Hand Carved Snowman Stamp

Today I carved all the parts of a snowman so I could make as many, as simply as I like.

Snowmen are handy this time of year. 

First I drew the basic shapes. 

I like using lined or graph paper as it helps me keep proportions correct.

Then I traced the accessories on a new piece of paper (the ripped off top of this page to be exact) and checked them for size to see if they fit all right. They did.

Next I transferred the images to my speedy carve. To do this I placed the paper pencil-side down and rubbed the back of it with a spoon. Then I went over the pencil lines with a pen as graphite smudges off pretty easily.

Then carving! First with my big tool and then a finer one for details.

Ta-Da!

While carving I'll ink up the stamp and see if I've removed enough rubber. I'll end up with a lot of test images before I get it right.

And voila! A snowman with very little effort. 

For this card, I stamped the snowman and accessories on a gelli-printed paper and then adhered them to a gelli-printed manilla tag. I cut the tag down to a smaller size and layered it with some leftover book paper (from yesterdays heart card) and a torn baby wipe for the base. I love the richness old painted wipes bring to a background. 

My plan is to make a sun using a snowball as the circle and the nose for rays. I'll report back how it goes :-)