This nutcracker stamp may be my find of the 2020 Christmas season. He's one of many nutcrackers in the Stamplistic collection. There are dies to help cut out all of the pieces if you want to layer them. Three of these are layered together and two are painted with Twinkling H20 watercolors. Love him!
As we near the end of this unusual year I find that I'm as happy to see 2020 in the rearview mirror as everyone else. This year of the pandemic has been tough on a lot of people and I'm no different than most...my job is now done from home, my shopping is done online and I drive up for my groceries and they load it in to my car. We eat at home or get carry-out. I miss my co-workers, I miss the occasional dinner out at our favorite restaurants and I don't miss grocery shopping. I won't lie...I may never go back to conventional grocery shopping again!
Thank God for art. Pandemic stress, work stress, election stress - I can shrug it all off in my studio and ignore the madness.
Here's what I'm working on for Christmas. I choose a single design to make multiples for friends and family, but I still somehow end up making one-of-a-kind cards, too. This pine cone by Heartfelt Creations on paper by Graphic 45 is the main design this year.
Some stampers say they have trouble creating cards for the men in their lives. I don't have that problem. I think whatever hobbies your favorite guy is into will make a great theme for a card. Here are some sports car and other designs that I've done in the last several months.
I swear I don't know where the time goes! Before I saw the date on the last post I would have sworn it was only since the beginning of the year. No way I would have said 1 1/2 years. It's been too long. So, how are you?
Since my last post I've been trying to get better at my flower making skills and I've also made an effort to get back to my stamping. Being on the Altered Pages and DIY design teams was a wonderful opportunity to grow as an artist, but it meant that I didn't just sit down and play with the old stuff in my studio because I had deadlines to meet. That design team really expanded my mixed media skills. I hope to be on another design team some day, but for now I'm taking it leisurely and playing around with my stamps more - both old and new.
Here are some things that have been keeping me busy. Today I'll start with some stamped cards. None of these use just a single company. I just designed with the stamps in my collection.
Can you spot what all of these cards have in common? That's right. They all have multiple stamped images. Some are masked and stamped on a single sheet of card stock and others are cut out and pasted into a scene. After 25 years in the hobby, I still love my stamps!
