Stamp Makin

I think it was Ginger that commented on a stamp I made, writing that she would just love to learn how to make one of those for herself!

Well, here is a "Even a Monkey Could Do It" DIY post in the traditional style of Lisa. Welcome all you TM Lurkers! Boy, are you in for a treat! HA!

So to recap, sort of, the TM post that lead to this post. I showed everybody there the simple (read: "Lisa-Monkey") way to make your own stencil. But I thought it would be fun to take that a step further and make a stamp that could be used in conjunction with your stencil!

You will need:

- The stencil you made. Check out this post for some tips on that.

- A skinny Sharpie (mine was too fat...story of my life ;-)

- "Make Your Own Stamp" rubber & stamp carving knife. I bought a basic starter Speedball kit from Michaels.

Step One: Trace your stencil on to the rubber piece. And this is where my "testing things out first" comes in handy for you. Don't forget that when you eventually use this stamp, it will be backwards from how you are drawing it! So flip your stencil over and trace the wrong side! I did it wrong...yeah...

Step Two: Mark the areas that you are going to carve, just so you don't forget and get confused and carve the wrong area! Remember that you want the reverse of the stencil. So you want to carve the part on your stamp where the ink will show on the stencil.

It will make sense in a minute, I promise!

Step Three: Carve it out! This part takes a little bit of practice to get straight lines and everything. But I promise it is worth it. Go slow. Take your time. Follow the lines!

Once have carved out the innards, you can cut out the entire shape from your big block. I use craft scissors for this, then trim the edges with my carving tool.

And now you can stamp stamp stamp away! And turn this...

Into this!

Oh man...I am not going to get tired of this little set any time soon!

And here is that finished layout (again).

If any of you take any of these tips to heart I would LOVE to see the fruits of your labour! Link me up!!

Well...that was fun. Now I am off to bed!

later loves

(p.s. it's 10pm where I am. Y'know...in the past)