Last Christmas, my son got a Geocaching kit- and then last week, we learned about it’s cousin, Letterboxing. We decided that we would do BOTH as a family, so we needed to gather our supplies and tools. For Geocaching, you leave a little trinket in the box- but for Letterboxing, you need to have a personalized stamp to leave in the journal inside the Letterbox.
(SCREEEEETCH) That’s the sound of our preparations coming to a halt! I have only carved a stamp once, and at the time I worked at a facility that had tools and linocut materials on hand. So how could I carve a stamp at home, using what I’ve got? Well after a little research, I was convinced we could use a white eraser and an X-acto blade. But my real problem was artwork. What to put on our stamp, and how?
My kids decided that we needed a lion image- our trail name is “The Lion Rohrs”- but, my lovelies, I cannot draw a lion. Um, no. No. No way. But then it dawned on me- I have an amazing tool – the Cricut E2- and all I needed to do was cut an image from vinyl, transfer it to my stamp, and then carve. A-HA!
So… I found a cool lion graphic on the “French Manor” cart, and sized it to 2 inches. (And actually, I used the “card” function, because I liked the “half-face” look.) I cut it out of vinyl, and then applied it to my eraser.
Using a black Sharpie, I colored in the negative space. I removed the stencil, and carved away the black markings. TA-DA!! Instant stamp!
Now, I forgot that when you carve a stamp, you get a mirror image. So instead of my lion being on the right edge of the stamp, he’s on the right. Next time, I’ll flip the image using the controls on the machine. I also could have carved away the white portion of the stamp, making my lion’s face the “negative.” That would look cool, too!
Anyway, my point in sharing this idea with you is that if you love your Cricut images, you can make them into stamps, too. (I’ve also heard of folks cutting “Foamies” sheets & making stamps out of that. I’ll have to try that another time.)
So now we’ve got our stamp. We decided to use it to make zipper pulls for our Geocaching trinkets, too- so it’s a real two-fer, and we’ll leave our special brand with every box and cache we find.
- Spooky Spider Halloween Bookmark Craft - October 24, 2018
- Review and Demo of LDRS Hybrid Ink Pads - October 15, 2018
- Review and Demo of Nuvo Hybrid Inks - October 1, 2018
- Craft Studio Tour and Organization Ideas - September 20, 2018
- Wax Paper Resist Background Technique - March 20, 2018
- Comparison of Liquid Watercolor Markers/Pens - March 16, 2018
- SAI Japanese Traditional Watercolor Brush Markers- Review & Demo - February 23, 2018
- Rinea Metallic Foil Paper & Ghost Ink Review - February 21, 2018
- Jane Davenport debuts at Creativation 2018 & Watercolor Card - February 13, 2018
- Creativation 2018: New Product Showcase - January 20, 2018
Cindy deRosier says
So cool!! I love it! We love geocaching and accidentally found a letterbox a few months ago. What a cool way to make a pesonalized stamp.
Diana says
Great idea! Looks like I have something worthwhile to pass some time=)
Lisa M says
Such a clever idea! I love carving stamps but I can’t draw. I have a Silhouette SD so I will try that with contact paper for my next carving project. Thanks for sharing!
Barbara Moore says
What a terrific idea you had! I wish I had a Cricut to use now
thezenofmaking says
Sweet! No matter how much I resist, I have a feeling that you’re going to manage to get me into stamping one of these days..
Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor says
Oh My Goodness Girl you are brilliant!! What a cool way to make a stamp. Stamps are so useful for so many different mixed media projects. I love making them too. Thanks for the inspiration!
PS. That Geocaching and Letterboxing sounds like so much fun! Need to look into doing that with the kids now that they are teens.
Jenny says
Why, thanks, Cindy! For our letterboxing adventure we’re using AltasQuest.com. I mean, who DOESN’T like searching for treasure? : )
Jenny says
Hailey- Bwah-ha-ha- haaaaaa!!! You care now falling into my evil trap. EEEEEEE-VILLLL!
Jenny says
Barbara- using this idea, you could use any small-ish manual dies, too. Or even brass stencils. Good luck! ; )
Amy says
OK, I know it wouldn’t have been as much fun, but you could have just used the Cricut stamp kit to create your stamp. (I just got the refill pack, didn’t need the full starter kit.) Just sayin’…
Jenny says
True ‘ nuff, Amy…but the inspiration bug had bitten and I used what I had on hand. Probably save some $ too, ; )
Amy says
Whoops! I just noticed that you said you have to leave the stamp inside the Letterbox. The Cricut stamp material would be too flimsy for that. I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m wondering if you couldn’t just use a deep cut blade and cut a thin layer of the orange rubber stamp material and glue that to the eraser (the eraser would be the base). Might be a little quicker for those of us intimidated about carving.
Jenny says
You can keep your stamp in your kit (unless you are planting a box.) But what makes the stamps unique is that they are hand carved. I wrote the post because I was intimidated, too, until I found a way to use the Cricut to transfer the design. Still hand made/carved, but with a little Cricut help. Try it, it’s pretty easy!
Amy says
Actually, I think I’m going to take you up on that!