Carved Squirrel Stamp

I've been dreaming about carving my own stamps from linoleum for more than half a year now. My mom gave me some carving supplies and small linoleum squares for xmas, and since then I've been tossing around ideas in my head about what to carve. I guess some crafts require a lot of incubation time in my head before I actually materialize them. Anyway, my brother's 24th birthday is approaching quickly, and I thought, what better time to make a little stamp for a card? I recently watched a cool video of someone carving a beautiful stamp of a feather - can't remember who it was! But I was totally inspired to do my own. Anyway, the verdict is: it's a lot harder than it looks! My hand kept slipping (as you'll notice the stripe across the squirrel's shoulder), and some of the details of his head were altered as small pieces accidentally broke off if I carved too quickly. Besides that I'm still pretty happy with the way he came out! The texture of the solid linoleum is kind of cool actually. I'm sure I'll climb the learning curve soon, and my next stamp will be easier!