DIY: Tangram Stamps

After I posted Tangram Magnets, I thought that creating Tangram Stamps would be fun. It’s not hard to create these stamps that can be used as individual shapes or used together to create tangram shape combinations.

Pattern Stamps

Recently, I spent a chunk of time carving stamps. I did some sketches of different patterns and chose some of my favorites to make into stamps. The faster and less involved way would have been to have a stamp company make them for me, and that would have made the most sense if they were highly intricate or type heavy, but my patterns were fairly doable to hand carve. Plus, I really like the imperfections and slightly off lines that make the stamps feel handmade and unique. It wasn’t exactly fun carving all my patterned stamps, but I’m happy with the results. I think they’re quite nice. Simple. Geometric.

Put a Bow on It

Around Christmas time, a friend of mine drew a bow on a gift’s wrapping paper. I thought it was a cute idea, so I decided to make a bow stamp.

DIY: Bobbin Seal

I often keep things that I don’t need, thinking that I’ll use it sometime in the future. I should probably throw much of it away, but a part of me resists. I can’t help but think that I could use it for something.

So I can feel vindicated that I have used something I’ve kept around: a bobbin. Looking at its shape, I thought I could use it as a stamp.

DIY: Lantern Tag

I was thinking about other ways to use circle shapes, and came up with a festive lantern tag.

Danger!

I loved the 100 yen shops in Japan. I found the products there to be fascinating (maybe in part because I wasn’t sure what all of them were). But I also thought that the 100 yen products often looked better than those found at the American dollar stores; the stationary was cuter, the dishware was prettier and the food was more interesting (like chocolate filled mochi).

DIY: Woven Paper Tags

I’ve been to a few paper shows. Not tons, but enough that I’ve accumulated a couple of boxes worth of stuff. A paper show, in case you don’t know, is just what it sounds like: a show about paper. People who use paper in their printing will go to these shows and talk to vendors about the different types of paper and pick up paper samples.