gg designs' Gazette

Rubberstampchat Convention is Now Closed!

Did you drop buy? (Pun intended!)
Did you score any special bargains
or
Any new "gadgets" to make your stamping life easier....or at least, more fun?

While you were there, did you visit any of the chat or game rooms? 

If not, you may have missed some interesting tips and tricks.  

Stampin Stacy, a frequent contributor and Senior Member of Rubberstampchat presented a clever use for rubber scraps, for those of you who buy unmounted stamps.


Don't want to spoil the fun so we will talk next week about some similar home made "tools" and ask about some of your favorites.


Meanwhile check out the "Reception Hall" at Rubberstampchat
for Stacy's great tip!
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Welcome to all you new folks who responded to our request and signed up to receive notices when this Gazette is updated. You can always opt out later but we are glad to have you join us.

We appreciate the time you took to browse gg designs' Catalog and tell us what images are your favorites.

(If you included you mailing information, your sample stamps are on the way. If not, please send your snail mail information.)

We had hoped to use the information to make decisions about consolidating and reducing the size and simplifying the catalog. That will still happen but the choices were so "all over the place" that we are not sure what to ditch and what to save. We'll no doubt be asking for your help throughout the revision process.

The stamp mentioned most often as a favorite was: Elizabeth's Sunflower!


















Samples shown are by Wanda (Hentges) and Yogi (Grunwald). Names familiar to most of you. There are many more samples in the catalog.

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With all the Convention Shopping are you "stamped out" yet? (Or, can that ever really happen?)

Even though we are a stamp company, it's OK to know that there are "other" ways to make art besides stamps!

Michelle Morlan proves this constantly. Though an excellent carver (who is ready soon to branch out and market her own line of stamps) Michelle in no way limits herself. 

A check of her site (see sidebar) will show you how versatile and creative she is.

But so you don't have to "walk so far," she has loaned us some images of one of her recent creative forays, of which she writes: no stamps used but they were fun anyway!












 

And, while this may look like a lovely painting, it's an actual bouquet.......but not of actual flowers!

A visit to her site will reveal the secret and the technique and also give you larger, clearer pictures of the Mothers Day cards above.

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Found Items/Favorite Materials, etc.


Though we will be returning to this theme often, Michelle's flowers above reminded us of a show in a Gallery in Berkeley, California years ago.


An entire exhibition consisted of framed "Japanese Kimono's," made of used coffee filters! Not the "home" variety, but the huge ones used by commercial kitchens.


The artist routinely collected the used coffee filters, dried them, pressed them and used them as the basis for her elaborate ceremonial robes. The variety of hues from the coffee made a lovely beginning and the stains seemed to inspire the complex designs overlaid on them.


This was art, not craft and it was done years before recycling became a household word.


Michelle's surprise bouquet brought this (pleasant memory) to mind. If serious artists can see the beauty in them and choose to use mundane materials to create their works, why can't we?


Give it some thought.


Though gg designs wouldn't necessarily like to become known as the "tight wad terror" of the stamping world, (we are as guilty as anyone of buying way too many of the latest gadgets and products) we would like to be able to spur everyone on to "make do with" and "use what you've got."
Not just for the economy of it, but for establishing the habit of seeing the beauty around us in unexpected places.

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Didn't mean to go on so......this is as good a place as any to say thank you for visiting.......drop us a line or a comment.........and see you next week.


gg designs
Charlotte