Spontaneous Stamping

I mentioned before that the only stamp I had made was for our Christmas card. I was pleased with the outcome, however I honestly did not enjoy the process. I'm realizing now that I didn't enjoy the process because there was so much pressure, considering it was my first stamp, our first Christmas card, people were going to see it, there was a time crunch, and Joe is fanatical about Christmas.

Something I'm learning about myself is that if I don't succeed or enjoy myself wildly the first time I try something, I tend to not want to try it again. Kind of lame, I know. It's been hard to realize this about myself. It's probably why I never really stuck with any sports as a kid.

Anyhow, I was inspired by this crafty lady's stamps to pick up all my tools and give it another shot. This time there was no pressure, and this time I loved it so much more. I truly did enjoy the process and I'm fairly happy with the results.
This was found on her eraser stamp tutorial.

I printed out a picture of her succulent stamps because I thought they were SO cute, I traced it with tracing paper and then rubbed the trace onto my rubber stamp with a ruler so I could carve it.

Here were the results! Mine are a little more sickly and frail looking, while hers are bright and bubbly, but you got to start somewhere. I like to think it's because of the color of the ink, and not so much the quality of the carving.

And finally, I traced seagulls from my "Printing By Hand" book. I had a lot of fun with this. My next goal is to improve the quality of my carving and to come up with some stamp ideas of my own, which will be TOUGH considering I am really bad at drawing.