Sealed with a kiss - Undefined stamp carving

Sunday is creating day ... I was showing my daughter how to carve rubber with the Undefined stamp kit and thought it would be nice to share a carving tutorial with my blog readers.

You will need: 

Stampin' up! Undefined stamp carving kit.

A pencil and a pair of strong scissors.

Step 1. Choose an image you'd like to create a stamp of. We chose a set of lips to seal our envelopes with! I think a year or so ago Stampin' up sold a single stamp like this. So you could choose an idea from Pinterest or from your wish list of stamps I always wanted but didn't get!

Step 2. Draw your picture onto a piece of paper. Turn it over and press it on to a piece of the stampin' up rubber. You can scribble on the back of it like we did at school. 

Step 3. Take the smaller and thinner of the two stamp carving tools and begin lightly carving along the lines. It takes a few goes to get the right pressure and angle. 

Tip: I found it far easier to carve the lines with the small tool first and then do the larger tool last.

Do all the detail and fine lines with the finer tool, first.

Step 4. Now take the larger tool and gouge out all the bits that are not part of your stamped image.

Around the edges, into the deep crevices. This tool is pretty heavy duty so always start away from your line, one false move and you could lose a lot of rubber. Or a bit of skin ...don't say I didn't warn you!

Step 5. Now when you have almost finished and wondering whether you've done ok, or should walk away from the carving table. Ink up your unfinished stamp and see what your image is going to look like. Remember it's reversed so if you are creating words make sure you carve it back to front.

Step 6. Carve away any rubber that is not part of your image. You can make any adjustments to the shape and cut away the excess bits that you don't want to have ink on them using a pair of good rubber scissors.

Step 7. Cut a piece of sticky foam ( provided in the kit) roughly the same shape and size of your stamp. Layer and stick the foam and rubber together cutting any excess foam away.

Choose a wood block to mount your rubber stamp.

Step 8. Stamp your image in black ink onto your wood block then stick the rubber stamp to the other side of the block.

Step 9. Start stamping your completely undefined, unique, hand-made stamp.

Undefined stamp kit has everything you need for $34.95

Enjoy!