Creative Blog Hop

Hi everyone!

Today I am participating in the Creative Blog Hop. I was very honored when Leni of Between Paper and Nature asked me to continue the hop after her.

When reading Leni's post, I was so surprised to learn that we discovered stamps in exactly the same place! Just like Leni, I was hooked after visiting the Posthumus stamp shop. It's a lovely little shop, and if you ever visit Amsterdam, you should go by!
The shop is just a 5 minute walk down the street from where I used to work, so I have spent many of my lunch breaks browsing through stamps there. ;-)

My stamping and card making journey started in 2010. For my boyfriend's birthday that year I gave him a trip. As I didn't have a physical gift for him, I thought a very large card would be fun. Although I didn't use any stamps for that card, I did buy my first Hero Arts stamps at the Posthumus shop shortly afterwards. These were love themed, and you can see the first card I ever stamped here. Even though it's pink, it was for my boyfriend, and it's still hanging on our fridge today. :-)

Now, let's get on to the questions.

1. What am I working on now?
I've been working on an order for a wedding card where the request was lots of gold. I had so much fun making this card featuring five different gold elements.

In the picture above you can see some gold glitter enamel hearts. I'm working on a tutorial on how you can make these yourself and will be sharing this with you soon as well.

2. How does my work differ from others?
I always use stamps. If possible, I want to stamp every element on my card. :-) Therefore I rarely use patterned paper.

Also, my style is quite clean. Often clean and simple. I can also have multiple layers or distress inking on my cards, yet I think they always have a clean look.

I just made this card* and showed it to my mom. Her response was: "This is SO you! I love it!" Hehe, so I guess this card shows my style quite well.

3. Why do I create what I do?
I just love stamping and making cards! Love it! :-) It really is my passion. And stamping is a way for me to relax and to express myself creatively.

My cards are my art. When I talk about my hobby, people often tell me that I light up. I love to create something beautiful, and I hope to spread the joy I felt while creating the card when I give it to someone else.

4. How does my creative process work?
When I have a specific person in mind for a card, I think of what that person likes and see if I have stamps and ink colors that fit. Very often I get ideas from the stamps themselves. And of course I get inspiration from Pinterest and other card makers. There's so much talent in the card making community, and I love seeing what you all make!

I love the creative process of designing the card, stamping, trying out new techniques etc, so my cards usually take quite a while to make. Typically, a card takes between one hour to a whole day to make. I put a lot of my heart and soul into each card.

Another reason why my cards take so long, is that I am quite meticulous. If something is one millimeter off, it bothers me.. ;-) But I have learned to (sometimes) say to myself that nobody else will ever notice and that I need to move on. It's good enough. It's not perfect (in my eyes), but good enough. Can you relate?

I also come up with card designs when I cannot sleep at night. It relaxes me.

Who's next?
I'm very happy and honored that Sarah of My Impressions will be following me up next week! She is a very talented lady, and you should definitely check out her blog.

I would also like to invite all of you to participate in the Creative Blog Hop. And if you do, please leave me a link to your post in the comments. I'd love to get to know you better!

Thank you so much for visiting today!

Love,
Tone

*I'm entering this card into the following challenges: Simon Says Monday Challenge: Finishing Tough, Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes and Addicted to Stamps Challenge #114: CAS
Stamps: Hero Arts Looped Flower Pattern and Hero Arts Say It All
Card stock: Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue

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