Book Review: Print and Stamp Lab by Traci Bunkers

I was already a fan of Traci Bunkers, you’ll remember how I raved about the moldable stamp tutorial she shared and I love watching her journaling videos on Youtube. I have to admit I was a little hesitant to buy Print and Stamp Lab thinking that I already knew pretty much all I needed to know about making stamps. I was on twitter and heard/saw/read(uh, it’s twitter) SamanthaKira(Journal Girl, also awesome journaling inspiration) mention making stamps with craft foam and a wood burning tool and was super curious. Traci Bunkers joined our conversation mentioning that there was a tutorial using pipe insulation and a wood burning tool to make a roller stamp in her book and THAT is when I knew I needed to get it.
I was really excited to see all of the projects in this book and I was not disappointed, there is a wonderful, creative, exciting selection of projects to choose from and they are very frugal too.
My favorite part is how each stamp that is made is shown stamped with a stamp pad and with paint alone and then an example is shown with other stamps/finished project is shown. A few of the stamps that weren’t that exciting to me became a lot more interesting when I saw them used/layered with other stamps.
I was also really excited to see several different ways to make rolling stamps.The ponytail holder block was the first thing that I wanted to try, it reminds me of the suckers on octopus tentacles. Super easy and great results. I used a peanut butter jar lid for my stamp base and it makes the ones on the edges print darker (what a happy accident).
I would definitely recommend this book and I can’t wait to try a few more projects. Don’t forget to stop by Traci’s blog to see some of her other great projects (the 30 days of carving is my personal favorite)

Making Stamps from Tub Toys

Yesterday I shared a link to a video tutorial from Traci Bunkers on making your own stamps on my Facebook page, if you haven’t already, you should go and watch it now!
I decided to use some extra pieces from some tub toys and now I’m eyeing all the flip flops in the house. This is a very quick project - in about 15 minutes I had a nice selection of new stamps. I really like that you can redo any that don’t turn out or that you don’t like (notice there is not a robot stamp). I do think that you get a crisper image (which is what I like) using a firm and flat object that won’t slide around. I would love to have a knitted or crocheted stamp, but you would have to use a stiff cord or something besides yarn to get it to work.The stamps are very realistic looking, my husband asked me how I got the prints to be 3-dimensional. It reminds me of photocopying things laid directly on the glass in black and white. My favorites are the buttons (of course), the washers, and the clothes pins. I can’t wait to make more of these. What would you use to make an interesting stamp?

I Have a Great Idea, but it’s a Secret

I made this stamp to try the idea.
I drew up several samples in my sketchbook and in the end drew something different directly on the eraser.
I still need to test the idea, but I am fairly confident that it will work, and if not I still have the fun stamp.  I’ll let you know how it turns out in a week or two.  Also, I found the giant box of coin envelopes that I bought a few years ago.  If anyone would like me to mail them a few (four or five) stamped with this design send me an email with your name and address.  There is a email link in my blogger profile here or you can message me on the Facebook page.
Have a super crafty weekend!

Spool Stamp Tutorial

Here’s another idea to use up some of those empty spools, it’s also a great project to do with kids.

Supplies:

empty spools

sticky back foam sheets

Exacto knife and/or scissors

This is a great project for the spools with the stubborn labels that are hard to take off because you won’t need to peel them off for this project.  Trace around the bottom of your spool on to the back (paper part) of the sticky backed foam sheet and cut out these circles.  You’ll need two circles of foam for each stamp, I like to use both ends of my spools. Peel off backing and stick one circle to the end of the spool this makes a good base for you design to go on and prevents the end of the spool from damaging your design.  I like to trim the excess foam from the edge of the spool with my exacto knife, but it’s not necessary.Draw your design on the back of the foam.  The great part about this is if you choose to make letters or numbers they will be facing the correct way when they are stamped.Cut out your design and stick it on top of the other piece of foam on the end of the spool.  I used my exacto knife to cut out the center and regular scissors to cut the edges.  If you are careful and save the foam pieces that you cut from your design you can make a stamp from those too and have a negative version of you design.  That can be a lot of fun for stamping with different colored inks.Stamp away!  I like to accent these stamps with pen details.  These stamps aren’t as sharp as eraser stamps, but are much easier to make and only require basic supplies.   As you can see, I’m still making more button stamps.  Kids really love to make these and it’s an inexpensive way to make a lot of stamps.

I love to see you results if you give this project a try.

Button Button

Every day I have been checking Traci Bunkers blog following her 30 day of carving (stamps), it has been very inspiring.  On day 24 her stamp looked like a button and suddenly all I ever wanted was a hand carved button stamp.  Now, I did not want to copy hers, I wanted to be inspired/influenced, but not a copy cat.So here I am trying not to copy her stamp, that blue one is pushing it.   I even got out my box of buttons to find some authentic designs. I find the less stylized ones more interesting, the octagon one (second from the left) is my favorite.  BTW, button holes and thread are really hard to carve!  I also randomly felt the need to make a citrus slice stamp.
I am really obsessed with this shape/idea.  I am going to explore this motif more, maybe a larger stamp, smaller stamp or a different stamping material.

Reminiscing and Eraser Stamps

Once upon a time I used to draw a tarot card every day and journal about it. The card was always a good prompt, even if I only wrote to say that the card had nothing to do with what was going on with me that day (which wasn’t normally the case). It started because I wanted to learn how to read tarot cards, I did the lessons on learningtarot.com to learn the basics and started drawing a card a day and journaling to help me learn what all the cards meant. I enjoyed it so much that I made a special box to store my cards, reference book, journal, and pens (yes, pens, I like to color code my entries). I also decoupaged my favorite card onto my journal cover and got an awesome handmade orange tarot card bag from a swap on Craftster. And then we started our family, I still managed to draw a few cards here and there, but I completely fell out of the habit when we moved back to Nebraska (last entry 3 1/2 years ago). Here in our new house I see my special box every day and I always think ~ I should get that out and start drawing a card a day again and then I get busy and forget. Well yesterday I finally got that box out and dusted it off. Whew, that was a long story. Here is the box and all the stuff from inside, including the new stamps and calendar I made to encourage myself to get back in the habit. I think it is really interesting to see the patterns that the cards make on such a graphic level. I also really love having everything lined up like this, I think I might be some sort of organizational nerd. I finished the box with a thick coat of super shiny sealer which makes it really hard to take a good photo of it.Here, at an angle, you can see it better. I used a plastic bag and black and blue spray paint to make the background and I printed out all the images on cardstock and decoupaged them on. The cardstock really gives a 3-D look that I love! I carved an eraser stamp for each suite (wands, swords, pentacles, and cups) and a sun for the major arcana cards (and cupcakes too). I’ll stamp the appropriate symbol on my calendar and write the card name in the proper color below it and I’ll have a nice orderly record! I also journal about the drawn card in the proper color, just thinking about it makes me happy :)

If you’re wondering, my card for the day (Tuesday, I draw at the end of the day) was The Hermit.

How to Make Styrofoam Stamps

I remember making styrofoam stamps when I was in high school. Living in a small town made it difficult to get art supplies like linoleum blocks, cutters and printing ink. I came up with a lot of interesting projects; beads made from bread, sculptures out of mud, and styrofoam stamps.

I use meat trays, they actually aren’t that common anymore, now most meat comes in plastic trays (yay, they’re recyclable and great for craft projects!) This is a great project for kids, just leave out the exacto knife and it’s pretty safe, just cutting with scissors and a dull pencil.

This came with the delicious Italian sausage that became a spaghetti pie. You can also use to go boxes. Make sure to wash the styrofoam before you get started. Cut the edges off, so you have a nice flat piece to work with. I used and exacto knife, but regular scissors also work.

I cut mine into smaller pieces, yours can be any size you want. The great thing about this project is that almost any tool can be used to make marks on the styrofoam. I used a dull pencil, but you could use a pen, a popsicle stick, a ball stylus, your fingernail, anything!!! I used an ink pad to make the stamps (note to self, get another color of ink). The great thing about these stamps is you can also make a rubbing of them using printer paper and a crayon, the kids love this, it’s magic!

The texture of the styrofoam can be seen in the print. I like the effect, it looks like stippling or even a mono print. My favorite part about this project is that it is free, I would have bought the sausage regardless and now the tray won’t go to the landfill. BTW if you like this project you should try eraser stamps next.

Eraser Stamps

Did you know that you can buy a pack of three erasers for a dollar? I bought three packs (hoarding, because they don't always have them). I also got a box of coin envelopes(not for a dollar), just because I like them.

I used my handy dandy linoleum cutter to carve them and now I have a double sided stamp and I can make more!!! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these, but I like them. If you would like me to send you a set of six (3 of each design) send me an email, crafterella (at) hotmail (dot) com.

MIA

I know that I have been missing in action for about a month, the Halloween instant cemetery rush has been insane!!!, but in a good way :). I have been making a few other things, but it's stuff I have already shared on this blog, like recycled crayons and polymer clay ornaments.

I have been working on some new things for my etsy store that I will share soon, but today for a little "me" crafty time I have been making stamps from corks. I saw TracyU's journals on flickr and was inspired to make some personal stamps to use for a visual journal of my own.

The restaurant where I work is closing its doors next week and there is this huge box of corks behind the bar, so I took a few (think 95). These are all synthetic corks, they're kind of like spongy rubber and give a crisper image than regular corks. I was hoping to use my linoleum cutter for the carving, but it did not work well, I got better results just using an exacto knife. The best part is if you mess up just cut it off and start over.So far I have made a cupcake, a candle, two different hearts, two different clouds, a sun, and a moon. I used both ends so I have only used four corks! It took me about an hour to carve eight. I'm hoping to make at least one alphabet. I think that using acrylic paint will work well with these stamps and give me more color options, currently I only have a black stamp pad. I will also embellish some the images with gel pens or glitter for more detail.

I have made stamps using erasers, styrofoam meat trays, those pink easy cut blocks, and fun foam stuck to wood or acrylic blocks. I love making my own stamps!