latest creation

Last week was my nephew’s birthday. Since we couldn’t make it to Cali for the party, I sent some home-made thank you cards for my sis to send to their friends.
I really like cards that actually mean something, that are relevent to the person sending and receiving. Goodbye Hallmark… hello Stacie’s Creations. Lame name, but you get the idea. I think a card should have some touch of humanity. It’s like making food. For Mexicans, to show respect and love they will use their hands to create the dough or shread the meat. If you ever get the chance, pick up the book Like Water for Chocolate. A great, funny, flavorful book written by a Mexican woman… about a cook. I digress…
Anyway, if you ever have the chance to either make your own card, or have me create one for you, be sure to put something on it by you. A little hand-written, non-canned note. At the very least, a signature. Maybe even get the kiddos to draw a picture.
Although I must say that after begining this post I received a birthday email card. You know, one of those online dealios. Well, it was so nice to get something that I didn’t mind a totally non-handmade card. There is something to be said for remembering. I am terrible at that. My cousin… she’s the best.
Just a few thoughts…

It was Sunday and Teri’s birthday was on the Thursday before and we had nothing… Then I had this great idea of making up a portrait with Teri, India, and Ezra. So we did. I was inspired by this artist Claudine Hellmuth who will create a portrait almost like a caricature you would get at the fair… only one hundred times more beautiful and something you would be proud to have on your wall for years to come.
Our version was a bit rougher then any of hers but it was something that India and I could do together. We both tore the paper and pasted it down and India drew the bodies for each of the heads. All I had to do was sketch out the beach scene and print out the heads. What a great Sunday afternoon activity. It was a blast.

India and I were watching the Martha Stewart Show together. Yes, we sometimes watch that show. I typically fast-forward past Martha’s sometimes awkward banter to get to the good stuff. I love Tivo. India saw them coloring in bird stamps with makeup. Coloring and makeup?? She had to do it. I told her we could make a stamp and create our own bird picture.
Later that night she kept telling me that she could cut four pieces of paper at the same time. I thought that was great, but had no idea what she was up to. The next day I came to our project room (yes, we now have a project room/office) and I saw this:

I asked her what it was. She promptly told me it was her bird stamp that she made. How great is that?
I let her know that I had just bought some blocks and ink so we could make our own stamp. Not from paper. Basically I purchased more block printing supplies.
Last year I had made a passport for a church activity. I carved my own ‘stamp’, if you will, out of that very soft woodblock printing block that is available at any art supply store (even Michael’s has it, but that is all you’ll find). It was so easy to do that I wanted to give the harder, linoleum blocks a try. That way the block would last longer and I could make finer lines more easily. My desire to get back to woodblock printing began a couple weeks ago. I was inspired by a friend’s collection of greeting cards displayed in her home. I thought, I can do that.
Well, India beat me to it. We printed out a few images of birds for her to copy and this is what she came up with. I carved the block and she did the rest!
This is the block:

and this is a print: