Snow

I didn't think of taking snow pictures myself when we had some because honestly I didn't feel like going outside in the evening (except when I had to shovel and that really didn't put me in the mood for pictures).
When I went outside, most of the snow didn't look very pretty anymore. I should have tried to take a picture from my window, through the houses in direction of the woods, but being on the first floor the view isn't very good.
My sister took these pictures from her balcony (thank you!). Isn't it strange how you can feel and smell them?
So here's my humble (compared to so many others at the moment) offer of snow impressions days after we actually had snow. I hope it will convince the weather gods that we don't need any more of it.

Tackle that stash - Snow into water

In the last ten years, I managed almost 100 Friday posts called "Tackle that stash" about making deliberate attempts at using mostly old stash of mine. I'm talking stash that has been around for years and years.
Maybe I even tried to use some of it before, but didn't have quite the idea or I wasn't happy with what I made and ripped it up again.
The last one was a year ago when I actually used up a ten year old bead soup and was very proud of it and a bit relieved.

I thought it was time to try that again, go through my drawers - although I'm still pretty harmless in regards to the size of my stash - and use some of the stuff that deserves to finally see the light of day.
One time it may be something quite small and not very spectacular, other pieces may take more time, effort or playing.

I started making jewelry a little over 15 years ago. Back then we did a Secret Santa among some friends and my Santa sent me a surprise mix of findings and beads that I still have leftovers from.
The white agate beads were part of that mix. There were not many and stringing has never been one of my techniques, so I never really knew what to do with them and only used a few.

The clear Delicas are from a bead order more than nine years ago. That sounds incredible, but I mostly use clear AB, so I still had one unopened tube out of the three I had ordered back then.
The clear drop beads with a beautiful AB finish are from one of the surprises bead mixes I like to add to my orders because they often challenge me to try out different designs. They always make me think of water drops.
It looked like the perfect combination to me.

Only when I had finished the dangles, I went through the storage box with my single beads. One thought was to use clear crystals for a look of ice and water, but seeing the agate beads made me think of snow melting into water instead.

I hardly have any drop beads left, but there are enough dagger beads, so I might be getting back to the ice and water idea, maybe for the next stash tackler?

Oldies but Goodies, First snowfall - The second door

No, don't hit your heads on the desk, please. I know, I know. Snow again. But people, just remember what beautiful items I showed you on Monday, so please bear with me.

The first snowfall as a topic on the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge was inspired by one member posting pictures.
Just yesterday I got another bad scare myself. When waking up, I usually lift the curtain on the window behind my bed and stare up into the sky. That's my weather forecast, so-to-speak. I'm never up-to-date, so I don't even know if to curse those meteorologists for being wrong or being impressed by their forecast.
So I looked out of the window and saw big flakes coming down. This time is wasn't just dust on the cars and roofs. I can't say there's a sound I hate more than snow shovels scraping on the ground in the morning, not even drilling or hammering.
The panic was over by noon when the snow started melting. Phew.
Now I am ready to show you what the JAC members were reminded of by the first snow.

1 Violetmoon's Corner
2 2 Fab Fristers
3 Cat's Wire
4 MC Stoneworks
5 Jewelry Art by Dawn

Zibbet finds of the week "Snow" - The fifteenth door

Even for me who likes to claim she's got a severe snow trauma from childhood it has something calming to look at snow ... if I can sit inside with a cat on my lap and a mug of something hot in my hand.
For me snow is usually only acceptable for Christmas.
So instead of heading out to make a snowman I went to Zibbet to get my snow fix there with these beautiful items.

Fine art giclee print "Snow Girl" by Moxy Fox Designs

Little Snow Queen print by Beneath Northern Skies

Christmas ornament snowman by We Have Wreaths

Holiday Snowman Decoration by Primgals Primitive Palette

Sparkle Victorian quilled snowflake ornament by Joan's Crafts

The twenty-fifth door - White Christmas

When I was a child, I got a book called "Christmas stories of our time". The editor wrote in her foreword that she challenged her fellow authors to write about Christmas and the result was a collection of happy, sad and thoughtful stories.

My favorite story that I shared with many others over the year is the one of the Christmas elf. He has to fulfil three tasks to make Christmas a white one.

This year the Christmas elf and his friend, the unicorn, seem to have done very well. They have found the nine bullfinches on a branch, they rung the bells of the abandoned church in the Five Lords Ground and they led Jack Frost back home to the Yew Forest.

And now we have loads of snow out there again ...

The fourteenth door - snow creatures

I tried. Really, I did. I went out there into the cold and I wanted to build a snowman. Unfortunately the snow was too powdery and all I could manage was a snow pile.
So I had to dig into my photo files and came up with this instead.

Easter 2008 we had a visitor from India. She had never seen snow before. We had had quite a bit snow, but in March it all was gone. After going to an Easter market, though, we decided to drive around a little to show her the landscape and when we got to the Swabian Alps, imagine our surprise ... there was still snow! Enough for children and their sleds and enough for our friend to get excited.
I showed her how to make a snow angel.


After the first surprised look she threw herself on the ground as well. Snow angel pair! (And a lot of footsteps ...)


My craving for activity had been satisfied by that, you know how I feel about snow. The two others however decided to build a snowman while I took pictures with my cell phone camera. You should have seen the people walking by. Almost all of them stood there for a bit to watch, they all smiled, some waved and told us how cute the little guy looked. And one even took pictures.
Regarding the number of children around I was a little surprised that it was the only snowman around.
I think I liked his ears and "hair" best. It was almost hard to leave him behind, but I think he enjoyed it, after all he was king of the hill! :-D

The eighth door

Maybe you remember that I told you about our old cemetery before.
Yesterday on the way home I walked by there in the early evening and the silent beauty overwhelmed me. Now this is a place that wears snow very well, so-to-speak. Of course I didn't have my camera on me. So I decided to come back the next day with my camera and take some pictures to capture the mood.

Bear with me. These are not professional photos, I don't have a super camera, if I'm lucky however, you'll still understand what I mean.

This is the side entry to the cemetery. If you have a closer look, you see the church (Oberhofenkirche) through the trees.


The effect of the light shining at the pillars through the snow on the ground is beautiful and a little mysterious, don't you think?


Just a few steps and you'll see the Oberhofenkirche in its beauty. Maybe I'm biased because this church was an important part of my childhood and teenagehood. Although I am not active in church anymore, I still get that special feeling when coming by here.


Doesn't it look peaceful? One look to the left ...


... one look to the right where the snow is glowing softly in the warm light of one of the lamps scattered throughout the cemetry.


I wish I could have taken a picture of one of my favorite tombs, but it was really too dark for that. So I left again through the other side entry, back into the "ordinary" world.

The fourth door - It's snowing!

Do you know the name Wilson Bentley?
Before writing this post I had never heard of him. Obviously it was believed for a long time that he was the first one to ever photograph snow crystals under a microscope.
Do you know the name Johann Heinrich Ludwig Flögel?
Obviously he actually was the first one.
These pictures were made by Bentley, though. The farmer took pictures of 5000 snow crystals over the years and he put up the thesis that no two snowflakes are alike.


Do you know the name Nancy Knight?
1988 the snow researcher published photos of two identical snowflakes. Oops. Sorry, Wilson. I'm sure the general public doesn't know of it. I didn't.
Also scientists are sure they were not identical on atomic level, anyway.

Do you know the name Sunny Days Embroidery?
You don't? The following pictures were taken by Fran whose studio is called by that name. And the items in the pictures (click them if you want to know more ;-)) were also made by Fran. Non-melting snowflakes. I'm not sure if Wilson would have had as much fun with them as with his melting kind, but I love them. The snowflakes, the icicles ... and that's only the winter ornaments. There is so much more! Funny ones, cute ones, the decorative kind, the useful kind (maybe you remember my spider web coasters?). Check it out!



Ehm, and is anyone surprised that this one is my favorite right now??

The second door

When thinking of snow, I think of tights. Not the soft and beautiful tights of today, but the kind I had to wear when I was a child.

Now I'm not blaming anybody (except perhaps the producers of tights in these days) for having to wear them, but they were scratchy and I hated them. I hated them even more in snow, when I got wet. The mix of wet and still scratchy ... not nice.
Putting them on after you had a bath was torture and the feeling when you were allowed to take them off again was bliss.

It's funny, but somehow this feeling is still stuck in my head when I see snow. So I guess snow never stood the chance of being liked by me. Sorry.

Words with S

Hmmmm, let's start with the word sniffle. Because that's what I do. My head feels like a water-filled balloon, my throat hurts and my nose is trying to run the marathon.
My sneeze is already a winner. I have to be honest, I don't sneeze like a lady. I sneeze like an exploding elephant and whenever I do it today, cats jump in all directions. I have the feeling, though, that they are very slowly getting used to it.

My second choice would be one of the reasons for the very unladylike sniffling. Snow. Yes, it started again and it hasn't stopped today. There are big, fluffy flakes coming down. You will forgive me for not jumping out there now, taking pictures. Instead I took some from two different windows.


If I ever feel better (I like to whine when I have a cold, so don't take this melancholic statement too seriously ;-)), I will go out there and build a snowman voodoo doll. If I then destroy it, that means the snow will be gone, too. Right? Right? Don't disappoint a dying woman! (Yes, that is slightly overreacting to a simple cold, but check again what I wrote before ... whine ... melancholic ... blabla.)


Number 3 lifted my spirits a little. I got a parcel today and in it were my brandnew flannel Snoopy pyjamas. My first two were light pink and Woodstock was on them, too, but this was the only one I could find fast enough to satisfy my Snoopy cravings, after the first ones finally ripped. It's light blue and it says "You're my sweetest" (another word with S, yay!).



Last, but hopefully not least is the only accomplishment from today. Slimy the Snail has been "running" (snails don't run, in case you didn't know that) around naked in my project bag for a while, but today he finally got his shell.


And if you wonder now what the meaning behind the S-words is, there is none. If you wonder what drugs I am on for my cold, there are none, either. Sometimes I'm just being .....

........ silly! ;-)