Stamp Making

Even though I used to scrapbook, I have never once thought about making a personalized stamp. To tell the truth, I didn't even know you could make stamps until about a week ago - yep, I might have been living under a rock. But after making my free paint chip business cards, I was in desperate need of a stamp.

I looked online and was going to buy a stamp, but I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of spending about $25 dollars on a stamp that I might not use a lot since this is a trial run. So with a little google-ing and pinterest-ing, I decided to DIY a stamp. The supplies needed to make a stamp are carving tools, pencil, and stamp carving block. I picked up everything at Hobby Lobby while it was 30% off.

First step is to get the graphic onto the carving block. I used the old pencil and trace method to transfer an image. Be sure that you make the graphic reverse since it will stamp backwards.

There are two different ways to carve a stamp - one is the graphic sticks out (like normal stamps where you only see the graphic when stamped) and the other is the graphic is carved in and the background is the ink color when stamped. That explanation is bad, but I carved both ways and like the not-normal stamp better.

After your graphic is transferred, get to carving. I found that it works best to use the smalled carving tool to outline the graphic first. Then use the larger tools to cut away the big sections. Also, turn the carving block instead of the carving tools. Trust me, you can get more detailed by turning the block.

Carving didn't take long. I made two different stamps in about 20 minutes...not too bad for a first timer. The hardest to carve was the more detailed one, of course. And my stamps are on the small size since the paint chips are business card size.

Now I need to make a stamp for the backside of the cards with the website and contact info. Shouldn't be hard to do now that I know how. Have y'all made any stamps?

Psst - I watched this video to help me get started - it is long but detailed. I didn't record making my stamps since I don't have a tripod and need two hands to carve.