art stuff: playing with these--->mixed media essentials

I confess. It has been a long time since I really USED rubber stamps.

That is not to say I don't have any - I do, but they never really jumped off the worktable and said "play with me please!" Recently a friend of mine, Roben-Marie Smith, asked me if I would be interested in working with her new line - MIXED MEDIA ESSENTIALS. Holy Moly is all I can say!

These stamps were calling my name! I knew the minute I laid my hands on these I would be stamping on more than just paper. I had to put these puppies to fabric. WOW! They rocked!

I absolutely fell in love with all of the combinations I could create with this set. I can't say whether it is the doodled nature of this line - I love to doodle, or the whimsical feel they lend to a piece of art that I love more.

It has been great to work with such a versatile set of stamps too - you can reach for anything from a funky alphabet to a scalloped edge to a doodled dot or circle!

I stamped on fabric, paper and board canvas- each and every project turned out so awesome!

I can't wait to experiment some more with these funky and modern, MIXED MEDIA ESSENTIALS stamps! Who knows what will come off the worktable next! Stay tuned! And don't forget to visit Roben-Marie Smith here for more inspiration and to see what other artists are creating with the great set of stamps!

sneak peek: stamp love

More soon - but I just had to share a peek at my new favorite stamps by Roben-Marie Smith - Mixed Media Essentials.

art stuff: carving some stamps

A talented and sweet friend of mine showed me how to do this at her lovely retreat a few years ago and I have been hooked ever since. Have I perfected it? Hek no! But I love them and their bold imperfections.

I think it's time for a new ink pad, but you get the idea. NOT perfect, but perfectly chunky.

I love using them in my art journal and on pretty mail art. Like this ----->

Funky and chunky. I love it!

storage worth stealing: mini stamp mania

I think I am suffering from mini stamp mania these days! It started with one little set of alphabet stamps from the dollar bin. I found myself using them on everything, like this and the next thing you knew I had collected five sets - all from the dollar bin. I love the dollar bin. I love alphabet stamps. What I didn't love was how they kept falling out of the lidless box they came in -

I decided that storage was key in my studio- as it always is with me, as was re-purposing. I dug around in the closet and found a metal box that used to hold scrapbooking tools. The only other thing I needed was some scraps of heavy duty chipboard.

Arrange your stamps how you like them, inserting pieces of chipboard in between each set. This helps separate the sets as well as give the little buggers some stability. This way when you are plucking the tiny things in and out of the box the other 25 stamps don't collapse into a pile.

I just eye-balled my chipboard and trimmed it to fit. You could always glue it down, but I chose not too, in case I want to shift them around later. Now all my little mini alphabet stamps are in one easy to reach storage container- yea!