Cute panda mania

Perhaps, pandas are the only creatures able to provoke an universal feeling of tenderness. Who does not love pandas, indeed?! Maybe, this is due to their lovely and defenseless appearance, which makes them similar to living teddy bears; maybe this is because we imagine them all the time eating calmly bamboos... the reality is that it is impossible to escape from their irresistible and innocent charm! And, it doesn't matter if they are not peaceful at all, as in the advertising here below...

Actually, they belong to the family of bears... and it should not be pleasant to find up in front of a angry panda of a hundred or more of kilos! This genial advertising exploit indeed this apparent contrast between the believed cuteness of the panda and the actual behavior of this panda, a overbearing and menacing bully! And, as I just cannot say no to panda...

 

 

...few days ago, I decided to go along my wishes and I purchased some cooking tools essential for panda lovers from casabento, an on-line retailer of cute stuffs for kitchen in japanese style based in France... they are just arrived and I have spent last time in preparing cute and delicious onigiri with the shape of little pandas...

 

 

And, being at the mercy of this panda fever, I have also created a series a gift ideas, all dedicated to this soft lazy friend with black spots around their eyes like eye sockets.... Check out all my panda creations on my etsy, I hope you like them!!!

 

 

How to use and to take care of hand carved rubber stamps

Stamps allow to print images onto a huge number of materials: from paper to plastic, from wood to fabric, from glass to ceramic, the list is so long! Out of any doubt, this is probably the easiest technique for printing because it is so immediate. It is sufficient to find the right ink for your purpose to start the adventure. Many of you have asked for advises or tips about how to use hand carved rubber stamps or about how to take care of them after using... For that, I take decision to write a post to summarize all my instructions and tips that I was able to gather during my personal experience....

 

We start with inks. Actually, one of key knowledge about the use of stamps, is to choose the right ink pad for your purposes. Fortunately, you can find a huge range of varieties of ink pads on the market place. For instance, I experienced the use the Versacraft's and ColoBox's, because they are good quality and very versatile inkpads, which are optimal both on paper and on fabric. In this last case, you need to iron on high heat for few minutes onto the print in order to make your image permanent to washing (in any case, it is preferable to wash your fabric up to 30° C not to damage your printing).

I have recently discovered an inkpad called Versafine, which is able to capture fine details like no other. Thus, it is very useful for industrial stamps that, differently to the hand carved ones, are harder and absorb with much difficulty the ink issuing an inexact print. This ink pad is very useful in these cases, in order to make a very exact print of your image!

About stamping onto other materials, I find out that ArchivalInk is very useful for projects that need a waterproof and permanent ink. For instance, I use this ink to stamp onto very smooth surfaces, such as  the shrink plastic. The StazOn is appropriate for all surfaces, but it is especially designed for the use on plastic, metal, glass, ceramic, laminated or coated papers, and leather. Differently to the Versacraft, StazOn is not suitable for fabric. For these special inkpads, I suggest to read carefully the instructions on the box in order to have best results.

And now, some insights about how to clean your hand carved rubber stamps. They need to be careful because they are more fragile and delicate than industrial ones. Pay attention to avoid to twist or scrub them. Press the stamp several times on the work surface or on some paper to remove the excess ink. If you would like to obtain a cleaner stamp, you can also use a kneaded eraser on which to dab your stamp. You can also rinse it with some fresh water and allow it to air dry completely. But in all cases, be really careful to never scrub or scrape it, even a little hurt with your nails can damage your stamp! My recommendation is just not to want to bring the rubber to the "white" because a) it is not needed for using your correctly the stamp and b) it could damage it.

Some last words about storage stamps. It is important not to stack stamps in top of each other because they could stick to each other. Store your stamps with their carved face up in a plastic or wooden cases, so you will keep them free from dust. It is also preferable to avoid to expose them to excessive heat or light, this will damage your stamps. I hope that all these tips and instructions could be useful, but do not hesitate to write your special tips or experiences in the comments. Bye!

Packaging signs stamps

Sometimes, I meditate on the huge travel that parcels make after sending. Actually, a lot of parcels I  send makes an incredible travel across the world. Parcels can traverse thousands of miles before arriving to the their recipient, passing from hands to hands and stopping over dozens of post offices, ports, airpots and so forth... up to their arrival either to an overcrowding big town or to an isolated place in the middle of nowhere... Being aware of that, I always put a lot of care in wrapping my items and in making my packaging because I want to assure the maximum care to my sendings, in order to shields items from accidental damages, weather conditions and other perils of the travel!

 

 

These feelings are so common in all senders. By-the-by, sendings are often posted with special packaging labels upon them, which aim to keep the other people informed about how to handle the pack that they have in their hands. Yet, I find these instructions rather cold, too much "bureaucratic" to be really considered or noticed. For that, I wanted to create a set of cute labels, which aim to inform  with kindness all the postmen, custom officers and other people that will take charge to manage our sendings, in order to push them to behave their utmost with pleasure when they handle packs! And I hope this could really work!!! You can find my special post labels, both stamps and stickers, on my etsy shop - I hope you like them!!!

Sweet honey bear

During these last frozen days of winter, it is very easy to catch a cold with fastidious and painful sore throats. Yet, no need to be disparate about this: actually, this could be the pretext to appeal to old handmade remedies, such as the hot milk with honey that, more than being miraculous, it is also delicious!

 

 

And this gave also the pretext to find out a cutie: the amazing sweet honey bear! Yes because the honey is delicious but it is even sweeter in a cute container! To this fetish item, I wanted to dedicate a new collection of mine, formed by a stamp set, some stickers, a pencil case and a felt brooch. Check out all these items in my etsy, I hope you like them!!!

  

The pleasure of tiny things. Emilia's creations

Sometime ago I discovered the wonderful world of the vintage wooden type drawers. They are a really cute embellishments, able to give a cozy and personal touch to my sweet home. And, since I discovered this, I cannot stop myself to buy this kind of drawers when I find them in Parisian flea markets... hopefully, it is not so easy to find them and, since my first one, I was able to find only other two! Indeed, I fear that the walls of my little attic already reached their maximum load capacity!!! Once hanged on the wall, the race starts to find out all kind of tiny things to fulfill all the cases. During my researches for cute miniatures, I discovered Emilia and I fell in love with her amazing creations!

In her wonderful shop on etsy, Emilia shows a lot of cute miniatures in polymer clay. She also proposes to make custom orders. And this is what I asked: it was sufficient to send some pictures of Fifi and after few days I received this tiny marvel! It is unbelievable the care that Emilia puts in details and the perfection of this very very little miniature. In order to understand the size of this miniature, it is sufficient to see the photos here around: I have taken some photos of this miniature with the littlest items I was able to find in my home. Isn't it the sweetest thing ever seen? 

 

 

 

 

And here's the miniature of Fifi installed in its place on my new type drawer: She's now found a special place amongst other little friends!!!

Geometric style

Even if geometry was so boring at school, I find out that it could be very stylish if turned in some cute jewelries to wear. During last times, I have done a series of geometric forms with Fimo, with which I subsequently produced some garland necklaces... I made them in various colors and in two variations of forms, one with the shapes of a triangle and one with the shapes of scalloped (half circles), I hope you like them, check them out on my etsy!!

 

 

Inspired by these geometric forms, I have also made a series of hand carved rubber stamps, in which there are a triangle, circle, star, square and a polygon with the shape of a bow. They can be used to embellish you paper projects, but also on other surfaces. Using them on fabric, for instance, I created a cute pattern with with I've done also a pencil case. I hope you like all these geometric creations, you can find them on my etsy!!!