UNDEFINED Stamp Carving Kit by Stampin' Up!

Wow, last weekend was a crazy weekend--we took the kids, and one of their mattresses on the roof of the van (just the mattress on the roof, no kids) and drove them over to college. The drive usually takes about 6 hours, but I'm pretty sure it took us at least 8 hours this time. Along the way we go through two mountain passes, and I was convinced the mattress was going to fly off the top of the van, into a car behind us, until we battened down the hatches with an extra 100 feet of cord, plus a tarp for good measure, at about the halfway point (distance-wise) of the trip. The last half of the distance of the trip took WAYYYYY less time than the first half, because we weren't stopping every 15 minutes because of my flying mattress paranoia! I had also taken my laptop along, thinking that I'd be able to post over the weekend, but the kids kept us plenty busy...so here I am, better late than never ;-)

First, I regret to inform you that I failed to take a picture of my UNDEFINED Stamp Carving Kit before I used it. What can I say? When inspiration strikes, sometimes it's like a freight train that you better just jump aboard because it will run you over if you try to stop and hold it til later. So, here is a picture of the "guts" of the kit, courtesy of my ONLINE STORE. The kit comes in a gender neutral lovely heavy-duty black box, which is perfect for storage, but also makes this product ideal for gift-giving! At the top left of this pic is the inside of the box top, which shows the little pocket that holds an illustrated instruction booklet. This pocket also holds the 3 postcards you see just below that, as well as the sample image template sheet you see in the lower right corner of the pic. The image to the right of the postcards is simply the outside of the box top. At the top right, you will see the marker that is included in the kit, just above the 3"x4" gray sheet of carving rubber, and the 3"x4" sheet of self-adhesive mounting foam in the kit. At the bottom left, the four wood blocks in the kit are pictured, and to the right of them, you'll see the two carving tools (one narrow tip, one wide tip):

Before we go too much further, I want to make sure you know that you can also get the UNDEFINED Refill Kit, which contains only the rubber, foam, and the 4 wood blocks. So, make sure you get the UNDEFINED Stamp Carving Kit *first* so you will have the tools, then get the UNDEFINED Refill Kit when you are ready to make more stamps :-) My computer video card is failing, so for now I will share Stampin' Up!'s video of the carving demonstration from our 2013 Convention in July, instead of sharing one of my own. There is definitely a little bit more finesse needed for carving more complicated images, but it's still the same simple process:

Like I said, I got a creative wild hair and just dug right in, making a set of 4 coordinating stamps at my first sitting. I created them expressly for the purpose of using them alongside the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (available in wood-mount or clear-mount). My very first project was a card I made for my daughter's 19th birthday, on August 29th. She actually took the card to college with her, so I had to try and recreate it from memory. You will see my set of 4 hand-carved stamps around her card in the picture below.

I could not resist using the skull design from the Witches' Brew Washi Tape set, and writing a note inside to mock her for being SOOOO old now ;-) Yikes, I guess that makes me a dinosaur :-O And I thought the gray-striped design from the Epic Day Washi Tape set was the perfect complement to the skulls, and the informal "painted" design of the card. Of course, after this past weekend, I now have an idea for a hand-carved change of address stamp set...involving a van and a mattress flailing around on top...!

~Kimberley Morris Colorado Springs, CO
Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator since 1994
procrastistamper@gmail.com
http://kimberley.stampinup.net (SHOP ONLINE 24/7!)  
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