The cross-stitch demo I gave last week at the South Bay Craft Group meeting went all right. It’s a bit hard to show something that is so small, so I used a piece of plastic canvas and some yarn to demonstrate how to do the stitches. After a bit of explanation, everyone went at it and asked me questions when they ran into trouble.

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit bored with cross-stitch that night, most likely brought on from looking through so many bland patterns in preparation for the class. We used some free starter kits that I got from DMC, all with simple, but somewhat boring flower designs to them. Their site offers a few others, but there isn’t much variety. I think if I give this demonstration again sometime, I’ll make sure to use more interesting designs, like these abstract art patterns.

I guess I’m feeling a bit stuck in the crafting area overall lately, partly due to my recently begun job search. I think it’s about time to get back into the workforce, so I’ve been busy fixing up my resume and putting together a web portfolio, as well as talking to a few headhunters and HR people. All of this takes quite a bit of energy, and I don’t feel like doing much creative afterwards. I’m sure it’ll only be more of a struggle once I’m working again, so this is quite frustrating.

I will say that I’ve still been looking for new project ideas though. Last week I was searching online for hours to find Japanese sites about carving stamps, and found so many good resources, none of which I can read. I started with some new Japanese books on the subject, and eventually figured out the phrase for carving stamps (it refers to using rubber erasers as the carving base). I ended up with lots of good bookmarks, but never carved any of my own stamps after that.

And then last night, I started browsing Etsy for things I might like to buy, but it turned into gathering ideas for my own projects. I went from wanting to learn how to make mosaics to thinking about creating my own jewelry (which I don’t really even wear), and then ended up feeling like painting. And yet I didn’t make very much when I was through, and everything I’ve tried today just didn’t seem to be quite right. Maybe I just need to do something else for a little bit, and a new project will come to me. Sometimes the things you look for the most come out of nowhere when you stop actively looking for them.

Last night’s South Bay Craft Group meeting went pretty well, due to a great demo on heat embossing by Tracy, one of our members. Almost everyone tried it out for themselves and we spent the whole time embossing. I was able to ask her some questions about the issues I’d had recently, and I tried some of her suggestions out on a few pieces I’d brought with me or created there.

The first two are some more of the “wrapped postcards” I started making a bit ago, and I especially like how the first one turned out. The second wasn’t as great, due to the embossing powder having a lot of white in it and heating darker than expected. And the third was thicker than I thought, mainly because the powder I bought was pretty chunky.

All in all, the meeting went pretty well, though some of us seemed a bit slap-happy as the evening wore on. Side effects of the long weekend, perhaps. I think we had more people in attendance than we’ve had before, even compared to our previous meeting, when we had a lot of people making beaded bracelets. It’s interesting to see who shows up each month, because it seems like it changes every time. There are a few of us who are “core members” and show up pretty regularly, but everyone else varies. Lately, I think we’ve been shifting towards a slightly older crowd than the initial 20-something women who kicked things off. It’s ok to have the variety, though I’m curious as to whether or not it’s temporary and how it’s turned out like this. I wonder if the fact that I’ll be demo-ing cross-stitch next time will shift it even more in that direction?

Speaking of cross-stitch, I want to thank everyone who has commented on my cross-stitch piece of Ganesh, either here, on Craftster, or on Flickr. I was already overwhelmed by the reaction from my friend and her husband, so it’s great to hear additional appreciation for all the work I put into it.

Oh, and before I forget, I’ve created a few paper swaps over on Swap-Bot for anyone who’s interested. One is for origami paper and the other is for paper scraps, and there’s a little over a week left to sign up. I’ve actually been surprised to see how popular the paper scraps one has been; there are nearly 30 people signed up already!

I’ve been trying to finish up final classwork as the semester winds down, so I haven’t had as much time for any major craft projects over the last few weeks. It doesn’t help that I hurt my back while lugging my laptop to class (to work on digital art), so I’ve been trying not to sit for too long since that makes it worse. That doesn’t really work well with any sort of crafting unless I want to stitch while pacing around the apartment or down the street.

In between all the classwork and back pain though, I’ve started getting into stamping again, little by little. I think going to the South Bay Stampers meeting really got me going, especially since I got to poke around all of the supplies in the studio we met in.

I decided to give heat embossing a try first, since we’re going to have a demo at our next craft group meeting. I had actually bought a heat gun and embossing powder several years ago, but I never had the time to actually try it out for myself. I eventually sold off these items, so I had to buy all new ones this time around. Here’s my first go at it:

Not perfect, but a good first try. I’m not sure what caused the little pocks (air bubbles?) in the surface, but it might have been a problem with ink coverage. It was a lot easier than I thought to do it, but it looks like it’ll take more work to improve how I do it.

I’ve been stopping by the few stamp stores in the area (Stamp On Over and Only the Best mainly) on and off to look at what stamps and supplies are out there these days. The basic supplies are fine, but I haven’t found very many stamp images that I like enough to buy. I even stopped by a used stamp sale at one of the “crafter’s malls” nearby, but only left with a vintage stitching kit I found inside the rest of the store. I think I need to try making more of my own instead, and here are a couple I carved the other day, after finding a neat popsicle pattern on some scrapbook paper:

Otherwise, I’ve only been making a few envelopes here and there, and just trying not to overdo it with my back. Hopefully it won’t be hurting me too much longer, because I really need to get going on a bunch of swaps I signed up for. I sent off my end of an envelope swaps I organized on Craftster, but now I have three color-themed swaps and a handmade postcard swap (via Swap-Bot and Flickr) to get going by the first week of July. I’ve done a bit of shopping for the color theme ones, but they all require handmade items, and all I’ve put together so far are these envelope sets:

I need to get some sewing done and pack everything up, as soon as I finish one last class assignment. The heat is on though, since I already received my things from my partner in the Turquoise Swap. Jen, the organizer, sent me some really lovely things, including cards she designed herself and some actual turquoise earrings:

I only hope I can whip up something that my partners will like just as much as I’ve liked what I received so far.

On Friday, I decided to check out the first meeting of a brand new craft group in San Jose that’s entirely dedicated to rubber stamping. I wasn’t sure about going at first, but I’m glad that I did, mostly to have met more crafters in the area.

The South Bay Stampers meeting was held at a very cool paper arts studio called A Work of Heart, which I had intended to visit before but never had. The space was a bit messy, but it was full of all sorts of rubber stamp and paper supplies, including stamps, inks, diecut machines, adhesives, and a lot more. They apparently teach classes and rent the space out for parties and paper crafters.

Although there were only three of us in attendance, it made for a nice evening, with each of us working on various projects and chatting. I poked around the supplies a bit and then made envelopes for the rest of the time, spending most of my time talking to Khris, the organizer, about various crafty things. Khris teaches classes at the studio and has various crafty business ventures as well, and it was really great to hear about what it’s like. It definitely made me think about trying it out for myself (someday). We also talked about various craft blogs and organizing craft fairs, and I invited her to check out the South Bay Craft Group.

I ended up spending nearly 3 hours there and I had a pretty good time, so I’ll definitely be going to the next meeting. Hopefully we can get more people interested in joining the group and attending as well. Khris and I talked about this being a major issue in this area, that there are plenty of crafters out there, but not many get involved in groups, even if it’s totally casual and social. I’m not sure what the reason is (too tired? don’t know about groups? don’t care? too lazy?), but I’d love to figure it out. It’s frustrating because it seems like I always hear about cool crafty things happening up in San Francisco or thereabouts, but not often down here. I don’t mind driving up there sometimes, but it’s nearly 2 hours round trip, so I don’t want to do it all the time. My current thinking, though, is that if people actually organized and attended events down here in the South Bay, that interest would group and end up perpetuating itself. It’ll just take a bit of work to try and get to that point.

I think I’m on a bit of a rubber stamp kick now, due to pulling some of mine out for the wrapped postcards I made. I went to a local stamp store this morning, but after leaving emptyhanded, I remembered the Japanese stamp books I’d found some time ago. I’ve really been interested in the stamps that other crafters have made and posted about online, so I thought I’d finally dig in and try my hand at one.

I found the image in a Japanese craft book, and it looked like it would be easier than the ones that were only outlines. I remembered reading that slicing through a Mastercarve block is like cutting through butter, and that was definitely true! The only tricky part was all the center flower bits, but I think it turned out ok.

I’m curious to know what types of blades other crafters use on their stamps, especially for some of the tiny parts. I only used a regular X-Acto blade this time, having recalled some bad experiences with other ones (gouging your hand with a C-shaped blade while carving wood is not fun). I think I’ll read up a bit more and try something else for the next one I try.

So, yeah, that wasn’t so bad, and I wish I’d played around with these sooner!

Oh, and here are some related links that are pretty cool to look at:

• Carve your Stamps Flickr group
• Another Japanese stamp book
• Carve Your Own Rubber Stamps tutorial
• Mollychicken’s stamps
• moki’s stamps