Paint, Xmas stamps and paper bags

 We get groceries delivered and with Woolies no longer using plastic bags we have a ridiculous number of paper bags! So with a little creativity, a 3D printer, a little paint and a 2 year old, I now have some cute Christmas great gift bags!

The green paint definitely covers the green logo better so I'll have to remember that for next year.

These stamps (there are lots, so I've just linked the creators bio for you) are actually meant for cookies but I added this handle to turn them into stamps suitable for a toddler. If you want to print your own, I scaled the stamps up to 110% and the handle down to 80%.

Definitely my go to wrapping for gifts from now on - easier for me, and a fun activity for Lily.  We just wrote the recipients names using a white crayon, but I think next year I'll make name stamps or use a paint pen.

Carved shell stamp

I love the days where I wake up and straight away start a new project! This morning I wanted to carve a new shell stamp. My mum bought me a set of shell stamps for my birthday when I was a kid, but of course I have no idea what I did with them! 

After about an hour, here is the end result... 

I'm happy with how it turned out and quite enjoyed carving this simple design. One day I will research mounting ideas so it is easier to stamp. 

I know not to superglue it to a piece of wood! This is what happened: 

Hopefully someone else can learn from my mistake. I spent ages carving these stamps to use for our wedding invitations and was so upset after I glued it to the wood.

Using a section of a stamp

If you have been following my Create for 365 days photos on Flickr you may have noticed a lot of gifts tags, mini cards and bookmarks that I have made.

I thought I would share the easiest way to make personalised cards and other papercrafts.

When I was little my parents gave me a plastic briefcase stamp kit that had 120 stamps in it, add that to all the other stamps I already had and have occasionally bought and carved myself and there is a reason I have a box of stamps that are hardly used.

As a teenager I used them to decorate my school diary which I would then colour in during boring classes...

I have alphabet and number stamps that feature animals - eg. P for panda. So while the stamps are cute I found that generally I would like to use the animal part of the stamp but don't want to use the letter or number part.

Would you believe there is an easy fix for that?

Original stamp -- butterfly only -- butterfly in colour

All I do is take either a texta or a gel pen and ink up the part of the stamp I want to use. You have to be quick so the ink doesn't dry but it works.

And once you know that you can prepare the stamp quick enough, you can try out coloured stamping.

It is easier to use textas for bigger stamps with large surface areas to cover, but for most of my stamps I just use gel pens.

Any parts that don't stamp clearly are easily touched up using your gel pen.

Once the ink is dry I simply colour in the stamp using gel pens or water colour pencils.

Hopefully now you are able to see more options in your stamps!