The Enchanted Gallery

Winter Snow Pine Tree Rubber Stamped Christmas Card with Masking and Sponging Ink Coloring Technique

2012-01-19T03:53:00.000-08:00

Here is a Christmas card I made using a rubber stamp from the Tree-125 sheet. This rubber stamp has details in the artwork that I wanted to hide (the ground.) I have cut a piece of paper to work as a "mask" (like a stencil) to cover that area. I cut that paper mask to be randomly jagged so it mimics piles of uneven snow over bumpy terrain. I cut the opposite edge of the paper in scallop shapes to mimic clouds.

First I put the paper I was stamping on down, then the paper mask over the area I wanted to look like snow on the ground, then rubber stamped over it using Memento Black. I made sure that the ground part of the image stamped onto my mask, so when I moved the paper mask all that was left was my rubber stamped image missing the ground area of the artwork. I used a sponge dauber and Memento "London Fog" gray ink pad and gently applied ink in an upward motion over my paper mask. I moved the paper mask to a different spot and repeated the ink application with the sponge.

I prepared background paper for this card using the same paper masking method above and also using a snowflake paper punch as a mask.

I used a Gelly Roll white gel pen to trace along the tops of the trees and make dots all over the image.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! Now that it's over I can get back to being a little less busy and a little more creative :)

Kimberly

Updated Domino Tutorial + How To Use Water Based Markers on Dominoes

2011-12-21T17:44:00.000-08:00

Rubber stamping on dominoes tutorial page has gotten a major update!

I've cleaned things up, reorganized by coloring media and ease of project. There is a brand new tutorial in it covering the usage of water based markers (such as Marvy LePlume II or Tombow) on domino pendants.

The chalk coloring tutorial section has also gotten an update using both stick form soft pastels, and the palettes of chalks common in rubber stamping.

Thanks for visiting :)
Kimberly

Fairy Rubber Stamps

2011-12-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

New rubber stamp sheet at The Enchanted Gallery featuring feminine vintage story book illustrations.

Here are some domino pendants I made using these rubber stamps with alcohol inks and StazOn.

In Crafting News- No More KrystalKraft Acrylic Shapes

2011-12-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

I received word today that "Sunday International", a rubber stamping and craft supplies company that I have purchased from for many years, has been purchased by / merged with the "Crafters Companion" company. Unfortunately this means a lot of their products I have grown to love are being discontinued.

The biggest change that this brings to The Enchanted Gallery is that the KrystalKraft Clear Acrylic Shapes page will be going away soon. I am selling the last remaining stock I have of these shapes before shutting that section down.

Farewell KrystalKraft acrylic, it has been fun crafting with you all these years!

Blog Candy - Free Christmas Tree Fairy Rubber Stamps Giveaway

2011-11-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

I'm giving away an unmounted rubber stamp set by Crafter's Companion. A random winner will be chosen and announced here on Thu. 12/01/2011.

All you have to do to enter to win is leave a comment on this blog post telling me what sort of craft supplies you are looking for, having a hard time finding, or suggestions on items to add to www.TheEnchantedGallery.com

Note: This prize ships to USA mailing addresses only.

Please leave an E-Mail address in your comment if you would like to be notified if you are the winner, or you can just leave your name and check back after December 1st to see if you won.

Thanks for stopping by :)

_______________________________________________
Contest has ended.
_______________________________________________
Thank you to everyone who entered. I'm sorry that a few of you seemed to get an error from blogger preventing you from leaving your email address or comment. I have received your emails and entered you in the give away. I appreciate the extra effort and am going to give a set to 2 winners:

Phylis Denton and Kathleen!

I will email you both shortly to get your mailing address to send the stamps.

Happy Crafting
:)

Art Nouveau Rubber Stamped Birthday Celebration Card

2011-10-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Alphonse Mucha Art Nouveau rubber stamp from The Enchanted Gallery, paper by K&Co., EK Success and Punch Bunch paper punches, glitter glue, memento ink and colored with Copic markers.

How to make miniature food with polymer clay - Bread boule and baguette tutorial

2011-10-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered the joy of recreating food and other real life items in miniature using polymer clay. I have started a tutorial page for my miniature projects on my website. Here are some instructions from that page:

After making your miniature items you could turn them into jewelry, or use them in your doll house settings. If you or your child have a favorite doll or toy set, you can easily make accessories to fit them.

Here is my bread boule, baguette and muffins with my Calico Critters Buttercup Cat family :)

I hope you have found this tutorial entertaining and I'll let you know when I've added new miniature projects to The Enchanted Gallery.

I have also recently expanded my website to carry a variety of polymer clay tools and supplies. New rubber stamp designs and other products are coming soon.

Happy crafting,
Kimberly

Easy How-To Make Glass And Paper Jewelry Using A Bail Or Pendant Blank

2011-07-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

I recently added more items to the Jewelry Making Supplies Page

When the new glass shapes and blank pendants arrived I tested out the pendant making process. This is super quick and easy!

Here's a little tutorial on making pendants with paper and glass:
1) Apply a generous layer of clear glue (I used Glossy Accents) to the flat side of your glass piece. Lay it gently down onto your paper artwork (scrapbooking paper, rubber stamp art, prints, drawings etc.) Allow to dry.

2) Cut around the edges of your artwork. Use a file to sand down any areas that are too close to the edge to cut with scissors.

3) Hanging options: You could wrap the edges with copper tape and solder around it. You could seal the back of the paper with your clear glue or spray sealer, then add a pendant bail on it for hanging. Or you could glue it into a pendant blank as I have done here:

I plan on experimenting with soldering jewelry using glass and rubber stamped art soon. I'll post a tutorial as soon as I do :)

Rubber Stamping On Wood - Charms Pendants & Magnets

2011-07-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

It's almost back to school time again! Time has been flying by so fast. Here are some rubber stamped wood charms I have made using Stazon ink and markers. I use a small drill bit in my dremel to make the holes and attach a jump ring for hanging.

Alphabet learning charms using 1" circle shape wood:

Back side:

Tree pendant 1.5":

I will be stocking various wood shapes for jewelry and magnet making soon, but for now you can find these at your local Michaels craft store. The wood shapes are Lara's Crafts brand from The New Image Group.

Heart shape wood with magnet back:

Here I used Lumiere metallic acrylic paint to cover the wood surface. I then rubber stamped my image using Stazon black ink. Apply your choice of sealer, here I have used Glossy Accents (for fridge magnets) but you could use a clear acrylic spray coat, resin or epoxy sealer for jewelry items.

This one is coated with a clear glitter paint as a sealer:

I am working on a TON of new rubber stamp designs and will be blogging about the new releases soon :)

Vintage Mermaid Fairytale Story Book Rubber Stamps

2011-02-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

One of the four new rubber stamp sheets that have recently been added to The Enchanted Gallery!

Example art using these rubber stamps and Copic markers for coloring:

Kitty Cat Rubber Stamps Fairy Mermaid Angel Kittens

2011-02-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

One of the four new rubber stamp sheets that have recently been added to The Enchanted Gallery!

I made the following cards using these rubber stamps along with paper by K&Company, Punch Bunch and EKSuccess/Martha Stewart paper punches, Nestabilities Die Cuts, Copic markers, Stickles glitter glue.

Domino (1"x2") size game pieces rubber stamped with Stazon Black ink pad, sealed with Mod Podge, colored with Copic markers:

Stazon black over Alcohol Inks:

:)

Classy Vintage Flower Fairy Dress Lady Rubber Stamps, Domino Art and Greeting Cards.

2011-02-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

One of the four new rubber stamp sheets that have recently been added to The Enchanted Gallery!

Here's some example art I made using these rubber stamps:

I have used Copic markers for coloring, Paper by K&Co., Flower paper punch by McGill, Fern punch from Punch Bunch, Border punches by Ek Success, Black Stickles glitter glue, Spellbinders Nestabilities Die Cut Labels Four.

Hello Kitty Cuckoo Clock - MDF Kit by KaiserCraft

2011-01-31T23:55:00.000-08:00

I was looking at new goodies that came in at my local scrapbooking store, and this cuckoo clock kit from KaiserCraft caught my eye.

I've always wanted a cuckoo clock, but boy are those things expensive. Every once in a while super cute and girly things catch my eye (ie. pink/glitter/kittens) and I remembered I had these little Hello Kitty toy figurines I collected ages ago...

And Hello Kitty as a mermaid (Yay! Mermaids and cats - a Mercat?)

I used some scrapbooking paper by BasicGrey attached with mod podge, decorated the edges with glitter glue, added a little wood tray for the mer-cat to sit, and some necklace chain to hang the dangly parts. Here's my finished clock:

More ideas on how to decorate your cuckoo clock kit over at the
Kaisercraft blog.

Orchid and Other Flowers Card Making with Rubber Stamps

2011-01-12T05:13:00.000-08:00

I can't wait until spring. I miss flowers so bad!

Here I have heat embossed an orchid on white card stock (using gold embossing powder.)

I colored the image with Copic markers.

I cut it out and used the same stamp to make a matching background on the brown craft paper.

Here are a couple more cards I made using a similar idea.

Rubber stamps from
The Enchanted Gallery

+ News: There are 4 new rubber stamp sheets arriving next week!!!

:)

Art Nouveau Christmas Card

2010-12-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays everyone!

This card was made with Martha Stewart paper punches, Copic Markers for coloring, gelly roll glitter pen, and rubber stamps by
The Enchanted Gallery.

PS. New rubber stamp sheets are coming soon!

Cute Animals and Cat Wood Mounted Rubber Stamp 25% off Sale

2010-12-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

All wood mounted rubber stamps found in the animal stamps section at www.TheEnchantedGallery.com are on sale for 25% off. Including these cute Stampabilities House-Mouse, cats and bunny rabbit designs. They can be found on

this page.

Rubber stamping in Friendly Plastic Tutorial

2010-12-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let everyone know there is a new tutorial page on my site. This tutorial shows you how to rubber stamp on friendly plastic, place it into a pendant bezel blank, sealed with Resin:

Click here to go to the full tutorial.

There are also a growing number of bezel pendant blanks (by Amate and Lisa Pavelka), bottle caps, Friendly Plastic strips, Magic Glos UV Resin and other jewelry making supplies available at:

Jewelry making supplies for polymer clay, friendly plastic, resin, collage artists and more!

Happy Crafting!

Cat Rubber Stamp Birthday Card Copic Markers Domino Glitter Pendant

2010-09-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help but fall in love with this adorable Fluffles the Cat clear stamp set from Stampendous. I decided to stock some cuter animal stamps from other companies on my site. I also enjoyed playing with the clear stamps, which have their plus and minuses in comparison to regular rubber stamps. I like the quality and fine detail you can achieve with rubber stamps, but it's also cool using clear stamps because you can see where you're stamping. This set has a ton of customizing options to put whatever you want on the cat. Check it out!

I stamped the cat, then the party hat, then put the balloon in it's hand, and a birthday cake to seal the deal -

I colored the image with Copic Markers. These are pricey, alcohol based markers, but I've found them to be totally worth the money. They blend very nicely giving you a watercolor painted look.

Stamped onto clear acrylic domino and colored with glitter glue:

The new animals and nature theme rubber and acrylic clear stamps section is here at:
http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/animals

Paper Dolls with Rubber Stamped Faces

2010-07-17T19:44:00.001-07:00

These art dolls were created by crafter Jessica Yambao using doll templates and rubber stamps from The Enchanted Gallery. You can check out what Jessica currently has for sale in her etsy shop here.

The Enchanted Gallery has an "angel company" policy, meaning you can sell your crafts made using my
free paper doll templates and/or using my rubber stamps.

Happy crafting!

Flower Blossoms, Leaves and Domino Fairy Flora Rubber Stamps

2010-06-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

Added a couple new stamp sheets, plus new sections around the site this past week. I'm currently learning more about jewelry making and UV resin. Hopefully my projects will turn out well and I'll share those asap. For now here's some images of the new stamp sets!

Rubber stamps available at The Enchanted Gallery

Stampbord May/June 2010 Featured How-To Tutorial!

2010-05-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

A step by step tutorial for this:

Can be found at the
Stampbord website.

After May/June 2010, you can find it in their
past how-to archives.

If you're new to stampbord, it's a really nice clay coated board which is very sturdy and can be used with almost any stamping inks, paints and other coloring media.

Ps. I'm working on adding a TON of new sections to my website. I'll try to be a good blogger and put updates up asap ;)

Art Nouveau Poppy flower fairy queen theme rubber stamp set:

2010-04-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm nuts about flowers and Poppies are my favorite. I always have my camera in my purse as soon as spring hits. I stop to admire every blossoming tree in my path. My computer is flooded with a bazillion images of flowers from local gardens, parks, trees in my yard etc. I'm not sure why it took me this long to make a sheet dedicated to my favorite flower, but I hope you enjoy it too :)

Rubber stamp sheet #Popp-M03 available at The Enchanted Gallery

Flower ladies and anime girls rubber stamps for Copic marker coloring

2010-04-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

New rubber stamps designed with a bit more open space to allow for shading and coloring with markers or inks. I recently tried Copic markers (an alcohol based marker available in over 300 colors) and was very pleased with the results. This stamp sheet was made with those who want to play with coloring and card making in mind.

I'm moving this week, but I'll try to get to making example art as soon as I unpack. For now
Rubber stamp sheet #Mrkr-M00 is avaiable at The Enchanted Gallery!

New cute fantasy art astrology zodiac sign domino pendant rubber stamp set!

2010-03-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

I love trying to help people make money from their craft hobby. Domino jewelry making has been a consistently popular way to do so. Here's another set created with those who would like to supplement their income by selling domino jewelry in mind.

Other than just placing your crafts for sale on Ebay, Etsy or your own website with a general handmade jewelry description, it's also good to think about what key words are bringing your customers to you. For example, with this set it would be wise to be as specific as possible with each title - such as "Virgo Zodiac Astrology Sign Pendant Jewelry" to help buyers and search engines find your listing. When making listings on your own website, google is your best friend and I highly recommend loading your title and image descriptions with item specific keywords so you show up in image searches.

These example art pendants were made using StazOn ink, Stampbord (a sturdy 1" x 2" white clay coated material) and markers (Marvy Le Plume II or Tombow both work well on Stampbord surface, but not on a plastic domino.)

These rubber Stamps available now at: The Enchanted Gallery! (Sheet #Astr-M01

Distress Ink Cloudy Sky Backgrounds using masks/stencils (+Hi, I'm back!)

2010-03-08T00:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, long time no blog! I'm feeling better and taking advantage of it by getting crafty. I will have at least 3 new rubber stamp sheets to share with you all in the coming weeks.

For now, check out this easy way you can add clouds to your rubber stamp art using distress ink pads (colors used were broken china and faded jeans), a mask (stamp your main image on paper and cut it out), a stencil (draw a bumpy cloud ridge shape and cut it out too), and use a sponge/dauber to apply your distress inks.

Here's what it looks like in progress:

Here's a finished artist trading card using this technique:

(The ATC measures 2.5"x3.5", the Halloween Cat and Fairy rubber stamp was colored with Marvy LePlume II markers. I added some white highlights to the clouds and moon with a white pastel/chalk pencil.

Stampbord Contest!!!

2009-09-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

You can win Stampbord, ink pads, pens, rubber stamps and other cool craft supplies by entering their contest.
Check it out:
Click here for Stampbord Contest Information!!!
It's a great reason to be creative - they are allowing any medium as long as Stampbord is used in its creation. I'll be doing a rubber stamped project for it and show you all once the contest is complete.

Happy Crafting :)

Potential Delays / Health Update

2009-09-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

I'm very sorry for the lack of activity here on the blog this summer. I have also been unable to update my website with new products quite as frequently as I have in the past. Some of you may already know that over the past 5 years I've had some major medical problems (cancer/chemo/radiation.) The type of cancer that I had (Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma) has not returned. However, I have had a lot of side effects/damage from the disease and treatments. Some of the scar tissue has caused adhesions (bonding muscles and organs together,) ruined my thyroid (lowered metabolism/energy,) and now I have ulcerations in my colon and a large 2" mass (cyst) in my lower left abdomen.

Currently my doctors are Guinea Pigging me with some prescriptions and pain medications to see if anything improves over the next two months before resorting to surgery. It is likely that surgery will include removing the mass, resection of my colon and possibly more if other organs are effected. For now, because of the pain and medications there have been some days where I am not feeling up to working.

I am trying very hard to keep up with orders within my stated 7 - 14 business day delivery time. There may be bad weeks for me where I'm running a few days later. Once my surgery is scheduled I will post a notice on my website about any longer delays during a specific time frame. Once this all gets sorted out I'll try my best to get back into crafting and creating new products :)

Scenic highways and nature destination photographs!

2009-05-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's summer travel fun time!

I'm a huge fan of scenic highway drives and nature destinations. I take thousands of photographs every year, especially of the Oregon area. While I have them organized in folders on my computer, I find that I rarely look through them. So I've created a section in my website for the highlights of my travel photography. This is mainly for my personal enjoyment, but I'm hoping some of you might like it too :)

I've posted a map showing all of the places I've driven here. These pages are image intensive and I don't recommend it for dial-up users.

If you don't have much time to browse today, I think the Silver Falls state park and Oregon Garden trip is a beautiful place to start here!

I love the mountains, but they can be dangerous to drive through November through April. Now that most scenic highways (that are usually closed in winter) are opening, it's time for more road trips. In the southern part of OR is Crater Lake and in northern CA I'll be stopping at the Redwood Forest in a couple weeks. I'll also be heading off to Yellowstone National Park, WY soon (thank goodness it's only an 8 hour drive from here.) I'll make another blog post when new images are uploaded. Back to crafting until then!

Have a fun summer everyone :)

Rubber Stamped Stampbord Pencil Holder and Paper Art Dolls

2009-05-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

Yay!

One of my tutorials has been posted on the Stampbord website. You can learn how to make this pencil holder here - May 09' (Or check out the archive of tutorials for viewing after May here.)
This project uses my Klimt rubber stamp set.)

Plus, here's a couple more paper dolls I just have to share with you by Karen (see my last blog entry for more.) I'm just so thrilled with what she's creating by incorporating my doll face stamps) into her work. To see if she has any dolls currently available, check out her Ebay sales.)

This last one uses one of my domino size rubber stamps for her face. I'd like to explore the many projects you can do using my 1"x2" size rubber stamps that does not have to do with domino jewelry. So far I've got bottle cap magnets, greeting cards and paper doll projects in the works. Stay tuned for a new tutorial and project gallery page on my site for everything BUT domino stamping using domino size stamps!

Have a creative day!
Kimberly

Paper Doll Artist Spotlight

2009-04-23T01:45:00.000-07:00

One thing that never ceases to amaze me about artistic rubber stamping is... With one single image there are so many possibilities! I absolutely love it when my rubber stamp customers email me their creations. It's often something I wouldn't have thought of doing, or is a similar idea but done in a completely different style. Each individual brings such new perspective to art, inspired by how they view beauty.

I just wanted to share with you Karen's paper art dolls. She sells them on ebay under seller ID keerng if you'd like to see what's currently available. She gives me inspiration and motivation to make some more dolls :)

It also makes me feel good to know I can help others start their own craft business/profitable hobby, especially with the economy at this point. I enjoy the idea of sharing, my Angel Policy allows people to sell a wide variety of items using my stamps or molds. I'll also be offering digital downloads/cd collections soon for scrapbooking, collage and die cutting. If any digital artists are following me, stick around because I'll be creating images you can incorporate into your art too (stock photography.)

Hooray! Tax day is OVER! + Stampbord Sneak Peek

2009-04-15T20:24:00.001-07:00

Cats are ridiculous :) Last night when making a last minute double-check of all my expenses, I laid out all my receipts on the floor. The cats came in, and even though there's lots of places to lay down, they decided to plop themselves right on my paperwork. I let them sleep there for a while since they seemed so comfy on the paper. They lay down on anything new. I bought a laundry tub yesterday, set it down when i walked in the door... as soon as I turned around both cats were sitting inside of it.

I am so glad that tax day is over with! I had an unusually complicated return this year due to having to file a business loss. There were over a dozen forms I had to fill out :( There's got to be a simpler way to do this stuff... someone please invent it? Even though I'm not sure when the economy will start to recover, I'm hopeful that I can do better this year. I have lots of great new stuff planned and now that this is over I can get back to posting projects.

When I got to the post office there was a HUGE PROTEST going on. Swarms (hundreds) of people gathered and lots of noise as cars went by honking. They were all very upset about the insane amount of government spending. Something about how it equates to us being taxed and we the people have been taxed enough. It was wild, I had no idea I would have to battle my way across the post office parking lot to get in.

Stampbord! I've completed a few projects for the Stampbord website. I have no way of knowing which artwork will be posted or when, but at least one project will have a full tutorial on their site in May. Until then, here's a little sneak peek of a domino size Stampbord project. I won't be sharing any more of what I've done until they have posted them on their website. I'll be sure to post a link to the step by step tutorials once they post it.

Here's my little domino size flower pot paperweight:

I'll be 'craftin it up' some more soon :)
Kimberly

Upcoming, delays and misc.

2009-04-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I know it's been a while and I apologize for being a bad blogger.

I will have tons of exciting news to share with you very soon. I recently purchased a Quickutz Silhouette and a Cricut die cutting machine (I like them both for different reasons.) I'll be doing a nice comparison of those machines and showing off some pictures soon. I plan to introduce a couple new products to my website including stencils, die cut paper shapes/stickers/embellishments, image cds for people to cut my designs on their own die cutters or to print out and use with paper crafting.

Many of you have suggested collage sheets of my color art, however I've decided against the expense of a nice printer and especially ink cartridges. Instead I will be offering large versions of my images on cds for you to make your own products from.

I've also been working on tutorials for Stampbord's featured how-to project of the month and galleries. The first of my tutorials will be their project featured in May. I have a few other nice long tutorials in the works to share with you soon!

On the not-so-bright-side, Ranger Ink, the manufacturer of Mold-N-Pour has been out of stock for about a month. So I'm running terribly low on mold compound and there is about a week delay on any order I receive with a lot of molds/compound. This should resolve next week, but I am forced to wait for them so I can't say for certain :(

It's tax time again! I always wait until the last week before I do my taxes. This is mostly due to the outrageous amount I end up owing as a small business, I need a lot of time to save up enough money to pay them! If you have any plans to start a small business of your own, my advice is to keep 30 percent of all your profits set aside for taxes. Depending on your state, this could be more or less. I think here in Oregon I get taxed more severe than some states due to our wealth of public services. For example, last year I only made $8,000 and I still had to pay over $2,000 in taxes. How the government expects me to live on $6,000 a year total is beyond me... But where there's a will there's a way (or at least a credit card.)
Anyway, point being I'm doing a lot of paperwork to try to maximize my business expenses/deductions and this is a very stressful time. If you have placed an order this week, I apologize again for any delay. Most stamp orders should be moving quickly, but mold orders are running about a week late.

Kimberly

New paper doll and domino rubber stamps!

2009-02-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I just updated my website with new rubber stamps!
They will be shipping in about a week and I'll post example art once I get to play with them :)

Klimt ATC - I love Versafine & Distress inks, plus gel pens are neat!

2009-02-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

I like to use Distress inks to color the background of an image. Previously I posted about spraying color using the reinkers, but here I've used a Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink pad direct to paper. By wiping the pad across the surface you get a random blotchy pattern. Then i lightly sprayed it with water, or you can rub it with a damp paper towel to blend it a little. That way you tint the remaining white paper.

I've been hooked on using Versafine as my rubber stamping ink for a while. The black is really dark black and it provides great detail without being too wet/liquidy like some ink pads. It also has the benefit of being waterproof, so you can use water based markers/other inks or paints over it without fear of smearing. (Here I used Versafine black for the Gustav Klimt art stamp and satin red for the spiral background.)

And for my love of all things sparkly I bought some gelly roll pens. The sparkly gold and red are my favorites (I think these are called stardust colors, they are not the same as the metallic gel pens. These are like dense glitter instead of thick color.) They add a beautiful glimmer when light hits your paper at an angle. I also used a white gel pen to make the image really pop. I've been seeing a lot of this technique while browsing stamping blogs and I'm glad I finally gave it a try. Using a white pen for highlights really adds a dimensional look to your stamp art :)

Rubber Stamp Background Patterns + Distress Inks

2009-02-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

New rubber stamp sheet with patterns for making your own decorative paper or artist trading card backgrounds.

I recently purchased every color of distress inks (all of the reinker refill bottles from joann online and a few of the ink pads in my favorite colors. I went nuts for them and Joann.com usually has them on sale 30 - 40% off, so I recommend ordering there!) Then I picked up some "Mini Misters" spray bottles at Michaels. Here's the results of my first time playing with the reinkers. I'm pretty happy with them. They are easy to work with and can be used to create watercolor paint effects.
Other images and instructions here: Work in progress - A coloring media tutorial

I've got a couple more stamp sheets and another project to show you... very soon!

Happy late new year and stuff!

2009-01-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Woah, where did the last month go?! The holidays went by like a blur, so much happening makes time speed right by. I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. We had some unusually heavy snow here (Portland, OR) so I had a few quiet days off.

For the past few years I've relied on google searches and word of mouth for my website traffic. Starting this year I'm going to be a bit more active in getting the word out, especially for my growing rubber stamp catalog. Starting in the Jan/Feb 09 issue of Somerset Studio you'll see my ad:

I will be advertising with them all year, and am eager to see if this provides a boost in my sales. If any of you frequently browse or purchase a certain craft magazine, particularly for stamping, I'd love to hear which magazines you like best. I've had my eye on Stampers Sampler and Take Ten, but I'm really hoping to submit actual cards/art projects to them instead of just advertisements. Just in case anyone who uses my stamps didn't know, I reward you for sending your projects in to craft magazines. (More about that here.)

I've started designing two new stamp sheets which I should be sharing with you all in the next week or so. For now here's a little something I did that went along with a present for a friend who appreciates all-natural soaps/cosmetics and recycled goodies. ( Stamps from here )

New stuff coming soon!

:)
Kimberly

New flexible push molds for polymer clay, paperclay, etc.

2008-12-22T03:48:00.000-08:00

Hi all, here's a few molds that have been added today:

They can be found at:
Nature Spirit Molds
and
Face Molds

ps. A few months ago I got some kittens to keep me company. I have to admit I've always been more of a dog person, but health wise I didn't think I'd be able to keep up with one. These kittens are cute, love to cuddle (for short periods of time before going to amuse themselves elsewhere) and are generally pretty low maintenance :)
Oh no! Kitten pictures!

News, cling cushion mounting foam, polymer clay push molds tutorial

2008-12-19T22:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I'm happy to announce that my latest CTscan was all clear - My cancer has been in total remission and remains so! I've had some side effects from treatments, but they are entirely manageable. Everything pales in comparison to cancer, so I'm feeling very positive about it all :)

I've made some improvements to my website this week, including adding new buttons to the main store index along with a new product - cling cushion foam for mounting your unmounted rubber stamps. I put up step by step images on the mounting page.

Updates have been made to the flexible push mold instructions. I can't believe I have forgotten to add this string of images that shows just how easy it is to use polymer clay or paperclay with the molds. There is also a few extra pictures about painting your clay. I'm almost done with the example art for a few new molds, I'll make another post this week with the new designs.

ps. To address a question I received about coloring on Stampbord last week:
I have a random assortment of color pencils including Prismacolor, Crayola, Rose Art, Prang etc. They all seem to work comparably on the Stampbord surface. However, the color intensity is at its best when used on the plain white surface. I also make sure my pencils are well sharpened.

Once you add inks or paints to the Stampbord the color pencils will react differently. For instance, alcohol ink, depending on the color and thickness of application tends to dominate the surface. Any color pencil you use over it will be a few shades away from the base color. In other words, you'll still be able to color over it, but it will be more of a transparent tint. Here are some I did with alcohol ink, stazon then color pencil:

For instance, if the alcohol ink is yellow and your pencil is green, the color you might end up with is a light yellow-green. This is usually enough color for me, but you will never get full color intensity when using them over a colored surface. You may also try using different inks, like dye inks or watercolors to stain the surface, which have less of an impact on the saturation of color pencils.

ATC Stampbord rubber stamped wall art project

2008-12-08T22:54:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered Stampbord which is a sturdy board (like compressed wood) with a white clay coating. What's super neat about it is you can stamp on it, use all sorts of ink, paint, pencils, markers etc. on it... Then you can take an etching/engraving/scratch tool and carve away the top layer to expose the white clay underneath. I love how easy it is to make highlights, like the light is shining on your artwork.

Anyway, I ordered some ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") Stampbord pieces online (they also come in domino 1"x2" size.) I covered the surface with alcohol inks, stamped with stazon, colored with color pencils and (optionally) put a thin coat of mod podge to protect the surface.

This board is very sturdy, so a regular hole punch won't work - but I used my Cropidile punch tool. That Cropidile is amazingly strong (can punch through tin, wood, chipboard etc.) The board is too thick to set eyelets in, but I glued them into the holes and added beads for hanging on my wall or door. A couple more images on this project on this rubber stamp sheets page.

I've got so much more to do, I'm a million years behind schedule on making example art for my rubber stamp pages.

--
Medical update:
On a personal note, I had a CT scan on friday and have another test on wednesday to screen for cancer. I should know within the next week or so if I'm still doing ok with the Hodgkins Lymphoma. I found out that the radiation treatment damaged my thyroid worse than I thought, so I've been pretty tired lately while my blood levels got all wonky. My new doctor is really nice though, I think I'm in good hands.

Need a gift in a hurry? Domino pendants in 3 minutes or less! + Cleaning tip for StazOn ink

2008-11-27T05:04:00.000-08:00

I don't waste money on fancy cleaners. I don't like to waste a lot of time cleaning my stamps either. Instead I just keep a bottle of alcohol (regular medical rubbing alcohol, isopropyl) and a paper towel on my craft desk. Just dump a little alcohol on your paper towel and gently wipe off the StazOn ink from your stamps.

Two rubber stamp sheets (recycling and last domino pendant preview) are now available on the rubber stampspage. I've also added this super quick coloring method using StazOn ink pads on the domino jewelry instructions page.

Pick out a light ink pad color and stamp your background pattern. Optionally, before or instead of background stamping, you can colorize the domino surface by randomly dabbing on the StazOn ink. Use a q-tip dipped in alcohol to lighten the ink and rub it into the surface. This ink is usually dry enough to move onto the next step within a minute.

Stamp your main image with a darker ink over your colored background.

Optionally you can keep going and add additional accents like stamped patterned edges (used brilliance gold pigment ink here) or use a sharpie marker to color the edges, add glitter etc. Then glue on a pendant bail or dill your hole.

Something a little different.

2008-11-17T22:19:00.000-08:00

I had an unexpected creative spurt last night after browsing some new vector tutorials and Adobe Photoshop digital artist sites. While I usually stick to a traditional Art Nouveau style, these new images mix in a more fashionably modern twist. I'm not sure if this style will appeal to my base, but they will be available as rubber stamps in a couple weeks.

I was also browsing for quotes yesterday hoping to find nice sayings for the future cards/example art. A few that I thought were pretty:
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor touched... but are felt in the heart." (Helen Keller)

"Don't be afraid to take one large step because you can't cross a chasm in two small leaps." (Davil Lloyd George)

"Happiness is the best makeup." (unknown)

KrystalKraft Clear Acrylic Pieces & New Domino Rubber Stamps

2008-11-15T18:43:00.001-08:00

New product! With my most popular item being domino size rubber stamp sheets, I've decided to put out another one sooner than anticipated - #Bold-121 which will become available for sale in about 1 - 2 weeks (along with the recycling theme mini sheet I previewed in my last post.) I'll update again when they are posted with example art.

I've also been asked what else you can use the domino stamps on. I will be making a special page for the "everything but dominoes" tutorial including stamping on clay for pendants or mosaic tiles, UTEE (embossing powder) jewelry, using the stamps on paper for card panels, stampbord and acrylic pieces.

There has been a product I've always liked to use these stamps with, but found that since not very many stores carry them they are not well known. That's "KrystalKraft" clear acrylic pieces with one side that is pre-treated to accept a variety of inks & coloring media. It looks like frosted glass, but once it is inked/stamped/marker
colored/glittered/glued on etc. it becomes clear. Unlike regular acrylic, plastic or acetate products, KrystalKraft's treated surface is not slippery, making it easy to stamp or paint on for beginners. With a thickness of about 1/8" you can enjoy a glass-like appearance without the fragility!

I am now selling select styles of these acrylic charms, pendants, pin and mini journal kits on my website. If they do well I will be expanding the amounts of shapes I offer. You can check out the new product and tutorial page here: KrystalKraft Clear Acrylic Pieces to Rubber Stamp On!

Also, I have this terrible habit of writing my ideas for new projects and tutorials down on whatever scraps of paper I have laying on my desk. Finally, the pile became unbearable and I went through all my notes and copied them neatly onto one sheet. What I ended up with was a list of over 100 things I need to do, including plans for new stamp designs and at least 7 new tutorial pages for my website. It will take some time to get there, but I swear I'll get them all done!

Kimberly

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. An all natural gum rubber stamp sheet for green minded crafters.

2008-10-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

With the economy at a low point I'm sure a lot more people are thinking about reducing the amount of items they buy, reusing old items and recycling trash for either the planet or for turning into new fun stuff. I plan to make a tutorial page of crafty projects you can make with stuff around the house, like soda bottle caps, soup cans, hard plastic from packaging materials etc.

To get me started in my green crafting I've designed a new earth friendly theme stamp sheet. I'll update with project ideas once the stamps become available in about 3 weeks.

Ps. The holiday sheet (gift-005 with the present fairy a couple posts back) became available on my website today.

How do you cut corners during this time of economic crisis?

2008-10-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

How are you saving/making money?

I hate to admit it, as I was feeling optimistic for a long time, but I'm feeling the pinch from our economy being in shambles. I've had to work really hard to keep a loose grip on "middle class" standard of living throughout the years. Or at least whatever you call that "class" that is above poverty - the ones that can afford to eat what they want and have a car & insurance, but could never afford to own a home. I fear things getting worse if this trend continues for (many?) years.

In the past I've always believed that in America you can always make more money by working harder / being inventive / creative. Lately it seems much more difficult as good jobs disappear and the general public is trying to save money, so less spending goes to support businesses who are hurting. I don't really know how that cycle ends, but I certainly hope that our next president actually creates tangible change (even if that's not in his power, at least help our government stop wasteful spending.)

And as much as I hate to add to the problem, I was forced to apply for a new credit card this month so that I can pay for my next cancer test (a 4k petscan) and the unexpected expense of some root canals (how on earth can dentistry be this pricey?!)
It makes me feel bad that I can not live within my means, but I live in a cheap apartment with a roommate and I eat as inexpensively as possible for not eating garbage (no junk food here! I <3 Trader Joes.)

The lease agreement for my car is almost up (January) and I've moved to a much more public-transportation friendly town (Portland, OR.) Once I turn in my car I'm saying good-bye (forever?) to the expense of monthly car payments, insurance and gas. That should certainly help my budget! I'm hoping that some of you have also cut corners somehow or found a way to make extra cash and would like to share your tips? As it turns out, my roommate has a Costco membership so the next time we do grocery shopping I will see if there are things I regularly buy that I could get in bulk cheaper there.

I certainly don't want to sound like a sob story, but with this scale of economic stress I don't think it should be a secret when you're having a tough time and need ideas! I plan on opening an Etsy shop in addition to my Ebay store next month to sell some handmade jewelry (like the domino pendants and things I make for example art around my site.) I also hope that I've been of service to you all with my angel policy allowing you to sell your handmade items created from my rubber stamps or molds.

As a business I'd like to expand the products I offer. If you have anything design-wise you're looking for in stamps, I'd love to hear it. (I've gotten a couple requests for Skulls and unusual art in domino sizes, so that is coming soon.) Also, I have an account with Ranger Ink, so in the future I may stock some of their products. They make the Tim Holtz ink pads, distress paints, stickles glitter glues and alcohol inks along with a variety of other neat stuff like UTEE. I'm not sure what people who are already shopping at my site would be interested in the most though. I may carry jewelry supplies like acrylic charms or domino size stampbord for making rubber stamped jewelry. Do you have a product in mind that seems to fit in with my site?

It's been a hard week, the signs of businesses cutting back and people in need is tremendous. Everyone in our apartment complex got a note on their door today from the Oregon Food Bank, which is in charge of donating non-perishable food to families in need. I quote their letter "With the economy at a low point and the cost of gas driving up prices, the number of families needing assistance has skyrocketed - as much as 30% in some areas." There are now collection barrels all over my neighborhood. I'm sure I don't need to mention the stock market, as I'm sure you've heard about that roller coaster ride and this crazy bail out plan... but my bank (WAMU) went under, so all my credit cards and savings accounts have turned into Chase. Others of my money market accounts have been on a steady decline since last year, when I was earning 5% + interest, but now is closing in on 1% (it can go negative) so I've gotta pull my money out :(

Even the big companies I buy wholesale or services from are making obvious cut-backs. Yahoo this week announced a 1,500 person lay off, the second mass-firing this year. The company I buy my mold compound from has cut back on their packaging materials (I don't mind, I hate excess paper waste) but it's gone from nice big boxes with smaller cases all contained inside, to everything dumped in a small box. Thankfully the prices of products have not gone up yet, but since my items are made of rubber I worry about the rising cost at some point.

Super sorry for the long post. I really needed to get it off my chest and it's hard feeling alone when you're scared. I hope that instead of being bummed, this will help spark your creativity on ways to deal with this financial problem effecting so many of us. I also hope that the bright minded people out there are working hard on new inventions, creative projects and alternative energy that will help put the USA back on the right track. We can be great, let's show em how it's done!

Next post will be fun, light hearted and artsy I promise!!!

Kimberly

ps. Anyone out there (on the west coast) have independent dental insurance? (Any coverage you bought on your own, independently of a job or health insurance?) I can't find anyone who will let me sign up without also applying for health insurance (which I can't, cause I'm classified "uninsurable" due to the cancer, so I can only get government high risk pool health care - no dental.)

Three New Rubber Stamp Sheets + Christmas Card

2008-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Three new mini 4.25" x 5.5" rubber stamp sheets will be available next week. Sized for use with memory glass, domino pendants and the holiday set for seasonal cards (the cardinal bird stamps also fit on dominoes.) I'll be working on more example art in the next week or so. I also have a really big UTEE / Embossing powder jewelry tutorial page planned! Next will be shrink plastic charms and memory glass jewelry, but one thing at a time :)

Christmas Card ingredients: The Enchanted Gallery stamp sheet #Gift-005's Present Fairy. K & Company Remake 100% recycled green and red pads, stickles stardust, red and green glitter glues, nestabilities die cuts.

Ebay Sale - Hand Carved Bone Pendants only $15 to $25

2008-10-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, it's time for me to clear out my personal collection of hand carved bone pendants. I'm putting them up for sale in my Ebay Store There are many more than what is pictured here, so go check it out :)

These designs will not be made into molds, so if you like something, be sure to snatch up the original carving so you can enjoy the pendant forever!

Halloween Party Invitation - Rubber Stamped Fairy & Cat Card

2008-09-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Is it getting to be that time of year already?! I'm not sure I'm ready! I love the changing leaf colors, but it always makes me feel that time is going by much too quickly. My to-do list right now is out of control. (Literally, I've got 3 pages of notes on my desk for projects/tutorials, business/website update ideas and dreaded upcoming doctor visits. Plus an email inbox with about fifty poor folks I've been meaning to get back to just as soon as I update my gallery pages / figure out answers.) Yikes!

Well here's one small thing I can knock off that list, a Halloween costume party invitation (stamp from Sheet #Fant-118) I used black VersaFine ink (I love that ink pad, perfect for watercoloring/marker-ing over.) The colors were done with a purple color pencil (for floor shadow) Marvy LePlume markers and one Tombow marker (#N89 which is a nice really light gray for a shadow outline.) I used nestablities to die cut the paper shapes and orange peel Stickles glitter glue. Glitter is too hard to photograph, but it's nice and sparkly in person.

Flower Goddess - Rubber Stamped Paper Art Doll

2008-09-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

A while back I added a Goddess form to my free paper art doll template page. I finally sat down and made a doll with the flowers and butterfly stamps on sheet #Roma-119.

First you pick out your cardstock and print out the template from my website. Stamp over it with your choice of stamps, color, cut and embellish. I used color pencils and added the vine details by hand. I was thinking about adding eyelets to her hands for hanging. After I cut her out I decorated with flower/leaf paper punches and stickles glitter glue.

Have fun ;)
Kimberly

Green Crafting - K & Company remake paper pads review

2008-09-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

The newest paper line by K & Company is called "Remake" and just... Wow! A must have for card makers and rubber stampers!

I was really thrilled when I spotted this new product by browsing the
K & Company website for patterned scrapbooking paper last week. I immediately went to my local craft stores thinking maybe they'd have it/were planning to carry it, but no such luck. It's early (summer 08' release) so there's always hope that somewhere like Michaels or JoAnn will eventually stock it. For now, I found a couple craft stores online through google, but ended up getting it on ebay by searching "remake pad" cost me about $4.50 per pad. (I bought 5 pads, and including combined shipping it worked out to be just under $6 per pad.) If JoAnn or Michaels ends up stocking it you'll likely get it for $3.99.

There are 24 sheets in each pad measuring 4" x 6" with four sheets of each pattern. The really nice thing about this pad is that it's double sided - pattern on one side with a coordinated color solid on the other. I always have the biggest problem when I find a beautiful patterned paper to use in a card, but I can't find a single solid color to match it right. With these pads you don't need to worry about stocking up on those variety color cardstock packs, you've got all the matching solids right here! The thickness and quality is well above average and the color selection is fantastic. The nice wallpaper type repeat patterns add beauty, but aren't so BUSY that they dominate your eyes compared to your stamped image. I'm really glad such a big company is making this quality product, I hope it will reach a lot of green-minded crafters.

As a rule I try to limit my waste, recycle as much as possible and avoid things that are toxic in my crafting. Even if you're not really into the whole recycling scene, by purchasing products like this and/or non-toxic supplies, you're helping to save your health! (From excess air pollution from both manufacturing and tree loss, landfill waste and avoiding that pesky label on supplies mentioning "x chemical is known to cause cancer"/contact or inhalation poisoning etc.) With art supplies I'm always careful!

This paper pad was really well thought out. The inside of the front AND back covers are printed with shapes you can cut out and include in your projects! Plus, have you ever seen something with a 100% post-consumer waste percentage?! (On average I've seen more products with 30 - 70%) Even the ink is made from soy! Now I'd prefer to be able to buy this in a local craft store, so I will be mentioning it to anyone I can talk to that is in charge of ordering at my local stores. Maybe you will too?

<3
Kimberly

ps. I am not affiliated with K & Company in any way, but I'm very enthusiastic about earth conscious crafting. Feel free to repost these images/text or link here if you'd like to spread the news to other paper crafters ;)

Mermaid Card - Rubber Stamping with Stickles Glitter Glue & Transparency Film

2008-09-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to test out stamping on acetate / clear plastic sheets / transparency film for a long time. I once saw a project that had colored the stamp art with glitter by coating the surface with a thick clear glue (like diamond glaze) and then dumping on the loose glitter.

I think I put off the experiment for a while because I hate to get messy. I decided to try using Stickles glitter glues instead. There is pretty good glitter density in these glues. If you don't get as much as you'd like onto the clear plastic sheet, you could always allow your project to dry and then do a double coat (I didn't.)

This card used: Basic Grey "Granola" scrapbook paper pad, StazOn inks (blue, purple, black), Stickles glitter glue and acetate. The mermaid was stamped on acetate (aka projector transparency film or clear plastic sheets) with black Stazon on the front side. I flipped the clear sheet over, sponged purple Stazon around the edges and colored the image with Stickles glitter glue.

Allow glitter glue to dry over night, then flip back over to enjoy the protected glitter shining through the plastic sheet. Any thick clear drying glue can be used to secure it to paper, or hole punch to secure with eyelets.

Note: Stamping on plastic takes practice and a firm hand. Care must be taken to avoid smearing ink on such a slippery surface.

I messed up a couple times... I use my stamps unmounted, which may have added to my initial difficulty of making a firm up and down motion when inking the plastic though. Still, I think clear plastic stamping may not be a project for beginner stampers.

The results are beautiful, and with practice I can see a lot of potential in this method. Especially because you have unlimited options for backgrounds. Depending on how much you color it in, you can use your cardstock or patterned papers to change the appearance of the art.

That's great... but what do ya DO with it?

2008-09-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes running a one-person rubber stamp business is a very challenging job. I forget simple things like, even though I had a ton of ideas on - how - to use the stamp images I was making, it's not always so obvious to other people. I spend a lot of time collecting and drawing new images for stamp theme sheets. Then, I'm somewhat surprised when the sales are really bad (sometimes it takes many months/all year to make just the investment cost back.) This isn't all bad, once the initial materials are paid off, I'm potentially sewing the seeds for future profit and business sustainability. Though it's hard when I think a design would make an appealing/popular stamp and I'm proven wrong.

While I have always imagined lots of projects for each image, and have sometimes added one or two example art pictures to each
rubber stamp page, I haven't dedicated enough of my time to providing you with project ideas. That's why I've been kicking it into over-drive lately with the creation of this blog & new tutorial pages around my site.

Last week
Tim Holtz was giving away these t-shirts that said "Do you see nothing" on blank space, and then on the other side "Or possibilities?" surrounded with a pretty collage art design. Obviously, most of us need a little help getting started with creative projects. Inspiration is everywhere for me, especially when looking outside at the fauna and flora. If I see a simple line-art stamp I imagine what it would look like colored and what materials it would look good on. Getting from that starting point, the "that might be neat" idea, to the finish project just requires the inspiration and daring. That's right, - bravery - is helpful when stamping/crafting. You have to be prepared to accept a failed project with grace, but if you allow yourself to play - just go for it - you also risk coming up with something AWESOME!

Easier said than done, I know. I spend much much more time thinking about a project than doing it. Now I'm making an effort to change that. As the saying goes, it's better to have tried and failed, than to never have tried at all. Also, I think that once you get going you'll find that you'll succeed more often. How cool would that be?

To start, I think that a few of the flower images on
rubber stamp sheet #Roma-119 may not show their true potential in the undecorated preview form.

I started by stamping the image a couple times on pink and lighter pink cardstock. Cut out the flower shape, then cut out only the center shapes of your duplicates. I've colored the image with color pencil and stickles glitter glue. When the glitter glue dried, I stacked the cut out shapes onto each other with a foam mounting square to create a dimensional look. (Other items used for tag: long rectangles large nestabilities die cut sets, computer fonts for type, birch leaf paper punch by punch bunch.)

This gift tag could technically be for any occasion, I thought about substituting "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Birthday" etc., but something about the flower seemed christmasy. Had I thought of that before starting I may have made this a deeper red theme instead of the pink.

I've also imagined another project with the flowers as wall art. Hopefully I'll get to it soon, but I think it would be neat to cut little green paper vines that creep up my wall and place some of these flowers along the vine. There are also butterflies on this sheet that could be nesting on the flowers or vines as well. These pieces can also be used as embellishments for card making (a replacement for some of those expensive pre-made stickers at the craft store?)
Off to brain storming I go!

<3
Kimberly

Storage Solution For Paper Crafting & Stamping Supplies

2008-08-31T21:48:00.001-07:00

If you're like me, your craft desk has been a disaster area for a long time. I have a lot of plastic storage drawers, but I always want so much out on my table. While shopping at target I spotted this $12 bathroom accessory storage rack... and of course it was perfect for holding my ink pads, paints and glues. There's even little hangers on the bottom that perfectly fit my scissors, cropidile and a roll of tape. I put all my cosmetic sponges and ink applicators in a plastic bag, poked a hole up top and hung it off the nail I used to place this on my wall.

Now I can keep all of my most-used supplies in sight, but out of the way!

Making a Tissue Paper Flower Bouquet with Scallop Circle Nestabilities

2008-08-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

I've been really interested in paper flower making this summer. I want to make sure I keep my indoors looking vibrant throughout the year, I always get a little sad when the flowers are gone come fall. At first I started out with the plentiful tutorials for accordian folding tissue paper flowers online. Then I found some great crepe paper kits by Martha Stewart at my local Michaels craft store... but I quickly realized I'm too lazy for cutting out so many pieces of individual flower petals... and the floral tape... uck what a sticky nightmare.

Then I stumbled onto the great paper flower tutorials at
Folding Trees They were using tissue paper cut into circles for their flowers. I wasn't quite happy with the way mine were coming out and felt they needed a more realistic scalloped edge. As some of you already know, I recently bought a die-cutting machine and the nestabilities dies. (I made a little tutorial on using nestabilities with rubber stamping, so you can find out more about those here:
Nestabilities Tutorial ) The classic scallop circles dies provided the perfect solution for the look I wanted! I haven't tried the petite scallop sizes yet, but those may even look better if you want more bumps around the edges. You can use any of the sizes around 2.75" to 3.25" wide for a realistic sized flower.

Here's how I went about making them:
1 - First take a full sheet of tissue paper and either fold it, or cut out 3.5" square pieces, to make a stack large enough to cut out the circular shapes. Each flower requires about twelve pieces of 3"ish tissue paper. I made a stack of twenty-four sheets of tissue and ran it through my CuttleBug with the nestabilities die. (Twenty-four sheets may sound like a lot, but it is tissue and the stack is not really thicker than felt or chipboard, so that worked fine. If this feels like too much for your machine, you could do twelve sheets at a time for making one flower instead of two.)

2 -Due to the embossing edge of the nestabilities die, the sheets were pressed just enough to hold them together while I colored the edges with markers. I used a rose colored Marvy LePlume, these are nice markers since the ink is very wet and seeps in from the edges the longer you color in a spot.

If you do not have a die cutter, you could make a similar stack of tissue paper circles by cutting with decorative scissors. In that case, you may need to paper clip the edges together to hold the sheets in place while coloring.

3- Using twelve sheets, poke two small holes through the center of the flower and tie chenille or wire through those holes. Be sure to twist the end tight to form a sturdy stem.

4 - Starting with the top sheet, lift and gently fold holding the bottom near the stem center. My first two flowers didn't look so great, but you'll soon be able to see which types of folds look more realistic. You want to pinch the centers tight, but try to avoid adding creases to the outer edges.

5 - As you get to the bottom layer you may have pulled the flower too much towards the top. Gently fluff the layers out, creating more of a sphere shape.

6 - Try out other colors of tissue and create your bouquet! I put about 12 flowers in my vase and used 6 sheets of tissue paper total for this project.

If you're interested in paper flower making, I also want to recommend a fantastic book I picked up the other day called "Fanciful Paper Flowers" by
Sandra Evertson It has a great deal of beautiful full color pictures, templates and inspiration for using common supplies.

Have fun!

<3
Kimberly

Goddess of the Seasons - Art Nouveau Domino Magnets

2008-08-25T01:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a crafty week around here. I just finished making a bouquet of paper flowers and I'll be posting tutorial pictures soon. For now, here's a set of four seasons Goddess domino magnets. (I made these using the chalk palette coloring method, the tutorial I posted about last.
Full tutorial

I don't know what it is, but I've gotten a lot done (creatively speaking) this past month. I wonder if it has anything to do with my birthday coming up in a couple weeks? I think sometimes a reminder of time ticking by helps to motivate me... I'll be 27!!!

Which is just unbelievably great considering for a long while I wasn't sure I'd make it this far. While I've still got some left over aches, pains and sporadic failing of certain nerve and thyroid functions, all in all it's been a decent and happy recovery since my chemo / radiation treatments a few years back. Especially considering the not-so-polite (and very incorrect) speech a doctor gave me about my stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma case being terminal back then.

My last Petscan (a cancer detecting test a little like a catscan tube but they inject you with radioactive sugar instead of that iodine/barium) was in November (all clear!) and my blood counts were good as of April. It's time to go back for my check ups again in the next month or so. My previous oncologist retired, so I have to go through the trouble of finding a new (and hopefully GOOD)replacement for him. I'll let you know how that works out!

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback on the stamps and molds via email lately. I don't have a ton of time to write everyone back, but I do read everything and I'm happy you're having fun. I'll keep pumping out the tutorials in my hope of spreading the joyful creativity.

:)

Kimberly

How To Make Rubber Stamped Domino Pendants with Chalk Coloring

2008-08-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've added even more pictures and information to my domino tutorial page today. This includes instructions for one of the easiest coloring methods, the chalk palette. I've also experimented with six different sealers and wrote about the pros & cons of each product. Hope this is helpful!

Enjoy :)

Kimberly
http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/dominoes.html

Bee Fairy Handmade Bookmark

2008-08-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

It's been so hot and sunny here in the Portland area OR the past couple months. Two days this week it was 100 degrees out :( Happily, last night a thunderstorm rolled in and made things a lot nicer. This is the first good rain we've had since the end of May. I felt like getting crafty today in the nice cooled-off weather, so here's a bookmark!

Bee fairy rubber stamped bookmark ingredients: The Enchanted Gallery rubber stamp sheet #Fant-118, ColorBox inks, color pencil, stickles glitter, yarn and long rectangle nestabilities cardstock shapes.

New Rubber Stamp Designs - Fairy & Domino Art

2008-08-11T21:45:00.001-07:00

Two new rubber stamp sheets designed this month. Both available on my website as of today, will be working on example art projects over the next few days. More on that soon!

<3

Quick Mold Update

2008-07-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

I didn't quite have time to add all the molds I planned, but here is what got updated to my site today. All can be found on the Faces & Buttons section page at: http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/artdolls.html

New rubber stamped card (molds update coming next week)

2008-07-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

I finished another card with my newest stamp set (#Roma-119.) I used the same flower punch as the last heart shape card (EK success' retro flower,) but trimmed a dip in the edges to better shape the flower to the art.

I also have eight new mold designs to share as soon as I make the example art for them this week. Mostly new faces and floral buttons, I'll try to get an update done within a week!

Once that's done I'll be drawing up some new rubber stamp designs. So far I plan to do some more fairies in a variety of sizes along with a separate sheet of mini stamps that would work for jewelry/memory glass/inchies/stampbord pendants etc. I've also got a few tutorial pages in progress, including additions to the paper doll page. Busy Busy! More about that soon :)

xoxo

Classic and Scallop Heart Shape Nestabilities Card + New Stamps!

2008-07-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

The heart nestabilities die cutting shapes I ordered from Overstock.com last week came in the mail! I've been looking forward to testing out these shapes with my rubber stamps for card making. Here's my first card I made using them, plus a preview of my newest rubber stamp sheet (#Roma-119.) The rubber is being pressed now and will be available for purchase through my website within the next couple weeks.

(Card Ingredient List: The Enchanted Gallery rubber stamps, Spellbinder's Nestabilities Heart Dies, Colorbox pigment ink pads, Scrapbook paper from K&Company, Stickles glitter glue, 1" marvy circle paper punch and scissors for cutting out the word "Love" and retro flower punches from EK Success.)

What rubber stamp designs are you looking for?

2008-07-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

When I first started rubber stamping about 10 years ago I found it extremely difficult to find Art Nouveau or Artsy/Elegant/Fantasy Art themed stamp designs. While many companies have recently added Victorian / Vintage theme and other beautiful designs to the market, I still find that most of the others lean towards the "cute" side.

I do appreciate cuteness of course, but at the same time it's just not my taste in art. I've never been very good with drawing teddy bears, cartoons / comics or cuddly creatures. I think I'm missing out on a big chunk of the market because of that, but also think there are artistic stamps people are looking for that haven't been made yet either.

I try to keep up with the latest crafting trends while keeping true to my own artistic preference.... but I do need some other perspective! I'd love to hear suggestions for types of stamps you're looking for. Have something in mind but just haven't found "it" yet? Leave me a comment on this blog and I'll keep it in mind the next time I'm drawing.

Anything from a certain type of picture, character, designs/borders/patterns to fit a certain size or shape, word sayings etc. I genuinely love to create and nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing the cool things people make with my stamps.

I can't guarantee that I'll end up providing the stamp design you want (and I don't do custom orders,) but if I love your idea/enough people mention a certain type of thing I'll definitely give it attention! Currently I've made stamps that fit many of the popular stamping sizes such as Artist Trading Card 2.5" x 3.5", Jumbo domino pendants 1" x 2" and I'm working on a "mini" domino set that will be 1.5" x 0.75" that will fit on smaller/travel dominoes, bamboo tiles or handmade clay beads for bracelets. I also have many art doll theme sheets for making paper dolls and provided a free template you can print out and decorate.

Speaking of the doll stamps and paper art doll template (including a body with a few optional mermaid tail designs)... and my LOVE for amazing art my customers make... I found these great examples from the talented Kimberly Sherrod's flickr photo stream ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/calamitykim/ ) Or check out her crafty blog at: http://calamitykim.typepad.com/

Happy Crafting!

Preview - Upcoming rubber stamp designs 07/08

2008-07-02T02:04:00.000-07:00

Vintage Art Nouveau and Posa's Day of the Dead mini stamps for small projects, mini domino jewelry and bamboo tile / bead stamping. Will be available on my website in about 2 weeks.

I'm also working on some original art stamp sets that will compliment the most popular sizes and shapes of die cuts (like the nestabilities and cuttlebug dies) and some paper punches. Such as designs and written sayings that fit inside scalloped circles and ovals. I'm also working on floral designs and butterflies that would be good to cut out and layer on paper. I've always wanted to test out using sticky foam squares to lift up parts of images, to build flowers that look like they are growing off the page or butterflies hovering above the paper.

Spellbinder's Nestabilities Storage Solution + Positioning Rubber Stamps in your Cuttlebug Die Cutter

2008-07-02T01:32:00.000-07:00

I browse a lot of craft blogs checking out the cool new cards and stamping projects everyone's making. I kept seeing two foreign words
pop up, one "Cuttlebug" and two "Nestabilities". For years I've been collecting Marvy and Carla Craft paper punches, but this gets
expensive and takes up SO much space in my craft drawers. I had never thought about getting a die cutting machine as an alternative
to paper punches, but now there is an affordable one that does it all!

After you get the machine you'll need to buy dies. A die is a thin metal piece in a certain shape (like paper punch shapes, scallops,
leaves, flowers, tags etc.) Depending on the brand these are really thin or have a big chunk of foam and plastic base on them. No
matter what it's like you can usually use it in the Cuttlebug. I've successfully tried out Sizzix (both the sizzlits and big dies,) Cuttlebug,
Spellbinder's Nestabilities and Bosskut brand dies in my Cuttlebug machine. They are all great, but if you're a serious paper crafter you
just have to check out all the Nestabilities (shapes that fit over each other in about 1/4" to 1/2" increments - nesting dies.) It will bring
your card making, rubber stamping and scrapbook layouts to a whole new professional looking level!
No more careful measuring and cutting out frames or mat layers. Just roll your cardstock through the cuttlebug with your die ;)

I have created a step by step tutorial for positioning your rubber stamped images with the Nestability dies in a Cuttlebug Die cutting machine. You can see that along with more info at:
www.theenchantedgallery.com/nestabilities.html

I only purchased a few styles so far, and instead of waiting for my scallops to come I made a quick project using the petite ovals alone. I'll be adding more, and better, example art as soon as I get the rest of the Nestabilities collection. I just had to help spread the word since I think these will help a lot of rubber stampers spruce up their cards.

I also came up with a really easy and TINY way to store these dies. I took a few 4"x6" sheets of thin chipboard (you could also use the thick sheets from the back of scrapbook paper or note pads, cereal boxes etc.) I then took my cropadile (or hole punch) and made 3 holes close to the edges and put keyring hoops in to make a mini binder. Attach two magnet strips to each page to hold your metal dies in place. The dies are so thin the book is easy to flip pages and isn't bulky or akward at all! I look at this and think... Wow, imagine how much space all of these designs in big ol paper punches would take up!

Have fun ;)

Paper Art Doll Body Template, Fairy Wings, Mermaid Tail, Goddess form and rubber stamps!

2008-06-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

I recently added new doll templates to my website (FREE printable templates at: http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/paperdolls.html ) The woman's body form I finished a couple months ago, but I just added alternate parts including mermaid tails and a Goddess form. I'd love to see what you can make with them, so please feel free to email me your project pictures when you're done! I've also added preview images for two new rubber stamp sheets featuring fairy wings, vintage women's heads and more to my rubber stamp catalog page. The top image includes parts from both stamp sheets that I was testing out with the template. They will become available for purchase next week.

Settled into my Oregon apartment!

2008-05-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

Settled into the new apartment near Portland, OR this week. Here's some pics of the surrounding areas (first is multanomah falls off the columbia river gorge.) It's good to be back. The apartment grounds are nice too, lots of varieties of plants and flowers. I love how green this state is!

Jumping on the Blog bandwagon + How to subcribe to blogs and rss feed readers.

2008-05-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

For years I've been hearing a lot of talk about blogs. At first I didn't think much of it, assuming that "blogging" was just a way to keep a public journal. Over time I began noticing more and more awesome blogs here on blogspot, live journal and typepad. These weren't limited to my imagined "private diary" style writings either, many people were using them to spread cool news, links to things around the net, their photography and art galleries and sometimes as a replacement for a personal website altogether.

After gathering quite a few bookmarks it started to be a huge task to check all these individual blogs for updates. Recently a friend told me about google reader (learn more about that here: http://www.google.com/reader ) As many of you probably already know (I think I'm late catching on) the google reader is one of a few RSS Feed readers you can use to check all your favorite site's updates on one easy page.

Basically when you go to a website you often visit looking for updates, you may see a button that says "subscribe", "rss", or at the bottom of most blogs "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)." When you click that subscribe link there is usually an option to choose which reader you'd like to view it in (I have experience with google, so thats what I choose.) Then when you go to your google reader page you'll see a
stream of all the newest entries from every website you've added to your list! That's it, one convenient page instead of surfing each individual website looking for news.

I realized that this would be the perfect solution for website updates as well. I could just make a blog post each time I added new art, rubber stamps or flexible molds to my sites. The people interested in RSS Feed news readers could automatically see the newest things. Also, for those people who just want to bookmark my blog and come visit the old fashion way, you can see the newest entries instead of browsing through the many pages of my site looking for the new products!

Moving Back To Oregon

2008-05-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I moved back to Michigan for several months to visit my mom and save up money for living on my own back in OR. After years of having a husband to help take care of me through my cancer treatments, I was terrified after our divorce last year that I wouldn't be able to survive on my own. Especially with the limited (and often unpredictably fluctuating) income that running an online store provides... And the lingering side effects of chemo, radiation and stress have had on my current health preventing me from being able to work outside of the house.

Luckily during my time in Michigan I became closer to an old friend again, who happened to be looking for an excuse to move out of his current location as well. We decided to move to the Portland OR area this week. Hooray! I have a roommate! This helps me be less stressed about being alone, and as an added bonus I have someone to split rent with.

Before leaving MI this week I made two going away presents for my mom. These spring and winter Goddess art doll wall hangings. I was inspired by a beading magazine I had seen years ago with instructions on how to make a heavier wire goddess frame, then beading it using thinner wire wrapped around the frame.

Kimberly's Biography / Journal 1981 - 2005 Condensed.

2005-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

*** I have decided to write personal/health updates for those extra caring and curious people, to have a place to send people that email
and ask current events, and possibly to help other people be creative or productive even in the hardest of times. I also think this page
might be helpful for parents to see what can happen in social situations to children. This page is not for the squeemish, I will be totally
honest here about very personal and probably disturbing things. It is not my intention to dwell on the negative, as this is just a small
selection of the more memorable moments in my life. However, I do wish to make the point that no matter how many things don't go your
way, it is always possible to be successful and happy on a personal level. This is my disclaimer of sorts, just in case anyone here dislikes
the idea of baring your soul on the net :) ***

Childhood:
I suppose the easiest way to start is with some background. I was born in Livonia, Michigan on September 5th, 1981. My mother and
father, while seemingly normal to a young child, turned out to be polar opposites and in later years I realized how badly matched they were.
My mother is the natural health sort, always has a fridge that looks to be made for a rabbit, full of greens and carrots. She always tries to
make everyone eat right, take their vitamins and later became a natural practitioner including homeopathy, supplements and even Jin Shin
Jyutsu (Similar ancient Chinese art to acupuncture without the needles.) She is a believer in the paranormal and concerned with
metaphysics. As a generalization, she believed in chakras and universal God/Goddess energy, about as new age as you can get.

My father on the other hand would make me macaroni and cheese when he was around. He worked for a Ford Motor Co. factory plant
since he was 18 (which he still currently works for at age 58, despite being able to retire for quite some time.) He was always the
workaholic, which my mom always speculated was to avoid having to be at home with us. The stereotypical white American male, having
grown up in the 1950s, blue-collar guy who had a rough childhood and worked really hard to get financially stable. He left his poor low-
class mother and brother behind him and never spoke to them again (aside from funerals.) He always had an air of superiority, was
slightly racist & sexist and completely avoided emotional sentiment. While this may sound cruel, it is more a statement of the mind set of a
generation of husbands with housewives. He is most likely an atheist, with a firm belief that natural healing is quackery.

So there begins a childhood full of contradictions, although my mom was always the one at home so I wasn’t being taught opposite
things all the time. She took me to gymnastics, ballet and some art classes. My dad would work much more than needed, often 6, but
many times all 7 days of the week. From early to late, often working most of the day until after bedtime. Sometimes I would try to wait up for
him by laying in the middle of the living room so he would wake me when he arrived. I really loved him then, seeing my father was a joy to
be had, which I think is how it should be when you are young... I didn’t realize that he worked those hours because he wanted to. As soon
as I started school he switched his work schedule again. It was as if he had plot out the most effective schedule to be home when I wasn't,
and to be working when I was home.

The first time I can remember serious problems was around age 6, roughly 1987, when mom was making breakfast and dad was
ignoring us from the living room. I’m not sure how the argument got started, or really what it was about, but all of a sudden the doorway
became a battleground. Metal pots were flying from the kitchen, making dents in the living room wall directly over my dad’s chair. In return
my mother’s flower and plant pots were being thrown into the kitchen, where I happened to be sitting eating a bowl of cheerios. Dirt and
chunks of terracotta were landing on me and in my breakfast. It was so sudden and dramatic for me that what followed was like a dream. I
remember laying on a bed with my mother crying next to me. While I know it must have been some time later, I remember moving out (or
possibly being thrown out) with my mother. My father seemed to have little compassion for our situation and allowed my mother to care for
me alone. Shortly after this he remarried to a Thai woman who wasn’t so great at speaking English. I'm assuming she didn’t like me
much, because she didn’t make me feel welcomed. I rarely saw my dad after that, even on some of the weekends set aside for us. There
have been entire years of my life that have gone by without seeing my dad.

Around the same time my grandfather, my mom’s dad, had become severely ill. He was always my favorite relative, he made an effort to
be my friend more than any other family member. He would sneak candy past my mother to give to me and hide in my room. Some of my
favorite stuffed animals were gifts from my grandpa, some were things that he had went through a great deal of trouble to get for me. My
memories of him include sunlit camping trips, swimming in lakes and those Dum Dum Pop suckers if that gives you an idea for my
fondness of him. When he was hospitalized it was my mom and an aunt that took me to see him. He was dying and the age restriction to
see him was 12. I looked older than 7 though, I was always tall and coupled with some carful persuasion I was able to enter his hospital
room. It was awful. He was coughing so badly and I remember weird splotches of blue liquid on his handkerchief. He looked like a zombie
and I probably should not have seen that at my age. I still remember that he had a cup full of Dum Dum Suckers on his hospital window
sill. I was later told that he died from Hodgkins Lymphoma which there was no current treatment for. It had destroyed his lungs and he had
suffocated in the hospital. Little did I know, this would be the same disease I would have 15 years later.

This is where I lose the ability to be a child. My mom has no experience with living expenses as a single parent and we move frequently. I
changed schools nearly every year, moving anytime my mom got a new job or we just couldn’t make the rent. I had only one friend that ever
lasted a couple years, the rest of my time was spent being “the new girl” everywhere I went. I took care of myself when she was at work, I
was the latchkey kid. When I was in 6th grade in 1992 we rented a little house near my mother’s family. I must have been happy here
because I joined the school band, playing cello, and made a couple friends that I actually remember. My mother finally got a boyfriend and
things were looking up for me.

I was a little older than most kids on my street and a really nice lady named Linda had the cutest 3 yr. old son named Haddy a couple
doors down. A few of the neighborhood kids and I would get pizza with Linda and Haddy and take him to the park whenever Linda was
busy. Linda’s husband was hardly ever home, he was an Arab man in his late thirties and claimed to work all day. Linda and Haddy soon
became my second family, like a mother and a little brother I never had. When my mother was busy, Linda would come to my school Cello
performances. At some point I showed up to babysit Haddy and his father was home, being 11 I had no knowledge or fear of older men,
so I did not understand what happened next for a long time. He sat me down on his lap and ran his hands under my shirt. I tried to move
but he held me firm and grabbed my skin hard with his calloused hands. I was only starting to show signs of womanhood and recently
learned the word “boobs” which quickly got replaced with “breasts” after being yelled at for it. Luckily, Linda was home and only getting
ready to go out with her husband. She came out, they left, I watched Haddy and I never got left in a room alone with that man again.

One day I walked halfway down my block to see Linda’s house emptied. All of the furniture and belongings piled near the curb. None of
the neighbors or my mother knew what had happened. I waited for news and finally I received a letter in the mail from Linda. Apparently her
husband tried to take Haddy back to his home country Iraq, leaving Linda behind as a used male child-bearer. He had lied about his job,
he didn’t have one at all and the house was not theirs. A government protection agency had stepped in on Linda’s behalf, rescued Haddy
from his father and placed them in a secret location. They could not tell me where they were and I could not write them back for a while.
When it all got sorted out, Linda and Haddy moved to Florida with her parents and I assume her husband was deported. I never heard
from any of them again. I moved shortly after that, losing all contact with any other friends I had made in that area. I still have a locket with a
picture of Haddy and quite a few photos in my album. Early in my teens I had imagined doing some sort of professional people-search for
them, but it was costly and I couldn’t recall her last name. Even if I were to make contact, when would a poor 12 year old girl be able to visit
them in a state 2,000 miles away?

Teenage years:
For a brief time in eighth grade I went to a school in a very poor area called Willow Run (Ypsilanti MI.) My mother was told by our new
landlord that the schools were nice and it was a fine place to call home. My first day of school I saw things that I had only seen in movies.
On the school bus route there were guys in the streets dealing drugs. I saw fights at lunch time and the only place that seemed safe was
the school band class and it’s more geeky students. I was one of the ten white people in the entire school, but I was not racist as my
parents may have been. I thought it was fine. I thought that kids my age couldn’t possibly care if I was white and they were black... I mean it
didn’t matter did it? I was so wrong, apparently it did matter and I got beat up in a very dirty fight which got me suspended. I tried to talk to
this black boy and obviously over stepped my bounds. While I was walking down the hall a girl kicked me from behind and pulled my shirt
over my head (how humiliating in front of so many other students!) I was unskilled in such monstrous behavior, I totally got my ass kicked.
I was unfairly punished for the event and came home to a very disappointed mother. I started to skip entire days of school by hiding in my
basement until my mother went to work.

I spent the rest of eighth grade in a nicer school and a nicer apartment that my mom wouldn't be able to afford for very long. I had just
went through so much culture shock that I didn't fit in anywhere. The loneliest and poorest of kids became my companions. In that year I
discovered drinking and drugs... and boys. All at once it was not a good combination, but I was lucky and never got into trouble I couldn't
handle. My grades slipped and caused some major concern at my middle school however. For freshman year of high school I was sent to
a smaller (30 student) school. They thought it would help the troubled students learn in a more one-on-one environment. It was awful. In a
small class setting if you don't fit in you're screwed. For the entire year I was picked on by my disfunctional peers, the only way to cope was
to befriend the other kids who got picked on.

For my sophomore year I was allowed to go to the public highschool. It was like heaven! It was a huge school. Two neighboring towns
schools combined into three massive buildings you had to walk between during breaks. I got lots of exercise and there were over five
thousand kids there. I no longer had to worry about not fitting in, in this crowd you could just disappear, but more likely you could find
someone just like you. This is a time in my life where things were almost normal. I had friends, boyfriends, social events, occasional
skipping of class for an extended lunch period and the every day drama that defines a teenager.

It was short lived. My mom met a guy who would help with her money problems, we would be moving in with him. My mom was under the
impression that I was having “too much fun” and “not enough schooling” at the huge highschool. So, once again I lost all my friends and
started at a new school for my Junior year. This town (Novi) was so much wealthier and snobby I wasn’t sure if I would meet anyone down
to earth. I ended up hanging out with the misfits again. People who have had very hard lives and formed a small “out of place” group within
this school. While it was nice to have friends, it came with its own share of problems. As you get older these problems become more
serious. With the combined depression of all these messed up soon-to-be-adults nearly all of us were self destructive or suicidal.

I had a boyfriend throughout my junior and senior year of highschool. He was even more damaged from his past than I was. His father
was dying and they were taking care of him though his final months at home. He had gone through chemotherapy and all sorts of
treatments, but his body functions were shutting down. His death was terrible and the funeral was devastating on my boyfriend. The
amount of depression in this relationship ultimately ruined it and we broke up. I later found out that his father also had the same sort of
cancer I would have in 5 years time.

Adulthood:
I love learning. College was a blessing and after applying for the FAFSA education grants I found out that the government would pay for
my entire college tuition. This included some extra money for books, supplies and even money left over which I received as a check. All of
this was free, no need to ever pay it back. All thanks to my mom being poor. Well, at least that part of the government works. I went full time
for a few semesters immediately after highschool. I started the summer of graduation instead of waiting until fall. Here is where art
became a passion. Prior to this I had very little art training. Highschool art classes didn’t do much for me, the subject matter just didn’t
inspire me. I was much better at drawing with crayons in kindergarten in comparison to the stick figures and cartoons I did in highschool.
All of that was about to change though.

My feelings about this have been stated in my shorter bio, but I want to stress how major this art transformation was. I know that a lot of
people say art is a natural talent, something you may be born with, but trust me it can be learned! While I may have always been interested
in art, I was not always that great at it. It takes inspiration and patience to make a work of art. In college my teachers would give me extra
time for projects because I would put well over twenty hours into a painting or drawing. I highly recommend drawing a square graph over a
photo and attempting to recreate the image on a blank graphed paper. I became much better at judging proportion and copying real life
images this way.

When I was about 19 years old I had already been through a variety of crappy jobs. Everything from pizza hut, department stores to a gas
station. When I moved again (Farmington Hills, MI) there was a bookstore within a mile from my house. Finally, I got a job I liked working at
and I was going to school. I met a guy who also worked with me and we started dating. To make a long story short, when I finally moved
out of my mom’s place, my new bookstore boyfriend came with me. Yet again, here is where it all goes downhill.

I’m on my path to success and I skip a period. I find that I’m pregnant and I tell my boyfriend about it. I thought for sure that his reaction
would be negative, that I should have an abortion. I was wrong. He was thrilled and any past problems we had “disappeared.” I had no
idea that starting a family was his dream and it made him very happy. We decided to get married thinking we would be having a child
soon. I really loved him and was willing to share this family dream, even if it meant doing my artwork at home and putting school on hold.
After all, I was only going to school because I liked it. I thought of becoming an art teacher, but there wasn’t much I really needed a degree
for.

Right before our wedding I miscarried. I was concerned, but I thought that we could just continue to try and it would be like nothing
happened. Within a few months new problems began, weird problems I wasn’t sure were serious. For a week I thought I had pulled a
muscle under my right arm. It just felt like dull pain and tension until I started feeling small bumps under the skin. I had little knowledge of
what this could mean and assumed it would just go away. A few weeks later and literally overnight new bumps started coming up (like a
pea under your skin) around my neck. I went to the hospital unsure of what it could be, I check in with the most confusing story. Well, to the
emergency room people, the idea of a fairly painless bump under the arm was not alarming. I was given a low priority status which landed
me in the hospital for the entire day, almost all of it was waiting. I had an x ray and finally the doctor comes in and says “Do you have any
family we can call?”... That’s when I knew I was in trouble.

There was a period of time where I was in shock. I wasn’t sure what I could do, what I would do or what I wanted to do. I left the hospital
promising I would come back for all the tests they had wanted to keep me there overnight for. During this time I considered death. I have
dealt with my fair share of depression and felt that I could handle death. That dying may actually be preferable to the awful treatments that
go along with cancer. I had also known two other people, which I saw shortly before their deaths, with this disease. I didn’t want to go out
like that. I thought about all the ways to commit suicide, most of them so painful or risky that I lost the courage to do it. I downplayed the
importance of my hospital visit with my husband. I ignored the whole thing for a while, until I was forced to act.

I tried eating right, going on health food and wheatgrass diets, natural medicines and everything. The problem with cancer is that while
you might be able to prevent it with these things, it is not treatable with them. I think of cancer as the possible product of
chemicals/drugs/wartime pathogens or genetic problems, like a time bomb in your body waiting to go off. These environmental or genetic
issues can be prodded to activate. I think between my family history, constant depression/stress, poor eating habits, teenage drug use,
lack of exercise etc. I was setting myself up for this. I had lit the fuse for this bomb. It got bad fast. I thought I just had some sort of
bronchitis, I kept coughing and it got so bad I slept on the couch to avoid waking my husband up at night.

02/01/04:
My mother became so concerned that she forced me to the hospital. This is where I almost die. In many ways I was relieved, I thought it
would all be over soon. My lung had filled with fluid and the doctors were telling me how bad it looked. I couldn’t even stand up to shower
anymore. They had to give me a blood transfusion to get me through the night. I had such an awful time breathing that I wished I was
dead. The panic that comes from your heart racing and fever blazing that close to death is unbearable. A specialist in lymphoma ordered
me chemotherapy that night. I had to go through a seemingly never ending torture cycle for 7 days. Between the painful bone marrow
biopsy (they take thick needles to take out part of your pelvic bone on both sides) to test my stage of cancer, all the IV lines, blood tests and
med-port implant (a long tube through your central chest nerve to inject chemotherapy, this helps you avoid getting it under your skin which
it will destroy if the needle slips or your vein bursts during injection.) I thought I’d gone to hell.

It was some miracle that the bone biopsy came back negative, this shows that I was stage 4 and not 5. Although, since the cancer had
created a fluid sac around my heart and lungs it was still considered stage 4b. In that later stage you can have a bone marrow transplant
in which only one of three people survive. This is also the option for me if chemotherapy treatments should fail. It involves quite a few
months at a hospital and a weakened immune system for life. I couldn’t see how anyone would want to live through that. Actually, I didn’t
want to live at all, but I was so far gone at that point that I did what anyone told me to do.

If it weren’t for the wonderful cancer specialist (at the Lymphoma Clinic of MI) and my mother I would have died. Between my mom and
my husband spending time with me at the hospital I was hardly ever alone, however my father was notified and never even showed up.
Have you ever wondered to yourself who would show up if you were dying/dead? Well I know those people for sure and it really makes you
think about relationships differently. My husband's father flew up from Florida to see me, while my own father didn’t drive 40 miles. It was
nothing short of a miracle that I made it through that week. The doctors said that my wheatgrass juice fasting helped save my life. By
cleaning up my blood a bit before I got there, the chemotherapy was able to get to the cancer much faster.

I began a treatment plan which included four kinds of liquid chemical drugs (which had bio hazard signs on the bags I might add) which
would be injected via IV over a course of four hours every two weeks. The chemotherapy was incredibly difficult since they had to hit me
hard due to my advanced stages. The first IV fluid drugs were for anxiety/heart rate and the other for nausea prior to the four chemo drugs.
The first couple treatments made me sick to my gut afterwards, but were tolerable. After that it became much worse, the more chemo you
have the more damaged your healthy body functions become. I lost a lot of my hair, the nails on my toes fell off, even the healthy bacteria in
my colon died. The fluids through the IV would often leave a foul taste in my mouth, causing me to vomit throughout the treatments as well.

This is when I started my tarot drawings. I would come home from chemo, sleep until I couldn’t anymore and draw for a while. I would
get sick in waves, vomit, run to the bathroom and then back again to do more art. If I didn’t focus on something else I might have given up.
For over 6 months I spent three days out of every 2 weeks with no water and no food. Anything I put into my mouth instantly came out again,
and the anxiety prior to chemo prevented anything from digesting the day before as well.

Once I started chemotherapy I was hit with another devastating blow. My husband, who had pretty much watched me die in the hospital,
could no longer have the same sort of love for me. While this sucked more than anything has ever sucked before, I can understand how it
shatters your heart and dreams to watch someone you love die. My main complaint is that he could have been a comfort to me through my
treatments, at least lie to me and make me feel better during this time which I may die. I would also not be able to have children,
something that was worth more to him than his love for me. So here I was, a 22 year old girl who could die a horrible death at any moment,
with a husband who is leaving me, a father who has abandoned me and a questionable future ahead. Actually, when I say it like that it
makes me wonder why I had any desire to get up in the morning.

Since I was in such a terrible financial situation, I was forced to live with my husband and try to carry on as friends. He had agreed to stay
with me, help me with the bills and medical insurance. It was so sad, while I couldn't find it in myself to hate him enough to stop loving
him; I was living in hope that he would change his mind and love me again. I have never felt more alone in my life. I believe now that there
are three types of pain: physical, emotional... and soul pain. The sort of damage you never really get over. While I can deal with the physical
and emotional pain, there was something else that happened here. After going through such trauma I lost a part of myself that I doubt will
ever come back. It was almost like being reborn, but with less this time. I had to create a new life for myself, without any of the things I had
previously taken for granted.

Close to my 12th treatment I received the good news that my cancer was in remission. I was amazed, but cautious. It is incredibly difficult
to prepare for death and be thrust back into the land of the living. With radiation therapy to follow and more tests to monitor it, I finally get to
decide what to do with my life again.

I had always loved art and decided to start a website as an online gallery. I found that I didn't always have the time for painting and that
it's a rough job selling artwork. Rubber stamping and polymer clay art became the solution, something I felt confident in doing throughout
my recovery. I have been very fortunate to have had my ink designs turned into rubber stamps by some popular companies. I found a good
market online and on ebay for unique flexible push molds which led to the current state of my website. In my spare time I am working on
the tarot and other mythological, fairy and mermaid art. It helps me believe in beauty and magic, which has been key in keeping a healthy
attitude. For what is the point of living, if there is no magic in the world?