Girls in the Woods

A couple of days ago when I was on the bus I notices a huge chunk of bright orange fungi on a tree trunk by the side of the road. I couldn't get a good closer look though because the bus was going too fast, but I was so intrigued and decided to pay a visit the next day after the rain.

Look at it. Just look at it.

The creature (or creatures, maybe?) was just breath-taking. It's about 60cm/2 feet tall I showed the photo to one of my mushroom-expert friends and was told that this belongs to the species of...(*drumrolls) Laetiporus sulphureus. Here's what Wikipedia says:

"Laetiporus sulphureus is a species of bracket fungus (fungus that grows on trees) found in Europe and North America. Its common names are sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and chicken of the woods. Its fruit bodies grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. ..."

Part of me really wanted to eat it but alas, it's just too beautiful.

Why am I writing about mushrooms and whatnots on a craft blog, you ask? Because 1) nature is awesome and 2) it is probably as inspiring as it gets! 

Another thing to love about the woods: randomness.

Onto the craft part of the blog... the first custom stamp I made last week was one for little Laura. Her family friend Victoria is a repeat customer of mine. For Laura's birthday, Victoria requested a custom Ex Libris stamp to personalize the little girl's book collection. 

Laura is a dark-haired girl who loves nature; for her stamp, I designed a girl in her likeness, wearing a garland made of bay laurel leaves (her namesake) with a little bird standing on her hand. 

I found this lovely piece of shell-shaped wood in my wood stump box and just had to design the stamp based on the amazing organic shape. Really happy with how it turned out!

The stamp measures app. 2.6" tall.

Another one I made is a portrait stamp for Jenny. She's my only customer from Brunei and I've made so many stamps for her I lost count:p This one is the prize from the last custom portrait stamp giveaway on my Facebook page (yes, I give out free stamps, even custom ones - so if you've not been there, you should!).

As you may have noticed, I love creating custom stamps based on the shapes of the wood mount. It just feels natural and... right.

Apart from these two stamps, I also sent orders to Cerritos CA, Albuquerque NM, Seattle WA, Gaithersburg MD, Wiltshire U.K., London, Santiago, Chile last week, to name just a few. I can't describe how happy I am when I pop the brown paper bags in the yellow post box, knowing how far they'll travel. 

Here's how the Swedish post boxes look. They are yellow and blue (blue ones not shown here) like the national flag.

Btw, did you know you could see a real-time map of where my last 20 orders went? It's here - on the bottom of the page - and it's my favorite little secret gadget on the site.

That's all for now! As some of you might know, I'm moving to a new crib early next month so if you order custom stamps later than June 28th, I most likely won't be able to ship it around July15th, so that's app. 17 days rather than my usual 7 day turnaround for custom orders.

Have a nice mid summer to you all! Ha en trevlig midsommar:)

Smallest Stamps Ever

Ever wonder what's the smallest stamp I make?

Christy from Round Pound Winery in Rutherford, California sent me a request for some teeny tiny stamps to use on their wine menu. Here are the stamps I made for her!

So exactly how small are these little ones are? More pictures (featuring a lovely yellow ruler) after the jump!

This Cider House Rules!

A few weeks back I got a request for a new logo for the Cider House, a group of importers of premium English Ciders to Denmark. As of now, the logo I designed for them is right on the top left corner on their website!

The client requested a logo design together with a custom stamp made and pictures to be taken during the process so here they are! Read on for loads of pictures showing me making the stamp after the jump.

New Yeeeeear!

We celebrated the Chinese New Year this monday! 

It's the year of dragon and it's my year. Chinese people believe that you're to expect bad luck in your own year, which is why your family members and friends give you accessories or jewelry that are gold or red to ward off evil. I got a package from my mom a couple of weeks back so now I have a red bracelet with a gold dragon pendant on it, and ten red socks from my family:D And my roommate got me a huge red shawl for Christmas, so I'm feeling pretty protected now!

Here're some pictures I took of the fireworks over the City Hall and old town of Stockholm on the (Western) New Year's eve. 

How did you spend New Year's?

And some recent custom stamps:

Deep Autumn, or Early Winter

I've been incredibly busy recently. Apart from my shop, I'm: 

1) taking a Swedish course everyday

2) making a business plan for my shop here in Stockholm

3) helping out on an anthology which will be published by the English Department.

It's getting dark early now and after I bike home everyday from my Swedish course there's almost always a splendid sunset outside my window. The orange/red/purple sky reminds me of the Lion King somehow:)

My roommate discovered some mini prosciutto ravioli in a local organic food store. I tried some today for lunch with my regular chicken breast salad and it's just sooooo yummy. Some greens, a tomato, cooked ravioli and chicken breast pan-fried in olive oil plus the usuals, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Need I say more?

New Custom Portrait Stamp

New custom stamp!

I'm really grateful for customers like April - she's super informative, helpful and just fun to work with. And I'm happy with how the stamp turned out, especially the comic book/retro vibe.

Except for stamp making, I'm cycling a lot recently. Having lost my unreasonably expensive bus card a few weeks ago, I now realize that it might not be a bad thing after all. I pass by this amazing lake every time I go to school, and am always amazed by how mirror-like the water surface is under the clear summer sky.

Winter Stockholm

Winter Berlin was a photo set by Mattias Heiderich I saw last year (and have been haunted––in a good way––ever since).

Then this winter I've been thinking about taking photos of winter Stockholm. It's been snowing like crazy (as usual) and it's only yesterday that I finally took my camera out. So here're a couple of pictures of my neighborhood, Lidingö, an quiet little island in the northeast of Stockholm.

Enjoy:)

Deer and Stamps

The second snow this year fell this morning. I was making tea in the kitchen when I saw this roe deer in the our back yard.

We have deers visiting almost every winter. A couple of nights ago I opened my window and saw a unicorn staring at me in the darkness...

Here are a few stamps (and yes, my third unicorn stamp already) I made yesterday. Gonna list them later in the shop!

Momma Told Me

It's Chinese Mid-Autumn Day today, a day for family reunion and, well, mooncakes!

My friend Kun is so good as making delicacies like these and I had the opportunity to be the first one to taste her creation. Yum!

Since I'm in Stockholm and all my family are back in China, the reunion part of Mid-Autumn Day this year can only happen thanks to Skype:)

Oh, some amazing news: my little shop has been featured on this amazing blog, Momma Told Me. You'll have the chance to win a custom stamp or any stamp of your choice in my shop if you have some luck. Click on the link to the blog to check out how!