Monday, June 28, 2010

Butterfly Kisses

This is such a cute stamp.  The first sample is combined with one of the gorgeous pages from Webster's Pages so I just couldn't go wrong there! 


and the second one was made for a tag swap that I'm taking part in.  The words are also Stampsmith.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Parisian Love Affair

This anniversary card using a stamp from the Paris um plate. Alongside the generous sized stamps there are also useful phrases, a mini map of Paris and cancellation marks. Can you tell I'm a fan of this set?!








Friday, June 25, 2010

Fruit Crate Labels as Art!

Many years ago, I attended my first stamp show here on Long Island. I had been stamping a few years, having been introduced to SU through a friend who was a demonstrator. So, when I heard about the show, I was thrilled by the thought of a room filled with stamps, ink, paper and more! One of the booths at the show caught my eye, and when I took a closer look, I was amazed by the stamped images of what looked like vintage photographs. A woman at the booth came over to say hello and began to explain about the stamps and how to use them. I bought two of her stamps, excited by the creative possibilities that lay ahead. That was the day I met Estelle, owner of the Stampsmith!

One of the stamps I purchased that day was Embarcadero from the Fruit Crate Labels sheet, an image of pears on a vintage crate label. At the early part of the 1900's, they would be attached on each end of a wooden fruit crate that was used in shipping produce, to identify the contents and the seller. The company would have beautifully illustrated labels designed for this use. Today, they can be found at antique shops and flea markets. Being a lover of vintage ephemera, I have many original fruit labels framed and hanging in my kitchen.

I stamped the image in black and over stamped with red script. Patterned paper and stamped pear cutouts make up the background, and a butterfly sticker becomes an embellishment.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Rusty Parisian Gates


It is well known that The Stampsmith's Flappers are firm favourites of mine but so is the Paris plate. So often with Parisian stamps we see the same images repeated whereas this plate has something that is just a bit different. For this piece I wanted to play up on a rusty appearance. The details are on my Blog, Adorn.







Sunday, June 13, 2010

An apology....

Here's one from the "Ooh Baby" plate which is well worth a look.  Those babies have got some fab expressions which sum up so many occasions!




Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Fun in the Sun!

It's almost summer here in New York, so I've got "beach" on my mind!

The Stampsmith has a fabulous stamp sheet called "Those Were the Days", and this lovely trio of bathing beauties is from that sheet. I've stamped them in teal ink and combined them, once again,with a 1950's era ad from my collection. I thought these ladies had their big brimmed sun hats in common, but as you can see, they're enjoying their day at the beach in very different ways!

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Abigail's Party

The Stampsmith have a vast array of Flapper stamps, sold either as A4 sheets or individual unmounted. This particular stamp is from Flappers # 1 plate.
I could imagine that she is either heading out to a party or it could possibly be her own party maybe even a birthday party. With the Flapper stamps you can get caught up in imagining who these women were.