One more Stubby Stamper grabbag

I got another Stubby Stampers grabbag to take advantage of the sale that is going on through Dec. 2. This bag was even better than the first one. They have so many different images and there were only 7 repeats out of four grabbags. I had bought two other ones a couple of years ago. I got some really cool stamps this time. I put most of my favorites here. There were a couple that I really like that were too big to fit in the spaces. I like having them stamped in my journal for easy access to the images when I want to use one. I tend to forget what I have and use the same ones over and over. I ordered one more grabbag just now. They're like potato chips, I can't seem buy just one.

I kind of blew my challenge

We've been dealing with some health issues and I kind of blew my page-a-day challenge in a big way. Ten days between journal entries. I just plain didn't feel like recording anything. Things are looking up now, so I seem to be back at it. I'm pretty pleased with the challenge anyway. I've done a lot more pages this month than I have in a while.

Not done but...

I kept putting off posting this spread because it wasn't done. I finally decided tonight to just post it. It may not get anything on the green paper for a while. I like the paper, but it's kind of strange to glue to. It sort of stretches. I used my new stamps from Queen of Tarts on this spread. I love this one especially, but all of them are great. I like the way it looks with the acrylic paint. I tried it in black ink at first and wasn't happy with it, but I like having the black ink under the white paint. I'll be playing with these a lot.

This page is hard to read, but I didn't write anything earthshattering there anyway. The black and white image is another of my new stamps. I inked all of them and put the image on the envelopes that I store them in.
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My grabbag of rubber stamps arrived

I never utilize all my stamps because I forget what I have, so I decided to put some of my favorites from my new Stubby Stampers grab bag. I got 54 stamps and after three of these grabbags, I only had 7 that I already had. I was really surprised to pull out the Arkansas stamp! And a cow! and a knitting stamp! These are 30 of my favorites.

I also got my stamps from Queen of Tarts Stamps, but I haven't had a chance to play with them yet. Before I got them I was a bit irritated because I had ordered two butterfly stamps and when I went back to get the URL to blog about my order, there was a third butterfly which I would have ordered if I'd known about it. I was really pleased when I opened my order and there it was as a free stamp.

Oh and I missed a day on Thursday. It was bound to happen, but I'm back trying to complete my page-a-day challenge. We had a church council meeting that went late and there just wasn't time. I'm pretty satisfied with 15 days in a row. That may be a new record for me.

Heavy rains

I'm so glad it cleared off today. I was really getting tired of all the rain. We have separate buildings with awnings in between at school and I have to walk under two awnings 6 or more times a day. In a cold, blowing rain it's not fun.

New eraser stamp

I was looking at the little photo on yesterday's pages with the squares design and decided that it sort of looked like my new eraser stamps, so I carved another one (stripes this time)to go with them. This is what I came up with. I like the look. I added some watersoluable crayon to some of the squares. I would have done more of them, but it was getting lae and I needed to get to sleep. I used Sharpies on this spread instead of my usual gel pens and I wasn't liking them at all as I was using them. The new colored ones don't seem to stink as bad as the older ones, but they were kind of hard to write with. They kept sort of fading out as I would write. Maybe the paint was still a bit wet. I like the way they look today, so I'll probably try them again.

Keeping up with the challenge

I hate that my photos are turning out so dark lately. It's either that or burning the pages with flash. I have daylight savings time and the cold wind to thank for that. I guess I'll have to try and rig up some lights.

At least I've been keeping up with my page-a-day challenge. I like the way yesterday's spread turned out. I sponged through some drywall tape around the edges. At first it splotched because the sponge was too full of paint and I was dabbing it on. When I started rubbing it on, it turned out great. I'll be trying this again.

The photo copy of the picture of my mom and my two boys turned out too dark to use in the photo display for her funeral, but it's perfect for this page. I really want to start using more of my photos.

I really had to force myself to go upstairs and prep a page on Sunday. I've been wanting to use these adorable drawings of my granddaughter's since she drew them last week. I kind of wish I'd saved them for when I was more motivated so the page would have turned out better. Aren't they adorable for a three-year-old? She traced the banana.

I ordered some rubber stamps on Saturday. Queen of Tarts has some on sale at Queen of Tarts Stamps: Collage Mania Sale . The one I'm looking forward to the most is her Tiles UM Stamp Stamp Sheet Just now when I went to find the URL I saw she has some new ones up. I may have to make a second order.

While I was in the mood, I ordered a grabbag from Stubby Stampers . They sent an email back saying that they were going to be reduced in price next week and gave me the sale price. How cool is that? I love doing business with people like that.

Eraser stamps

I was looking at an old (Sept 27, 2003) journal entry yesterday evening and decided to try and carve the stamps drawn in that entry. My journals have changed a lot since that entry, but the purpose hasn't ~ to record stuff. If I hadn't sketched these out, I would have never remembered them and made the stamps three years later.


One of my favorite techniques when stamping eraser stamps is to stamp in one color and then color over it with Caran D'ache Neocolor II watersoluable crayons and smudge with my finger. I love the look it gives.

I was looking for something to add to the border I stamped and came across this building by Antoni Gaudi. He is my favorite architect. I would love to go to Spain and see his buildings.

When the power is out...

We lost our power yesterday afternoon and it stayed out til after 9:00 PM. At least that's when I gave up and went to bed. Thankfully we have lots of candles, a kerosene lamp and a gas stove. We faired fine and I got another spread done in my journal.

I went for a walk on Thursday and took some great sunset pictures. I really need to break down and buy a good camera.

Found a sketch from a couple of weeks ago

I was debating whether or not to just skip the pages last night, challenge or no challenge, when I picked up a wrinkled up piece of paper from the dryer and discovered this sketch. It's not great, but I decided that it would work as the basis of my page, so I went up and got started. The stamp on the bottom border is from a partial set of letters I carved when I first started carving erasers. I don't use them much for writing words, but I use them a lot in borders. The side and top are from one I carved after reading Dorothy Page's book.

Wonderful Weather

We had an 80 degree day today, so when I got home from school I had to go outside and take advantage of it. I took a walk down the driveway and on the last lap I ran inside and got the camera to try and capture the beautiful sunset. The picture doesn't do it justice of course, but
it does capture a bit of the look. I'm going to print one out to put in my journal tonight.

Prepainted page

I wasn't too sure about this page when I started and even considered going up and dry brushing white over the top of it. I had prepped it using up paint from my pallette from a couple of different painting sessions. I was too lazy to go upstairs to my craft table, so I decided to just write on it. Then it looked so pitiful that I got out a decorating magazine and started ripping out images. The first one I found was the black and white of Oaxaca, Mexico where we stayed over 30 years ago. The rest just followed from that one. I seem to be on a real orange flower on orange background kick lately. For some reason it really appeals to me. This spread makes me want to travel.

November 6 spread

I was feeling rotten and had to force myself again to journal. It did make me feel better. I had already torn out some pages as my journal is getting fat, so wound up with this larger spread.

I found a dictionary that I forgot I had bought. It has these wonderful images down the sides of all the pages. I'll be using the pages from it a lot I'm sure.

Guess I should get off the computer and go up and do my pages. I prepainted the next spread from leftover paint and it's pretty ugly. Hopefully I can do something to improve its looks. I'm not feeling very creative tonight. In fact, I'm afraid I'm coming down with something. My granddaughter was getting over a virus on Sunday and my glands are hurting along with a headache tonight.

Two more pages

Most of these papers came in a swap envelope. I like them, but they wrinkled pretty badly. Hopefully they will straighten out when I sit the journal under weight.

I have a bunch of these small scraps waiting to be put into my journal. I sketched myself while waiting in the truck.

On track for my November challenge

This is a bit minimalist for me, but it kept me on track for my page-a-day challenge in November, so that's all that counts. I spent enough time on Thursday's page to more than make up for it.

I drew the hands on this one on the first and as soon as I did I knew just how I wanted it to look. Most of the orange magazine bits came from one magazine. I tried a little depth on the left hand and love the way it looks. I'll be trying that again. This took over an hour to glue together after spending about 45 minutes looking for the pieces. I did it while listening to the radio. I have wanted to try something like this since I glued a small bit of orange flowers on the orange background of my Oct 28 page.

I was low on ideas and tired when I started this page, but determined to at least start my challenge out right. I picked up the scrap of magazine and painted the background to match. By the time I had that done the inspiration was flowing. It constantly amazes me how things start to flow if I just sit down and start working.