Stamps

I first came across Geninne's Art Blog with a tutorial on making stamps out of erasers. They were so cute and seemed simple enough but turns out finding supplies is not. I looked at all the craft stores around here and no one had anything so I was forced to buy the two main supplies, the linoleum cutter and block online from Blick. To make stamps, you will also need some paper, a pencil, an exacto knife, and either parchment paper or tracing paper.  

There were no directions for the speedball so I'll just describe how to use it here. It comes with all these blades, ranging from 1 (the smallest) and 6 (the largest)

It took me a couple minutes to figure out how to put them in the right way after searching for videos online without any luck. This is what I came up with. First we'll look at the blade. This is a number one, the right side is very small and the left is where you stick it into the handle. You will notice that it is curved and you'll see why in a second.

Ok, here's where the blade goes into. There's a little ball that the end of the blade curves around. You will need to unscrew the top (where the gripping is) to loosen these parts.

The highlighted area is where the end of the blade slides in. 

You stick the blade in so that the curved edge fits around the little ball, and then tighten it back up.

Now you're tool is ready to do some carving! For your first stamp, I would choose something simple. I am a little hard headed and chose something... well hard.

The first step is to draw it out and then pull out your parchment paper or tracing paper.

Place it on top of your paper (it's easier if you tape them both down to avoid sliding) and trace your design.

Next you will take the parchment paper and place it on your block.

Holding it in place and rub the entire design so that the pencil markings stick to the block. Carefully remove parchment paper and if needed, fill in any spots that didn't make it.

It's going to be backwords, but that's ok. That's what we want. Now you're going to want to move onto carpet or a cutting board or something. With your exacto knife, you're going to cut the extra off the block so there's less to carve.

From here it's pretty easy. Start off with a larger blade and I just worked from the outside in, scooping away at the block.

You might have to test it with ink a couple times to make sure only your design is raised. In the end, this is what it will look like!

I also made another one that took me forever because of all the little detail.

And here is what they look like on paper.

It was super easy and I can't wait to make some more! I'm going to test it out on some erasers and see how that goes. Wellll, what are you waiting for?! Go make some stamps!

Laptop for the Sweetie

For Christmas I made my boyfriend a laptop case because well... he needed one! This is the tutorial I used to make it and it turned out better than I imagined.  I quilted the top from 4 different coordinating fabrics that I liked.
And the back (and bits of the front) I actually made out of scraps from a pair of his corduroys that he made me chop into shorts.  I think that was kind of cool, he has a little thing for corduroy.
 


He picked out the plaid that I used from my vintage stash. I like the color combos, they're perfect for him and not too girly!
I think my daughter likes it too (:
I know I said I would share my big news but it's going to have to wait a couple more days! It's so weird to write 2011, where did the year go?
 

Random Updates

I haven't had time to take pictures of stuff I've been working on so here are some random things that happened during my break.  These are pictures from my last photo shoot. Just a couple I took, I haven't gotten them back from the photographer yet.  

This was our christmas card this year, 50's themed. Looove them! 

And a couple of new things in the store.

I've got some exciting news that I'll share next post, can you guess?

Christmas Craziness and Exciting News!

This Christmas was by far the most stressful Christmas of my life! Having to split time between all the in-laws is hard and complicated and just down-right stressful! Anyways, it was a good Christmas and I did enjoy getting to see them all.

So I've got some exciting news! Brandon and I have decided to get our own apartment! I'm beyond excited and have been online looking for places around us and inspiration and decorating and things we're going to need. I received a ton of those visa gift card things for Christmas and am putting them all towards the house. It's weird to me that I don't even want to get clothes but I have been dreaming of having my own place to decorate for sooo long. Here's some inspiration:

This is Emily Henderson's House (from design stars). I love the vintage look and color combos. And I especially love how she mixes the masculine furniture with feminine accessories, it's awesome!

isn't this blue couch just the coolest?

I love the look of the natural wood and blues that she uses with little hints of red and yellow.

I love eclectic homes and this one is like my dream house. It's so perfect. The neutrals mixed with pops of bright colors is refreshing and not too over the top.

this little girl's room is adorable, fit for a princess!

This last one is amazing and probably my favorite. I love, love, love the colors! It so fresh and inviting.

Can't wait to show you guys some of my thrift store finds! And I know that I didn't do my Christmas ornament post, it just got too hectic with making last minute presents. Christmas just snuck up on me this year! Next time I'll be more prepare, promise (:

Quick Christmas Crafts!

I know it's cutting it a little close to christmas but I just have to share these. First is a christmas embroidery hoop bulletin board, it looks a little like an ornament doesn't it?

It was the easiest project I've done in a while. Here is a tutorial for an Embroidery Hoop Corkboard, I skipped the corkboard and the pins still stick! Remember this post?  I used some of the same exact pins and then made a few more with some buttons I had laying around. Pretty convenient that it is the shape of an ornament, huh?

For the next christmas craft is the wreath I made.

Supplies:

Wreath

Tree garland

Berry garland

Little ornaments

Green Floral Wire

Scissors (possibly wire cutters)

In the order of the list, you get the wreath 

Then stack the tree garland on top, securing with the floral wire.

Next comes the berry garland, secure it with wire. Then scatter the ornaments, secure, and there you have it!

Look how darling it is up on my door!

 Pretty quick and painless. Don't the holidays make you feel all giddy? I just love the decorating and excitement! It's fun, kind of makes you feel like a kid again.

I also made a cute little tree with handmade ornaments that I will write about next. So stay tuned!

Lamp and Shade

Sorry for the short absense, Austin was amazing and I can't wait to share my pictures from the photo shoot with ya'll!

So a while back I bought this lamp at a thrift store because it was sooo cool and I couldn't pass it up. But it was shade-less! I bought a white lamp shade but turned out it was too bright of a white and just looked weird on the retro lamp. So I had to come up with some way to decorate it and here is what I did.

First I found some cool vintage fabric I have had stashed away

and kind of wrapped it around the shade. Then I cut off the excess from the top, bottom, and where the ends meeted leaving an inch of room to glue down. This is what it looked like laying out.

I got my handy glue gun and being sure to line up the ends with the seam in the shade, I glued that sucker down. I tucked in the extra at the top and bottom (at the top I had to cut slits every couple of inches so that it would wrap down). Once that was done, I was ready to decorate! I made some cute felt flowers with this tutorial and some jean leaves and pinned them all in an arrangement that I liked.

Then, very carefully, I glued them down. I started from the outsides and worked my way in but it probably doesn't matter how you do it.

Here is the finished product in my room on our little retro bedside table.

I really love how this turned out and the accidental color combos are perfect to me! And I just realized that there's still a pin in the orange flower... but I'm proud of myself (:

Christmas time is coming! Last week we had a little family hanging lights party.

I made my boyfriend climb up in the tree to wrap lights. I have a feeling he was a monkey in a past life? Maybe?

Eliza just thought it was so funny to play hide and seek behind the tree. But I guess when you're that little it would be.

We haven't done the tree yet, I know it's kind of late but that's ok! I'll get to it... eventually.