stampin’ champ

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I am a reformed stamper. I went from being a stampin’ up! demonstrator, stamping any flat or kind of flat surface I could, to stamping almost nothing. But I still love rubber stamps. I have four big bins of stamps, at least 50 different ink pads (that are sadly all getting drier by the day), and card stock in every color of the rainbow. I have officially not really used any of these supplies, except to make the occasional gift tag, in two years.

Then, at my guild board meeting the other day, someone mentioned needing the guild stamp to stamp the logo on quilt tags and my ears perked up. I had a bunch of ideas all at once for ways to use a stamp with the guild’s logo. Then I realized what the conversation was about - we need a stamp. So out went my ideas of craft ink and fabrico ink and staz-on ink and quilt blocks with stamped images, and in came my ideas about custom rubber stamps and where we could get one.

There’s a great site called rubberstampchamp.com where you can get any kind of custom rubber stamp - for a business, for your personal addressing needs, or just for fun. I like the idea of stamping “denied” on things…like when I get a crappy form letter back from my no-account congressman or something. That would make me smile.

I move (that’s right, Robert’s Rules of Order) we get a few stamps, start stamping the guild logo on all kinds of things.

I’ve gotten away from all my stamping because it’s time consuming and other crafts - namely, sewing and crochet - are taking up all my crafting time. I’ve been trying to decide what to do with all the paper crafting stuff, and I really don’t know. Should I sell the stamps? I’ve got so many supplies that I’m not using, and really don’t plan to use. But every time I get kind of serious about selling them, I get really sad.

I think this is how hoarders feel.

I’ve been featured!

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Emily over at JoyfulAbode.com featured my creative space! Very cool!!! Make sure to keep reading her blog all through Feb. for features of creative spaces all over the blogosphere!

Wedding gifts…

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My aunt is getting married this Saturday. The wedding was originally scheduled for Nov., and I was super excited about going, but life happened, and they moved the date to Aug. 4, making it impossible for me to get an affordable ticket and for my husband to take off work. SO, I don’t get to go. My sister is one of the bridesmaids and my nephews are the Bible bearer and ring bearer - I’m so sad to miss the whole thing.

But in addition to going, I had a few jobs - to make the guest book, ring pillow and the programs - obviously on a super-accelerated time table.

So here’s what I made over the last two days. I think everything came out great - I hope she likes this stuff. You’ll notice the Fall colors - no time to change the bridesmaids dresses, so the Summer wedding gets Fall colors. I love brown and orange, so I think they’re great for any season.

guest book

linen ring pillow and programs

programs

Return to crafting…

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My crafting desires ebb and flow. When I started rubber stamping, I would sit at my desk every night for hours (before I had a son) and make cards for any occasion. I was tireless. This went on for months. My interest began to wane as my stamp collection and paper supply grew to colossal proportions.

Then I started making jewelry. Again, I worked tirelessly, creating necklaces, bracelets and matching earrings. I gave away almost every piece I made, and somehow was never smart enough to take a picture of my designs. Now I have bins and bins of semi-precious beads, wire in all sizes, every kind of clasp you can think of, and I haven’t made a piece of jewelry since mid-2006.

When I was 6 months pregnant, I took a beginning quilting class. I quickly completed five quilt tops and one complete quilt. Machine quilted, of course. Otherwise, that amount would be ridiculously unattainable. Towards the last month of my pregnancy, and for a good 8 months after I had my son, my hands were so swollen that I couldn’t do the final hand-stitching for the binding, so I stopped quilting.

My son is now almost 18 months old. With the exception of the odd last-minute gift, I haven’t crafted anything since he was born. This shames me.

Recently, I pulled a half-finished afghan out of the closet and kept it near me as much as possible. I worked on it a few nights a week, and I’m proud to say that I finished it a week ago. It’s not very big, but the basket-weave pattern came out so thick and warm and snuggly. My son loves to lay on it on the floor - and he doesn’t really lay down on the floor, so this is really saying something.

A few days ago, I pulled my big plastic bin of quilt tops out of the garage. Last night, I sat down and quilted one of them - I made it almost all the way through, when my bobbin ran out. Then, as I tried to wind a new bobbin, my bobbin-winder wouldn’t spin! So - I finally get back to sewing, and my machine gives up on me!

But I will not be deterred. I will take my machine to a repair shop this weekend, and hopefully, I’ll be sewing by Sunday. The good news is that the noise doesn’t wake up the baby or my husband, so I’ll be able to quilt at night. I’d like to get all the quilt tops sandwiched, quilted, and the binding sewn on, so I can do the hand-stitching anywhere anytime - like out in the yard while my son swims in the baby pool or whatever. I’m finding that mobility is the key to productivity.

Now, if I could just get motivated about running!

 
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