Stamps, Ink., paper. SIP. Making greeting cards with rubber stamps, Ink, and paper is a little sip of joy. it used to be easy. Now it’s not.
.I’ve recently returned to rubber stamping and am finding that my visual impairment means that even the simplest task – such as making sure that the layers on the card are aligned – is difficult and time-consuming. It’s even a little frustrating. No, it’s a lot frustrating. But despite this, I’m still finding joy in the simple act of linking up a stamp and pressing the image into the paper.
My return to a craft that has brought me so much joy in the past is with a series of cards we call he haunted pumpkin patch. The inspiration for this series of cards came from the haunted pumpkin stamp, a wheel, and a flying witch.
What came to mind was a witch flying over a pumpkin patch where there was a haunted pumpkin, and ghosties springing out of the pumpkin in her wake. Did the witch summon them, or did they just decide to follow her?
Techniques used when making these cards were masking, sponging, coloring with markers, and fussy cutting. I used to enjoy fussy cutting very much. But let’s just say if I can’t see the end of the very sharp paper snaps I’m not enjoying it so much anymore.
What was fun was telling a story with these cards. Although I’ve been rubber stamping and making greeting cards since 2003, I have never used cards to tell a story. I have told a lot of stories on my scrapbook pages, using stamps, inks and paper; I tell stories when I write fiction, but I’ve never used cards to tell a story.
The first card in the series features the witch flying in from the left, over the pumpkin patch. She is followed by bats. As she flies over the haunted pumpkin, ghosts appear. The ghosts fly up to her. The last card in this series features the full moon and the bats and the ghosts. The witch has flown off, to wherever witches fly on Halloween.
It used to be easy, and now it’s not. But it’s still a little sip of joy. It is my hope that giving and receiving these cards will give others joy as well.