I am going to attempt a tutorial on hand carved stamps...YAY!

You will start with the carving material called "SOFT-KUT" you can get it at Dick Blick and it is pretty cheap.  And of course you need a carving tool. this is a "linoleum cutter".  These cutters come with different size blades.  Try out the different sizes and use the one that you are most comfortable with.

Here I am drawing a line down the material with a permanent marker and then cutting this piece off with scissors.

SUPER SIMPLE!!!

Here is the piece I cut, now to come up with a simple design.....

I used this template to trace some boxes.  At this point you could either carve "out" the boxes or carve "out" the smaller spaces.  I will carve out the smaller spaces.

START
    CARVING!

I LOVE how it feels when you carve!

When you are finished carving, or think you are apply some paint on your stamp to see how it looks.  Sometimes you might want to adjust your carving a bit...but I like the imperfections, they add interest.

Press down your stamp on the paper of your choice and lift up.......
now for the EXCITING part....TA DAH!!!!

This, of course, is only the beginning...

Isn't this just so COOL?

Once this dries you can add paint over the top....have fun with it.
EXPERIMENT!

Add more stamps on top to give the paper more depth and interest

Lots of pretty paper

Here is the finished product

Your papers can be used in many ways.....

These were all published!!!

New Halloween Work...

I worked on this little guy, he is a baby mummy, I am not quite done, but almost.  I received the latest Somerset Studios and found out I have a whole page with several pieces of my work...I will post the pictures.  I was thrilled!  I am still laid off, but have put in 3 different letters of interest.  (fingers crossed)  But, it has been nice having the house to myself for a few hours every day!