When The Stores Fail, DIY Carved Stamp

I have been working on this Halloween project demo and really wanted to add something to the background. Nothing super obvious or distracting, just something to layer up some depth. I thought it would be easy enough to find a polka dot stencil..um, nope. Apparently the big box stores think plastic stencils are passe, but some of my favorite designers have been quite busy creating amazing ones.

What to do, what to do..

Well I have plenty of toys that would help me create my own stencil. I figured though if I was going to take the time to make my own, it should speak more of me rather than what is always expected. It would be easy enough to punch holes through some stencil plastic, but that just didn't seem right.

I decided that even though this would be a simple polka dot design, I wanted to hand carve a rubber stamp. It doesn't take long and you have full control over the final appearance. I started by stamping dots with the back of a pencil eraser - low tech, but effective! I then carved out the rubber around the circles. I varied the circles width - some bigger, some smaller. I love the final stamp - it's fun and perfect for what I needed.

For the Halloween project, I layered brown PanPastel chalk on the stamp and pressed down on the wood. Yup, you can totally stamp with them! A background that is layered, but doesn't scream out at you.