Sunshine Mama: craft fail...almost (label making)

Yep, I have those moments. I had seen a post by Hilda (she has been so sweet) at handmade therapy for making your own labels. It was one of those hand slapping the forehead things, so simple yet so GENIUS! I've been dragging my feet at starting my etsy shop, and one of the reasons was not having a way to label my products. I thought this would be an awesome solution. I remembered ordering a rubber stamp from VistaPrint back when I got my address labels and business cards (btw, you can often score free products there, although I think their shipping is a little high). The only trouble was that it was one of those self inking stamps, hmm. I brought it up to my hubby and before I even knew it, he was pulling that little sucker apart and "rescued" the rubber stamp part! Wahoo! That meant I didn't have to spend the extra time/money for a new one. My hubby was even more sweet and genius by sticking the stamp back into the handle portion of the stamp, wedging it with shims of all things and securing it with a little glue. I love how handy my man is!

Here is where I get to my "fail". The only matte ribbon I could find at Joann's was grosgrain ribbon. Then, I used WAY too much paint so that my felt was kind of soggy and I just couldn't get the right amount on my stamp. I was afraid that the lettering on my stamp was just too small and I would have to get another one. )= This is how they turned out.*sigh* blurry, patchy...just unusable

I was discouraged, so I went back and read Hilda's post as well as the comments. She mentioned in a comment that she used Bobbin Ribbon from Micheal's (in the scrapbooking section, seen here). They came in pretty small spools, so I picked up both a cream and a white, they were only $.99 each (less if you use a coupon).

Here is a tip for you, I had used a LOT of paint the first time around and didn't want to waste it. My hubby and I have done a lot of painting in our home and he regularly wraps paint brushes/cans/trays in foil to cut off the air and keep the paint from hardening. I used some Glad press 'n seal and stuck my paint in the fridge, several days later it was still usable!

Anyway, back to the crafting. This time I put a second piece of felt over my already saturated piece and tentatively started stamping. This time it WORKED!!! I am so excited to have labels for my products now! I feel like I am one step closer.