Make Your Own Foam Stamps

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take a class taught by Sarah Matthews. On YouTube she goes by Sarahbeme. Actually, the class was a three minute time lapse video showing how to make your own stamps using foam sheets. I finally had time to make a couple and I am just getting started! 

I began with a couple 9" x 12" sheets of foam. Easy to find in the kid's crafting section at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Walmart probably carries these. In this photo, the black sheets are thicker, heavier. They are used for the base of the stamp. The white sheets are what you cut up to actually create the stamp. And the tags were for me to play with. And I needed to make a tag for a swap so the timing was perfect. 

You know how I am when I get excited about a project. I forget to take photos. Basically I knew I wanted to start with a flower, so I used a template and traced a circle on the white and on the black sheets of foam. Then I cut them out into a square so it would be easier to handle than the large sheet. Inside the white circle I drew petals to make my flower. Then, one by one I cut them out and adhered them inside the circle on the black foam. The white sheet is actually adhesive, it has a sticker sheet backing. So all I had to do with each petal was to peel the backing off and pop it in place on the black foam. Easy peasy and this was the hardest part. 

Here you see all the petals in place. My stamp was looking great. I don't mind that the petals are not perfect. I like the uniqueness that brings. But I wanted a thicker base to keep my fingers out of the ink. You know what a mess I can make! So I took a flap from a Dick Blick cardboard box, traced around my stamp, then cut my base out. 

When Sarah glued her stamp to the cardboard she used a glue stick. I don't have that much confidence in my glue stick - hahahahaha! - so I used some strips of scor tape for my adhesive. This stuff never comes up. 

Pulling the backings off, I was able to sit my stamp on top of the cardboard piece and have a thicker backing on my stamp. I think it turned out pretty good! 

I was impressed with the way the stamping worked. 

At first I was stamping my leftover ink on a piece of card stock. Then I thought why do that? So I started stamping the residual ink onto my tags. I think it made a great second layer. 

That worked so well I made a second stamp. Again not perfect but good in its simplicity. 

And it stamped great. I was really surprised that something this easy worked so well. 

More residual stamping. More layers of texture. 

Tomorrow I will show you how I finished those tags. Hopefully. Hahahaha!

Then I made a third stamp. Very similar to one I have from Joggles. Just cooler because I made it myself. And I started building a page in my daily journal. Just playing really - with no end in mind. Just stamping. In my Harmony journal from Hahnemühle that I use for my daily art. 

And I just kept stamping. A little here. A little there. Hahahahaha! I love it! I did go a little crazy but it was fun! And I will tell you now, I did make a journal page using this background and what I did covered most of this up so it all worked out in the end. That just means I get to stamp another page. 

I love that I was able to make some stamps of my own - thank you, Sarah Matthews! - and I was able to have fun and relax. I got three great tag starts and a fun background. If I can do this - so can you! I would love to see what ideas you have for making your own stamps. For the price of $3.00 total I was able to make three stamps and I have enough foam sheet leftovers to make another 8 - 10 stamps. For three dollars! Can't beat that! 

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