Today I have a post that I wrote last night which is just as well, as this morning has not been good so far as I have a sick kitty (Miss P) and had to take her to the vet this morning. Not really sure what’s wrong with her but she’s not her normal self so it’s better to have her checked out. We’re back home now, after the vet gave her some injections and now I have to keep an eye on her for any changes or improvements. She is usually desperate to get out after being inside all night but she is hiding under the cat tree instead.
And now here’s the post I wrote last night…
Happy WOYWW day!
Here’s the current state of my desk… even with all the stuff covering the desk Miss Lily still managed to find a place to sit down, right smack in the middle of it all lol. In the background her brother, Mr G, is also cluttering up another flat surface with his huge self.
These two had their 5th birthday last month and for their birthday I made them new luxe cat beds that they totally ignored (typical cats!) but I am happy to say that now that the weather has turned cold and wet, they have now deigned to use them! Lily in the new bed…
She’s only little so there is plenty of space for her to spread out and stretch.
Here’s Mr G in the bed, for some reason he has pulled all the cushions down on his head. He’s a big weirdo cat! They do have one each btw but they are both fighting over this particular one!
Art Journal Journey – Type
Today I am sharing (yet) another art journal page for the August challenge over on Art Journal Journey which this month is Type chosen by this month’s host, the lovely Neet. You can probably tell by the number of pages that I have done so far, that I love this challenge and I love TYPE. Here is my very basic page… maybe I will paint the background or maybe I will leave it the way it is as I kinda like the simplicity of the black text on the white.
Yes it’s just a page with a whole lot of stamped letters on it lol, but the difference is that I made the stamps that made the letters! Here’s what happened…
Making alphabet stamps from craft foam
A couple of years ago I made these stamps by diecutting some craft foam using alphabet dies. At the time, I only made foam stamps for the letters I needed, not a whole alphabet, and to use them I stuck them onto small acrylic blocks with removable tape. Here they are below…
I always planned to cut a full alphabet and mount them on something for use, but never got around to it as it would have cost me a lot in acrylic blocks for one thing.
You might not know this but I LOVE metal dies, I find they are one of the most useful craft supplies available. I often make stencils and stamps from my dies and I’d been thinking about making some alphabet stamps to use for this challenge and for art journaling in general, so I could have a set that I could kept handy on my desk. Then when I went to The Range yesterday (yes I went back for another look!) I found a couple of products that would help me do just that! They had quite a lot of alphabet blocks in various formats, including these large wooden ones. I think it was about £4 for this pack of 32 wooden tiles. I didn’t go there looking for these blocks, so I was just eyeballing the size and guessing that they would work for my large dies as I hadn’t measured anything beforehand.
And these small wooden ones that look like Scrabble tiles… These were £1.99 for 200 wooden tiles. I actually love them on their own and can think of lots of things to do with them, or with the left over tiles.
I ready had the craft foam so I used the same big alphabet that I used for my original diecut stamps, and matched them up with all the letters, cutting three copies of each letter and gluing them on top of each other.
Then I used strong glue to stick each letter onto the back of the tile. So because these tiles are alphabet tiles, they already have the letter printed on the front, so that will come in handy when I start using them.
Then I used the small tiles and a Tim Holtz Sizzix alphabet die set to cut out another set of letters. I glued four tiles on top of each other to make a wooden block that would be easier to hold and use, and three copies of each foam letter as I did with the bigger alphabet.
And now I have two different sized alphabet sets to use in my journals. At the moment they are stored in some vignette boxes. It was meant to be temporary storage but I kinda like how they look in there so I might keep them in there. I’ll know if they make good storage once I start using them.
I turned the little stamps around so that the printed letters show on top and that will keep dust off the craft foam letters.
The smaller Tim Holtz dies also have numbers and punctuation so when I get time, I might make some stamps out of those too as I have plenty of wooden tiles left over. Making these really small ones was a bit fiddly so I need a break from doing that and having static-y craft foam stuck all over me lol. If you have another way of making wooden blocks, do that instead of buying these little wooden tile blocks, but I didn’t and I like that they already have the letters printed on the top, makes them easier to use and saves me having to do it myself : )
Oh and the other reason I went back to The Range yesterday was to buy an A3 sketchbook that I saw there last week. I have a bunch of A4 image transfer gel prints that I wanted to put into a journal but keep them whole, so I thought the best way would be to put them into a much bigger book and then I have space around them. Here’s a photo of one of the gel prints sitting on top of the A3 book. Once I get them all in the new book, I can start using them as backgrounds for AJ pages.
That’s it for today, hope you enjoyed the post, let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading!
Ingredients
watercolour paper, my usual journal, gel prints, wooden number blocks, craft foam, glue, versafine clair nocturne ink pad, wooden tiles, alphabet die sets,
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – Type – August Challenge
WOYWW – #636 – What’s on my desk (I’m number #21 in the linkup!) Happy WOYWW!
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You’ve been gloriously busy! Love the inspiration to use the alpha tiles from The Range, a great idea. I know what you mean about using them before deciding if the storage is right, am going through this with nearly all my stash! Hope Kitty feels better by now.
Thanks for the link about the cat bowls, Elle. Ours are arriving tomorrow. Also for the info about the alphabet stamps. Perhaps if I unmounted my little set from their wooden handles and used them with acrylic blocks, I might actually use them! Lots to think about…
Shoshi x
Your stamping makes have really taken over, great idea! Cats really do rule don’t they!? Mr Jinx jumped up onto my desk the other night and meowed and then he looked down at my chair which was covered in binder, as if to say, move them! and yes, I moved them and he was snoozing five seconds later! Had trouble connecting to Julia’s blog so, Happy very late woyww, Stay Safe! ((Lyn)) #26
Whatever the blog issues were they have sorted themselves out. Very weird. Loving the post. I also have loads of small alphas and I love the letter tiles as backs for them, Great idea. I have a set I cut from a printed font that I still use. It’s very grungy but I love it. Also a fab tip on the sketchbook. I tend to rip up and collage my gel prints but I can see the benefit of keeping them whole as backgrounds. A lovely visit and lots of good ideas 😀
Happy so very late WOYWW.
Mary Anne (1)
Hi Elle! I was very interested by your alphabet info. Funnily enough I just made some foam letters to stamp with – just 8 letters – A B D E H P R T. I need to get some more foam to make a few more letters. I just drew them myself and cut them out.
Happy WOYWW!
Stay safe and keep well!
Susan #27
<a href=”http://susanrenshaw0404.blogspot.co.uk/ “>Calling All Crafters! – My Blog!</a>
Hi Elle, Hubby home, and fine. I discussed the raised feeding bowls with him and he thought it was a good idea. He said they would knock the bowls off the top of a box and we looked at raised bowls online – lots of choice and info there, and several people said it had stopped their cat being sick, so we’ve ordered one. It has bowls that lock into place and a non-slip base so I think it’s even Ruby-proof!! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08DJ1BJ68/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Thank you so much for suggesting this – I’d never heard of it before.
Shoshi x
Thank you for calling back and leaving such a helpful comment about cat feeding, Elle. Yes, you are right – it’s Ruby who’s the greedy guts! I’ll talk to my hubby about this – elevating the bowls may be the anwer, but we’d have to stick them down with blue tak or they’d have them on the floor! They often manage to shunt them off the tray despite it’s quite high sides. They have such bad table manners!
Hugs from Shoshi and Lily and Ruby. x
What an awesome post, Elle! I simply love your DIY alphabet stamps. They look like one of those trays of old fashioned letters for printing presses. They look decorative, just in storage. I’ve got a set of tiny alphabet stamps on tall thin wooden blocks – like square-section rods. I never use them because I find it impossible to line them up. How do you make sure you’ve got your letters lined up if they are on wood and you can’t see exactly where you’re placing them? I think I would make a set like this if I knew how to use them properly. I’m thinking of either getting some alphabet dies, or making some cutting files for them, but it’s usually a lot more convenient to use dies than to set up the cutting machine.
I’d love to see your stamp/die storage – photos please!
Your kitties are utterly adorable! I love seeing them “helping” in the studio. Mr. G is certainly a Big Boy, isn’t he! I’m so sorry to hear that Miss P is poorly and I hope after her visit to the vet, she will soon be feeling better and back to her old self again. Happy birthday to the twins! I am glad to hear they have finally deigned to use the beautiful beds that you custom-made for them! I think it’s hilarious that although they each have their own bed, they fight over one of them! Just like children. I remember being like this with my sister when we were little.You always want the one your sister’s got, even if it’s the same as yours!
Thank you for your comments. First of all, I wasn’t aware that the “post comment” button had gone all white. I tried to fix it and to start with, nothing seemed to be happening. I don’t know what I did, but I think I’ve fixed it now! It would be worth checking back to make sure it’s OK now – it looks OK from my end.
As you can see from later in my post, I’ve decided on locations for several of the new baskets now. I’ve just got a laminator and need to think of where to keep/use that. In all my glorious expanse of space in my lovely room, I am still short of space lol! Your trip to the Range sounds as if it was very fruitful. I shall have to ask my hubby to take me back there soon, I think. The trouble is, he gets a bit bored when I spend what he calls “two hours” in the craft section lol! (It’s NEVER that long – usually only about 1 hour 59 minutes. Why do men make such a fuss…)
Our kitties always scratch the carpet in the flat. We got that nice carpet fitted for Mum when we first moved here and the two naughty girlies have ruined it. And the scratching posts on the cat tree are only inches away. They always do it around feeding time so I’m sure it’s attention-seeking behaviour.
I’m having quite a week of it at the moment because immediately after my oncology appointment on Wednesday (no chemo required, btw!) my hubby was ill and had to go to hospital. There’s been a huge amount of waiting around and we still don’t have full news but he’s supposed to be coming home this evening – he’s just rung – on his way! We’re trying to jiggle all this, and my upcoming radiotherapy planning appt. and covid swab before that, around a family funeral next month. Never rains but it pours… I hate the uncertainty.
Happy belated WOYWW,
Shoshi x #11
A genius idea with the letter die-cuts – I’ve used foam die cuts before as stamps (and embossed textures as well) but I don’t think I ever did letters. I might just have to try that too! The cat gelli print looks fantastic – and indeed life is so much better with cats! Love your two sitting on your desk! Enjoy your weekend! I know I will! xx zsuzsa #19
Wow! I love your page for Art Journal Journey! Love those big letters and what great idea you had when you saw those wooden letters! I’m thinking I need a trip to the range but this week has been so hectic with one thing and another I need a break!!!
Glad the cats are now enjoying their beds, Hugs, Chrisx!