Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Back to School

Here in Germany schools started again on Monday and over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog our theme for this week is "back to school". It is fitting perfectly, I think...

We're having some great sponsors for this challenge:

Prize - 7 Digis of winners choice

and 


Prize - $15 Gift Certificate

and


Prize - 4 digis of winners choice


First I made a bookmark as that was the only thing I came up with when I thought about the theme... Here in Germany it is not common to give cards to the kids that return to school after the summer holidays, that's why I had been struggling a lot with that theme  -  actually I always skipped those challenges in the past.

Here's the great corner bookmark I made:


and a bit closer as well...

Stamp: "Emma Blowing Bubbles" from Fred She Said & "Sparkling Bubbles" from Magnolia
Pigment Ink Pad in silver
Colours: Polychromos from Faber Castell
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities
Punches: Floral Punch from Nellie Snellen
Charm: from Pink Gem Designs
Stickles, rocailles pearls, plain papers and cardstock from my stash.


I am entering the card in the following challenges:




But as the start of school always reminds me of the first years that start school, I also made something different  -  a small "Schultüte" (a Schultüte is a large cornet of cardboard filled with sweets and little presents given to children in Germany on their first day at school).

The tradition of the "Schultüte" leads back to approximately 1810, to Saxony and Thuringia in Germany. The first documented report of the cone-shaped Schultüte comes from the city of Jena in 1817, closely followed by reports from Dresden (1820) and Leipzig (1836). It started in the bigger cities but spread quickly to the small towns and villages, soon becoming an institution all over Germany.
At first the practice of the school cone, which did not spread to other parts of Germany at this time, was to not give the bag to the kids directly. Marked with the students' names, they were taken to the school by parents or godparents and in a ritual, reminiscent of the Mexican piñata, hung on a metal "Schultüten-Baum" (School cone tree) from which each child had to pick their cone, without breaking them. The story told to the children goes, that there is a Schultütenbaum growing at the school, and if the fruits (the Schultüten) are ripe and big enough to pick, it's time to go to school for the first time.
The only custom that has changed in the later half of the 20th century is that fewer sweets seem to appear in the Schultüte, with more practical gifts such as crayons and pencils, small toys, CDs, books and even articles of clothing replacing the traditional chocolates and candies. (from Wikipedia) 
The kids are also bringing the Schultüte into school... it's a good thing to hold on to when you're pretty shy (as I had been when I was small).

This is me with my Schultüte on my first day at school...
 Back then people bought those Schultüte, nowadays most moms craft their own in kindergarten.


 and a close up of the bubble blowing girl...


 
Stamp: "Emma Blowing Bubbles" from Fred She Said & "Sparkling Bubbles" from Magnolia
Pigment Ink Pad in silver and red
Colours: Polychromos from Faber Castell
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities
Stickles, ribbon, crêpe paper,  plain papers and cardstock from my stash.


I am entering the card in the following challenges:



11 comments:

  1. Oh this is gorgeous Melanie! the image is so sweet and you've coloured her beautifully! Love the pretty paper and flowers… it's a fab bookmark!
    Wow! really interesting reading about the Schultüte custom… and what a lovely photo of you! :-)
    Thanks for joining us at MAWTT for my 'Summer' theme and Good Luck in the Challenge!
    Hugs Sue xx

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  2. Ein wunderschönes Lesezeichen hast du gezaubert. Und auch die Schultüte sieht total klasse aus!

    LG, Kiki

    PS: Vielen Dank auch für's Mitmachen bei Hanna & Friends.

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  3. What a pretty Bookmark, I love the image and the flowers are so pretty. what a lovely photo too.
    Thanks for joining us at MAWTT
    Hugs Mau xx

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  4. Oh these things are brilliant. Love the picture of you when you were small. Thanks for sharing and also for sharing the tradition with on MAWTT, Hazelxo

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  5. Tolle Werke hast du da gezaubert!

    Danke daß du mit dem tollen Lesezeichen bei der Stempelsonnenchallenge mitmachst.

    LG Dreja

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  6. Ein tolles Lesezeichen. Gefällt mir super.
    Vielen Dank für die Teilnahme an der Stempelsonnenchallenge.
    Auch deine anderen Werke gefallen mir super.
    LG Tina

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  7. Hi Melanie, was für ein tolles Buchzeichen! Echt süsser Stempel, tolle Details und der Anhänger eine super Idee.
    Vielen herzlichen Dank für Deine Teilnahme an der Cards und More Challenge.
    LG Claudia

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  8. Good morning Melanie,

    It was very interesting reading your post about your countries tradition when children start school, I've never heard that before and it's always nice to learn something new.

    I love the style of your bookmark and the way it fits the corner of the book.

    It's great to see you at Allsorts challenge this week, and thanks joining in.

    B x

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  9. Gorgeous bookmark Melanie. She's really pretty. Lovely piccy of you and an interesting custom you have. Carolxx

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  10. Two beautiful makes.

    I love the idea of the Schultüte - it's sounds great!

    Thanks for joining us at Stampin' For the Weekend for our Monochromatic challenge!!

    Hugs Julie x

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  11. A fabulous creation, a great design and colours.
    hugs
    Heather xx
    Thanks so much for joining us the Everybody Art Summer challenge.

    ReplyDelete

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