I had crystals in that imaginary perfect colour. So as the children played in the beautiful spring sunshine warming the yard, I set myself up on the patio table, and got busy.

And yes. I did feel a right goose when I opened the email to prep this post and realised I was quite a ways off track on the colours. Whoops!

I ended up making a little key ring (or bag dangle, or planner charm), because everyone’s house keys need some pretty bling, don’t you think? I used the teal I thought I was supposed to be working with, mixing in some sage and gold and white for depth and interest, inspired by the mixed leaves and dappled light of large trees in front yard, and white picket fences. I’m just a wee bit thrilled with how it turned out, and I think it’s still faithful enough to the original brief, without feeling slavishly boringly predictable, which was my ultimate goal. What do you think? Do you think I succeeded in filling the prompt? Aside from the colour, that is.

(and psst… notice something new? Look up. Higher. Is that a new blog address up there? Yes, yes it is! I’ve finally taken the plunge and gone self-hosted, so if you visit me via a blog reader, you will want to update that. In other news, don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the Aussie WIP Wednesday, which will have some lovely guest hosts for this month. I wonder who will be visiting first?)