rubber soul blog

sunprints * part one

for years i've been wanting to do sunprints, and one day last month everything seemed to align just right: 

one day off + a sunny day + a hankering to be creative + one very zen deck = sunprint success!

the only other things needed were a bowl/tray of water, and finding some fine plant specimens from the yard, which was half the fun.

 

to make the sunprint, you just need to place an object on top of the sunprint paper, blue side up, and then hold it in place by covering it with the acrylic sheet. leave it to cook in the sun for a few minutes, then you are ready to give it a bath in some clear water for only a minute.

once immersed in the water, you'll see the print begin to develop. 

it was fun poking around the yard looking for just the right "designs" to use for my prints. here i used italian and curly parsley. the little purple flowers in the photo at the top are from my catmint plant.

i was particularly taken by this lovely greenery, which appeared to happily be living in its own weed patch in the shaded corner of the yard. the shape very much reminds me of a lotus flower, so i made several prints with this one.

i laid them on the deck to dry, one by one as they came out of their water bath, and enjoyed the decorative feel my deck was taking on.

 then i apparently started to lose my zen focus, and was printing anything within reach of my little creative station on the deck. pokey is always close by as he monitors all progress of the potted tomatoes, herbs, and snap peas. good pokey.

 

now that i have a nice stack of these lovely prints, i haven't quite decided yet what to do with them, but i assure you when i do, i will post a "part two."

the sunprint kits come in two ways: one that has a dozen of the print paper sheets plus an acrylic piece that is helpful, and the other kit is a refill of another dozen sheets of print paper. it also comes in a set of full-size sheets, which will be my next session out on the zen deck. i hope you get a chance to try this - it was very calming, and i always feel rewarded when i can be outside on a sunny day AND crafting. bliss indeed.

it's a hot one, this week up here in the pacific northwest. oh no, we aren't complaining, we wouldn't dare, but we tend to look a bit wilted around here when it dips into the upper 80/lower 90 temps - we just haven't been properly acclimated in the preceding months. and so it goes....the search for ways to cool off. fred's been spotted playing in fountains, and jumping into the puget sound......brrrrrrr. i just love this set of images together, and the silliness of it. and for those of you who don't already know, this penguin is named after my niece hayley, who is even lovelier than this superstar rubber soul stamp. she has sunshine and blue waters in her every cell, just like her daddy-o. sure do love you hayley belle!

catching waves

i'm a big fan of our waves stamp. best of all, it's on mega sale in the shop right now. i've used it in a bunch of different settings in the past, and here are just a few of my favorites:

^{i remember the first time someone came into the shop asking for an "i'm sorry" stamp. it struck me funny at the time that one would be sorry so many times that they would need a stamp, but it's a great seller, and i've certainly found myself needing one quite a bit too since then!}

_{^{this is one of my favorite quotes - it reminds me how good things can be when there is just a lot of nothing but quiet going on.}}

i love the graphic design of this bbq. i used orange glitter glue for the coals for that extra sizzle.....ha! *ba doom boom.*

^{i adore this one (can i say that if i made it?) it epitomizes everything that makes me happy in summer. i think we've finally hit our summer stride here in the pacific northwest - hope you are enjoying some sunshine wherever you are!}

summer lovin'

summer sure is sly. so much time is spent wishing wishing wishing for it to arrive up here in the pacific northwest, and then suddenly it's here, just like that it would seem.  it always feels so unexpected somehow. but when it arrives, we covet each sunny day we get, honoring the dry days and warm rays by spending as much time as possible outdoors during the fleeting season. and if i can't be playing outside, well then making cards with our sunny summer set feels like the next best thing. 

i love this card because it perfectly sums up MANY years of my life growing up near the pacific ocean. day after day through my summer vacations, i lived on a beach towel, and had all the most important beach-going wares in a bag that looked oddly identical to this one. i created the flower patterned look of the bag here by stamping the bag stamp onto a paper from our meadow's edge pack, then cutting out just the front facade of it and adhering it onto the second version i stamped onto the card itself. the towel i just cut loosely by hand, and the sun and little flowers were created with punches.

on this card, i stamped the beach ball on white, cut it out, and adhered it with foam mounting tape for a bit of dimension. i like this combination of colors, and adding a bit of diamond sparkle glitter glue gives it that simple finishing touch that seems to complete the card.

speaking of beach balls, we drove out to a quiet park on saturday, and here was this one, all by itself on a big open area of grass, not a kid in sight to claim it. 

looking lonely, and out of place, so far from the place of it's namesake. even though i didn't take it, it felt like a treat somehow to find it nonetheless! here's hoping your summer is off to a good start.