DIY Gemstone Rubber Stamps

This DIY stamp project was inspired by an unusual item, packaging for a chocolate candy mold.  On the packaging I spotted a teeny-tiny gemstone which reminded me of a rubber stamp.  Since I had all the supplies, I decided to make gemstone stamp (pictured above).  This stamp would be good for gift wrap, cards, etc.  Tutorial below.

Supplies
Tracing Paper
Pencil
Speedball Speedy Carve block - you could also use a white eraser
Speedball Lino Cutter
Stamp pad
E6000 Glue
Wood block

 1. Click on image, right click, save, and print image.

 2.  Trace printed image with tracing paper and pencil.  Place tracing paper on stamp and transfer image to stamp.

3.  With lino cutter, carve out where pencil marks on the stamp.  Once carved test it out with the stamp pad.  If you see some edges that need to be cleaned up, you can shape it more with the lino cutter.

4. With E6000 glue, adhere the stamp to the back of a wood block.

Scrapbooking Snail Mail

One of the great things about blogging is all the different friends you make along the way. I've even been fortunate enough to receive some beautiful mail from these friends. When I first started blogging I didn't keep the cards. I just saved them for a while then eventually recycled them (*bad blogger*, go ahead give me a slap on the wrist). It finally occurred to me that I should keep these cards so I started saving everything. I even saved the stamps. The question was what to do with everything? The obvious answer as a crafter, make a scrapbook.

Here are a few tips to help you get started, if you want to scrapbook snail mail.

1. Keep it small and simple - it's so much easier and quicker to make a 5" x 7" scrapbook page opposed to a 12" x 12" page. It will keep you from trying to figure out how to fill the space.

2. It doesn't have to be perfect! Lets be honest, most of us barely have time to scrapbook our family pictures let alone of people we've never met before. If you mess up on a page, let it be. You'll see I'm leading by example for this one. In the top picture I crossed an "L" making it a "T". I could have gone back and rewrote everything but I decided to let it go.

3. If the person who sent you the mail has a blog, write the address down. Blogs come and go and this is a nice way to document that the blog existed and you knew the author.

4. Incorporate the stamps from your mail. In my opinion, stamps are some of the prettiest little pieces of artwork. They also document where your mail came from.

5. Have fun. This scrapbook is for you alone.