Save-the-Dates, Continuing the Saga

A second attempt at stamps for my sister’s save-the-dates…(hmm.  I’m sensing a theme…).  Anyways, the first save-the-date stamp was not as sucessful as I had hoped.  I had trouble with both the stamp itself and the ink.  Well, after searching for about a week I finally found some ink that I could use.  It is a full pad, instead of the tiny one I had before, with actual ink, instead of some chalk stuff, and it is the right color.  Yay!!

I also found my craft knife (also after about a week of searching), so I attempted to cut the stamp a second time.  I definately think this stamp turned out better than the first.  I was very careful to avoid having pin holes around the image by cutting a little wider than before.  There are definately less rough edges, though there are still a few.

On the one hand I sort of like the rough edges because it doesn’t look too perfect.  On the other hand, I am not sure I want to keep them because it doesn’t look perfect enough.  I  think there is a fine line here, and I’m not sure which side of it I am on.  What do you think?  Do the rough edges add character, or does it just look messy??

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Wedding Save-the-Dates

My sister got engaged and is planning a wedding for September!  I have been delegated as invitation designer, so I have been working on this alot over the past few weeks.  I think I have said before…my sister’s favorite color is purple, so naturally, that is going to be a principle color for her wedding.

I have really been getting into this block printing thing, and thought it might be a cool idea to make a stamp and hand print the design on the paper instead of having it printed by machine.

The design is ready, and last night I made a first attempt at printing on paper.  Sadly, it did not turn out as I had hoped.  It might be partially due to the fact that I have lost my craft knife (sadness!), or that the ink pad I got is about as big as my thumb…probably a bit of both.  The ink is very uneven, and I doubt that I will be able to finish 85 of these babies with only my tiny pad of ink.  Also, I had to use scissors, which made some funky little detailing along the heads of the birds.  I think I am going to have to start from scratch.  Maybe get a new ink pad and another craft knife.  Or maybe I’ll carve the image out of a rubber block instead…I don’t know.

Do any of you have any tips for me??

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Baby Blanket Pattern

The baby shower was yesterday, and the baby blanket was a success!!  After printing the trials for the blanket, I had some trouble with disappearing ink, but I quickly found some better ink at a specialty art store which turned out perfectly.

What you will need:

• 1 yard ecru linen for front
• 1 yard cream soft cotton fabric of your choice
• 1 yard white cotton flannel for the batting
• 4 1/2 yards bias tape in cream, 1″ wide
• embroidery floss in cream
• cream thread
• textile ink (I used white with a couple drops of brown added)
• 1/8″ thick craft foam with a sticky back
• 3 pieces of plastic or acrylic for mounting the stamp
• printout of pattern for the stamps (stamp-pattern)
• craft knife and or scissors
• cardboard for cutting out the stamp on
• needle
• small paint roller
• ruler

Wash, dry and iron the fabrics.  Using a ruler, measure the fabrics to 42″x32″. 

Place each stamp printout on the craft foam.  Using the needle, poke small holes around the patterns.  Cut the patterns out using the craft knife and scissors.  Place the pattern under the mounting plastic and align it how you want it to fit.  Using this as a guide, place the foam stamp onto the plastic, sticky side down.

Using some scraps, print some trials of the stamps to determine how much paint and pressure to use.  Apply stamps to the linen.  I positioned the giraffe and elephant facing each other about 6″-7″ up from the bottom, and 6″-7″ from the side.  The vine is a repeating pattern.  I started it at the very bottom of the fabric, and repeated all the way up, about 6″-7″ from the side.  Allow the ink to dry for 24 hours.  After it has dried, iron the print to set it.  For more detailed instructions on how to print, check out Printing By Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens, by Lena Corwin.  I found this book to be extremely helpful!

Align the fabric, starting with the soft cotton, wrong side facing up.  Then place the flannel on top of that, right side facing up, then the printed linen, right side facing up.  Pin the three layers together, starting in the center and working your way out.

With a sewing machine, using a running stitch, attach the bias tape.  Fold the corners in as you go, making a diagonal fold (see image below).

Lay the blanket out on the floor and lightly mark the exact middle using a ruler and pencil.  Mark the point halfway between the center of the blanket and the top and the bottom.  Measure the distance between the center mark and one of the other marks.  Using this measurement, mark the distance between the center and the two sides.  Mark the distance half way between these new marks and the top and bottom of the blanket.

At the diagonal of each of these, draw another mark.  The result will look like this:

At each of these marks, tie embroidery floss, making sure it goes through all three layers.  To tie, first tie in a single knot, then tie again, looping the the floss through twice.  Cut ends to 1/4″.

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