rain rain go away...

it has been raining for a month straight in boston. we've essentially forgotten what the sun is and where to find it. every few days we think it might be a nice day but then... it rains again. to illustrate, this is a screenshot of the weather report yesterday...

strange thing is, it never storms. it's always this strange misty trickle. kind of makes you feel like lettuce at the grocery store. i love a good summer thunder and lightening storm because afterwards, you just feel so refreshed. it's like the world just got a good scrubbing and the air usually feels so much lighter. but you just don't get that with a drizzle! ack! so, since the weather has been so miserable, i've been able to tackle some projects that have been on my back burner for awhile.

i bought these frames from ikea over a year ago and never could think of anything to put in them. then i saw this over at the martha stewart crafts blog and thought it would fun to try out with different shapes. it's also a great way to use up all those teeny scraps of paper that i can't seem to throw out. i'm really happy with how they turned out :)


love letters! this is the first stamp that i've carved that was an outline (not like a solid shape like the heart.) i had been putting off trying it because it's such a pain to get those corners carved out. i realized that sometimes a good old xacto is better than a linoleum carver for clean lines and neat corners. we are powering through onto more complicated shapes! next up... trees?

stamp carving!

i've finally started stamp carving! after seeing all the amazing things that geninne does, i've been anxious to try it out myself. and her tutorial was an incredible resource. luckily, all the supplies that i needed were available at the blick's a few blocks away. i decided to start out small and simple with a leaf. hm... not bad but it's definitely going to take a lot more practice. i didn't like my first attempt at all but i was able to shave off what i had carved and start over thus avoiding having to throw away the whole piece. it's so satisfying cutting into the rubber. and it's a pretty compact and affordable hobby :) it's also encouraged me to doodle a lot more. i keep a large box of crayons on my desk at work and when i need a break, i open up my planner and doodle away. i'm hoping to turn some of those doodles into stamps. once i get the hang of things, i'm hoping to make an original stamp that i can use to start letterboxing!