The Day My Cat Bean Became a Stamp

Bean came into our lives as a tiny black blur with oversized ears and a green collar.

We didn’t go looking for him, the cat distribution system was operational and it was business as usual. In reality, he arrived through an acquaintance.

As he grew from the kitten stage, he developed opinions about cat toys, cardboard boxes, and whether my art studio belongs to me (it does not).

And then, one afternoon, I carved him into a pink eraser.

Carving Stamps is a Lot Harder than it Looks

It turns out, reducing someone you love into a silhouette is harder than it sounds. You have to choose what stays. I wanted to capture his silliness and playfulness.

I left out the whiskers and his tail. There’s only so much detail a small eraser can hold. He watched the whole process. (I'd like to think he cared but it was almost dinner time.)

OH MY, and so many pink shavings gathered on the desk like confetti. Also, no one warned me that it would come at the risk of losing fingers. I take that as a sign to work more mindfully.

A Small Thing, Made with Intention

There’s something reassuring about carving rubber with your own hands. Making your own tools shifts the energy of how you create. You’re imprinting something that passed through your hands first.

And I know he's gonna look happy and feel at home inside my creative journaling spreads.

Want to Try Carving Your Own?

If you’ve never carved a rubber stamp before, you don’t need much to begin:

• A soft carving block or even a rubber pink eraser
• A basic linoleum carving tool with interchangeable blades
• A pencil for sketching your design
• Ink stamp pad
• Scrap paper for test stamping

And some tips: Start small and choose a shape that reads clearly in silhouette. Let it be imperfect and loose. The first rendition is always the most fun.

I keep a small, curated idea list with some of the tools above.

👉 View my favorite carving stamp tools here
(A corner of tools I actually use and enjoy.)

Some links on that list are affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share supplies I genuinely use in my own journaling and creative play.