Squirrels in Love: Woodland Invitation

Earlier this week I've promised you more photographs of the lasercut invitation that was featured on the Dutch Arnhemsmeisje blog.

I must admit that this invitation is one of my personal favourites with lots of lasercut details, but I'll let the images do the talking so that you can see for yourself!

Please click on the images to see the detail.

Featured on Arnhemsmeisje

I am so thrilled to have been featured on one of my favourite Dutch wedding blogs! Thank you to Arnhems Meisje and the girls of Assepoester! You can read the blog post here. I thought I'll share a few close-ups and some details here on my own blog as well:

This invitation was digitally printed on a beautiful and luxurious gold shimmer cardstock and then cut into a vintage shape. Each invitation comes wrapped in a bright and cheerful Dutch fabric wrap with a wooden heart button. (The buttons are hand painted and then engraved with the initials of the bride and groom).

 The specific combination of the more formal gold cardstock with a more informal fabric wrap is quite unusual, but I was very pleased with the end result. The invitation was originally designed for a backyard wedding with loads of homespun details. It may be customised in your wedding colours and is also available as a semi-DIY option!

Please stop by again on Friday, when I will share the other invitation featured on Arnhemsmeisje!

Metallics and Naturals

Much to my disappointment I haven't found a supplier for kraft cardstock here in the Netherlands yet - which is a little frustrating ... So if you do know about one, please let me in on the secret! As a substitute for kraft paper I use a recycled paper/cardstock made out of 75 % post-consumer waste paper and 25 % twigs. The paper has a lovely rustic look and feel and, therefore, is a good substitute. To be honest I would have preferred a slightly heavier/thicker paper/cardstock for some applications, but, since this isn't readily available in my little corner of the world, I have come up with ways to work around the problem, such as using two layers of the recycled cardstock or combining the cardstock with another kind of (coloured) cardstock to give it more substance.

This is how I discovered the beauty of metallics and naturals in combination and now I cannot get enough of it! It is as if a bit of metallic gold or silver or a touch of a pearlised shimmer does wonders for the humble sheet of rustic paper or even the brown paper bag! It just glams it up a little. So, nowadays I often combine my kraft paper equivalent with luxurious metallics and pearlised pastels! The great thing is that this more unusual paper partnership could work both ways: the luxurious metallics could add some glamour to your brown paper projects, but rustic brown or kraft paper could also tone things down a little - the perfect solution if you love the shimmer of pearlised or metallic paper, but fear that it might be too glamorous on its own to work for a less formal event.

This favour box by Make Merry! is a perfect example of how pretty metallics and plain brown paper or kraft paper could look together. There is a step-by-step tutorial here.

I am so in love with this combination of gold mini bunting and natural paper. I also like the gold envelope liner detail.

Source: http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2011/04/party-invitation-tutorial.html

Gold foil letters on brown paper. Simple but stunning!

Source: http://bugsandfishes.blogspot.com/2008/12/gift-wrap-ideas-6-fun-with-fonts.html

Silver foil lace around a brown paper package. Pretty!

Source: http://papernstitchblog.com/2008/12/09/new-guest-post-from-lupin/

I was so inspired that I've added some more gold and silver items to my Etsy shop:

I've painted these gold and silver mini pegs/clips by hand. This is quite a time consuming process, but the end result is so much fun! I've immediately clipped some to a brown paper bag, just to see what it would look like!

Happy crafting!

Flattered!

It always makes my day when one of my handmade items is included in a treasury list. There's something special about seeing your work together with the creations of other artists. I love the theme of this treasury which features my French layered gift tags.

You can view the treasury by fellow Etsian crochAndi over here. Please also visit the CrochAndi shop full of the cutest little creatures ... all handmade ... My favourite is this adorable little owl:

2012

Here at the beginning of the new year I would like to say a special  thank you to those of you who visit and read my blog, as well as to those of you who have supported my little shop on Etsy. I am encouraged by your interest and support!

Almost Amsterdam is, to a large extent, still in its infancy - with lots of room to grow. I am aware of that and I have quite a few plans up my sleeve for the new year! During 2011 I've been working on quite a few new designs and these will be launced in 2012. Marc, my hubby, will be helping out with some of the goodies to be made.  (In fact, he is "spring cleaning" and re-organising his workspace as we speak, in preparation for the work to be done!) I will keep you posted, so please stop by often!

Have fun this year! We'll talk again soon!

Engelise

Like sand through the hour glass ...

No, I'm not a soapie fan!. I'm just aware of the last few granules of sand running through the 2011 hourglass! I have been a useless blogger and I'm not even going to come up with excuses, because it's hard enough to forgive myself! I won't expect you to do the same! But, I was determined to blog at least one more time in 2011, so here we go ...

Talking about sand I thought I'll share some pictures of cards that I've done for Katya. She discovered me after getting married, so she decided the ask me to do thank you cards for her wedding, in stead of the invitations themselves. Katya had sent me images of her wedding stationery and asked me to use my butterfly design on cardstock that would compliment her invitations. I was so excited, because just before Katya contacted me I've discovered a new cardstock colour that I was desperately wanting to "test drive". The colour is called "Sand" and it has a beautiful shimmer to it. I knew this would be perfect, but of course I gave Katya some other colour options too and did my best not to force my personal preferences on her. When Katya contacted me to tell me that she chose the sand and white colour combination I was over the moon. It was exactly what I thought would work the best too and I could start playing with the new shade of paper straight away ...

The sand cardstock is a lovely neutral, but rich colour. It was a perfect match for Katya's black and white invitations, but it goes equally well with bright colours and pastels. It does make me think of sandy beaches, but it also reminds me of  a nice warm cuppachino ...

I have to apologise for the photographs which aren't that great, but at least they will give you a general idea of what I was up to ...

Since the cards were to be written by hand I've included a simple, but elegant crystal white insert (also with a shimmer). The handmade envelopes matched the inserts.

Try not to peek through the card at my messy desk! I just wanted to include this photo to show off the beautiful lace effect of lasercutting!

Yes, this is a bit of a silly photo, but it so well demonstrates one more reason why I love lasercutting. The sun unexpectedly came out from behind a cloud and shone through the lasercut details of a card standing upright on my desk, waiting for an insert.

I hate it when anything goes to waste, so I've used the off-cuts from the above batch of cards to make the bottom layer of these layered tags (available on Etsy). The top layer is from a single sheet of scrapbooking paper that I simply could not resist ...

On the above photo you can see the tags from the back.

Wooden planes with customisation option

 

My lounge hangs full of pictures from countries that Hubby and I have visited. We have a vintage map of Africa on one of our walls (Hubby is the proud owner and he had it even before he had me!) and a collection of little treasures that we've collected on our trips to other countries. So being a bit of a traveller myself, I guess it isn't strange that I've also been bitten by the travelling theme bug when it comes to weddings, celebrations and home decor!

I'm especially in love with the idea of boarding pass and passport invitations - not to mention those old maps, vintage postcards, and other travel related treasures that are so trendy right now!

At present I am working on stationery for a wedding with a much more feminine touch, but in between everything pink and flowery I came up with a fun little item for my Etsy shop:  tiny wooden aeroplanes! 

These little aeroplanes are lasercut from thin, very lightweight wood. They will hardly add any weight to
wedding stationery and invitations (to keep mailing costs down), but they are sure to add an element of fun to any travel themed affair. I've tied one to a simple vintage map pocket/sleeve with baker's twine to show you what the planes look like:

 These little planes are available in my Etsy shop, but you can also e-mail me directly if you prefer to do so. I'm very flexible when it coms to making them. I can make them with or without a hole. The hole is big enough for baker's twine, but if you want to thread them onto something thicker I can supply you with jump rings which will alow you to use them on ribbon and thicker fibres.They can also be made without a hole so you can stick them flat onto paper projects. They come unvarnished and although lovely as they are, they are also easy to paint, stain or dye. And they are scrapbook safe, in case you were wondering.) For an additional fee they may also be engraved with initials/names and/or a date, so customisation is also an option!

To find out more, please contact me via e-mail on almostamsterdam{at}gmail.com. If you've joined Etsy you can also contact me via Etsy. The planes on Etsy can be found here.