spring stamps pt. 2

after my last set of stamps, I made a whole bunch of others all in preparation for our spring craft fair at the temple. I decided to make postcards to sell again... and this year, due to the niceness of Byron, who scored and folded many many pieces of card stock, I was able to make greeting cards as well. thanks Byron!

I need to take better pictures of the cards that I have leftover because I didn't have time before the sale... but here's a few of the prep pictures!

all photos taken with my iphone4s and processed with VSCO CAM

spring stamps

for the past couple of days, i've been working on a few new handcarved stamps.  my goal has been to create something out of the excessive amounts of supplies i have at home and so far, i'm succeeding!  it helps that i have a close end goal in sight, too.... we're having our Hanamatsuri Craft Fair at the temple and i've been wanting to make something to sell!  last year, i made postcards using a bunch of stamps i carved.  this year, i wanted to do more postcards and maybe some folded greeting cards as well.  i'm hoping to make my prints a little more detailed and maybe a bit more useful.  also working on another project or two for the fair, so we'll see how much i'm able to come up with in the next two weeks!

here's a bit of my stamp carving process...

first... drawing or tracing the images...

next, transferring the pencil images to rubber blocks

then lots of carving...

and finally testing with ink on paper!  i like using white ink on a colored paper because white ink doesn't stain the rubber... this is especially useful when making stamps to give away

hope you enjoyed my animal and dino friends, ranunculus, and succulent!

all photos taken with instagram on my iphone4s

happy new year!

happy new year!

i can't believe it's almost january and i have not posted a thing since may of last year!  i suppose this is what happens when things get busy or i get good at making excuses or maybe just good at accepting my own excuses.  all the while, i have never even considered giving up this blog completely, so i know there's still something in me that wants to share something.  even if no one is reading or even knows that this exists, at least i'm putting it out there, right?

so again, happy new year! i'm hoping 2012 brings me new motivation to start creating art and instead of spending all of my time viewing everyone else's and pinning pinning pinning.  i've become an avid Pinterest user, however as much as i tell people i like to make things, i don't make much time in my life to make things.  as inspiring as i find it to be, it hasn't made me get off my butt and do much yet.  hopefully this year i'll wrap up some old projects and pick up some new ones. 

and what's with that picture above you ask? the poppy was made by my gma when she used to make silk flowers.  it's something of hers that i kept when we were sorting through her old belongings to remind me of her.  the vase i bought from Jen Gotch at one of her yard sales.  i believe it's an old ikea find.  and the bunnies were my first purchase after i received the ring that sits on the bunny's ear.  my engagement ring was slipped onto my finger in august of last year in the freezing cold on the top of mauna kea on the big island of hawai'i as the sun was setting and the tourists were making their way back down the mountain.  and it was just me and him. and it was perfect. (despite all of the complaining i did on that mountain about how COLD it was! and trust me, it really was cold!)

i wasn't the type of person to post pictures of my ring on facebook as soon as it happened, but after some time had passed, i decided that since it was such a significant milestone in my life, the least i could do was give my ring and my bunnies a little photoshoot.  i guess this post makes me a bit of a hypocrite because if you're reading this, there's a good chance it's because you saw the link to my post on facebook... oh well.

i really really hope this is a year of more creating and more sharing. and i look forward to sharing more here again soon!

this picture was taken when we got off the plane from our trip to hawai'i in august.  my family picked us up and they were all SO excited that they borrowed a friend's van so they could all come together! and my little sister made us this cool sign--it hangs in our apartment now.  definitely one of my favorite pictures of us ever.

mika sends postcards

yes! i'm continuing the postcard project that i embarked on just over a year ago in late may of last year.  after a 9 month hiatus, i decided it was time.  it fits in with the other creative projects i've been doing and i had so many finished, scanned, and sent postcards that i had ignored.  since i picked the project back up, i've published two posts to our 100 Postcard Project blog that you can find here and here.  i finally posted all those postcards that were sent off to recipients over 9 months ago.  it was fun to look back at the variety of postcards i had created and think of all of the possibilities for the new postcards i plan to make with my newly acquired skills.  so... what's next?  you'll just have to wait and see!  i'm not forcing myself to do a postcard every day, but i plan to send a couple here and there and really truly get to 100!  there's a lot of people still on that recipient list, but if you would like me to add you or check to see if you're still on it, message me please! i can use all the support and motivation the universe is willing to give :)

mika sews bunnies

way back before the holidays, or rather, during the holidays...because projects i do often happen at the last minute, i made a whole bunch of little felt bunnies to give to some family and friends as year of the rabbit gifts.  i was really proud of them... i created the pattern and figured out how to handsew them all on my own.  of course, the most important step of the project was to photograph my work....so, here they are!

bunnies cut, eyes and ribbons sewn on... ready to be sewn and stuffed!

first 4 completed bunnies amidst a mess of supplies

some of my favorites... in pairs

purples

pinks

little white bunnies

first 4 bunnies

whole bunch of finished bunnies for family

hope you enjoyed and happy ongoing year of the bunny!