Feather Eraser Stamp (hand-carved)

All wrapped up and ready to send to a lovely woman who inspires me
(I forgot to take a photo of the stamp itself before wrapping it up... oops! :-)

Have you tried carving your own stamps from erasers yet?
It's so much fun! I love using them in art journals, on cards, envelopes, and other paper crafts.
They also make wonderful, personal gifts.
Vinyl erasers work best and if you think you'll do this more than a few times, it's totally worth the money to buy a linoleum cutter (also called Lino cutter). I have the Speedball one shown in this photo.


It has a number of different tips to choose from and I find it very handy how they can all be stored in the handle. No chance of losing them. You can carve stamps using utility/exacto knives but a cutter like this is much safer and sooo much easier.
After only a few stamps, it will have paid for itself. I tried a few different kinds of vinyl erasers before settling on one I liked. This one cuts like butter. So smooth. And it's not scented - unlike most that I tried. Ick.

There are many tutorials online. Here are a few(note that you can also use carving blocks sold at art or printing stores. It's nice to begin with erasers because they are so cheap you may be less held back by fear of messing up!):
I saw this video of Geninne's only after I carved my feather stamp. Hers is amazing! (of course :)
Geninne in action

non-video tutorial part 1
non-video tutorial part 2

I confess that I don't have the patience to draw the design first and transfer it onto the eraser as shown in those tutorials. I draw directly on the stamp or just freehand it without drawing at all.

*Tips*

1. If you wear a cotton glove on the hand holding the stamp, you're less likely to get cut if you slip. This may seem unnecessary but it's totally worth it in my opinion :) Those blades are supr sharp.
2. If you will be carving curved lines, it's much easier to have the eraser on a small piece of paper that can slide around easily - then you can twist/turn the eraser itself as you go around corners rather than trying to move the cutter in a smooth, curved line.
3. Start gently. You can always cut deeper later but you can't add back parts you've removed!
4. When you are first getting the hang of this art, you can use all sides of the eraser to practice on. It will save money and be kinder to the environment.
5. If you create any kind of mixed media art, you can also save the shavings you carve off the eraser, mix them with glue or gel medium, and create very funky background textures for paintings etc.

Have fun!

Hand Stamped Wrapping Paper

I had so much fun decorating the wrapping paper for this gift and wanted to share a picture with you of the final result.
I'm normally too much of a perfectionist and it gets in the way of me enjoying some artsy/craftsy things.  This time I somehow turned off the inner critic and just had fun!  Nothing is really even, the wrapping job is a bit lumpy... and I don't care LOL!

The stamps: the star stamp was hand-carved from an eraser.  The rest were store bought from Michaels.
The ink: inexpensive dye-based stamp pads - also from Michaels.  The silver dots on the trees were added by hand with a new gel pen I am loving.
The paper: I have supplements shipped to me by mail and I always save the packing paper to re-use.  It is not very strong so I doubled it up to make sure it wouldn't rip when the gift was handled.

Birthday Collage for a friend

Much more personal than a store bought birthday card :-)

(name at top removed for privacy :) Text reads: "Dear ____, My birthday wish for you is that your year ahead has many calm days, peaceful, rest-filled nights and the energy to play your butt off!"

Text reads: "SEEK YOUR TRUTH... It's likely to be at the heart of something you DeLIGHT in."