Recent Makes: Autumn Stamps

Drumroll......my first autumn batch of stamps!!!! Hurrahh!! 

Autumn is not far away and I am feeling really inspired by all of the bright vintage-y colours I've been seeing about this summer. I was really inspired too by Geninne's Making Impressions book on stamps, and visiting her blog I'm just brought to life by all of the bright vivid colours and the crazy swirliness and the calmness of the quirky birds.

I sketched and carved these stamps from photos of flowers in my house and in my back yard:

This one I sketched from a picture of Mexican Golden Poppy I thought was really pretty:

And these are the cards I made with them:

I've been trying out different methods of colouring the images. I've been trying Hero Arts dye inks and Tsukineko's VersaCraft inks. VersaCraft wins by FAR for this type of stamping. I'd bought these Hero Arts dye inks in a summer palette:

They are really nice colours but because it is dye ink it is very thin and bleeds very easily when stamped on to normal card paper. I can see now (being the newbie stamper that I am) why these are only good for use on glossy paper and for detailing.

The Versa Craft Inks I bought were these shades in: Cherry Pink, Poppy Red, and Chocolate:

They are really nice and creamy and rich, and oh-so-dreamy to use. They can be stamped on to fabric as well and ironing the ink on to the fabric makes it permanent (although I've read it's still not colourfast; I'm going to try this out). It makes a nice, clear, solid image (you can see the teal ink is a different brand, and it's not stamped as well as the others). Definitely going to be using VersaCraft from now on! :-)

I used Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black ink for the outline of the Mexican Golden Poppy and LOVED this ink too. It's so bold and this can be used on glass, plastic, metal, and ceramic too. It dries almost instantly and is permanent so it doesn't smudge if you wipe water over it afterward. I used watercolour paint for the golden yellow and I really liked how it turned out and how crisp it looks.

Not too bad for a first attempt!! Anyone else use VersaCraft? What are your thoughts?

New Book! Making an Impression, by Geninne

I *love* getting new craft books. Whether its in the mail, or from the library, there is something cosy and exciting about snuggling up on the sofa and opening the pages to what you know will be a massive source of projects and a haven of inspiration.

I picked up my latest find from the post office on the way to work last week (and then had to spend the rest of the day reeeally wanting to to go home so I could read it!). Making an Impression, by Geninne Zlatkis:

It's such a beautiful book, and whereas usually I only see one or two things I want to make myself in books, I turned the pages in this one wanting to quit my day job and make EVERYthing.

My fave project ideas:

Love the idea of taking all of the stamps in your collection, theming the colours of ink, and making a piece of artwork for the wall.

This bird cushion is beautiful. I love the colours. I think they would be really nice as a picture on the wall as well (ooh, matching?!)

There is also a cool little section too about design and what makes up a great stamp. It's something I'd never thought about before and I feel like I can graduate now to more themed sets of images on my stamps.

Will show you my attempts once I get started!!! :-D

Stamp out the heat!

Brriiing on the heat of the summer. We are hitting a high of 31C this week and I am wondering if I really am in England or have entered some weird parallel universe. Who knew it would be the middle of july and I'd be looking forward to going to work?! One bonus to sitting in an office 9 to 5? Air conditioning! :-D

I've taken a bit of a break lately from writing because a) I was a bit discouraged about blogging and b) after getting back from holiday my mind has been abuzz with Etsy shop-opening and an obsessive desire to find my *one true* craft. I've made up my mind (after opening 2 shops, applylane.etsy.com & lemonadeletterpress.etsy.com) that I. just. like. everything. And. I. can't. stop. making. things. Ever. And I can't stop trying new things.

My new new attempt this week is more stamp-making! Tee hee! Which ties hand in hand with my recent card making attempts. I have ordered this new book on stamp-making to hone my skills:

It has some really good techniques on carving stamps and I can't wait to try it out, and to make some bright colourful summer stamps.

There are so many great stamp shops on Etsy that I've also been drooling over. A few of my faves:

So cute! address stamp (katiegreen.etsy.com)

Obsessed with this shop (brownpigeon.etsy.com)

Would have to vote this as the cutest Etsy shop ever! (talktothesun.etsy.com)