Lino cut stamps

I have been making handmade stamps all weekend!

I needed some wheat and poppy stamps for my August page of the calendar challenge and couldn't find any I liked anywhere so decided to make my own. Luckily the one and only art supply shop on the Island had the tools and the lino, which was excellent as once I've made my mind up to do something I have to do it right NOW!!

I had done lino cutting before, many years ago at school, so I refreshed myself by watching a couple of youtube videos,( picked up some good tips such as heat the lino first as it makes it softer and turn the lino rather than the tool) and got started.

Here are the results.

Test stamping on printer paper

I am really pleased with how well they have turned out!

Now I am after some STAEDTLER MASTERCARVE CARVING BLOCK which apparently is a lot easier and smoother to cut. I have only found one UK site (Lawrences) that stocks it and they were going to charge me £14.99 for delivery because I live on the Isle of Wight...hello, we are still part of the UK and Royal mail and parcel force charge no extra to post here!!
So if anyone knows where else I can get it from in the UK please let me know!

TFL,

Sami x

Quickie post-new stamps!

Just a quick post, my new stamps by Dyan Reaveley http://dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com arrived today. They are so beautiful I had to play with them straight away! I also ordered some of her digital collage sheets as well.

This is the stamp set I ordered, hard just choosing one as I want them all...xmas is on the way so I think I will put a couple of sets on my wish list.

I ordered them from Art from the heart http://shop.afth.co.uk and heres what I did with them.

Thanks for looking
Sami x

I thought I would take part in the Scrap like you mean it challenge posted by Shimelle Laine over on UKS. I am already 2 weeks behind but have been noting down the challenges in the hope I can play catch up! Here are my first four LO's.

Week one: Scrap in your favorite colour. My fav colours are purple and green. The photo is of Willow, taken by Paige. I cant remember what the purple paper is but the green spotty paper is from PM spring burst range. I used my making memories slice for the title and the swirl, stamps away stamp for the photo info and a free stamp from a magazine for the crown, Anitas ribbon and some primas and buttons. I added Willows first collar to the page as this was purple and i wanted to keep it.

Week two: Use hearts or stars. This challenge was put up on the 1st anniversary of my Grandads death. There was a small annoucement in our local paper in the in memory section that i wanted to keep so i decided to do this page. The newspaper clipping is the pull out tag behind the journalling tag (K&Co). I used PM Nostalia papers from an album kit i had. I covered a chipboard swirl and heart with the papers and sanded them and inked the edges and a chipboard letter from the kit and some brown letter stickers from another kit. There is only one heart on the page as i wanted to keep it quite simple as i feel the photo and journalling say it all.

Week three: Scrap with chipboard. This is my family playing Rock band on New Years eve. The papers are from my trusty Costco pack. The chipboard stars are Rock Star chipboard accents by Rusty Pickle. I covered the stars in the paper and inked the edges. The title is doddlebug rubons and American Thickers. I also added some PM red gems for a little bling.

Week four:Scrap from the sketch. I have changed from the sketch slightly here! The photos are from a trip to London that my Dad and me took Caleb on for his 9th birthday. The papers are Kaisercraft Skull Boi collection, the title and circle tag were made on my MM Slice. The small circle journal tag is MM and the other circle stamp is stamps away. Cant remember where i got the skull ribbon from.