A new pastime (AKA influenced by Instagram)

I rarely use Instagram these days - I've not posted anything myself in years and I just pop in occasionally to check on a few people that I follow. But Instagram still knows me well, and a few weeks ago I was shown a reel demonstrating a stamp punch. It caught my attention immediately! 

The stamp punch is a large craft punch that cuts paper or card into a little stamp shaped piece which can then be used for craft projects. In the video that I saw, the creator was using the stamp to cut out a little image which represented the day and then sticking it into a diary style journal. I loved it!

I thought about it for a while and then of course I forgot it. But the next time I logged into Instagram, there it was again, these algorithms really do know what they are doing! And so this time I treated myself to my very own stamp punch.

I have since been having a lovely time sitting down and making a collection of tiny stamp shaped pieces of paper. I never buy magazines so I'm limited to the free ones that come through the door, along with junk mail, catalogues, leaflets, food packaging and so on. My best haul came from the new Aldi catalogue which was filled with bunches of flowers for Mother's Day!

I don't even have a plan for what to do with them, I'm just gathering them in a little bowl. It's really satisfying to look at a large printed image and think about how you can crop it to make something small and perfect, and it's a really cosy and mindful activity. I'm thinking about making a large collage at some point, or else going with the daily picture diary approach.

(And just in case I have now become an influencer - here is an affiliate link to the punch that I bought - Rectangular postage stamp punch!)