Centering Template for Cutting Shapes from Digi Stamps on Cricut

I was dealing with the challenge of positioning digi-stamp images when I came up with this solution.

I like to create cards and more with my cutting machine. I have a Cricut Expression and it allows for centering an image inside a shape. But what if I have several images on one sheet of cardstock? I would have to pre-trim items and centering exactly often required several trial and errors. So I developed this Centering Template - it also allows me to quickly and easily measure images so I can also be sure the image will fit inside the shape, as well as perfectly centered.

I've given the tutorial here as a set of images. Just click on the image to enlarge for directions.

Digi-stamps and Scrap Art Coming Soon!

A long time ago, before college and a lot of other major life changes...I designed art rubber stamps. I designed for several stamp companies, and was a published crafts designer and artist. Anna Banana Justice from West Virginia.

When I designed stamps and crafts projects, my greatest thrill was in seeing others use my images or ideas to create their own artwork. I kept the pages of published cards and more created by others using images I had created. Thank you notes and gifts from fans of my illustrations. I love creating artwork, but most of all, I like sharing it.

While in college, I studied art, photography and graphic design. So, after graduation, I am going to apply all my skills and will be doing so through digi-stamps, a digital version of a rubber stamp! But not just images to print and color, you will see image sets, as well as digital scrapbook supplies. Images will be available for download via email, as well as bundled on CD.

Crafting and Decorating

The top photo is a Faux Japanese silk screen I created for my apartment's living room. I believe decorating should not require a huge bank account. Also, the fact I made this myself, not only do I have a sense of pride, but it is more than just a decorative piece, it is a piece of myself.

The screen started as three inexpensive pre-stretched canvas panels from a local bargain outlet store (hint: big orange punctuation mark in their signage) that cost $7 a piece. Other items required were craft paints (bought on sale at a chain store for 49 cents a bottle), foam and various craft brushes (variety pack for under $5), lots of masking tape, pencil, and some mending plates.

The background was created by mixing a pearlescent glaze in white, copper and a bright metallic gold paint. The canvases already had a coat of gesso. I used a large chip brush (2 in wide) and applied layers of glaze mixture going in vertical and then horizontal strokes. This gave the effect of raw silk.

I then masked the edges and painted them flat black to mimic the lacquer frames on authentic Japanese silk screens. (Note: traditional screens are even numbers and silk painted and stretched on lacquered wood frames). I used a pencil and ruler to create the bamboo - I used to have this variety in my backyard and took the colors and form from the photos I took.

A dry brush technique is easy to master and gives the bamboo it's dimension. A bit of bright crimson gives my initials a calligraphy look. A couple coats of satin varnish and a thin line of gold leafing pen on the edges finish off the piece.

The key to this is project is simplicity. Bamboo signifies long life, strength and growth.

Not everyone is confident with handpainting. This look could be duplicated by using stencils or projecting an image and tracing.

I don't just paint, sometimes a simple accent finishes a room. The second image is a set of vinyl wall cutouts I made using my Cricut machine and a couple cartridges. My bedroom is decorated in a very romantic style, hints of Paris here and there.

It is an apartment and the lighting is very utilitarian, and I am limited on the number of "holes" that can go in a wall. The vinyl removes very cleanly, so my security deposit is safe. I wanted an old world feel, so I made a shield shape and applied my monogram over the top. The fixture shape falls right where the light hits the wall.

This project took less than a hour to complete. I hope these two projects have inspired you.

Happy Halloween - still life and assemblage

The still life was for a photography class on lighting. It was done as a bit of fun for the instructor.
The second is the interior of an assemblage / shadow box I created to decorate my home for halloween. I have a "thing" for Joseph Cornell's assemblage pieces.
There is a new shadow box piece for this year, it needs only the photos printed and added to be complete.

New Blog, another New Adventure

I've been absent from the crafting community that birthed me as an artist for quite some time. Yet, echoes still filter through every now and then. I realize that my work and my former nom de plume still float in the web-verse and are remembered by many. I find I'm picking up those forgotten threads, viewing them with new eyes, and new ideas, a new mindset and a new life.

I am the artist formerly known as Anna Banana Stamps. I designed stamps for several companies, even my own for a very brief time, sadly some of those companies no longer exist. I was published in all the popular rubber stamping/ paper crafting magazines and sadly some of those are no longer in print. I still have the stamp sets (mostly), the samples and tear sheets. I am ashamed to admit, much of it gathers dust in a box under a bed or in the back of a closet. I have albums of ATCs I traded, and scrapbooks of travels and memories. Boxes, frames, scrapbooks and more of art, photography...

I sold supplies and held classes and workshops in my own home. From there I went to work in a scrapbook retail store, a boutique that was shut down in 2007, after I started classes at college. I finished my degree - working in various portrait studios and even as a traveling portrait photographer. For a brief time, I worked as an image editor / photographer for an online retail store. While in school, my art became a class assignment or quick holiday cards and gifts for loved ones. Its circle shrank for a while. I even thought of putting it away altogether.

I had many life changes besides earning my Bachelors degree at 42. My two sons grew up and left the nest, and a difficult marriage ended. I met a wonderful man who brightens my world unlike any other. Some relationships and friendships ended, others were reconciled, and new ones cherished.

Life isn't so much a circle as a spiral, things may look similar, but are different problems or blessings to be reconciled.

I started selling, designing and submitting my art following a serious car accident, while I dealt with some serious health issues. 5 dark years were followed by 5 wonderful, bright years. A recent accident has posed a challenge, but I have conquered it once, I have faith I will again. And what will get me through? Art of course. Art for arts sake.