Hello everybody! I'm taking this week off. But I wanted to leave you with something to think about this week! Here are five posts from the archives that I think are worth re-visiting for a variety of reasons. Twenty Questions: September 2009 Go ahead and check out what I was thinking and what I was making eleven years ago. Reading the text, I'm still the same person with the same likes and dislikes, but looking at the photos...time and thoughtful practice make a big difference! (And it's worth clicking through to read the post I wrote about teaching the next... Read more →

Friends, there continues to be so much amazing stamp carving being shared! You have to check out the amazing work you can see at the #CarveDecember hashtag. Today I am sharing what I made for days 16-21 as well as some samples of the beautiful artwork being posted online. Day 16 - Glam Here's mine: And two I love (all of the images I love are pulled from instagram - if you're reading this in your email and can't see them, click HERE): Day 17 - Secret Here's mine: And two I love: Day 18 - Karma Here's mine: And... Read more →

The November Scrawlr Box landed in my mailbox this week. And it contained A LOT of pens and markers. You can watch my unboxing/first thoughts video here: I ended up breaking my own self-imposed rules about only using what's in the box and I added some black paint, adhesive, and book pages to the mix. Here's what I made: And here are the box contents: Bruynzeel Fineliner/Brush Pens (Tokyo & Venice Set) Uni POSCA 1MR, White -- I already own some of these. Love them. Recommend them. Derwent Slim Eraser -- I couldn't find this exact eraser, but THIS is... Read more →

Hello, friends! Here is a little bit about life around here right now: What are you working on? Stamps, stamps, stamps! All I do is carve rubber stamps! And I looooove it! I'm surprising myself by really enjoying using the prompt list this year. I normally am not a fan. But for some reason, this year it's inspiring me each and every day! What are you loving? I have been working in a small art journal -- about a 1/4 of the size I normally work in -- and I'm really having a lot of fun with the smaller format.... Read more →

Here's a quick peek at my "handmade" tree -- i.e. all the ornaments were either gifts or handmade (and sometimes both). These are the stars I made from my son's artwork: And these stars I made last year. I wrote about them HERE. This Deadpool ornament is a prototype I made for a video I did for the Marvel YouTube channel several years ago. You don't see my face, but those are my hands in the video! One year I made a whole bunch of paper diamonds for an online workshop I was teaching. And that's the same with these... Read more →

Friends, there continues to be so much amazing stamp carving being shared! You have to check out the amazing work you can see at the #CarveDecember hashtag. Today I am sharing what I made for days 9-15 as well as some samples of the beautiful artwork being posted online. Day 9 - Jovial Here's mine: And two I love (all of the images I love are pulled from instagram - if you're reading this in your email and can't see them, click HERE): Day 10 - Round Here's mine: And two I love: Day 11 - Fantastical Here's mine: And... Read more →

Just around dinner time, Steve announced that he was going to make decorated sugar cookies for his Dungeons & Dragons group meeting the next day. "Um," I stammered. "Decorated sugar cookies usually take a few days." He said, "I already made the dough." Well, alright then. I'm an optimist! "Let's do it!!" And so we took the frozen dough out of the freezer and thus began the marathon of cookie making/decorating in concert with bathing and putting our son to bed. As we giggled over our terrible piping skills as we ran out of royal icing close to midnight, I... Read more →

Every year I make a few new handmade ornaments for my Christmas tree. This year, I made two different kinds of ornaments: stuffed fabric ornaments and paper stars made from my son's artwork. I put together a quick video of the papers before and after they became stars: If you want the how-to for either of these projects: Tomorrow (Wednesday, December 15, 2021) at 1pm EST I am sharing a free stuffed fabric ornaments mini class live on instagram. The instructions for the star are in THIS ScanNCut Club video. Next week I'll try to do a round-up of all... Read more →

I'm deep into collograph at the moment. It's a printmaking technique in which you make a simple plate -- often from random garbage around your house -- ink it up and print it. There is a very clear and straightforward blog post HERE that explains the process in photos. This is the plate I made... ...and here are some of my prints. I tried several different paints/inks but experienced a lot of paper tearing, as you can see in the photos. I was using supplies I happened to have on hand -- always a good idea when you're first testing... Read more →

Friends, there is so much amazing stamp carving going on! I am blown away by the amazing work you can see at the #CarveDecember hashtag. Today I thought I'd share what I made for the first 8 days as well as some of the beautiful artwork being posted online. Day 1 - Lovely Here's mine: And two I love (all of the images I love are pulled from instagram - if you're reading this in your email and can't see them, click HERE): Day 2 - Odd Here's mine: And two I love: Day 3 - Chaotic Here's mine: And... Read more →