What Day is It?

I think I am avoiding my DLP journal.  I'm not positive.  But I do seem to keep finding other things to do instead.  I must be stuck.

I do keep up with a writing journal, nothing spectacular, just mundane day to day stuff.  I have some days of the week stamps I use in it, but don't like any of them.  So, I carved my own.

 The size was determined by the erasers I had on hand.  I lettered the days, outlined them with pencil, and transferred the reverse image to the eraser and carved.  There are plenty of how-to videos out there if you are interested in carving stamps.

Mine aren't perfect by any means.  I can see now the wobbly sides and all the imperfections.  But if the words bother me when I look at them on the page, I can always doodle around them (like I did on the "Fri").  All the wobbly lines magically disappear!

 

Have a good week, all seven days' worth!

December Distractions

I am focusing on Christmas preparations, I really am.  But, I am also easily distracted and often wander off doing other things. 

In a previous post, I showed a stamp I carved which was a pattern from a Kleenex box.  The pattern on the box actually had two designs and I only carved one of them.  A few days later, after looking at the other pattern off and on, I carved that one too, which is a reverse of the first pattern.  I had fun stamping out a page using the two stamps and different inks.

 I also stamped one of the designs on brown kraft paper.  It would probably look better if (a) I could carve a symmetric design, and (b) I could stamp in a straight line. 

I also tinkered with something Christmassy for addressing envelopes for Christmas cards.

Last but not least, one of my favorite things every year is receiving a Christmas letter from a faraway friend.  Every year she stamps/writes the letter in rebus form.  I cannot believe how she has outdone herself year after year.  It is such a hoot to sit down and figure out what her letter says.  I always take it with me when I go visit family and it has become one of our most fun traditions to laugh at everyone's wrong guesses until the whole thing is solved.  If there was a rebus Christmas letter hall of fame, she would be the main rock star there.

 

This might have been posted sooner except for the fact that when I took all the pictures, my camera card was in the slot on my computer and not in my camera.  One might say, doesn't your camera have a message on the screen that says no card is there.  Yes, it does.  But since this is about December distractions, all I can say is, I was too distracted to know the card was not in the camera, and I totally missed the message on the camera screen.  I hope I am less distracted in the new year.  I might be much more productive!

Thanksgiving Carving

Ah, Thanksgiving in America.  It commemorates a time when European settlers shared food with Native Americans, then afterward they went out to find bargains on big screen TV's and watch football... or something like that.

I didn't have turkey this year.  I did not carve a turkey.  But I did do some carving...

I keep looking at my Kleenex boxes.  I have to hand it to Kleenex.  Over the years they have had designs that depict marbling, paste paper, and now these tile looking designs.  It's enough to make me forget that their tissues are getting smaller and smaller, even though the box remains the same size.

When one of the boxes was empty, without a second thought, I cut it apart and decided to use the design for a carved stamp.  I didn't bother to get out my carving tools or use acetone to get the words off the eraser.  I just went for it.  It took me all of about 15 minutes to carve the stamp and stamp out a pattern.  

It would have helped if the stamp was more symmetric, but over the years I have learned that's never gonna happen with me, no matter how hard I try.  

Quick, quick, quick... In no time I had stamped out a pattern.  Maybe I'll stamp my Christmas wrapping paper this year.  hahahah, right after I make my Christmas cards... (that ship sailed years ago!)

Now, if only I had some pumpkin pie to eat while admiring my handiwork.

Fine Feathered Friends

I've still been carving stamps here and there.  I felt the need to carve a little birdie, and when I realized I can create several new species by drawing mohawks on birds, I was hooked.

I really like stamping them, then drawing on them. I carved these from bird stencils, probably because I was to lazy to try to draw a bird from memory.

And while I had my stencils out, I also stenciled a bird. He is quite handsome, if I do say so myself!

Stamped and stenciled - they all went in the journal.

Krafty Pages

My to-do list was kind of neglected this weekend.  I have a new 9x9 inch spiral journal with kraft paper pages.  And I've been carving more stamps.  So I'm making this journal a place to stamp my carvings and make notes.  I'm trying to add past carvings too, but I can't remember when I carved the big square one.  Good thing I have a blog, so I can look back and see when that was!

The journal is from Dick Blick.  And the leaf ideas are from Michelle Ward's carving tutorials.
Have a great week!