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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Flower Card

Hello and Happy Monday!

Today's card was inspired by a tag that Laura Bassen made on Day 6 of Stretch Your Stamps 2 using outline stamps.

To make sure that the ink of my stamped flower would not smudge when making the Distress Ink background, I first inked the flower with Versamark and then with Hero Arts Navy ink before I stamped and clear embossed it.
This worked perfectly, as I would not have been able to heat emboss the Hero Arts ink by itself.

For the background I used Milled Lavender and Bundled Sage Distress Ink. I also sprayed some of this fantastic mist for a lovely shine. The shine doesn't show up very well in the pictures, but it is lovely in real life.

To finish off the card, I added a navy blue mat around the stamped panel.

The color scheme was inspired by Color Throwdown #306 (CTD306). I think these colors look really pretty together, and it's a combination that I would not have thought of myself.

Thank you so much for visiting! :-)

Love,
Tone

Challenges: Color Throwdown #306 (CTD306),  Addicted to Stamps & More #109: CAS 

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Graphic Ombre Birthday Cards

Hi there!

On Day 8 of Stretch Your Stamps 2, Kelly Rasmussen made some beautiful cards using graphic stamps to create a border. Her cards inspired me to pull out this great border set from Simon Says Stamp. I made three variations of the same card.

This version is my favorite. I think the sentiment first perfectly to the design, and I like the ombre stamping on this card the best. This was actually the last one I made, so it took me some tries before I got it the way I wanted it. :-) The sentiment is from this fabulous set from WPlus9. 

I was planning for this card to be portrait instead of landscape, but after stamping the border, I couldn't find a sentiment that I thought fit. So then I made it a landscape card instead. :-) The sentiment is from an oldie but goodie Hero Arts set.

For all three cards I've used the same inks: Hero Arts Mint Julep, Tide Pool and Soft Granite, as well as Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue.

I'd love to know which version you like the best! :-)

Hugs,
Tone

Challenges: Simon Monday Challenge: Anything Goes, Addicted to CAS: # 45 Geometric, A Blog Named Hero Challenge #50: Ombre, Simon Says Stamp: Work It Wednesday July 2014: Blue, Addicted to Stamps & More #109: CAS 

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Retro Birthday Card

Hi!

On Day 8 of  Stretch Your Stamps 2, Nichol Magouirk made a card using graphic stamps that inspired me to finally ink up this great stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

This card was a bit of a challenge for me. I always love the cards that other people make with graphic stamps, but somehow I don't tend to choose these stamps myself when I sit down to make a card.

If I would make this card again, I would probably change out the light yellow color. I still think the card looks cute as it is in real life, but you can barely see the yellow outline shapes in the picture.

I stamped all the shapes in three summery colors of Hero Arts shadow inks (Mint Julep, Passion Flower and Soft Yellow). The Hero Arts inks are by far my favorite inks! I stamped the birthday with Versamark Ink and heat embossed using this amazing embossing powder.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Hugs,
Tone

Challenges: Simon Monday Challenge: Anything Goes, Simon Wednesday Challenge: Summer, Addicted to CAS: # 45 Geometric, Cure For The Monday Blues Challenge #27 (colors on the vases), One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #8: Shades of Summer (Shades of Summer #5)

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Feminine Love Card with Ombre Background

Hey you!

In yesterday's post I shared a masculine love card featuring this fabulous heart background from Hero Arts, and today I have a feminine card with the same stamp.

I actually made this card for myself, haha! ;-) Like I mentioned yesterday, my boyfriend and I just had our 5 year anniversary, and my boyfriend asked me to make a card that he could give to me. He doesn't want to buy a card, because he says that no store-bought card will ever be as nice as the cards I make myself. Isn’t he sweet? :-)

For this card I was inspired by a card that Laura Sterckx made during Day 2 of Stretch Your Stamps 2 (I'm absolutely loving this class!!). I used the same design and the same colors of Distress Ink for my ombre background as she did.

Laura used a die cut for her sentiment, but since I don't have a die cut machine, I used a punch again. I was so happy to discover that this cute sentiment from Simon Says Stamp fits perfectly within the punched shape.

To attach the vellum piece, I used some clear dimensional adhesive from Kool Tak. The adhesive was showing through the vellum a little, but I positioned the tiny squares just behind the letters so you hardly notice them.

If you have any questions about this card, let me know in the comments!

Are you taking the Stretch Your Stamps 2 class?

Hugs,
Tone

Challenge:  A Blog Named Hero Challenge #49: Die A Little

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Masculine Love Card - Metallic On Black

Hei hei!

I was so lucky to win a spot in the Stretch Your Stamps 2 Online Card Class, and I have really been enjoying it!

Jennifer McGuire made a card on Day 2 where she used perfect pearls on black cardstock. I needed a card for my boyfriend for our 5 year anniversary, so I thought this technique would be perfect for this card.

I used a combination of mint and white perfect pearls for the heart background.

Jennifer used dies to cut out a sentiment and a window on her card. I don't have a die cut machine, so I used a circle punch instead and heat embossed my sentiment on a vellum strip so that my sentiment also could float over the circle window.

I'm so happy with how this card turned out! And my boyfriend also thought the card was really nice. One of my best, he though. Always nice to hear! :-)

As I'm stretching my stamps these days, I also made a feminine card using the same background stamp. I will share this card with you tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Love,
Tone

Challenges: Simon Wednesday Challenge: Make It Sparkle, Addicted to Stamps: Make Your Mark, Crazy for CAS #50, A Blog Named Hero: Die A Little, Fusion Card Challenge: The Beach House 


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Radiant Orchid mt Washi Tape Set

Hi and Happy Friday!

Let me introduce you to the newest addition to my shop: the Radiant Orchid mt Washi Tape Set!

As you probably know already, Radiant Orchid is Pantone's color of the year 2014, and in this washi tape set you get two shades of this beautiful purple color. Each roll is 15 meters long, not the usual 10 meters! So you get a total of 30 meters of high quality Japanese mt washi tape.

I have limited quantities of this beautiful set, so get yours while supplies last!

Have a great weekend! :-)

Love,

Tone

    

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