michelle ward

Something to Crow About

We had a terrific Halloween party last night.  The girls and guys really got into carving their pumpkin stamps.  They did a great job.  Lots of dancing.  Some very clever costumes.  Lots of Goth influence.  Let's just say - we're not in Kansas anymore.  We've come a long way from dressing as Dorothy.  Fallon was a girl pirate.  High winds made for the perfect evening, adding to the spookiness.  Didn't have Ouija board, but there were plenty of Truth or Dares. 

Wanted to shared with you this fabulous necklace I got this week.  This is created by Tracy Antonik at Photoglassworks.   She has granted me permission to share this photo - go see this and her other beautiful necklaces and earrings in her etsy shop.  I know all you Raven Crow Blackbird lovers will need one of these. 

The first Crusade for the GPP Street Team has ended.  Audrey Hernandez had her name picked from the Top Hat and is our first winner.  We had great submissions from the Teamers.  You can see links to their work by going to the Street Team page and visting the posted links under Crusade No. 1.  Next Crusade will be announced soon.  Thanks to all the players.

Did you set your clocks back?  What will you do with your extra hour today?

Carving Pumpkins

How's this for clever?  Next weekend we're having a Halloween party and I thought it would be cool for my daughter and her friends to have an activity in addition to the eating and dancing, and touching up of make-up.  (They are 11, make-up is a crucial part of the costume!)  So I'll announce we'll be "carving pumpkins", and they won't know what I mean until they see the tools.  (We'll use safety-kut, I like to buy the teacher packs, pre-cut into 2" x 3" blocks.) 

I crack myself up.  Carving Pumpkins!  Here is a paisley and a plaid pumpkin.  I suppose if you used green ink they could actually be peppers. 

I was only going to make one or two sample pumpkins....but you can see it's addicting.  Need to send Halloween cards?  It's not too late to carve yourself a pumpkin.  (Supplies can be found at most craft stores.)

p.s.  I forgot to mention - earlier this week I got to meet Celine. 

She is lovely, full of energy (had to be after this last trip of hers) and a talented and generous soul.

TIP No. 2 Storage and Stuff

I've been asked quite a few questions about unmounted stamps, storage, and 'how do you use those big images?' 

Here are a few answers.  For those of you who use acrylic blocks for temporary mounting - there isn't a block available for some of these larger images.  I suggest you get yourself an inexpensive acrylic box frame, and use that as a mount.  (As you have read, I use gardeners kneeling pads with contact cement to mount my stamps. )

For storage - I use these same acrylic box frames - upside down they are like stackable trays.  To keep organized I lay the INDEX sheet in the bottom so I have an idea of where to sort the stamps when I've finished using them.  (Helps me to determine if something is missing as well).  I keep my stamps in the tray image-side-up so they are easy to find.  I also label the front of the box and keep them stacked on a shelf.  My favorite ink pads lay upside down (so ink stays on the surface) in these frames too.

{When I used to keep my unmounteds unmounted, I adhered them to fun foam, as cushion, then I would doublestick tape them to an acrylic mount.  To store them I would slide the INDEX sheet into a page protector, then I would attach the (still sticky) images to the outside.  All my unmounteds could be stored in a 3-ring binder and the images were easy to find because of the index sheets.  I would keep my binder in a drawer or box because I never wanted to lose the rubber that might fall off the page protector. } 

Sample above shows how to use the plume on your Painted lady.  Don't be afraid to use more than one ink on your stamp.  For instance, the green scrolly image on right - ink the entire image with green, then lightly tap around the edges of the stamp with a corner of your black ink pad, then stamp!  Be sure to wipe off your stamp before trying again or your ink pads will be a real mess.  Also, wipe your ink pad with a paper towel if they start to get mucky from mixing colors on a stamp.  The coolest!

The Crusade has started.  Check over on the Street Team link at right to see the details.  Drawing for a Halloween gift happens on October 27.  Enter by adding a comment with a link to your site.  It's not a competition - anyone can be on the Street Team.

Romeo Romeo, Where for Art Thou?

Romeo and Prague arrived!  There may have been no mail yesterday, but the man who drives the Big Brown truck pulled up and lugged boxes of rubber to my door.  Spent the day sorting and packing (until 2 am!)  As of this afternoon EVERY ORDER HAS BEEN SENT!

The latest issue of Postscript was sent today and announced the pre-order of my new clear stamps.  These are currently 10% off  and available Nov.1  Click here for details at Stampington & Co.

TIP No. 1 - Egg Sizes

If you purchased Painted Ladies, you'll notice there are three sizes of eggs.  Whether you mount them or leave them unmounted it would be useful to label the back indicating the size.  When you are searching for images to layer onto one another to create the speckled eggs you want to have eggs that match in size.  It's a good way to keep organized and will prevent errors.  After trimming the rubber, lay out by size, then label each size with a letter on the back of the rubber or your mount.  (Once you try the "speckling your eggs" layered technique you may want to add additonal notes of your preferred order.  For instance, A-1, A-2, A-3, etc.)

The idea for speckled egg stamps came to me when I found these soaps on this site, Gianna Rose Atelier.  Take a look at all the yummy offerings they have.  In addition to these egg soaps they have pears!  I love anything with a pear scent.  Not sure what the eggs would smell like but they sure are pretty, aren't they?

Another update on rubber deliveries: Romeo and Prague have not arrived yet.  If you ordered one of these your package has been held and will go out next week.  My manufacturer shipped these on Friday as well as the remainder of my order of Painted Ladies and Crow About.  I've packed as much as I can until I get the rest of the inventory here.  Thanks for your patience.  As I said before, the response to the new collection has been wild and my guy is pressing alot of rubber! 

The latest.....

I'm still waiting for 2 sets of images to arrive, plus additions to the others.  I've packed up all I can and have shipped all that were completed.  Below you can see how my coffee table looked Friday night (yes, that's a glass of wine) and then there's how things looked this morning before my postal run.  There's nothing more I can do until the Brown truck pulls up with more rubber.  So.....I had to play.  Somebody stop me!  (See STREET TEAM, link on right, for more tags)

I'm an impulse stamper.  I wanna be able to grab the thing and use it.  So I mount all my stamps on foam.  This nice thick stuff is actually a gardeners kneeling pad.  When you have your stamp mounted on this you can grip it like a wood mount, and it also gives you the cushion you need.  Cheap and easy.  Trim the rubber close to image.  Cover the back of rubber, and one side of the foam with contact cement.  Let both surfaces dry.  Then lay out your images on the foam.  This makes for a tighter bond.  (I use gel formula contact cement by Dap, found at hardware stores.)  This is the KEY....you have to use a sharp utility blade to cut the foam.  If it's nice and sharp the foam cuts beautifully, but if the blade gets dull you'll get jaggedy yucky uneven lines. 

Then I store my mounted stamps in those clear plastic box frames.