My First Stamp!

I finally finished my first handmade stamp!

 I love the final outcome (the print), but I hated making it. Can't I just think of a design and voila...it appears? No? Maybe I should work on inventing teleportation first.

I ended up stabbing my fingers at least twice with the carving tool. Not cool. Minimal blood loss, but those suckers hurt for weeks afterwards.

I have so many other doodles I want to transform into stamps, but I've got to tell you, carving the linoblock sucked. That's a pretty harsh word for me, but it did suck. I'm going to try a softer material next time. Perhaps the lines will be less crisp (not that you can tell from my first attempts at carving the lino), but I'm going for a more natural look anyways, not precision.

Printing with Finger Paints!

Do you remember the dried flowers I found during a family walk this fall?

Well I finally made a date with them to do a little printing!

Does it count that this date was a double date with my daugther and her finger paints? I cut up some brown paper bags for her to paint on and I decided I had waited procrastinated long enough. I jumped up and cut off a few blooms from the stems and stamped away with the flowers and finger paint on my own piece of paper. I loved it. The photo above shows you the detail that came out in some of the stamping. The photos below show you the overall effect.

And then guess what I decided to do for Christmas cards this year?

I guess I just hadn't had enough yet.

And this time my handsome husband even joined in the fun. His prints came out even better than mine. I'm blaming it on the flowers I chose to print with. But we're both going to blame give credit for the blurred prints to our daughter (who was asleep at the time of this activity). Shhhhhh....don't tell anyone.

Hotel Surprises

Another added benefit of going away for a conference? Finding insipiration in unexpected places!

I wish I had opened up my eyes to this sooner in life, but last week during my conference I couldn't stop noticing all of the patterns and details around me. In the carpet. In the wallpaper. In the napkins. In the glasses. Women's earrings and necklaces. I couldn't stop sketching.

(Don't worry I got some work done too!)

It was inspiration overload and I loved it. 

I'm even seeing new things (or things in a new way) at home.

Centerpiece Today, Printing Tomorrow

Turns out my dried wildflowers made a spooky enough centerpiece for our Halloween party this weekend. But don't worry, they'll be dipped in paints and inks soon enough.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

My Crabby Day Part III

So my husband brought us outside for a walk after my less than stellar afternoon. We walked along the canal path and pointed out the wonders of nature to our daughter. She was enjoying herself, despite the fact we have to fight her to do almost anything now a days. but at the apex of the walk she lost it. We wouldn't let her walk down a steep and not so stable embankment to fetch a rock to through the water, mean parents that we are. We said no and she lost it. Funny. God said no and I lost it. I hate life lessons.

I won't tell you everything is hunky dory now. It's not. I'm still a little mad. It doesn't help to have 5 months of pregnant hormones coursing through my body, but I'm still mad. And I'm okay with that. I will wait on my God. He will bring me what I need and I trust in that.

On a positive note I found these beauties during our walk. Aren't they just perfect for some printing/stamping? I can't wait!