It’s a new year and a new you, better than ever!  Let’s make this a year of learning, expanding your creative skill set and enhancing your life, are you with me?  Have you ever considered trying your hand at a floral arrangement? A thoughtful arrangement can be pulled together fairly quickly, is appreciated by just about everyone, and  there is zero commitment needed if the recipient isn’t head over heels for your thoughtfully chosen florals (silly them). Floral design really is an art, so we thought it best to consult an expert to find out the best way to approach building a small arrangement.

If you aren’t already familiar with McKenzie of McKenzie Powell Designs, she is a premier floral & event designer based here in Seattle (she designs for destination events as well). McKenzie’s florals feel simultaneously lush & organic, appearing effortless but in reality, every detail is carefully considered. We are head over heels for her work (and her), and are certain you will be too!

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Technically you could use my technique to stamp on most fabrics, but for the purpose of this tutorial I will focus on the cotton drawstring bags since this is the fabric I most stamp on in my day-to-day fabric stamping adventures.  Also, with the holidays upon us I think the fabric bags make a great alternative to packaging that will be thrown by the wayside.  These bags tend to be thin and wrinkle quite easily so I always iron prior to stamping as you want to have as flat a surface as possible.  Stamping is not as forgiving as other printing techniques and you do want your substrate (what you are stamping on) as smooth as possible so start with ironed fabric without a lot of texture (so nothing nubby, ribbed, raised, furry, etc.)  My most secret of tools for ironing these tiny bags quickly and without dragging out my ironing board and iron is an old hair straightener, yes a hair straightener.  You don’t need a fancy one, just a cheapy that heats up to a nice temp (mine goes as high as 450 f) that will actually iron out your wrinkles;  I just clamp down on one end and pull it through the iron and it is perfect every time!  The iron is now dedicated for crafting, which I would suggest for yours as well.  Once you have a nice ironed bag you will want to put a piece of thick + stiff cardstock in it.  This serves two purposes 1) it makes for a nice stiff surface to stamp on and 2) it will prevent the ink from bleeding to the other side. I just cut down a piece of scrap cardstock to size and use it over and over (if there’s no ink that has seeped through).Read More

I have tried many different methods of cleaning my red rubberstamps and the one above is the easiest, fastest and the least amount of mess.  My secret? I use an unscented baby wipe! It must be unscented as fragrance will deteriorate your stamp and it must be a baby wipe, as anti-bacterial type wipes or other cleaning wipes have solvents that again break down your red rubber which is a natural substance. The baby wipes have glycerin in them which not only cleans the stamp but conditions it as well. The baby wipes work really well to clean multiple types of ink but I mainly stick to pigment inks since it has such a large range of what you can stamp on. The trick here is to dab at your stamp rather than rubbing your wipe side-to-side, you want to avoid leaving any fibers on the stamp surface which could effect your future stamping endeavors. If you want to keep your stamps like new (which will result in a better stamped impression) clean them after every use, with the wipes this makes this once cumbersome task pretty effortless!

Let me know if you have any questions or if you have another way that you think might be better.  Oh, and I don’t know how this would work on clear stamps, they are made of polymer so I think it would be a trial and error situation, possibly more error. Next week I will go over how to stamp on cloth, some tricks I have learned along the way!

P.S. Looking for a little Inspiration Rx? It will be up later today!

P.P.S. Special thanks again to my model Michelle for her patience and pro skills!