Stamps and swapping

Today has been a busy crafting day! Unfortunately I can't show you everything that I made just yet... I finished two ATCs for the Alphabet ATC swap at Craftster, but I'll have to wait to post pictures of them until they are received. I was really pleased with my cards this time - it's always like a little bereavement, sending them away... But hopefully their new owners will like them too. Here they are, on their way to the post office:

HPIM1989

Looking through all my papercraft supplies also inspired me to carve another stamp. I recently bought a Speedball stamp carving kit off Ebay, and fell instantly in love with it! This time I knew I wanted to make a bird stamp, and after a bit of sketching this is what I came up with:

HPIM2010

This is only the second stamp I've ever made, and obviously it's not perfect. I had a lot of trouble with the sharp corners, but hopefully I'll get better with some more practice. I'm also thinking about trying to buy some more Speedball cutter blades, the kit only came with two and none of them are really good for details. Any stamp carvers out there? What tools do you like to use? Anyway, despite the imperfections I'm really proud of this stamp. I can see myself getting a lot uf use out of it. Here it is on a bunch notecards, with one of my colored pencils for size:

HPIM1998

And a closeup of the little birdie:

HPIM2003

I had so much fun making this! I'm thinking of carving another birdie to put in the upper corner of the notecards as well. I'm going to go to the craft store tomorrow to buy some more inkpads (right now all I have is this brown one), so you'll probably be seeing some more notecards and stationary in the near future. I'm also trying to think of other ways to use this stamp. Do you have any ideas?

It's getting late and I should have started on some of my required reading for my summer class (I'm taking Economic History - sounds like fun doesn't it?) this evening, so that's all for today. Have a good evening!

5 comments:

  1. Love that little bird and nest,Cute you have to share with us how to make one? is that a earser ? hugs

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  2. Great stamp. Can't wait to see more.
    I love how it feels!

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  3. ooh very cute :) you could also make your own giftwrap or cover a book with paper stamped all over.. :)

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  4. Thanks everyone! Ginger, I make most of my stamps with tools and carving material from a company called Speedball, but you can definitely use a good eraser as well! I could try to post a tutorial for cutting them if you like! /K

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  5. What a treat it would be to get an envelope like that in the mail!

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