Marvelous mini mushroom stamp

Check out this cute wrap I made.......and then make some yourself!

I needed a mushroom stamp awhile back for a swap I was in.
Just a little one, something cute and simple. I went to the 2 stores in this town where you can find stamps and guess what? I didn't find one. No surprise there.

So, I made one ...using a pencil eraser.
Long before Martha made it 'a good thing' I was making stamps from pencil erasers. Yes, I am THAT old.

If you would like to make your own itty bitty stamp, read on.

Supplies:

1. pencils with new erasers. Go cheap pencils here guys, it won't matter. Just make sure the erasers aren't those super stiff ones. Give them a feel. Can't you just see a sales girl asking you why you are fondling the erasers on ISLE 1? HA!
2. straight blade or exacto knife or....if you are like me and can't find what you need when you want it, go to the kitchen drawer and grab a paring knife.
3. pen to draw your design on the eraser
4. paper, ribbon, etc to stamp on
5. variety of stamp pads or magic marker

So, you have your pencil and knife.

Now, take your pen and draw the lines of what you need to cut away. In this case, you are only drawing 4 teeny lines...simple, huh!


Then, cut in simple strokes. Be careful here because you are holding the pencil and don't want the knife to slip and cut your hand. I go all the way through the eraser because I like the way it looks but you don't really have to.


After you've made all 4 cuts, put some ink on it and check it out, so cute!

Then, double check your design by stamping a piece of scrap paper with it. If you need to, adjust the cut.


If you are happy with it, start stamping! Here is some ribbon I made.

Think of the cute stamps you could create if you used those gigantic kids pencils...fun!

For those of you who are REALLY into this, here is a link to Martha's.