Stamp Love

September 27, 2015

My obsession with rubber stamps started a couple years ago during the height of my arts and crafts phase. They came in handy when I realized I could just buy blank kraft paper cards and make my own birthday/thank you/holiday cards, I was relived I didn't have to look endlessly in the greeting card aisle at Target anymore.
And then I found this cute rubber stamp carving kit online and was taken back to junior high art class.
The carving stamp kit comes with 5 blades, one 2-sided blank stamp block, ink, pencil, tracing paper, templates and a muslin bag. Once you trace your desired design onto the stamp block, you carve away the areas that will not be visible by the ink.

It takes a little bit of patience but once you've create your own custom design, the stamp is reusable for many cards in the future.

I briefly talked about carving stamps last Christmas; carving also works on rubber erasers if you're frugal like me and want to carve small stamps for ornaments or small gift tags.

Some hints on carving:
  • This Carve-A-Stamp kit from Yellow Owl Workshop comes with a great variety of carving tools: from very narrow to large, you can be quite precise in your carving. I highly recommend! 
  • If you use the kit and trace a design from the Yellow Owl Workshop, it's easy to just carve away your pencil markings. However, if you design your own, like I did with the cupcake above, you have to thoroughly plan ahead to carve away all the areas that you want to be negative (white) space. You can shade those areas darker with a pencil to make carving easier. 
  • Strong muscles aren't needed with the carving tool. It glides easily across the rubber surface. 
  • Always keep your fingers behind the carving tool. I am forever scarred from 7th grade art class when my friend Tiffany cut herself on these carving tools and then ran to the nurse's office. You have been warned!
  • This step-by-step tutorial is a better guide through the carving process. 
Some of my favorite supplies:
  1. Carve-A-Stamp Kit
  2. Vintage Alphabet Lowercase Rubber Stamps
  3. All Purpose Stamp Cleaner
  4. Kraft Paper Blank Cards & Envelopes
  5. Extra Carve Blocks

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