Alchemy Journal.

alchemy journal, a photo by Zemphira Creations on Flickr.

Before my sister headed back to Alaska, we had a few "crafter-hour" sessions. This is when we made stamps all day, and then went back into work and stamped up some of our own creations. We had a lot of fun, but stayed up way too late.

This journal was one of my "crafter hour" creations. It uses four stamps that I think are pretty cool, some tags, and some baker's twine. I hear it's not crafty these days if there's no baker's twine.

We took the Hares to Akron.

The Handsome Hares., a photo by Zemphira Creations on Flickr.

Well, we did it. We got our first "STAMP SHOW!" under our belts. It was a lot of fun meeting customers and helping them search through the catalog to find just the right image. We found a perfect cactus, constellation stamp, a realistic pig, octopi, and a few other special requests. Still looking for that fried egg though - I know we have one.

There's more than one way to stamp a hare!

dashing rabbits espresso cups, a photo by pinkkiss on Flickr.

Love em'!
Espresso cups by pinkkiss.

Hop, Stamp, Sew

I found a little time to create some rubber stamped mixed media art -and I have my Etsy OWLS team to thank for the inspiration.   I am a member of the Etsy OWLS team, and the  challenge for this month was to create something with a rabbit.  I used the handsome hares stamp from 100 Proof Press and some fabrics from my stash, and I even used a hoop!  Hoop hoop!  Hop! Hop!

This little art quilt hanging was inspired by Jennifer's fun Handsome Hares Pillow 

I've been meaning to make something in a hoop for awhile now, and I'm pretty happy with how this Easter decoration turned out.

I also experimented with another idea.  This was my original idea inspired by the challenge, but eh, it wasn't quite what I was going for.  I had fun making the cuff, so maybe I'll work on this idea a bit later.

Rabbit cuff...  hmm... 

Springy Sort of Purses

I  made this purse pattern up last Spring, and I am just now getting around to listing them in my shop.  They are just little hip pouches, kind of like an extra pocket.  But what makes them so delightful  is the fabric.  Ahh.... the wonderful Japanese fabric!  Stop by my Etsy shop and check them out.

3 years selling on Etsy...

And where am I now?  I am still trying to sell handmade items on Etsy but my new business tends to eat up all my time.  Around November I thought a good goal for Zemphira would be to have 1,000 sales by my third Etsy-versary.   I did not meet that goal.  Another goal I had was to list a commemorative Polkie the Owl Pot holder.  This I did.  If only I could sell 39 of  them to complete both goals.

The Original - My Favorite

2 year anniversary

1 year anniversary

3rd year commemorative Polkie the Owl Potholder.
Now I see I made the eyes different.

Polkies are fun to make, and they really got me going into the owl-world of Etsy.  I just wish there were more hours in the day to create.  Happy Etsy-versarary to me!  Bellissimo!

Screen Printing with my Sisters

So, I guess I wasn't feeling very "bloggy" during the month of February.  I have been pretty busy working on all the stamp-shop stuff.  My sisters and I took a stamp-making break to screen print some 100 Proof Press hoodies.

The screen came with the biz, so we put it to use.

Mary's inkin' the screen.

Time to squeegee.

Voila! 100 Proof Press uniforms.

Right now we are really busy getting ready for our first stamp show.  Lots of stuff to do.  One day I might get back to my sewing machine.