stamps!

one of the most creative people that i know has drawn some stamps that were released by the danish post office last week. jens hage is a political cartoonist whose work appears in several major danish newspapers and i used to take him to my workshops to draw concepts for us. he is one of the most brilliantly inspiring and funny people i know. and i am giddy about these stamps. they make me so happy! i'm putting them on all my postcrossing cards these days and it really makes me smile.

EDITED: i just ran onto the caricature jens did of me in late 2006 and i had to share it as well. jens is probably best known for his caricatures. and i really love this one. simple lines capture so much life.

on stashing the stash and never actually using the stash

my scrap stash continues to grow and i still don't really use any of it, except to make the occasional card. why is that? what is it that drives me to buy pretty paper and embellishments like a woman possessed? and why don't i sit down and use it? some of it comes in kits i subscribe to, some from shopping online, others from visits to craft and scrap stores.

speaking of scrap stores, the one i know and like best, scrapshop.dk, in roskilde, is closing at the end of this month! so, yesterday, i went there and finally bought that QuicKutz squeeze in pink that i've had my eye on for a long time. i've managed to restrain from going back today. i also stocked up on bazzil basics paper, since i find myself using that as the base whenever i make cards. i also discovered another scrap store in høje taastrup--dream papers--but didn't get to properly explore, as the woman who owned it was on her way to a craft show in sweden and had everything packed up. i did score a couple of sassafrass lass robots papers and one of the sets of owl stamps, also from sassafrass lass. i'm still obsessed with owls. i discovered that shop through this fun blog, the first blog friend i've made who actually lives in the same country as me! :-) imagine that!

my dozens kit also came yesterday. it has some super fun little pink plastic alfas by heidi swapp. they may be what makes me scrap something. i got my label tulip kit this week as well and it has some inspiring bits in it--especially a prima adhesive black felt that looks like a city skyline. i love that so much i put it on the inspiration board beside my desk.

best of all, at the scrapshop, i finally scored one of those little 7 gypsies ATC carousels. there's something about the playing-card size of ATCs that makes it seem less overwhelming than a big 30x30 sheet, so perhaps i'll find my scrap groove doing a few of those. it's a bit silly NOT to scrap when i have so much beautiful stuff to use and because i have tons of great pictures and i really enjoy the pretty paper--wouldn't i enjoy it all even more if i actually used it and had it right in front of me on the little card carousel? one would think so.

i think part of the problem for me is that scrapping is so about squarey edges and perfection, even when people are "distressing" their paper edges or ripping them, they do it just so, all perfecty, perfect. i feel constricted by that. and although i have lots of words in me, i freeze before the scrap page. i might have the perfect photo, and tons of cool ribbons and buttons, but then i never really know what to write in my journal spots (and believe me, i have lots of those) or what to write with my cool thickers and other alphabets. am i the only one who feels this way? in love with the supplies, but paralyzed before them?

does anyone else have issues like this? do you also collect and collect art supplies and then finger them lovingly and look at them, but not really use them? how can we get started? maybe if we promised one another to make and share something, that would kickstart things? anybody up for that?

a new kind of craftiness!

i'm so excited! i have been looking and looking and looking for a stamp with a lightbulb on it. i have even enlisted others in my hunt. in my written journals and in my little black book which i carry in my purse and which contains all of the excellent quotes i've heard and my to do lists, as well as moments of inspiration--i scrawl a little lightbulb beside ideas so that i can page straight to them. i've been wanting a little lightbulb stamp to use instead, since i adore stamps. i haven't been able to find one. and neither have mom or monica, who have been put on the task as well. well...last night while browsing etsy (that bastion of lovely creativeness), i discovered that i just might be able to make one myself.

however, in case i couldn't, i requested a custom stamp from a lovely shop called mayberry sparrow. here's what corabelle came up with:


that's really great! but here it is...my first attempt! not as good as the cool stuff corabelle is making, but a pretty cool first attempt, even if i do say so myself.


i bought a handful of inexpensive white erasers today. i cut one in half, drew one of my lightbulbs on it and carved it out with an exacto-knife. easy peasy lemon squeezy. and very affordable on top of it! plus, it's MY lightbulb! the one that i draw!

i suspect that many erasers will be sacrificed this weekend. i'm thinking a wine glass, a dandelion, some owls (why am i suddenly obsessed with owls?--it's that sassafrass paper, i'm sure). the possibilities are endless!

it's pretty much all about the stash

i've been reading stephanie pearl-mcphee's knitting books casts off and knitting rules and now i understand why i keep ordering the beautiful yarn from posh yarn. if i'm going to be a proper knitter, i have to have a stash. who cares if i can actually knit? that worries me very little, actually. what matters is that it's lovely and soft and it makes me feel good, just caressing it or even just walking past and seeing it there in the basket (tho' i will soon need a larger basket). additionally, it may eventually help to insulate the house and save on heating bills. so it's an environmentally sound thing to do. (do you hear that, husband?)

the stash concept may also explain the obsessive acquisition and stockpiling of scrapbooking supplies. i've carried the notion of establishing a stash over into that zone. i have managed NOT to photograph the pretty papers (because i think that frankly, we're all pretty tired of hearing about those). but the stamps and ribbons and little bits and bobs all look very pretty, don't they? and for some strange reason, having them and looking at them (even without really using them) makes me inexplicably happy.