In fifteen minutes

Making stamps used to be a small business for me one day. But I carved so many that I didn't enjoy it too much any more. Only once in a while the carving tools come out of their box. Recently I made these little stamps for printing stickers to close envelopes with. Here you can find some perfect tutorials on how to make your own.

Lemon-allspice cookies

My mother found this mold on a French flea market. I love the handmade look of it. Someone put in a  lot of effort in making it. I like the shape too. Last weekend I used it to make a homemade present for my mother in law. Eight lady-cookies in a paper lunch bag. Which was printed with my latest girly stamp. The recipe? Just add lemon peel and allspice to these basic sugar cookies.

Foxy stamps

Drawing is hot in this house. Am I drawing birds, the girls draw and paint a lot of foxes these days. Really cute foxes, don't you think? Beautiful enough to make a good stamp. Carved them yesterday, just as a small present for them.

Escher

A question I often get is 'where do you get the inspiration for your stamps?'. Well it's simpler than you might think. When I'm lost for inspiration I just grab any book with pictures in it. Any kind of picture can lead to a good stamp. Childrens' books, comics, books about art or nature. Or just type a word in google images and see what images come up. That's how I found the idea for the Escher birds.

Stamps

I made many, many custom stamps for my little stamp shop. One of them for An's son Vic. But after hundreds of them it became a routine and I closed the shop. Some time ago An got a second son Jul. She asked me if I could make an exception to carve another stamp for her newborn. Since I didn't want to sell stamps again we arranged a swap. What an amazing package she has send me! And soon I will be meeting her, because she's joining the next stamp workshop on june 2nd with a friend. For which, by the way, are still some spots left. You can e-mail me for information.

Hinderlooper

Traditional painting techniques are in danger of disappearing, because there are no people who know all ins and outs of these detailed crafts anymore. For a moment I thought I personally could save techniques from dying out (I have a talent to easily learn such specific techniques). But since there's neither a typical painting technique in my region, nor have I the patience to keep painting following a strict system, I threw away that idea quickly. Instead I interpreted the figures I saw in this thrift store book to make some new stamps. No patience needed there. Just 10 minutes.

Stars

I made the pencil cases for Helmi and Emmy. For the decoration I carved a new stamp, inspired by old astronomy drawings. It's funny how a birthday theme becomes an inspiration for other things too.

Thanks GJ!

Yay, a new (second hand) laptop for me! From my brothers friend GJ, who also installed all necessary programs for me. What would I do without friends from brothers? As a small thank you, I carved this stamp for his baby son, packed in a little box with an ink pad.

Time

Some eye problems resulted in me needing glasses. The opthalmologist assured me that it was not the first step to reading glasses, but I'm pretty sure it's an aging sign. Took me just a few hours to accept. Probably because I'll just need to wear them behind the computer screen. After carving the stamp and printing the fabric, I see my new glasses as a mere fashion item. In contrast with our 8y-old. She forbid me to wear them to school when picking her up.

Lack of light

I was planning to give a christmas stamp workshop. About making stamps and how to use them for christmas decorations. But I can neither find the energy nor a suitable date. So, maybe next year... What  I can show you are some of the examples I had already made.

More stamps

I'm always on the lookout for (cheap) large erasers to make bigger stamps. But never found one that also had good stamp carving qualities. Neither had this pink one. The stamp turned out good, but it was not easy to cut. The laptop-lady and the autumn-finds are both drawings of our youngest, who is making very cute graphic figures at the moment.

Flowers by snailmail

My new little snail will bring the mail with calendula seeds even as far as Canada! I don't know exactly how many packages went out, but I even had to make a second batch of seed-pouches. I'm already looking forward to the envelopes that will be falling in my mailbox sooner or later.

Mini swap?

When I'm taking a break from creative writing and preparing workshops I like to take on a small creative project to divert the mind. Strange that one creative thing can be a diversion of another one. But it's how it works for me. Like these stamps for the calendula-seed pockets. Who wants to swap a little bag of seeds for another small something? Just send me an e-mail with your name and address.

Cosy greenhouse

This afternoon the first stamp workshop took place. And, I think, it was a wonderful afternoon. The participants, all blogreaders, were roughly the same age and chatted freely about everything, while designing and cutting their stamps. The workshop resulted in beautiful stamps of which I should have taken some pictures. I loved to meet and chat with these ladies who read my blog! Janneke, Renee, Eli, Roos, Katja, Suzanne, Caroline and Mariska, thank you for being there!

Workshop 'create your own stamps'

Since the requests for stamp workshops keep coming, I have planned two sessions for this fall. I would love to share my knowledge and experience in making stamps with you. With a nice cup of tea and homebaked cakes, we'll make it a cosy afternoon in a greenhouse in a village in the vicinity of Den Bosch. Each workshop has a maximum of 8 participants, so make sure you are in time. When you are interested, please send me an e-mail (vlijtig[at]live[dot]nl) for more information or for enlisting. The dates are: september 22nd & october 20th, in the afternoon.
update: both workshops are full! I will soon plan some new workshops.

From a Hema eraser

Last week it was raining a lot. Mail from Jo lightened up the day. The issue of Cotton Time magazine was accompanied by a postcard of Jo's hand. With cloud stamps. That evening I made my own cloud stamps and added some raindrops too.

New stamps

Another in-between-other-activities project. Stamps for my own collection. A simple shoppinglist looks better with a pattern. Happiness is in small things.

What ink do you use on fabric?

Inspired by the shape of last posts' weaving I made two eraser-stamps. And printed them in two colourways on two types of fabric. Unfortunately the ink is not permanent. I'm still looking for the perfect ink for stamp and linocut printing on fabric. Any tips?

labelled

I repinned this idea via Pinterest a while ago. Yesterday I had a few minutes left before I had to pick up the kids from school and used those to make this label-stamp.

Personal mail

Stamps with stamps. As seen on Bloesem Kids. Take a few minutes to scroll through the other craft projects too, you'll find wonderful ideas. All designed by Arounna from Bookhou.