My Creative Things

It was about 15 years ago, when I wandered into a little store called "Works of Wonder" atistic rubber stamps, or "WOW" for short.  As I walked in the door, I couldn't help but wonder how a store like this would come about.  Seriously, what could someone do with a rubber stamp that could justify owning a store full of them?

I wandered through the store taking in all the little treasures; ink pads, sparkly things, brushes, markers, shelves and shelves of little wood mounted rubber designs...then I was greeted by Don.  When I asked him what you were supposed to do with all of this stuff he said, "You put ink on them and stamp...you make cards and stuff".  I picked up a block style, flower stamp off the shelf and asked, "How would you make these different colors?"  Don said, "Well, you could use markers to color the rubber" as he demonstrated with a swish, swish across the rubber and then frantically cupped his hands around it and made three big huffing breathes over it, then quickly pressed it down on the counter to demonstrate the perfect imprint.  (FYI, for the non-rubber stamper, the breath moisturizes the ink that by this time would most likely be dried) 

At this point, he seemed a bit overwhelmed by my lack of rubber knowledge and said, "This is my wife's store, she had to run out and do something. You should come back later and talk to her...she even has classes."  He handed me a newsletter and with that I bought my first rubber stamp, a couple of ink pads and headed home quite pleased with the whole experience.  A few days later, I returned to the store met his wife, Sandy.  We became friends instantly, 15 years and about 1200 rubber stamps later, paper crafting is still one of my favorite things to do.  Unfortunately, WOW closed about seven years ago.   It was a lot of fun teaching classes, helping pick the inventory lines and just hanging out with the ladies, sharing ideas.  I really miss that little store.

Although, I don't have nearly as much time to play in the art studio (known to others as the messy basement), I cherish the moments that I do.  Since Olivia loves to play in the art studio too, I don't always have the luxury of getting lost in a project like I used to; sometimes I just enjoy the luxury of perusing through all the wonderful papers, sparkly glitters, stickers, inks and yes, all those fabulous Cricut cartridges while she's busy cutting, gluing and painting or whatever else she can get her hands on.  We don't worry about messes in our art studio; the glitter is brushed onto the floor along with the paper scraps, and as far as the paint splatters go, we admire those just like the art hanging on the walls.

If you look to the right side of this post, I have photos of a journal I created for one of my friends.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to add it to a "page", so for now, it will have to be over there on the side.