Pounce Wheels

When making sheets of artistamps, I use decorative scissors or pounce wheels. Some people in one of my swap groups wanted to see the pounce wheel patterns and size. I made this guide showing the straight(ish) line and some torn to view the pattern. I believe I used the #12 in my last booklet of artistamps. Note: you can click on the photo for a larger view.

Hand-carved rubberstamp

I discovered my love for rubber stamps in college. I had a hard time finding stores that carried them and this was before the ease of the internet and on-line shopping. Several years ago I learned of letterboxing, which is a combination of clue deciphering, hiking, and rubber stamps. [To learn more about letterboxing check out AtlasQuest, Letterboxing North America and Wikipedia] That's when I started carving my own rubber stamps. I am self-taught but wish to learn other methods or ways to do more intricate designs.

Last year I hand-carved a rubber stamp for a swap I did on Swap-bot. It was sender's choice. My partner likes leaves so I decided to carve a Buckeye leaf. After looking at images online, I hand drew a leaf with pencil. I then rubbed the pencil drawing on the block of rubber and carved.The end result with my initial pencil drawing and the inked stamped image.

I sent the stamp to my partner the Netherlands. I liked the carving so much that I did another one for myself!

Happy New Year!!

For New Year's Eve, John and I decided to do something different. My sister and her family had given us a gift certificate to Ohio State Parks for Christmas. Since the weekend was supposed to have mild weather, we went to Mohican State Park and got the New Year's Eve package. By Friday all the snow was melted and we didn't even need coats.

This is the view from our room in the lodge. Each room has a private balcony with chairs.

The two-night package included a gift of champagne (sparkling wine), two champagne flutes, and a box of chocolates. The buffet dinner Friday night was quite tasty and part of the package.

The DJ party was fun with lots of decorations, hats, and horns. But my husband did comment that it felt like we were at a stranger's wedding reception since we didn't know anyone. We met some interesting people and I was surprised to learn so many were locals. But there isn't much else around there for party venues.

The package also included New Year's Day brunch buffet. This is the view from our table.

We stayed in the lodge through Sunday. It rained most of Saturday so we didn't get to hike like I wanted to. Around 11pm on Saturday the lodge lost power. The emergency lights turned on in the hallways and lobby but the rooms were pitch black. John and I hung out in a seating area near a light in the hallway by the lobby. We were given flashlights (a shake-to-charge kind and a left over Halloween themed kid one). Soon a bat was flying around the lights and causing a commotion in the lobby. John turned on his flashlight to get a better look at the bat...and the bat flew towards his light. He kept his flashlight off after that and I had a good laugh. Overall, it was a very nice, quality time, relaxing weekend.