Etsy Monday Studio Karamelo

StudioKaramelo has some very pretty wrapping paper and stamps for Christmas.  I was at a paper store last week and saw some wonderful stamping with heat embossing, so I am now on the hunt for particularly pretty stamps.

Here is what the shop owner says about her process:

"floralgeometrics.

On rubber & paper.Leaves and branches meet dots and lines. Floral meets geometrical.Pebble stones in my jacket nuzzling between my fingers, clacking softly, the hackly tangle of hedges having no beginning and no ending. A knobbed bough with moos, a fine structured umbel, an abstract alga, a winterly seed head. A fascinating beauty reveals in these simple shapes and pattern. I am taken with the lines of nature, those who are not exact and straight but nevertheless well-shaped.And dots. Again and again.That's karamelo.
With pencil and indian ink my motifs come onto paper. Handdrawn. Afterwards they are lasered out of rubber stamp or printed with pigment on paper.I do not only find my inspiration in nature, also the used materials are mostly made out of ecological resources without chemical additions.As possible all products and packaging are produced environmentally friendly and sustainable."

Pretty, modern christmas stamps

Great christmas assortment of stamps

Pretty conifer wrapping

Etsy Monday Tuttosicrea Everything is Created

A few years back, my husband and I went to Italy and Morocco. One of the things we learned about ourselves a long time ago is a pure "vacation" is not something we do well with, much better to have a purpose to our activity. Kevin does special wall finishes, so we went to the places where these wall finishes originated and arranged some classes.

Our trip took us from Milan to Vicenza to Venice to Florence and finally to Lake Como before we went to Marrakesh.

Of course, Italy is magical. For us, it was the evidence all around us of creativity, a pulse that persisted through hundreds of years, wars and political systems, fortune and failure. But there you will find even today artisans making a living creating beautiful and unique things, and their work is a respected part of the fabric of life there.  As we crossed the River Arno and made our way into the Artisan's Quarter in Firenze, shop after shop held a creative person at work. A mountaintop near Lake Como had tables with locally crafted teas and jellies. Milan celebrated the artisans who bring the opera to life. And so on.

Today's shop Tuttosicrea, which means "everything is created", has a beautiful selection of handmade articles.  The shop name (which I couldn't agree with more!) and the nature of her items brought me back to that trip, and the places and people we visited. A shop, a place and a country where everything is created.   Etsy says the store is based in Monza, a place I haven't been to so I checked out Google Maps. It's a little north and west of Milan, and of course beautiful.

from Google Maps imagery

Now for her wrapping magic.  Elena put together a beautiful gift wrapping package for Valentine's Day.  Handstamped paper, string, gift tags, a vial full of heart stickers and finally some beautiful polymer hearts! This would be very special wrapping for a special person.

Valentine' gift wrap package

the tags

The hearts!

She had a similar package for fall/winter:

Rustic gift package, all you see here.

Pretty stuff celebrating love, life and the magic of creation!