Roald Dahl stamps

Oh my goodness. These bring back so many memories of my childhood - I read all of these time and again: my copies of Roald Dahl books were some of my most cherished books, and these stamps are so perfect. (Although The Witches one still, as it did back in the day, freaks me out).

Send More Mail

Have you seen this lovely blog called Send More Mail? It has made me want to trawl through and find all my old stamps and buy more and, perhaps intuitively, send more mail. Send letters, my blogging friends! Buy old fashioned stamps and stick them to paper and post away!

All images

Myths and Stamps

I grew up reading Greek and Roman myths, and haven't stopped being an ancient history nerd. I also used to collect stamps as a young girl, and my 10 year old self would have freaked out at these magnificent, modern creations. Ok, I'm probably still freaking out.

Stationery Houses

Completely adorable stationery organisers in the form of little houses! I love how pens fit in the chimneys.

Stationery Bits and Pieces

I found these beautiful free images over at Just Something I Made - aren't they perfect? One day I will invest in a colour printer...

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Every Day in May: 13th May

Thought I'd save you the drama of seeing new stamps every day and just post what I have done so far. As you can see, I've even gone beyond the small limits of my stamp-box, which is a bit insane. I should note here that a few of these designs have been inspired by typing 'handmade stamps' into Flickr - you get some beautiful results.* One of my favourites is my 'Kate' stamp, which is ridiculous and funny. And my hot air balloon which is also my own design. (It's much more successful than my 'real' one!)
*I am not selling any of these - just for my own practice/use.

Every Day in May: 7th May

This is kind of cheating, but today's creativity is all about stamping the stamps I made onto small to-do lists. I am all about lists - I write heaps all the time - and now they look much more fun. I especially like the birds. I will also round their corners, which is a most fun thing to do.

Every Day in May: 6th May - airmail

These are a bit more practical - I like to write these on my etsy orders, and now it's even a bit more fun.

Every Day in May: 3rd May

You are all going to be so sick of these, if you're not already! Very excited about my envelope and 'to do' stamp - I can't wait to start stamping my mail with the first one. As for the ones below, the raindrop and birdie I love, but the robot is a bit terrible!

Every Day in May: 2nd May

More hand carved stamps. Yes sirree - I envisage a small collection soon. I just can't stop! I am especially excited about the house, and these flowers (inspired from here) turned out much better than I had hoped.

Every Day in May: 1st May

This is my first proper attempt at carved stamps for the Every Day in May challenge. I will be posting something new each day and these are the first! I used Gennine's excellent tutorial which I have posted about before and it is addictively good fun. As Gennine suggested, I used erasers as they are cheap (about 90 cents each in the supermarket) and very easy to carve. The lino cutting tools were purchased at Eckersleys for about $11. So here's an average looking apple, flower and tree. Wheeee!

Honesty Stamps

Aren't these stamps just delightful? I think they'd be a beautiful gift.
All images from dedece via distillate

Philately is Fun*

I am very excited about these new stamps from Australia Post. I'm often a bit embarrassed that our stamps aren't as interesting as those from other countries. But here the colours, the theme and the design are making me very happy. I am off to buy lots of the first two to use for months!


*"Philately is fun, Josh" - Donna Moss
The West Wing, Season Two, episode 9 'Gallileo'.

Matryoshka Stickers

Finally got around to posting some more of my Japanese stationery haul in the shop. These matryoshka stickers are some of my favourites - aren't they just delightful?

Rubber Stamps Ahoy!

These stamps remind me of the coffee break stamps I bought while overseas. How many stamps would you call too many?

All images from retronana

Coffee Break Stamps

When I was in Hong Kong, I came across this delightful set of stamps which give the "atmosphere of cafe". How could I resist? Curious Engrish and pretty little stampies? And an odd no-smoking stamp in amidst other seemingly normal ones? Sold!

Scrap Happy

I've finally had time to sit down and execute my "colour themed" scrapbook packs!

I've been dreaming of these babies for a while now, and collecting bits and pieces whenever I could, and it's so nice to see that they've become a reality.

It feels good to be getting them done! Get them in the shop while you can :)

Hankeshi longing

Image via Gennine's Art Blog

One of the things I am really missing in my life at the moment is the lack of crafty activities taking place. By the end of the day, I feel like I both lack the energy and imagination to make pretties. But yesterday I had a deep yearning to get out my hankeshi kit and make some stamps. It's going to be first on the list when I get some free time!

Hankeshi are also known as 'eraser' stamps - you hand carve them out of rubber, ink them up and then stamp away.

Here is some inspiration in the meantime.


Love Asian Taste makes the above stamps - aren't the large seal ones beautiful?

Sakura Days makes a pretty expert stamp - I love those flowers, but the curly hair looks waaay too advanced for me.

Only 3.75 weeks!

Stamp Art: The Work of Hsueh Shao-Tang

These are the beautiful works of Hsueh Shao-Tang - a Chinese artist and chef who makes works out of postage stamps glued to silk. Over 1000 stamps go into each piece - aren't they incredible?

Images via The Nonist