Whimseybox #1: Pinter*Mel's First Whimseybox Adventure

There's this rad company in the called Whimseybox, (you may remember my blog post about founder Alicia DiRago) which will send you a box each month filled with items you'll need to complete an awesome DIY craft. 

I had the pleasure of receiving my very first box at the beginning of October. It's packaging was absolutely splendid. 

And the box itself is a VERY useful storage container for this project and the rest of my stamps. 

The craft this month: Hand-carved Stamps. Within the box there were a set of instructions, a piece of rubber, ink, 5 cards and envelopes, a spatchula thingy, and a very nice carving gouge. 

First order of business was to find a design that wasn't too intricate so I could actually manage to carve it out of the rubber. Having never used a carving gouge before I was skeptical I could pull this off. 

I decided to go with my tried and true toilet paper roll flower, which I've done before here and here. 

Firstly I traced the rubber block on a piece of paper. 

Then I placed the centre of my flower using my trusty hole-punch and a paint sample. 

Then I started tracing (must be with pencil!) the petals with a piece of folded toilet paper roll. 

Then you have to go back over all the lines with your pencil so they're really dark - this will help the design to transfer onto the rubber. 

Then cut it out. 

Place design-side down on the rubber and "burnish"...which after looking up I learned meant "hold down and rub vigorously". So yeah, do that. 

When you remove the piece of paper, the design should now be transferred onto your piece of rubber! 

Now here comes the difficult part; and it was only difficult because I had never used one of these gouge tools before. It reminded my of my first foray into using a razor to cut out intricate design. 

Start carving out all the negative space; so anything you don't want ink to get on. 

Yeah, things got pretty messy

[Pro Tip: Clean up the mess before you get into the ink. You don't want chunks.]

Take a spare piece of cardboard or a paper plate, the ink (provided), and the spatchula thingy (provided) and distribute an even layer of ink on the surface the size of your stamp. 

Grab a couple spare pieces of paper to test on. Put your carved stamp design-side down into the ink, press firmly everywhere so make sure that the ink is distributed evenly and that any air bubbles get lost. 

I used the spatchula to apply ink to any areas on the stamp that may have gotten missed. 

Then test! 

Press down EVERYWHERE!!!

Meh, could be better. I tried a few more times; trying to perfect the paint-to-stamp ratio until I felt comfortable enough to make a card with the cards provided! 

Before: 

After: 

Yay!!! It worked! There were only a couple air bubbles/areas where I didn't press down hard enough, but overall I like the look, although I think I used too much ink.  

Once it dried enough, the this ink does dry pretty quickly, I took one of my pre-fab stamps and made sure everyone knew this was my handy work. 

Tada!!!

I just have to decide who to send it to! 

This was a super fun project, and I can't wait to get my second Whimseybox in the mail in early November.

If Whimseybox is something that appeals to you I highly recommend signing up! AND, they just dropped their monthly box price back down to $15! These supplies would cost you at LEAST that much at Michael's or Deserres, and you don't get a kick ass box at the end to store all your stuff in! DO IT!!! 


Happy Crafting! 


Cheers, 

-Melissa

From DIY Craft Blogger to DIY Craft Entrepreneur

[soapbox] I want to live in a world where craft companies recognize and reward those who a) use their products (duh!), and b) dedicate time out of their busy schedule to be creative, let their inner artist come out to play, and encourage others to do so as well! [/soapbox]

It’s no secret that although DIY craft activity has exploded since the massive success of sites like Pinterest and Polyvore, being able to turn DIY crafting into a profitable business has yet to be reliably mapped out. I mean, how do you make money off doing something you do for fun, and mostly in your spare time?

Craft supply companies haven’t quite caught onto the DIY craft blogger marketing freight train yet, especially when you compare how companies like Nestle and Huggies/Pampers have sunk their hooks into the mommy blogger marketing machine.  Sure DIY craft blogs have been around for quite a while; however the exposure has been minimal up until recently (the last 2 years).

For the time being, crafters who wish to exploit their creativity and turn a profit, need to be equally industrious and have a knack for entrepreneurship (or at the very least know someone they can rely on to mentor them through the process)…oh, and have an original idea that will draw potential customers in! Fact: Coming up with original ideas is HARD!

Then I came across this article. Alicia DiRago owns WhimseyBox the DIY craft company she hatched out of her DIY fashion blog DismountCreative.com. WhimseyBox ships a selection of craft products to customers every month for $25. I just signed up and hope to get my box of goodies soon! I can’t wait! The article takes us through Alicia’s pitch day at Excelerate Labs’ 3^rd annual Demo Day, where she would be looking for $900,000 in venture capital to grow her business.  It offers a rare glimpse into what it takes to go from DIY craft blogger, to DIY craft entrepreneur.  The answer: A metric sh*t-ton of dedication and hard work, that’s what!

Perhaps it is a sign that DIY crafters are beginning to be recognized as a profitable market, albeit slowly and with a healthy dose of reserved investment, but recognized nonetheless.  If I had half the lady balls this woman has I wouldn’t think twice about quitting my cushy government job and pouring my life into a venture like this. Huge props to Alicia DiRago for making a bulletproof business case and paving the road forward for venture capital providers to begin investing in DIY craft start-ups. *high five*

I sincerely hope to see more of this in the near future!

Article: All Business on Demo Day – Businesswoman Alicia DiRago, a former gymnast, fights nerves by stays focused at Excelerate Labs’ pitch meeting with investors – August 30^th 2012