Something About Nothing

I feel the need to get better at making word stamps and the only way that will happen is if I practice!  So here goes: Not as smooth as I wanted but not bad. I decided to grab a scrap of MooCarve and see if it were easier to get smoother lines. Still rough in my eyes.   Maybe if I work larger until I get better???

While working on repeat patterns I designed this little bunny and his yummy carrot. I couldn't decide what to leave and what to cut away at first. Once I stamped them, I knew I had made a few mistakes.   I did my best to correct them. and I think they are pretty cute! Perhaps another bunny from foam as a background?

Still working through my tulip obsession,  this time with a set of baby tulips from a piece of "garbage" Eco Karve. They make a cute addition to my planner.

I rarely make or receive real phone calls anymore, but the other day I found myself on the phone with a pencil in hand.  Of course, that meant I started to doodle.  My usual doodles are cartoon faces, or stars, but for some reason I was feeling very tulip-y. I decided to play with the design a bit more and create a stamp. I'm going to play with this image more! I think I might be getting a bit of spring fever.

Last week I blogged about this journal.   It was a test in embossing. Once I knew the embossing powder would work on a similar surface to a Moleskine journal, my daughter and I worked together on an image.  She wanted something abstract but tidy.  Finally an image was born, and carved.  The image was trimmed several times until it had just the right balance of negative and positive space.  Each edition was stamped on to deli paper the size of the journal to see if it would work.  I would have been happy with the first edition, but as I carved away more and more I loved the stamp more and more.  My daughter's vision was awesome. Finally the image was embossed on to the journal.   Whew!  I was pretty nervous I would mess it up. Each time I sprinkled the embossing powder, some of it would stick where it didn't belong and no amount of tapping or hitting the journal would shake it off.  Ultimately I used a paint brush ...

Here we are with my first of, hopefully, many Stamping Saturdays!   Earlier this week I carved a rooster for the upcoming Lunar New Year.   Someone suggested he needed a hen, so I carved a hen for Stamping Saturday. However, everyone knows that when you have a rooster and a hen, you get chicks. They are rambunctious little ones!  And tiny too.  The three of them are only 1.25"w x.75" h.   I think I need to start working bigger. 

December is complete and I have carved more than 31 stamps. There were several days that only one stamp would not do.  I gathered all the stamps together to photograph them but they wouldn't all fit in one photo, so here they are in two. Carve December Days 1 to 11 Carve December 12 to 31 It was a very productive December!  I love carving everyday, but as I have other work that must be done, I can't continue the project for the entire year on a daily basis, but I do think I can carve every week!  So I am committing myself to a weekly stamp post called: Stamping Saturday.  See you then!