Take my poll and enter to win a free set of gift tags!

TAKE MY POLL AND ENTER TO WIN A SET OF HAND STAMPED GIFT TAGS!

glass?

or wood?

glass?

or wood?

I really want to tighten up my product line and part of doing that is deciding between wood or glass mounts for my smaller stamps (larger stamps will remain on wood mounts). Which do you prefer? Your opinion means so much to me that a random commenter will get a set of free gift tags of your choice from my shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/greengardenstamps

Here's how it works. Leave a comment responding to my question of wood or glass mounts and enter to win in the random drawing. Follow my blog and your name will be counted twice (if you're already following, I will count you twice as well)! Just be sure to leave a way for me to contact you. Poll runs now through Monday, August 16th at which point I'll put all of the names in a hat (literally, my husband has a sweet hat collection! hehe) and choose one at random. I'll announce the winner on the blog. Best of luck to you and thanks in advance for helping me decide which one to go with!

Turkeys!

The wild turkey babies are rapidly growing into young adults. They paid me a visit yesterday and were very happy that we've let the lawn go without a mow because they had a buggy feast back there! Thanks to this traveling tribe of bug munching fowl, we haven't seen a tick on our dog once this year (a first). They are a fun animal to observe - cautious, skittish (rightfully so, they are tasty prey and cars are no fun) but when they are in a secure place able to just graze and meander together, they are very peaceful and make the sweetest, soft coos and clucks to one another. It's like a zen meditation when they pass through - a daily experience of stopping what I'm doing to watch the turkeys. It's something I really look forward to and it takes me to a happy, peaceful place. Ha! That's country livin' for ya. ;)

*gobble gobble*

Step by step - hand carving a sunflower stamp

I was so happy to get a new commission to create a large sunflower stamp for my customer's wedding invitations. How exciting! Not only carving the largest stamp I think I've ever carved but mostly knowing that something I created will be incorporated into someone's very special day. I began with a sketch approved by the customer. It's roughly 3.5" x 3.5" square (or in this case, circle).
I like to sketch in ink, so I've gone over the design with pencil to be burnished onto the rubber as seen above. Basically just trace your design in pencil on paper, flip it onto the rubber, then rub the paper with something smooth like a burnishing board or a smooth handle on a butter knife.


Next, I've carved out around the petals with an Exact-o knife.


Here comes the fun part, carving out the design with my Speedball carving tool.



Now to test the stamp - looks great!



Now I'm ready to glue the stamp to the back of a prepped wood mount. I have painted it this happy yellow in an acrylic paint and then spray varnished it. I use E-6000 glue for a really solid seal.





For the top of the wood mount, I've added a stamped piece of sticker paper and spray varnished it again (it will get a couple more coats when it's done). All that's left to do is lacquer the exposed wood in the back and it will be good to go!

This will be going out to a very kind customer that's been a pleasure to work with but I think this may be the start of something as far as a prototype for over sized stamps. What other designs would you like to see in this large scale?