Stamping Fabric & Carving Stamps

This is the fabric I stamped using a stamp that I carved. I have found that I love carving my own stamps! If you click on the scanned picture to enlarge it, you may be able to see the white berries I added using the eraser end of a pencil. This is just done on some unbleached muslin and I used Jacquard Textile paints, undiluted. After several tries of painting and dabbing, I found that a sponge brush worked the best to dab onto the stamp. After one good stamp, I immediately stamped again to get a shadow effect on the fabric. Then, after it dried (and it did dry fast), I heat set it with an iron. I didn't even put a pressing cloth over it because I was in a hurry. There was no bleeding onto my ironing board cover. The picture below shows the stamp I carved using my Speedball carving tool. I won the tool in a drawing at one of my art groups one year. It has interchangeable blades in all sizes. The block I use to carve the stamp is made by Speedball, too. I buy them in a local art store or they can be ordered. They feel just like an eraser and are very easy to carve. I draw my image onto paper using a pencil. Then, just lay it on top and rub and the image is on the rubber, ready to carve. I also made some small ones using the white erasers. Fun!
After I carve the image, I use a regular ink pad to stamp it onto paper. This method shows you where you need to carve more rubber away so it won't stamp onto the fabric or paper where it shouldn't. If you look at the stamped image I did on the paper, you can see some spotty ink that shouldn't be there. After using the textile paints and the dye ink pad, my stamp was no longer a pretty pink color...it become permanently stained, but still works just fine. I mount it on a clear 1/4" acrylic block that my hubby cut from Plexiglas we bought at the Hardware store. He cut several sizes so I can use them with different stamps. The repositionable dry adhesive roller tape is great for holding the stamps onto the acrylic.
Now I have to find something to make from this fabric. I really like it and may just keep it like it is and add a border...instant art quilt. It would also make a nice pillow top.
We had a great weekend with our son and his girlfriend visiting us from Ohio. We went to DC (Metro trips) for two days and saw lots of good sights and museums. They are fun to hang out with. I don't think I cooked at all while they were here. It was a fun time!

"Quilting" ATC with a mini-quilt

This is my version of the theme: "Quilting". This one is for a swap. I decided to make an actual quilt to glue onto the ATC (altered trading card). I have a queen sized quilt made from this fabric so I decided to use the left over pieces to make this ATC. I tried scanning it, but it kept moving around on the scanner. I then tried taking a picture with my camera but Emma was jumping up on me blurring most of the images. So I just gave up and went with the pictures I had taken. Hopefully this picture will give you the idea. The scissors are stamped with black ink and then outlined with Gelly Roll glitter pens. I cut out a spool and wound green thread around it.

It's a very cold day here in Virginia. We even had a bit of snow last night. If you look closely, you can still see some on the ground. So different from Ohio with our usual foot or more of snow. Because of the tiny amount of snow, it makes it more difficult to shovel your driveway and sidewalks. It just freezes and makes ice if you don't remove it. Last time it snowed, we left it thinking it would melt, but no, it froze and we had more snow on top of it which made it impossible to shovel. Now that I have learned the secret of shoveling in Virginia, we won't be the "only" house in the neighborhood that didn't shovel. But tomorrow, we are suppose to have lots of ice, freezing rain and snow. I'm so ready for the beach.

Paper Dress

Here it is, my vintage paper dress. It is one of the three I am making for a swap. We are suppose to use a vintage dress pattern and make our own version of it. No faces, arms or legs, just the dress. This is tons of fun! I use to love paper dolls (OK, I still do...I got The Lennon Sisters for Christmas last year). I cut the dress from sturdy scrapbook cardstock and made a net overlay for the skirt. The buttons are tiny rhinestones. Fun!
The next thing I am going to do is use the pattern (from the 70's) of my wedding gown and try to re-create it...too much fun! If anyone tries these, I would so love to see them, so leave a comment. Advice: Never act your age, always find time to play.

Valentine Flowers

My Valentine brought me this beautiful bouquet of roses yesterday. It even has a beaded tie around the vase (future quilt use) and the vase was wrapped in pink, printed pelon fabric (future quilt use). They are so pretty that I just had to share!
Tonight we are going out to a movie and maybe dinner. I spent the afternoon cleaning and clearing the clutter in my studio. I have several projects to finish for quilt show entries coming up soon. So, I'm off to do some planning and creating.

Winter Storm

We are currently having a winter storm like a lot of the country. What to do when you are stuck inside? Well, I am crocheting when I'm watching the news or American Idol. (Yes, I'm an AI fan) My daughter and her friend are crocheting so much in California that I have caught the fever, too. This is going to be a throw for the family room sofa. Emma really likes to lay on it while I'm trying to work on it. She is all into staying warm during these icy days. As you see in the picture below, she is all snuggled up in her little bed in my studio. She will be 8 months old on friday!
I also made a card today for my Valentine. Isn't it sweet? I hope he doesn't read this blog today before I give it to him.
We had a great 35th anniversary this past weekend. I always get a card and I've saved all 35 of them. Hey, pretty soon they will be vintage!

I'm currently working on the cutest paper doll dresses! I'll post them when I'm done. I still love paper dolls.

Painted Clay Creations

I couldn't think of a title for this post, but maybe it's because I'm listening to a Sci-Fi book on my MP3 player as I type. I love mysteries and this mystery turned out to be a Sci-Fi, too.

This picture is after the air-dry clay dried (the next day) and was painted. First, I just used regular acrylics, but it seemed to rub off. So, I used the Lumiere paints (dry brush) and they really adhered. You may see these little buttons and charms in various future quilts. My favorite is the rectangle one with star fish (of course).

The long leaf near the top is from a stamp that I carved from an eraser. On the flip side of the eraser, I carved a flower. That's another fun thing to do. I have a bunch I carved from wine corks, though I don't know where I got the wine corks : )

Clay Buttons & Charms

Today, I played with air-dry clay and polymer clay. The first picture is the ones I stamped and shaped out of Creative PaperClay. The picture shows them drying on a piece of paper. When they are dry, I will paint them and use them on my quilts. These are polymer clay buttons I made and painted with Lumiere paints.

This pewter one is my favorite.

New ATC

Here is an ATC I made yesterday. It is for a lottery I am participating in on a Yahoo Group, Stampers Corner. I have learned so many neat techniques in this group that can be applied to paper and fiber. It's a fun group to join. The theme is Asian, so this is my version. You can't really see it too well, but the tree and script are embossed with copper. I used colored pencils to color in the cherry blossoms.

I'm off to try some more techniques. I just bought the new book by Sherrill Kahn, Creative Embellishments for Paper, Jewelry, Fabric and more. I'll post them as I make them.

Our 35th anniversary is coming up February 10th! I was a teenager when I got married, though. I was 19 and hubby was 20. We both looked 14.