TC Witchcraft Factory Journal

Hand Carved Stamp: Wine Bottle and Glass plus Cheese

2010-07-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

We took a personalized stamp order from Madoka. She saw our stamp “Wine Bottle & Glass” on our Etsy store and wanted to personalize it by adding her and her husband name plus cheese (because they love wines and her husband likes cheese, she said). I had to re-position the wine bottle and glass to balance the whole design when names and cheese are added. Including cheese in the design worked pretty good to fill the empty space below the names.

Hand Carved Stamp: Goldfish in a Bowl

2010-06-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

The inked impressions of hand carved stamps are generally 2-dementional. Giving 3-dementional appearance to the stamped images is a challenge for stamp carvers, but developing inking technique to add gradations to the ink is one of the solutions.

This is how I do it.
Preparing wet paper towel, crumpled small Kleenex ball and a peace of Kleenex.
Making a pad with the Kleenex ball and a peace of Kleenex.
Appling ink to the stamp. Wetting the pad and taking some ink off the stamp by tapping motions. This is how the image looks like. Cleaning the stamp with wet paper towel. I tried with lighter ink to show more transparency of the glass bowl, but the impression was too weak. So, I added darker ink to the top and bottom of the stamp. Added a goldfish in the bowl.

Hand Carved Stamp: Goldfish and Water Plant

2010-06-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

We planed to make goldfish stamp last summer, but hadn’t come up with a design we liked. We drew several designs and found out that the design should be kept small and simple. Larger size design loses the cuteness of the goldfish and adding details makes it look ugly to us. We also knew that just simple design would look too simple. So, we wanted to add transparency of the fin to the design. But, how? The solution was actually quite simple. This is how we achieved the transparency effect of the fin of the goldfish.
Putting ink on the stamp and taking some ink off the fin by tapping it on a Kleenex. Pretty simple!

Mini Album: Mei

2010-03-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

We are visiting our friends in St. Louis, Missouri tomorrow. I made this album as a gift for a friend whose house we are going to stay during this trip. Her daughter, Mei, is one of the reasons we visit St. Louis quite often lately; we went there twice last year. She is so adorable and funny that we never get bored of watching her. Whenever she started doing something, we grabbed a camera and kept taking photos. I had already made an album for myself using her photos and this is the second one. Here are some pages from the album. We are so excited to see her again. I wonder if I can sleep well tonight.

Ice Fishing

2010-03-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

We visited a lake house, which is owned by parents of our good friends, last weekend and enjoyed ice fishing.Our friend, fishing Master Brian, took us to Lake Mille Lacs which was 15 minutes drive from the lake house and is about two hours drive up north from Twin Cities and one of the largest lakes in Minnesota. We drove on the lake and got to the fishing point, but not many people were ice fishing there.It seemed to be a little off season. When we visited this lake for ice fishing three years ago, we saw so many fishing houses that it was as if a city was build on the lake.
It was a beautiful and warm day, but was still about 30 degree though. We could see signs of fish on radar but the fish wasn’t very active that day.We tried different lake early next morning. Master Brian caught some but no luck for us. When we decided to leave, I found out my bait had already been taken. I kept fishing without bait! No wonder I didn’t catch any.

Music Themed Personalized Stamp: As a Birthday Gift

2010-02-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

Ooooooops. It’s been such a long time.

Friends complained. We know, we know. We will try.

I carved this stamp as a birthday gift for a friend.

Whole stamp carving process is mostly fun, but creating a new design is sometimes frustrating. As the friend is a very good piano player, the theme of the design came up pretty quick. I drew some designs on the paper to visualize what's in my head; the name surrounded by some notes. However, they didn’t look pretty at all. I kept drawing and drawing and when I almost gave up, I finally ended up with this design. I changed the font and the position of the note. This is how the completed stamp looks like.

Canoe & Camping Trip Album

2009-09-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

I finally finished the album of our canoeing and camping trip. It took me about 3 months as I had 3 other projects simultaneously. The album turned out to be very satisfying. Turning every single page reminds me of the fun events I had in my little adventure.
Here are some pages I really like. We are going to NY, DC, and Niagara Falls for vacation soon. I’m already excited to make another travel album.

Handcarved Nightmare Before Christmas Stamp: Sally

2009-09-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

This character is from the movie “Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas” released in 1993, a year before we came to the US. We didn’t know what Halloween was at that time, which was exactly like the main character in the movie “Jack Skellington” from Halloween town couldn’t figure out what Christmas was all about after visiting Christmas town accidentally. We were so fascinated by the movie when we watched it on video for the first time. The motion picture style was very eye catching, but what amazed us the most was that how rather a scary looking Sally looked more and more charming as the story progressed!

Spinning Halloween Lamp

2009-09-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

Our favorite, Halloween, season is approaching and I took our Halloween spinning lampshade out of the box today.Since my husband made this lampshade for me about 10 years ago, the projection of these Halloween characters have been rotating on the walls and the ceiling every year in this season. I set the lamp on the round maple table next to the bookcase where my Halloween collections are stored.I don’t usually illuminate this bookcase, but turning the room light off and watching my favorite Halloween collections and moving projection of Halloween characters make me so happy.
The motion picture of the lamp is available in my flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8416520@N02/5085959604/in/set-72157601977713102/

Custom Order Summer Vacation Album

2009-09-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

I have finished one of the projects I have been working on. This is a custom order album from Stephanie. She wanted us to make a beach themed premade album she can scrapbook her family photos from their summer vacation in Bahamas. I used a heavy transparency sheet for the front cover, embellishing it with water splash 3D stickers. I used an ocean wave patterned paper under the front cover and cut out the part of waves in order to change the background by showing the following page.

I added an envelope so that they can keep some travel memorabilia in it.Because the envelopes I want to use on my projects are not on the market, I make them by myself. I just look for the envelope of the right size and make a template out of it.

This is the back cover. I glued a lace paper on a cardstock and sealed it with “Mod Podge”. My initial intention was to cut the cardstock to the right size, but a new idea flashed into my mind. Instead of cutting, I folded it to make a pocket which might hold unused photos, tickets or postcards.It has been a very fun process making this album. Photos on Stephanie’s Facebook helped me a lot. I even felt as if I had been to the beach while making it. Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to share your memory keeping project.

I enjoy being busy with 4 ongoing projects.

2009-08-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

I am working on two custom mini album orders and our own canoe trip mini album. I also plan our vacation trip right now. My messy working table got messier! I recently purchased old wire baskets at a local flea market and I use them to organize supplies and ongoing pages for each project.They work perfectly and I love them. I am really busy with the projects but I am enjoying it.

Old Pyrex Percolator

2009-08-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

I somehow decided to stop over a local thrift store after work yesterday. I wasn’t expecting to find any treasures as I haven’t found anything good at the store for a long time. But I was thrilled when this old 4 cup Pyrex percolator on the shelf of the kitchen aisle caught my eyes. I have seen just pots sold on thrift stores but never found a complete set. The price tag of $4.99 also surprised me! I already have 9 cup percolator but it is too large for a daily use. So, 4 or 6 cup percolator has been on my wish list.
I leave thrift stores empty handed most of the time but this is why I cannot stop going there.

On-line workshop by Jenni Bowlin

2009-08-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am taking 12 weeks on-line workshop by Jenni Bowlin @ Big Picture Scrapbooking since July 2nd. It titled “Re-purpose, Re-think, Re-invent: Learning how the past can open the door to a new creative lifestyle” It has been giving me inspirational and creative opportunities and I am enjoying the workshop very much. The followings are the reviews of the first two classes.

WEEK1
According to Jenni, understanding our own creative history is important as it must have had a lot of influences on our creativities. Mine came from my parents. Dad liked to make miniature plastic models of ships, planes or castles. Mom used to teach people knitting at our house. I loved watching her creating new clothes and going craft store with her. I believe my creative mojo is in my blood! Jenni said surrounding ourselves with inspiration every day is essential to a creative lifestyle. Our assignment#1 was making an inspiration board where we can pin up anything that inspires us. And this is my inspiration board. WEEK2
Lesson 1: Re-think
Jenni said there are many creative options for using photos and recording memories besides scrapbooking only on 12x12 layouts. Altered books, collages, 3D assemblages and re-purpose jewelry are the examples of other forms of scrapbookings she gave us. She also showed us how we can creatively use items we may pass by everyday.
I love collecting antiques, vintages and old stuffs (some even says old junks) and I always wanted to create something with them. Her assignment gave me an opportunity to refresh my perspective and stimulated my creativity.
These are my Week 2 vintage milk cap creativity challenge. I hope I can use these new ideas on my ongoing projects.

Handcarved summer stamp Part 3, Bunny on Beach

2009-07-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

I made this stamp based on my memory of going to the beach as a little kid. Not so many families were able to afford taking a vacation or going for a trip those days, but my mom used to take us to the nearby beach and it was a huge and an exciting event during summer breaks. We had no box full of toys, no DVDs, or no Nintendo but somehow we never got bored back then.

Mini Album, Remember MN

2009-07-25T21:47:00.001-07:00

I made this album as a farewell gift for Ogino family who has been here in the US for three years and is going back to Japan at the end of this month. We all had a lot of fun together and hope they remember the time in MN as a good memory. I added blank pages at the end and lots of their friends left massages. I love the “Remember” stamp and foam stickers and used a lot in this album! Added score card of the golf course we played together. Brochure form the skate rink became one of the pages. Cut out 3D fish photo.We remember you!

Customized stamp order, Today I marry • • •

2009-07-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is a customized stamp we have recently made for Michelle. The whole process of making this stamp, communicating with Michelle, was really fun. She wanted to use this stamp for her wedding programs. The size of the design is 1 ½” x 3 ½’. Our stamps are usually smaller as we want them to be versatile. So, this became the largest of all stamps we have made. Wood block was dyed and distressed as the plane wood block looked to simple for the size. We hope she likes it. We are glad to be able to take part in the creation of her wedding programs.

Handcarved stamp, customized stamp orders from St. Louis

2009-07-20T14:46:00.001-07:00

We got two customized stamp orders from St. Louis when we visited a friend there. One of the orders was from Shiho who is a friend of our friend in St. Louis. She brought a design with her and wanted to add “Shiho’s Kitchen” under the design. This cute design only measured ¾” x ¾” and some part of it was very detailed. I could have made the design a little larger to make it easier to carve but I decided to use the original size. The bigger size didn’t look as cute as the original one.
The other order was from Madoka. She wanted a personalized stamp of cosmos flower. I designed a single cosmos flower and added her name to it, but there was too much empty space between the flower and the name. I could have filled that space with leaves if it was a design that uses other flowers, but cosmos doesn’t have pretty leaves. So, I added one more cosmos instead.

Mini Album: Animals Always

2009-07-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a mini album since we visited St. Louis Zoo in May with our friend and her 3 years old daughter. This historical zoo was originally founded in 1910 and was selected as America’s #1 zoo by Zagat Survey & Parenting Magazine. When I saw the phrase “Animals always” on the zoo sign, I decided to use it as the title of this album.

I used clearly heavy overlays from Hambly for front cover and embellished with rub-on.
The title is made with chipboard stickers and “always” flash card. I was very happy when I found that “always” flash card in my stock pile.
When I was brainstorming for the mini album in early June, I was inspired by Anthropologie JUN catalog which collaborated with Hatch Show Print. I used big alphabet stamps for every page as subtitles.
My scrapbooking ideas come from something that I may easily let it go in daily life such as the zoo sign or shop catalogs. Getting new idea is like a treasure hunting, isn’t it?

Handcarved summer stamp Part 2, Shell

2009-07-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

This shell design couldn’t have been carved without new v-shaped gouge I recently ordered from Japan. I depend heavily on general craft knife when carving stamps but always had difficulty carving hairlines. I used to avoid hairlines as much as possible when I designed images for new stamps, but not anymore! I can carve 4 hairlines within 1/8” with the gouge.
The design look simple but I am personally very satisfied with the result.
Pastel colors inks such as light blue or light yellow would go well with the stamp.

Cross stitch framing, emergency order from St. Louis

2009-07-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

We had been working on several orders for customized framing of cross stitch samplers. The following two cross stitch samplers were sent to us from St. Louis as emergency orders because the senders would go back to their country very soon. We had to finish the framings and send them back to St. Louis within 7 days. We had enough time to make frames and to mount samplers but what makes us nervous was that the senders asked us to pick frames for them; they might not like the one we picked. We chose lightly distressed dark navy frame for the light blue sampler, Mounted with foam under the cloth to make it 3D. We picked lightly distressed wine red frame for the other. As the other one did not have enough margins below the design, we mounted with matt to hide the edge of the sampler. Custom framed cross stitch sampler were sent back to St. Louis in time.

By the way, a friend of ours in St. Louis who referred the senders to us said that they were very happy with the frames.

Away from daily life

2009-06-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

We went 2 days camping canoe trip to Namekagon River in Wisconsin last week. Namekagon River runs through Wisconsin countryside and we hardly saw human life along the first half of the river. We saw, heard and felt plenty of nature and enjoyed wild life to the full.
We started from County K Landing.
Encountered deer right after the departure. The first day was cloudy but wind was calm and warm. Landing on a campsite along the river. !!!!! Sunset view from our campsite. Early morning view from the campsite. Leaving for second day trip at 7 am. Turned out to be a beautiful second day.
Snack break. Beautiful flowers. Riverside Landing, the end of our 33 miles canoe trip.
I cannot wait making an album of the trip!

Summer stamp part 1, Lobster

2009-06-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

We’ve, somehow, always wanted to make a stamp with lobster design but haven’t had a chance to begin on. We don’t remember exactly why we want lobster stamp although there is no ocean here in Minnesota. It is probably because we both were raised in a city nearby ocean and love seafood.
We have finally finished custom framing of cross stitch samplers that a friend of ours had asked us to do. Maybe it’s time to start working on stamps again.
The new design is off course LOBSTER, a taste of summer!

Stamped with red ink, the lobster is now cooked and looks delicious.

Recycled USPS box organizer

2009-06-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

I can’t throw small pieces of paper left over after each project. When my scrap box is getting full, it is time to make an organizer! Organizers are always useful around my work table but I don’t like the plastic one sold in stores (Because they are not cute at all!). I have been making organizers by myself using recycled USPS boxes.

This is how I make recycled USPS box organizer.

First, close and glue the flap of the box with “Glue-All”. (Do not use tape)
Then cut the box half with a knife and glue them together like this.

Glue pieces of craft paper to all edges of the box.
Square the pieces of paper leftover with a square punch. (This is my favorite part of the process. Each piece of paper leftover reminds me of the projects I have done.)
Glue these punched paper to the box.
Embellish the box with stamps and rub on and distress the edges with ink pad.
After dry it well, cover all surface of the box with “Mod Podge”.
Then I add 3D embellishments, such as a label holder and metal charms.Some might say I am crazy to spend more than a half day to make such a small thing. But I just love being surrounded by stuff I made.

Handcarved Stamp, Flower and Humming Birds

2009-06-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

We recently had an order of a personalized stamp from Shannon. She requested to add one more name to our original “Flower and Humming bird” design, but the original design can fit only one name. So, we re-designed to make one more name fit. We added another humming bird to balance the size of the design and the names.
Copied the design to a carving rubber.
On the middle of the carving process.
My shoulders are tight.
Mounted the stamp on finished wood.
We hope she likes the stamp and enjoys using it.

TC Witchcraft Factory congratulate Shannon and Daniel on their Wedding!

Handcarved Stamps

2009-06-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

It all started from an idea that “we want to have a small shop stamp” we can use on our products. We searched on Etsy to look for a store we could custom-order our stamp. There were stores making cute handcarved stamps but none of them had a taste of our shop name, Witchcraft. So, we said “why don’t we make it by ourselves”. But the idea was put aside for a while just because we thought it would not be easy to hand carve the size of stamp we wanted.
One day, we found a curving rubber and reasonable carving tools at a local art supply and decided to give it a try. This is the stamp we carved for the first time.
It does not look nice but the stamped image has the taste we wanted.
Since then we have become addicted to stamp carving.

The project is in progress….slowly

2009-06-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

We had one week vacation last month and have been to St. Louis, MO to see our old friends. We had such a great time there and took a lot of photos that I decided to make a scrapbook about visiting St. Louis. Since we came back from vacation, however, I haven’t made enough time for scrapbooking. I have a mixed feeling about working on this project. One side of me want to finish the project as soon as possible, but another myself want to take time and enjoy the process more. It is complicated.
Anyway, the scrapbooking project is in progress….slowly.

Finally finished one layout

Front cover was finished but...

Birthday Gift

2009-05-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Kyra gave me a birthday gift.
They are all very pretty and a lot of RED! Kyra knows what I love.
Her handmade card is always lovey.

Vintage notions gave me inspirations.

Thank you, Kyra.

After learning “Flea Markets 101”

2009-05-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

We went to an Antique Show & Flea Market last weekend. It was cloudy and a little cool Saturday morning. We arrived there around 8:15am (The gate was opened at 8:00am). There are many serious shoppers already, but we thought we did pretty well following “Flea Markets 101”.
Our target items this time were Fire King items: Mug, Cup & Saucer.
We brought the following to our home. Love them!

Beautiful Fire King Mugs and Cups & Saucers, cards and old thimbles

We are glad to know the “Flea Market 101” We got great deals for all items.

Flea Markets 101

2009-05-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Because we wanted to enjoy flea markets more, we researched tips and suggestions for flea market beginners like us. We learned treasure hunting is beginning before a flea market. We need to plan and to prepare for treasure hunting!

Check location: Visit web site if available. Sometime we can get a coupon for admission/parking.
Do our home work: Research about item(s) before going flea market. The value in today’s market, availability, rarity and color etc…
Get Cash and bring a check book.
Don’t overdress and be prepared for anything: Wearing jeans and a T-shit is comfortable but we found it can help us to stay on budget/good deals. According to flea market pros, vendors often use our clothes/shoes to decide how much we can afford. Also, bring a jacket/an umbrella/a raincoat to prepare for any weather condition (including sunglasses, sunscreen etc...)
Pack lunch and drinks: save more money for our treasure.
Bring a bag/a cart
Arrive early/Come late: To hunt treasures, get the flea market as soon as it opens. To get the best bargain/good deals, go late in the day/the end of the market.
Browse vendors, dig later: We hunt our target item(s) first and dig later.
Make a friend first. Respect vendors: Giving nice impression and making a good relationship with vendors is connected to good deals.
Be prepared to walk away: The pro said “In the end, the person who is willing to walk away is going to get the best deal” A vendor might change his/her mind when we walk away.
Don’t outsmart ourselves: According to the pro, we should not call attention to the brand or manufacturer. We will have to pay more!
Don’t pay store price. Negotiate.
Group purchases: Then we can negotiate a price for the group!
The most important! Enjoy and have fun.

We will post about recent flea market experience soon!

Love Zutter!

2009-05-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

You will know how much I love making mini books.

And finally I got a "Zutter" binding machine.

I just love it!

Used old tax documentation paper (It’s dated in 1929!), rub on, ribbon, stickers, seal wax and metal clip for front cover.

I stamped travel theme images most of the inner pages.

Used ribbon as a book mark.

So much fun!

Treasure Hunt

2009-05-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

Cute Treasures I found at a local flea market today.
Spent $4.00 and I got these!

Love these angels.

They are made in Japan.

I love hunting like these lovely stuff made in old days in Japan where I was born.