In her recent blog post for MyBodyModel, Leanne walked us through how she uses her fashion croquis in her bullet journal sewing tracker to document each month’s sewn creations. Now with renewed sewjo and a custom rubber stamp, Leanne reveals how she brings her sewing bullet journal to life in a new and fun way!
First off, I want to send everyone a very big hug during this really unprecedented time in our lives right now. Between COVID-19 and trying to get everyone to realize how much Black lives really do matter, I know this is a really stressful, emotional time for everyone. Before corona hit I was in such a sewing slump, but fast forward a few months and the inspiration to create has slowly started to come back. I hope I never take it for granted again.
I’ll be honest; before a week or two ago, I hadn’t touched my sewing bujo since February, mostly because I haven’t really sewn since February. But when that inspiration came back and I started sewing again, I ordered something in the mail for my journal that really got me excited.
Straight up, my least favorite part of my sewing journal is having to cut out the tiny croquis to glue into their boxes. The dedicated part of me would stress herself out when it came to getting every single piece of paper from between the hands. So when the idea of getting the croquis made into a custom stamp came up, I was more than intrigued.
The only other time I’ve dealt with getting a custom stamp was for my wedding Save the Dates and our address return label, so I was curious about how it would translate to a MyBodyModel croquis.
I’m familiar with using Etsy anytime I want to buy custom, so that’s where I started looking. Searching “custom rubber stamp” turned up a lot of results with very similar pricing. I know small businesses can be more expensive because all the work is done on a smaller scale, but I liked that I was supporting someone who appreciated it. I also think that with a smaller business it’s easier to work with them to make sure the stamp would be exactly what I wanted.
Custom stamp pricing all depends on what size stamp you want. To get an estimate on what size would work for my layout, I measured the inside of the box where I normally glue my croquis. In my bullet journal I draw a box that is 13 dots x 20 dots, and I ended up choosing a stamp that was 3 x 2 inches in size. I tested it in my layout, and I’m really excited that it works well in that space.
The shop I ended up using was SayaBellStamps, and they had the option for buying an unmounted stamp so you could use an acrylic block if you wanted. My mom is big into the Scrapbook/paper world, so I knew an acrylic stamp would be a good option, as it lets you see exactly where they stamp will go, and you can change stamps out on the block if you have any other ones you want to use (a great option if you want to swap between your hand-on-hip and arms-down posed croquis, or your front view and back view croquis).
The process was pretty quick and very easy:
- After you purchase a custom stamp (the exact listing I used is this one: Custom Stamp), you email your design. I just took a screen shot of one of my front-view croquis from the printable sewing journal pages you receive with your MyBodyModel croquis download. Another option is to send your JPEG image file from your MyBodyModel Purchased Files in your online Portfolio.
- Then, wait for the proof to get sent back. Once the proof is sent to you, if everything looks good (nothing was wrong with mine!), then it will start being made and then get shipped to you.
- I ordered my stamp pretty late in the evening on May 27th and received it on June 8th, so that’s about a 7-8 business day turnaround.
Bottom photo: Squeezing a bunch of croquis on the same page for a quarantine catch up section.
I’m already obsessed with using this in my sewing journal. Something about the stamp making it look like I actually drew the croquis, as opposed to it very obviously being something I cut out and glued on, makes the pages seem that much more seamless.
My quarantine catch up page (which honestly started out as me testing out how many croquis I could fit on my page) has inspired me to find more ways to have pages that are just full of stamped croquis… maybe sewing brainstorming pages? An outfit planning page? It would have been great for Me Made May documenting if I had actually participated this year!
If you have ideas for pages like that, please let me know. I would love to hear them.
Are you tempted to get a custom rubber stamp made?
If so, and you want to use the same shop I did, the owner gave us a 10% code – just put in “CROQUI20” when you checkout.
I would love to see your stamped croquis! I’ll be stalking the #mybodymodel hashtag on Instagram, so please share if you decide to get one too.
Happy stamping!
Leanne
For more inspiration, check out how Michelle uses custom body model stamps in her bullet journal to design and plan her sewing projects!
Did you enjoy this post? Please pin and share!
Leanne is a native New Orleanian who currently calls Phoenix home with her husband and two cats. She began sewing over 2 years ago and it’s quickly become an integral part of her self care journey. Sewing has given Leanne so much self confidence and self love, and she’s proud to say that the only RTW items in her wardrobe are undergarments and jeans- something she hopes to tackle in 2020. Leanne’s favorite thing to do while sewing is listen to podcasts or catch up on her latest show obsession. In 2019 Leanne taught herself to quilt and knit, and she’s excited to add these crafts to her arsenal along with garment sewing. You can follow along on all of her crafty adventures on Instagram or her blog.
7 thoughts on “My Sewing Bullet Journal: Creating a Custom Rubber Stamp with my Body Model Croquis”
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea!
Thank you so much Linda! Make sure to share pictures on Instagram if you get your own stamp. 🙂
My. Mind. Is. Blown. Holy cow!!! What a brilliant idea!! I’m seriously in love with this. Way to get your sewjo back! Off to order a stamp for myself.
Thinis fantastic!! How do you attach your stamp to the acrylic block? Where fo you bu an acrylic block?
Hi Lisa! When you get the unmounted stamp it comes with a peel off on the back and when you peel that off it’s sticky and you just stick it on! I’m fairly sure you can switch between stamps too if you have other unmounted stamps you want to use on the acrylic.
I got my acrylic block from the same shop I purchased my stamp, but they are available at any craft store and even home improvement stores, though I’m not certain on what the sizes would be there.
Awesome, thank you!! I’m excited to give this a try! 🙂
Pingback: Serenity + Sewing Journal - Love Notions Sewing Patterns