Simple stamps

I had an extra wine cork or two floating around and saw a tutorial somewhere around in the blogverse about making them into stamps.  It’s pretty easy to do and doesn’t take too long to make.  A marker, x-acto knife, wine/beer cork, and cutting surface are the only supplies you’ll need to make the stamps. (Of course, some sort of pigment and surface to stamp on are also needed!)

Draw your design. Simple designs are easiest. I made a star and a heart.

Cut away the extra material.  Either inside or outside the lines. (Yes, do be careful with the sharp knife, and keep your fingers away from the edge that you’re cutting. It’s easy for the knife to slip and cut your fingers instead of cork).

cork cut from the outside of the heart

I tried to make sure that enough cork was cut away for good definition.

side view...

Stamp away! I tried some calligraphy ink, which worked ok if I used a paintbrush to apply it to the stamp.  Acrylic paint was faster and provided more intensity. I just used what I had lying around (as I’m trying to use up some of the stuff I’ve had for a long time). Have fun trying out whatever you have on hand.

heart stamp with ink (applied to stamp with paintbrush)

heart stamp with acrylic paint

star stamp with acrylic paint

As you can see, the star stamp was made by removing the cork from inside the lines, which was a bit trickier.  This left the outside as the original circle shape. Of the two, this one is my favorite.

Another use for fun fur.

The place that I currently works allows us to listen to personal music players whenever we want.  When my ear buds died I found a pair of bright pink replacement ones.  I decided that since they were already an attention grabbing color I’d make them stand out even more.

ear bud cozy

This ear bud cord cozy was quite simple to make.  Some fun fur along with a strand of #10 crochet thread  single crocheted around the cord. At the Y junction split into two and continue crocheting however far up you want.

Split into seperate strands at the Y junction.

A simple weave in of the ends and you’re done.  Simple, easy, and gets lots of comments.  Most people think it’s cool (at least that’s what they say to my face).  I originally made it with the thought to use up the fun fur in my stash (it’s not that much stash but it’s hard coming up with projects to use it in so it’s been hanging out in there a long time).

It’s actually proven to be kinda useful as it cuts down on eliminates the weird cord rubbing against clothing sound these things tend to produce. Also it’s softly fuzzy against my skin (I can’t be the only one who runs the cord down the shirt to the ipod in the pocket, those cords can be really long, and it just needs to be out of the way).

Anyway, like I said, it’s simple, easy use of the horrible horrible fun fur.

Exciting birthday gift!

I returned home from work about 30 minutes ago to see a package on my coffee table. A birthday gift from my mom. This:

A Gift! Two Gifts!

So what are they? The gifts are a kit from photojojo.com (really cool stuff, check them out!) and are a pinhole camera kit and sunprint kit (aka cyanotype for the photographic name).  I haven’t done either of these processes since May of 2003.  I’m so excited to get these and can’t wait until I have the time and energy to try these out. I’m actually  sitting here rubbing my hands together with glee with a big smile on my face.

Sadly, It might be a few weeks until I can give them proper use.  It’s 4:30 am here in Santa Cruz as I write this and I haven’t gone to bed yet.  I’m currently working at a retail/service related company and we’re super swamped with xmas business.  Until after the holidays I’ll be working, working, working (getting those overtime hours in hence the late night). So for now it’s work, sleep, eat, run 3x week, repeat. Work will slow down soon enough.

Anyhow… Mom, I love the gift, thanks!

Off to bed.

PS. Birthday yes? My thirtieth!  I think I’m one of the few women who are actually glad to be getting out of their twenties.

Me on my 30th Bday. Taken by Mr. EG.

New favorite quote

I love Meg at A Practical Wedding. She’s smart, funny, and gives great advice.  Like this:

You can’t succeed without being willing to fail with full force. You can’t figure out how far you can go, until you push yourself so far that you risk completely falling on your face. And seriously? This never stops sucking, don’t kid yourself.

I love this quote so much that it’s now on my desk.

My desk.On the dry erase board in sparpie.

Thanks Meg for letting us know how it’s done.

Now go buy her new book.  I pre-ordered two and can’t wait to get my copy. It’s the only wedding book I plan on buying.

A Practical Wedding: Creative Solutions for a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration

PS. Do you know that sharpie can be removed with nail polish remover?  We figured this out when I was a kid.  One of my grandmothers’ would write our names on the product box in sharpie so she could remember who she bought the gift for.  When that needed to be removed so I could return some unwanted gifts it was nail polish remover to the rescue!

Read more: http://apracticalwedding.com/2011/12/working-for-yourself-month-eleven-the-big/#ixzz1fyADylf0

Simple autumn decoration for my staircase.

I’ve been wanting to use up my art supplies.  Some of them I’ve had for close to 10 years.  My acrylic paint has been hanging out in my art bin for around 9. Way, way too long.  So what to do? Make a paper chain of course!

Take a paper bag. This one happens to be from trader joe’s.

Cut or rip it open along the seams so it lays flat.

Get out your paint. I used acrylic since that’s what I had. Finger paint or tempera paint would also work well.

I chose to use yellow, orange, and red paint for fall. Make sure you let your paint dry before you…

Cut into strips and join using glue or tape. I also cut up another unpainted paper bag and used those strips between the painted strips.

Hang in your chosen location.

TaDa! The finished product hanging in my stairway.

Super simple and something that I haven’t done in ages (I think everyone makes these in elementary school, which was most likely the last time I made one).  Not only does it liven up my bland staircase, it did use up a fair amount of paint.  Just the results I was looking for.

A good use for novelty yarn.

Use novelty yarn for a bike seat cover.

This comfy looking seat cover uses the pompom yarn (aka marshmallow yarn) with at least one other thicker worsted weight yarn (I think).  And below, a great use for fun fur and other random yarn. Couldn’t really tell about construction on the seat, but the yarn on the handle bars looks like it was just randomly knotted, braided and wrapped around.  Also some more yarn just randomly wrapped around the frame. With flowers.

How to use fun fur on a bike.

Seen downtown in Santa Cruz, CA.  Oh, yes… Didn’t I say anything? I no longer live on the east coast.

My Status In/Regarding Baltimore

So I saw this person hanging out near the Washington Monument (the original Washington Monument in Baltimore) and think they have it right.

Summer Hammock

Baltimore has been challenging for me.  I hit overload not that long ago when someone attempted to steal stuff from my purse as I was reading at B+N in the Inner Harbor.  I went kinda numb after that for about a week.

Thinks have gotten a bit better since then, once I decided to enter and exit through the parking garage instead of the front entrance.  This takes an extra 5 minutes each time but reduces the amount that I get hassled unwanted comments and propositions by 95%. My sanity has improved 100%.  Why do I do this? There’s a major transportation stop right in front of my building that a certain segment of the Baltimore population likes to frequent (there is also an MTA stop on the other side of the building and lots of bus stops in the surrounding 3 block area).  Loitering tends to happen during the daylight hours while the local business are open.  Once the businesses close for the day (last one closes at 7pm), the area clears out and the problem disappears, for the most part anyway.  While I don’t like the neighborhood so much (I have to watch out for the chicken bones and gobs of spit and gum… gross, really really gross) I do really like my building. This apartment has been the best one Mr.EG and I have lived in spanning over 7 years and 4 buildings.

So what else has changed? Well, I’ve met some awesome women through one of my favorite websites, A Practical Wedding, and the corresponding book club meetings. These women are wonderful and have definitely been the best thing about my stay in Baltimore. They provide some sanity for me and a chance to have some girl time with women who feel like instant friends. So far they’re the only thing that I’m going to miss about Bmore.

Winter in Baltimore

So the snow and ice kinda shut down Baltimore for a bit. Flights got canceled, public transportation was a bit slow to start the day, and some places were closed or had delayed openings.  It’s melting fast but someone made this to cheer up those that were out and about in the slush.

Hello there!

This is just the thing to do with the wet sticky snow.

As the city clears out, the snow gets blown onto the sides of some of the buildings.

Crunchy snow on the building.

And then it starts to melt.

Ice into water.

I like the city when it snows.  It’s quieter, sounds are somewhat muffled, and its just pretty.

 

Some photos around Baltimore

As I’m going on my 4th month of unemployment since moving here to Baltimore I’ve been getting really bored here in my apartment.  So I braved the cold and the wind today to go out and do a bit of shooting.

Grey Walls

Bricked in Windows

Fire Escape

Old Brick with Two Windows and a Door

Always Present

Really, I was looking for places that would make interesting backgrounds for portraits.  You know, for when I start a business and charge for portraits.  I find the “traditional” portrait studio boring at this stage of life and much prefer to be outside with interesting textures.  It is very cold outside this time of year though, so I understand the draw of inside location(s).

What I’ve been up to these last few weeks…

Lighting Ceremony  at the Washington Monument:

Baltimore Washington Monument With Fireworks

More Fireworks!

I love fireworks.  They’re just so festive And loud. And pretty.

Next, the Tuba Christmas at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater:

That's a lot of brass.

These guys showed up as well.

What’s this I see?

It's a Santa Crossing!

Aw, that's so nice of you Mr. Grinch.

Scottish Santa wearing a kilt.

Who doesn’t love seeing a guy wearing a kilt?  Kilts should be worn more often, they’re so manly.

I turned 29 this year.

This is me at 29.

And I visited Philly to hang with some friends.

Hanging out.

Philly Xmas tree at City Hall.

Christmas Market at City Hall in Philadelphia.

They even have a carousel.

There are lots of art schools in Philly.  This is a display window of one of them.

This is a strange display.

Other half of the strange display.

Then on to South Street to wander around.  Including a walk past Philadelphia’s Magic Garden.

Part of the Philadelphia Magic Gardens.

Wars End in the Philadelphia Magic Garden.

The following day included a quick walk in Rittenhouse Square.

View towards Center City.

This fountain is drained for the winter.

Officer catching up on some paperwork.

I devoured ate some Chinese food in Chinatown and made my way back to Baltimore.  Where I promptly got on the right bus going in the wrong direction. That got sorted out and I made it back via a little bit of walking and a transfer to the light rail.

This week I’m sending out my resume, making plans to visit family, and crocheting more gifts.