A Little Stamp Crazy

28 Comments

For Alt & BlogHer last year, I spent countless hours hand calligraphing the front of my business cards with “<3 Melissa”. I really liked how it turned out, adding a little handmade personal touch, but doing 100 at a time really flares up the wrist issues I got in 9th grade. I hate hand cramping. Instead of inflicting more discomfort (who needs more when you’ve got a giant wiggle worm in your belly?!), I decided to go an easier route. I made stamps.

Can you tell I’m a little obsessed?

I hand wrote my name & the heart, scanned it in & sent the graphics off. I separated the heart from my name for a couple of reasons; it was cheaper and I’ll get more use out of them! Instead of taking 2-3 hours hand writing on the exterior of 100+ biz card envelopes, it took about 15 minutes to stamp it all out. It was so wonderful to get that finished quickly AND without any hand pain. Ohh geez, I’m feeling old.

I love how they turned out. I was pretty excited about alternating colors within my blog scheme, so I sorta went to town. I love the girly rainbow of color, they match the colorful stickers I put inside.

Funny story: when I went to pick up my stamps, the guy helping me out was having a SUPER hard time finding my order. I had no idea what other names to give him, other than my email address & my first & last name. I said it’s for an order of two small stamps. One’s a heart & one has my name on it!! After about 5 minutes of searching he exclaimed, “Oh, it’s the gigantic order! Why didn’t you say so?”

Imagine a huge question mark above my head at that point. What? I had two small stamps made. I had no idea that was a big order. He pulled the stamps out for my approval & unveiled a 6″ heart. WHAT?? I told him the stamp was supposed to be 0.6 inches tall, not 6 inches tall! He retrieved my email of instructions & saw that the technicians had totally skipped over the “.” in my instructions. So now I have a 6 inch stamp and a 0.6 inch stamp.

It’s pretty handy that Valentine’s day is coming up soon! I’m sure I’ll find a use for it besides decorating my belly bump. What would you do with a 6 inch heart stamp?

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    1. Scissors says:

      Cute belly!

      Definitely hand stamped gift wrap or even tissue paper for Valentines day. The outside of a 6×9 envelope? Use fabric paint and stamp some Ts or onesies? So many possibilities!

    2. Brittany says:

      perfect use for your 6″ stamp! cute. and a hilarious mistake on the shop’s part.

    3. Sabrina says:

      Wow….that’s a big heart! Where did you get these made? I’d love to get some made for myself!

    4. angie says:

      LOL. that IS funny.. luckily its a cute heart and not something not-so-appropriate all blown up. haha

    5. Taylor says:

      Um, where are your stretch marks?!?! Not fair! I thought I was totally in the clear with no stretch marks until 36 weeks and then they came in full force! I lost all the weight and i STILL have them!! Ugh!

      Cute belly though! I’m excited to see what you do with that gigantic stamp!

    6. stacy says:

      i can’t believe your belly button isn’t poking out! mine looks like a weird bird beak – not pretty and no pictures will be posted of it on my blog, ha!

    7. Bellesme says:

      Hahahhha!! Did they send the other one for free because they got it wrong? Thats really nice though, I think everyone needs a heart half a foot long =) But doesn’t it need a stamp pad as well? =P
      Love the stamps!
      Bellesme

    8. Natalie says:

      Who do you use for stamp making? I have thought it’d be cool to make some up.

      I love the stamp on your belly, you look great

    9. A six-inch heart stamp. Awesome. I hope they at least gave it to you for free.

    10. amanda says:

      I must know (like some other fans of yours) where do you get your stamps made?

      I think it would be really cute if you took a couple pieces of patterned paper (white background) and used some of that bright colored ink to make a cute framed picture!

      Anything you do will be lovely–please share what you decide! :)

    11. Shaela says:

      BWAHAHAHA!!! that is too funny. But cool that you got a free stamp out of it! :) I don’t know what I would do with it… decorate gift wrap??

    12. andrea says:

      I would do what someone else suggested and make t-shirts! :)

    13. melissa says:

      okay, that was TOO funny! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stamp that big!? HA!
      good luck coming up with fun projects. If you were into wallpaper, you could stamp the wall like I remember my mom doing for my room back in the early 90’s… :)
      Good work.
      Cute stuff. Have lots of fun at Alt!

    14. Mandy Ford says:

      How funny! I was trying to picture how you drew that perfect heart on there. Definitely a happy accident! :)

    15. marissa says:

      i’d “wallpaper” a wall with it. or make my own stationery. or stamp my kids’ bellies with it. that photo is too cute, melissa!

    16. Pamela says:

      Just like Natalie, I am wondering what company made your stamps? Sounds local. I live in Utah County.

    17. Diane says:

      My sister had a friend who loved pigs. For her birthday, they decided to order her a cake decorated like a pig’s head. The person at the bakery misunderstood, and what they ended up with (somehow…) was a normal cake with ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PIGHEAD!’ written on it instead.

      A 6″ heart isn’t so bad…

    18. Laurel G says:

      haha! love the heart on your belly! hope they didn’t charge you for the big one!

    19. abby says:

      Good use for your 6inch stamp! Too funny.

      p.s. thanks for posting about your SIL’s blog. She’s such a clever and talented writer/story teller. She cracks me up.

      p.s.s I just posted about the thrifted chair I was telling you I had recovered.

    20. Jacqueline B says:

      Love the stamps!

      Where do you get them done?

    21. April says:

      Deck the walls in hearts. :D Cute. Love the heart on the baby bump. Too cute!

    22. Wendy says:

      Would also love to know where you get these done? And how pricey are they?

    23. Erin R. says:

      Hilarious story and a gorgeous baby bump. I’m a couple of weeks behind you in due date, but I don’t look nearly so cute. :o)

    24. julie r says:

      ha, how funny! i’d use it on some fabric – make some valentines-y pillows or something. or spice up a little shirt for little penelope!

    25. Padgett Hoke says:

      Hi Melissa,

      I just wanted to drop in quickly and thank you for the fantastic class this morning – I was already pretty inspired to learn calligraphy – but your class just shot the desire through the roof! I can’t wait to really dig in, put in the time & learn the art. You are such an inspiration! And, why am I just now relizing I haven’t been reading your blog – whaa? anyway, from a very big fan… thank you!

      Kindest,
      Padgett Hoke (your eager calligraphy student!)

    26. Felicity says:

      Hey! I awarded you a little somethin’. Check it out {here}! :)

      I think your baby belly is so cute! I really cannot wait to see how adorable your little one is! Love your blog, love your cuteness, love you! :)

    27. Victoria says:

      You are so freaken cute!!! It was a blast to thrift with you this weekend- thanks:)

    28. […] getting far more use out of the gigantic heart stamp than I previously had imagined! Today I whipped up a simple & festive heart banner to hang in […]

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