Advent Bloghop Day 19

**Unfortunately something has gone wrong and the post hasn't been publiced in time. I had it scheduled at 18u, but it didn't appear then. I wasn't at home and could check it only later in the evening. I'm so sorry!**

Welcome to day 19 of the Advent Bloghop, organised by Alexandra Renke and her team!

Today it is my turn together with

Evy

and

Kerstin

For a long time I only had  an eye for paper, stamps and dies from the USA. However it didn't do any justice to the materials from our neighbours in Germany. There you can buy wonderful materials as well, in a totally different style. I makes me thinking of Scandinavia. Simple and delicate desings and products of high-quality. Judith pointed me at the call for the advent bloghop on Alexandra's blog, I applied for a spot and yes, I was one of the 65 lucky people who received a huge box with materials! Today I like to show you what I made with the materials.

The task was to create something for someone whom you like to say 'thank you' to. Well, I'd like to say thank you to my fellow group members and our teacher of my sewing group. Every two weeks I attend the lesson and I love creating my own dresses and skirts. The group is very supportive, especially in times of exams. Always encouraging and understanding when I'm tired of my studies and work. I made a card for my teacher, which will be given together with a chocalate bar of Tony's chocolonely. I'm sure she will love it!

For the other women I bought litte organza bags. I put some chocolate in it and decorated it with the lovely design papers from the package. I created a tag with the die which was also in the box. Yes, we were definitely spoiled with the materials in the box!

 

The text in the left bauble is a stamp which says 'thank you' in several languages, even in Dutch! Don't you love that little gnome on the right? Let´s be honest. I haven´t finished all bags, I have some work to do in the coming days...

There were so many materials that I could make many more things. So, I created a Christmas card without having someone special in mind.

Don´t you love the little stars made with an embossing folder?

Next I'd like to show you a gift box I made for my cousin and her husband. My cousin and her husband are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary today. My cousin had always told us: 'If I am getting married, you will be our bridesmaids!'. And so, on 19 December 1991 we had a splendid day in beautiful dresses, made by my mother. We, as their former bridesmaid, thought it would be nice to give them a present for their anniversary and we decided to give them a gift card for a lunch for two. I made a gift box to put the voucher box in and an envelop for a little card with our message and some money for extra drinks.

 Unfortunately, you can't see the little grey angels on the white strip on the gift box...

Finally, a card without a text and I'm not sure whether it is too simple or not... I have punch three circles with lovely scenes on it. Some twine and gorgeous paper, I would say it is perfect :)

These are the first three Christmas cards I have made this year so far.... Having exams in December is definitely not okay for stocking your Christmas cards... I´m afraid I can´t send many handmade Christmas greetings, but hopefully I can make it good in the new year with cards send out without a special occasion as a card sending for fun is the best!  

Alexandra, together with your team, thank you so much for this bloghop! I have really enjoyed it!

Thank you for hopping by and make sure to visit Adriana, Katja and Kerstin tomorrow.

Autumn

On this rainy and windy day I'd like to show you a card with an autumn feeling. I used some papers from a Simple Stories line from last year. The leaves dies are from Simply Graphic and the hello die is from MFTstamps.

 

 

I'm enjoying my autumn break this week which means some extra time to spend in my craftroom! 

Thanks for coming by! 

10 x 10

Today a 10x10 card. Made with some Studio Calico papers, a stitched rectangle die from Lawn Fawn, a leave die from Simply Graphic and twine. The sentiment (Dutch abbreviation for Congrats) is stamped with the SU Alphabet Roller stamp. A quick and easy card to create!

Thanks for hopping by!

one sketch, two cards

I have recently played with some paper pads from crate paper. I didn't use a specific sketch, but I came up with this one just by trying some things. I first created the brown card ( a get well card) and copied that one in a more colourful scheme (birthday).

 

 

Thanks for hopping by!  

Delicate

I used the partial embossing technique on this card as well. It just gives some extra dimension and detail to a card. I kept the card clean and simple and used some scraps of Crate Paper. The die is from Simply Graphic and the sentiment from Papertrey Ink.The current challenge at Addicted to Cas is 'Delicate'. I think this card fits into that challenge because of the embossed background and the delicate branches.

Thanks for coming by!

partial embossing

The silence here at this blog definitely says something about my productivity in the last two months. Yep, I haven't created any card at all. No time, no inspiration, too many other things to do. I don't worry about such periods. Experience tells me that time and inspiration will come back sooner or later. This morning I had a quick look at Pinterest and saw a tutorial by GerJanne. It is about partial embossing. Beautiful technique and this afternoon I gave it a try. I needed a card for a couple from our church who have been married for 40 years. I used an embossing folder from SU, dies from Simply Graphic and Lawn Fawn, the alphabet roller stamps from SU and the splashes are from SU as well.

Thanks, Gerjanne for the tutorial. Very helpful indeed!
By the way, I really am a lurker in blogland at the moment. I'm sure that one day I will have time to read everything and leave you comments. I promise!

Have a lovely Easter weekend! 

Simply Graphic

Quite often people leave me a comment telling me that they always recognize my style of cards. However I always wonder what my style is. I still don't know. If I look at my Pinterest board I see a mishmash of cards.  I love colourful and bold patterns, I love the cute stamps from Lawn Fawn, Mama Elephant and Avery Elle. Papertrey Ink and Stampin Up have got great sets which I use on a regular base. I admire international card makers like Betsy Veldman and Dawn McVey, who both are using bright colours, Elena with her beautiful colouring but also Andrea with her CAS-creations and natural colours. And there are also many Dutch cardmakers who inspire me a lot like Stella, Judith, Marike , Sanne, Ellen and many more. They all offer me a bunch of inspiration with all kinds of different styles. Sometimes I create cards with rainbow colours and lots of design papers, the next one can be sober, CAS and with only a few die cuts. I can't stick to one style. So, maybe that is my style: a mix of different influences.

Today a few CAS creations. During the Christmas break I discovered a French brand of stamps and dies, Simply Graphic. They offer great materials for CAS cards and I ordered some dies and two small stamp sets, one with chevrons (see second card) and the other one is a grunge set (see third card). The sentiments one all three cards are from Papertrey Ink. The circles on the third card are from MFT.

Well, this is definitely my CAS-style I guess :)
Thanks for coming by!