Hand Metal Stamping...

I said Friday for this tutorial right? Better late on Friday than never! I promised I would show you how I taught myself how to metal stamp. The part about teaching myself should give you a hint that I am not an expert at this at all, but we all have to learn some where.

The first step is the steel metal stamps. I purchased my at Harbor Freight. Great service and fast shipping. This set is the full alphabet, numbers and the "&" sign. I know you can find a whole array of letter styles and symbols, but I wanted to start out with the basics, especially at a great price.

Here's the nice little box all the letters come in.

Each letter or number is on the end of the steel rod.

Beware when you get your set of stamps. They are coated in oil to prevent rusting! I just wiped my clean.

I'm sure the expert stampers use a steel or metal stamping block or area, but I just use our cement walkway or the garage floor. I know...not great for delicate sterling silver pendants, but I'm just practicing on 20 cent washers from the hardware store. DON'T hammer on tile floors for obvious reasons. Unless you want to replace your tile floors.

Set your letter where you'd like. Remember to make sure the letter isn't upside down!! See this picture below...this first strike made an upside down "S".

That's how I ended up stamping on the back of the washer on the rough side. Oh well, practice makes perfect right?

My advice in the beginning is to not try to make them all line up. Make them all crooked on purpose! To make the letters stand out, take a black permanent marker and color in over the letters.

On the first one I made for the bookmark, I stamped it on the smooth side and all the black ink rubbed off.

When you rub the surface, the ink stays inside the depth of the letters to show up more.

See that light hue of the black ink still in the rough texture of the washers? That won't happen if the surface is smooth.

You can make the bookmark like I did in the previous post, add a ribbon for a necklace, attach a key chain etc...

It's also great for stamping card stock or thick paper.

Make sure you stamp the paper with something thick underneath or you'll end up with an "S" on you butcher block desk...don't ask. I should take a picture of it. "S" for stupid!

I've been collecting old silver flatware from flea markets or thrift stores. I only paid 20 cents for some of these. If you look online, you'll find flatten spoons that are stamped and used for plant and herb markers. So cute.

For the best inspiration, go to Google Images and in the search bar type in hand metal stamps, hand stamped washers, hand stamped spoons, hand stamped crafts etc...

Or you can click on all these links below...

• Harbor Freight
• Google images for hand stamped washers ideas
• Google images for hand stamped metal crafts
• Google images for hand stamped spoons

The best source for supplies and inspiration is Etsy. I typed in metal stamping and here's the link for that. Click here.

I hope this little bit of info will start you off on a new crafting adventure...like we all need to start a new hobby. LOL No hate mail for tempting you on a new project.

Have a great weekend,

~Karen~

Lots of Requests for Metal Stamping...

Hello everyone...I had lots of requests and emails about the metal stamping on the bookmark I did in the tea and coffee post yesterday. I am definitely not an expert on this...still a newbie, but would love to share how it works with you.

I'll put together a post for Friday and Saturday and share what I know about it!! Hope you can come back for a visit!

It's easy, you just need to practice a little first.

See you tomorrow,
~Karen~

Tea or Coffee Anyone?...Craft Ideas and Organizing

Do you love to read books and drink tea...well, this project could be for you! I drink many different kinds of tea, but this particular box of tea bags has an extra goodie inside.




This might look like trash to you, but these cardboard dividers are always good for something.

Perfect size for a book mark. I know we can just cut up card stock and make one, but these are already done for you.

To pretty them up a little, I just glued on a strip of fabric. You can also use scrap booking paper too. I left a 1/4 inch margin on each side.

Punch a hole at the top...

and with a little ribbon and a doo dad for the end of the tie, your book mark is done.

I used a metal washer from the hardware store and stamped Love in the metal. It was my first attempt at metal stamping. This was my second washer and it's still a little crooked, but works for me!

edit...I put together a tutorial for metal stamping, so click here for that.

Now onto the coffee tip...I use these trays for many things. They are paper trays that I found in an office supply store in the clearance rack.

The best thing I use it for is the coffee pot we use every day. I keep the coffee pot tucked under our cabinets, in the corner and out of the way.

However, this particular coffee pot has to open on the top to put the coffee pods in, but the handle hits our upper cabinets and won't open up all the way.

Here's the fix. The coffee pot is in the tray. It just slides out very easily each time we need it.

Then it slides back under the cabinet when we're not using it. We could just slide the coffee pot, but most appliances have little skid pads on the bottom, so it doesn't move. The tray glides very smoothly.

We're in the middle of an ice storm here, so I think I'll have a cup of tea...or maybe coffee...or maybe both!

space

Take care,

~Karen~