Ok, just had to share... my E-bug (4) carved his very first stamp today! THe very first one, I drew a heart and he carved with my hand over his. Once he got the hang of it, he drew a picture of Obi-Wan and I transferred the image to some mastercarve. We pinched the end of a pencil and he carved it by himself... with mommy sitting next to him but not helping!

I've uploaded it to my photo album...
http://www.atlasquest.com/gallery/viewalbum.html?gAlbumId=292

Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but gosh darnit I'm proud of my little bug!!

~HP~beaming with Mommy Love

Awwww-some! ;)

I hope he'll be stamping into postals with you from now on. I'd love to have Obi-Wan in my logbook!

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with mommy sitting next to him but not helping!

That's always the hardest part for me -- not "helping".

Cngrats on your little letterboxer!

I love his Obi-Wan!!

AGJ

I think it is an awesome carve. My 7 year old can't do any better, but it is more because he has the patience of.... I don't know, something that doesn't have a lot of patience.

We are all proud of your little bug in our house too! Obi-wan never looked so good!

Tee

He did a great job. I even knew what the light saber was too. (smile) Pretty good drawer for four years old. Congrats on your newest little carver.


Karen

What a sweetie! I can imagine how proud he is, as he should be.

Hey, my first try didn't look much better than that. I could tell that it was one of those star wars guys. Congrats to E-Bug! keep up the good work!

Bubba

That stamp is so cute!
what a great carve.

I have a 4 yr old also and well, maybe mommy has to let him have the try he has been asking for. =).

Thank you for sharing.

I love it! He should be really proud!

That's great! Explain to me "pinched the end of a pencil." I'd love to get him carving but don't want to hand him a speed ball set.

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That's great! Explain to me "pinched the end of a pencil."

Yes please explain...though my guess will be... pinch the eraser end of the pencil (eraser gone).

I'd love to get my 5 year olds carving some... for theirs, I let them color on it and then I carved it.

Lisa

go to ww.letterboxing.org and read the kids section...there is a tutorial there that shows the pinched pencil end and other ways for youn boxers to make theeir own stamps.

night writer

(is that treason? to send someone to the tutorial on lbna?)

Yes, you guessed correctly. I took the eraser out and pinched the metal part into a V.

Also, thanks to someone's brilliant suggestion, he wore a rubber-coated gardening-type glove on his left hand. THe right hand did slip a few times, and the glove kept his hand from getting jabbed. (I'm not over-paranoid, that happens to be the pair of gloves in my LB pack)

ANother note: the pinched pencil works well on mastercarve because it is SO soft. I've tried it on pz and not had luck at all. Which is fine, since he used up that slab-o-MC that's been gathering dust since I discovered pz for me...

HP

What a great carve! He's very talented.

Hope we can exchange with him some time - that is such a cute stamp!

Mariette

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Yes please explain...though my guess will be... pinch the eraser end of the pencil (eraser gone).

As I laugh my head off and realize that the only tool MOM is allowed to use in our house is the pinched end of a pencil.....it is cheap and NON LEATHEL!!! After MOM aka I cut the end of my finger off with my pruning shears my DH totally removed any and all sharp edges from our cupboards....I have one kitchen knife that I can use with finger crossed ( not while in use hopefully ...; ) ) There is nothing that I have been unable to do with the pencil end , in fact I love it because I can control the angle and size of the blade....my boys all use them and they so have to be careful because if you get going you can really zap your knuckles but other than that they are pretty kid proof and effective!! We love them!!!

happy hunting, enjoy the journey,
teekasue