Stamped and Dispatched

If you are reading this before 00.00GMT on October 5th, don't worry there is still time to link up your project for the

You will find the link ups here

If you are reading this after 00.00GMT on October 5th then it is time to vote for your favourites, check out all of the gorgeous entries and vote for one winner in each category here 

A few weeks ago I showed you my first ever hand-carved stamp for the

 

This was practise for Nicky's Stamp it Up Swap, and as it happened my partner in the swap was the lovely Nicky herself. Knowing that I would be on holiday for the swap deadline I rushed in to the Art Supplies shop in town and bought myself a decent lino cutter and more erasers. 

I had bought an Art Nouveau design book when we were living in Riga, so decided to try and use something from it for my next stamp.  Many of the designs were too big for the erasers I had, so I decided to try and highlight an element of a design instead. 

An ivy leaf seemed like an appropriate stamp for a blogger who goes by the name Mrs Sew and Sow, don't you think?

So with the stamp sorted out, the next thing I had to work out was what to stamp it on!

Months ago I bought a set of patterns for variously sized pleated pouches from Michelle Patterns with the intention of joining in a SAL, but never actually got around to making them, so this, I decided, was the perfect opportunity to dig them out and finally make one of the pouches.

And here it is, I used some linen for the exterior and a Lu Summers fabric for the interior, which I forgot to take a photograph of, but you can check it out on Nicky's blog because she was more organised than I am :)

With some fabric scraps inside, the stamped pouch just made the post before we headed off on holiday.

When I came back here is what was waiting for me from my lovely swap partner Susi!

Isn't it lovely, there were also a couple of packets of sweets in the package too but my sons swiped those before I got a chance to take the photograph :)

This was a great swap, there were some amazing stamps being produced. If you have never tried eraser stamp carving, I can definitely recommend it, and if you would like to try it keep your fingers crossed and your eyes peeled for a second round of

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

and TGIFF

and

Stamping it up!

Nicky of Mrs Sew and Sow was so inspired by a stamping class that she took at the FQ Retreat that she set up a hand-carved rubber stamp swap.

Now as you all know I love to try out new things, so this was right up my alley, however, we are going on holiday to France soon so I reluctantly decided to pass up the opportunity. Then Nicky started posting photos of the stamps she had created, and the Flickr group started filling up with mosaics of the sweetest little stamps and my resistance crumbled :)

I ordered a linocutter from Amazon and bought some rubbers and set about carving my first ever rubber stamp.

And here it is, not perfect by any means but at least recognisable! The image was copied from an embroidery pattern and traced on to the rubber, then carved to create a relief stamp for the inked image.

Sadly this stamp proved to be the first and only use for the Amazon linocutter, as the rings holding the blades in place failed to perform after the first few changes, so I am heading off to the local Artist Suppliers to invest in what I should have bought in the first place, a Speedball Lino Cutter!