(Early) Christmas Cards 2013 (7): Nordic Blue (2). The Gold Mold Cape.

Hi. In this windy and rainy weather we've had for the past few days I've been feeling inclined to stay with a book and blanket on the sofa rather than to venture somewhere outside. Looks like the season for cold rainy and windy days is just round the corner. 

Craftwise, I'm still working on my Christmas cards and I've been thinking of having a go at selling them at my workplace this year. Just out of curiosity and for fun. I even bought the protecting cello bags for my cards yesterday. I've never sold my cards before as I tend to be rather pessimistic about the card sales considering the fact how many people can make their own cards these days and how many of them still prefer to buy a pack of 10 for £1 and which end up in a recycling bin after the festive days. So all the excess of my Christmas cards will go on sale at work. I really wonder how much interest they will receive :) 

But in the meantime here are some more cards in the frosty blue shades but this time with the mixture of natural brown kraft cardstock :) I love to use this natural brown card - it combines well with lots of colours and it is a nice change from a traditional white card. 

The card below was made using a card sketch I found on the internet. I think it was the one from the Mojo Monday blog where there's a great choice of card sketches to choose from.

Beneath, a simple card with a stamped and heat-embossed Snow Bird - a stamp from Noolibird.

The two cards together :)

And my first attempt at embellishing a gate fold card. The snowflakes have been punched with Martha Stewart punches and the reindeer stamp comes from Noolibird again. 

This type of card kind of reminds me of ... a cupboard so I embellished "the doors" too :)

I kind of like how it opens and closed and stands on it own :) More cards coming soon!

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Saturday was luckily a nice sunny day here in North Wales so me and my bf grabbed an opportunity and went out to Wrexham County Borough Museum to see the Gold Mold Cape - we just made it on the last day of exhibition as the Mold Cape is back to its house now - The British Museum in London. For those who don't know it, it's a piece of ceremonial outfit that was unexpectedly discovered buried in a stony grave found in one of the Welsh fields and it comes from the Early Bronze Age, being about 3000 years old! What amazing craftmanship!
The cape was well displayed and I was very pleased how the photos came out :)

The cape must have received lots of interest from the public as there were crowds at the museum, even on the last day of exhibition. Below, this is how the archeologists imagine the cape was used during the ceremonies - completed by a necklace which agrees nicely with the upper line of the cape. It's assumed it once belonged to a woman of a high status. No skeleton parts survived in the grave unfortunately. Apparently some other capes existed too as some extra bits of gold leaf were found in the soil too. 

Below, a contemporary attempt at creating a tool that would reproduce the embossed pattern on the cape. Surely the bronze age people couldn't have one like this! ;) It must have been done by hand somehow.

I really enjoyed this short museum trip. You just don't get to see such things everyday. So fascinating!

Linking up to Hand-made Monday tonight :)