Hand carved erasers

I was compelled to start a new craft last night. You know that creative itch you get that won't go away til scratched? I had it bad...for hand-carved stamps. I started with the intention of making pendants, but the carving part got me hooked. I still have some FIMO (thanks, Tracie, for not letting me call it FEMA) and Sculpey clay to use, so I'll get to it soon. I searched every blog in the known universe for a tutorial and ran across one that helped a lot. Therefore, you gotta check this out if you want step-by-step how-to's. I just wanted to take cute pictures and post them.

You start with an X-Acto blade, soft eraser (Staedtler works the best), and a pencil.

Dust off the brain and think of something you want to stamp onto stationary, gift tags, cards, envelopes, business cards, etc.

Then carve it!

I made a blade of wheat, a cute little acorn, a heart (the love kind, not anatomical though that would be cool...hmmm...), an old door, and then, as seen above, some yarn and a crochet hook. It's fabulously addicting to sit in a cozy chair and whittle away all your little ideas. People that know me know that I'm the weird one. I do not really make conventional crafts, but this seems fairly normal to me.

I think I'm going to go all out and plunk down the ten bucks to get a Speedball Cutter set and maybe even the extra $3 for some linoleum blocks. The X-Acto knife is fine 'n' all, but the gouger in the Speedball Set, I hear, can carve very fine lines that no X-Acto blade will dare. Wouldn't these be awesome for the craft fair in September? I think so.

Chic Rag Rug

I had an old sheet with a massive tear in it. I'm emotionally attached to material things (shhh! don't tell anyone) and I didn't have the heart to just throw this sheet in the garbage. So...instead, my dad and I spent an hour cutting my sheet back and forth into imperfect 1" strips and two hours of work later, this little baby was born.

I think it's about 32" or so. It's so soft and cozy. I tossed in front of my bathroom sink. Now I have another reason to stand over the sink for 20 minutes. And here's the mega up close shot: