Mummy cat rubber stamped and redacted recycled book page Halloween decoration

Have you tried redacting book pages to make quotes and fun phrases? I love it. It's like a puzzle but creative.

I thought I'd make some more book cover art with the redacted book pages and adding my favorite new Halloween stamp - a mummy cat from Judikins.

 This page I actually found Kat and craft on the page!

The other 2 say

"One of the problems...an ordinary...person....is to keep a covert eye on him. He....would...hide behind.....tombstones.....of course.

and

What do we know?....asked....the....tail....he's....to...destroy....incriminating.....information.

Try hide and seek with words!

How to make your own page tabs for your planner pages

My friend Maria gave me a Happy Everything planner for Christmas and it is so pretty but it didn't have monthly tabs which I really like and tend to have to add to every planner I use. This is an easy fix with a McGill tab punch or a We R Memory Keepers punch.

I punched the tabs out of a bunch of different pretty scrapbook papers.

Then I stamped each tab with a date stamp.

 All that was left to do was glue the tabs onto the monthly planner pages. Now I can find upcoming months easy and fill in important dates and notes.

How to make a maple leaf rubber stamp from an eraser

The book Making an Impression: Designing & Creating Artful Stamps is packed full of great ideas, designs and projects that feature the stamps you make. My favorite is the idea for stamping on vintage gum labels of which I happen to have a stash. Go figure. I recently got out some of my fall cookie cutters which included a maple leaf and I thought that a maple leaf image would make a cute rubber stamp.

 So I downloaded an image and sized it.

 Then I cut the image out of the paper. To transfer the image onto the eraser I used a silver Sharpie as my eraser is black.
 I just held the image over the eraser and drew out from the paper onto the eraser.

I trimmed the eraser down to a smaller square around the maple leaf.
Then I simply cut along the shape always working from the inside drawing my cut lines out toward the edge.
Then I cut the eraser depth off of the outside area.

To stamp my images I used a red Brush tip Sharpie. Worked like a charm to give me a vibrant impression that matched the red of the gum labels.


More about the book from the publisher Lark Crafts:

  Making an Impression: Designing & Creating Artful Stamps
by
Geninne Zlatkis

"Popular illustrator and stamper Geninne Zlatkis has a passion for nature and color that distinguishes her work. These 20 beautiful projects--including cards, an embellished journal and tote, and decorative wall pieces--provide the keys to Geninne's creative process and image-making process. In addition to technique-specific primers with step-by-step photos of the essentials, Making an Impression includes 50 motifs showcasing Geninne's signature designs that crafters can copy and use for image transfers, stamp designs, and collages.

Geninne Zlatkis is an illustrator (etsy.com/shop/Geninne) and blogger (geninne.com). She uses a wide variety of techniques (painting, collage, writing, stamping, and more) in her whimsical work. Her illustrated prints and licensed designs have been available through Urban Outfitters, and her designs are featured on an organic cotton fabric line with Cloud 9 Fabrics and a pocket planner from Galison. Geninne's hand-carved stamped-cards project was included in Craft Hope (Lark Fall 2010). She lives outside of Mexico City in Querataro, Mexico."

How to use home made rubber stamps to customize a Freak Flag

Yup I do! Fly my Freak Flag high....or at least have fun trying to photograph it while waving it!

I scored a Freak flag from Julia of the "Fly Your Freak Flag High!" movement at the last Maker Faire. You can see photos of others customized over at her site but here is how I stamped mine with rubber stamps I made.


 
 To see how to make your own rubber stamps pop on over to Craftside.

Make a patch with a rubber stamp project inspired by the Super fun book- Bend The Rules With Fabric by Amy Karol

I have been collecting lots of rubber stamps over the years and I am trying to get to working with them more. Well when I got the book:

Bend the Rules with Fabric:
Fun Sewing Projects with Stencils, Stamps, Dye, Photo Transfers, Silk Screening, and More

by Amy Karol

I got so inspired to break out the stamps and fabric and get creative. There were just tons of fun ideas and techniques, I had a hard time narrowing down my first project, but I did manage to.
I made a stamped patch that I then sewed onto the sleeve of a plain top.This is how I did it:

I started with a scrap of plain white fabric.
-two of my favorite stamp images, two girls fighting and a girl holding a shot gun with a bird on it.
-My Crafty Chica black paint
-some wax paper to make a pallet and a brush to spread the paint out

I spread the paint out into a thin even layer on the wax paper. Then pressed the stamp into the paint evenly and stamped the fabric, I did a few so I would have some to play with.

Then to attach the patch I used:

-Heat n Bond and iron
-embroidery floss and needle
I simply fused the Heat n Bond onto the back of the trimmed image and ironed it onto the sleeve. Then I did a simple running stitch to add a decorative boarder and really secure the patch.

I haven't figured out what the girl with the gun image is going on but I like having it ready to go!

A bit more about the book:
Bend the Rules with Fabric:
Fun Sewing Projects with Stencils, Stamps, Dye, Photo Transfers, Silk Screening, and More

"You’ve bent all the rules with sewing, so now what? It’s high time you made your own fashions even more you with Amy Karol’s next craft revolution: Bend the Rules with Fabric.

Using simple, high-impact techniques:
• painting
• stamping
• dyeing
• silk screening
• photo transfer

You’ll learn everything you need to know to turn a plain piece of fabric or a garment into the perfect showcase for your personality.

In this follow-up to the wildly popular Bend-the-Rules Sewing you will see how easy it is to alter fabric, making and using your own custom stamps; make stencils that will totally transform totes and tees; rescue tired clothes with a new dye job; and use appliqués to spruce up anything that needs a little TLC. With Amy’s familiar, friendly tone and valuable advice, you’ll see every piece of fabric as blank canvas for your artistic vision!

AMY KAROL is an artist, author, and self-professed fabric junkie. Her writing and projects have been featured in Country Living, Sew Simple, Publisher’s Weekly, and BUST magazine, and her designs and creations have been displayed in galleries in Japan and throughout the United States. Follow her crafty adventures on her popular blog, Angry Chicken, found on her website www.amykarol.com"

Michael Strong Rubber stamped Valentine Card

Happy Valentines Day!

So, this week was so much fun and I learned so much! Michael Strong Demo'd this great white on white stamped card with one of his amazing stamps. He then color dusts it to make the white embossing show up on the white card.



The other cool thing about his stamps is you can cut them in half. So being me, I cut my heart!
Be sure to pop over to TVWeekly.com in the Scrapbook Lounge you can watch his cool episodes.