Stamp Swap + Katipunan Art Fest

I think that the next best thing to working on crafts is giving them away. And this is why I enjoy craft swaps. Last Oct 3, I was very happy to have been able to join Life After Breakfast‘s Stamp Swap during the Katipunan Art Festival. It was held at Ninyo Fusion Cuisine.

Alessa of LAB asked all participants to make ten stamps with an accompanying print or artwork each. Prints can be in any form and stamps and may be packaged however we like. I decided to pick a theme so it’s easier to make ten stamps and thought it should be something that tells a bit more about me. And because I love tea and usually do crafts with a cup or two, I figured I should just make tea cup stamps in different shapes and designs. Then, I mounted them on blocks, which I bought from Craft Avenue PH.

For the prints, instead of making the usual hand stamped postcards, I decided to make a little, functional artwork with different tea quotes. I scrounged around the house for stuff to use and found these tin can lids which I used to frame my tea artwork. I finished them off with a coat of fixative. Then I found magnet and wooden clips lying around the house which I stuck on the back of the tin can lids — and voila! Upcycled fridge art and decorative clips! To give the full tea time experience, I snuck in a bag of tea in every package too.

I really enjoyed making these and enjoyed meeting people at the stamp swap too! I, in return, received ten different stamps from ten different people and it’s really like receiving a part of them or their story. I hope those who received my stamps were just as delighted as I was making them and I do wish them all a pleasant tea time.

Afterwards, Kayo and I met up and decided to spend the rest of the day walking around Katipunan to enjoy the festival. And it really was fun! There were many interesting booths selling different handmade items and craft demos were happening every few hours. There was also some live painting, music and art exhibits to see and enjoy.

But I think what was really cool was bumping into so many people we know out there and getting to catch up with them (Unfortunately I have no photo, but we did see many friends from our Craft Parties at the festival!) . It was nice that Kayo got to meet many of my friends from the crafting community too. We ended up spending all day and most of the night, just hanging out with friends and people we just met talking about crafts and art and our lives in general.

I guess the magic of Katipunan Art Festival was in the way it was able to strengthen the art community in Katipunan and at the same time, gather people from many other places to do one thing in different ways — celebrate art. Kudos to my friend, Mansy Abesamis, and Katipunan Kreative for working so hard and doing so well in putting this event together. It really was an awesome day and I can’t wait for the next one!