I was overconfident going into this, so I'm sharing my thoughts on my mistakes. 
The design and transfer were the sort of thing I already knew how to do. The carving was delightful! It’s one of the most soothing activities I have tried.

After I carved, I’d ink with a stamp pad and test it out, then carve some more

I had been playing with making backgrounds for cards with Gelatos, and part of my goal of learning to make stamps was to have a crisp contrasting picture on a colorful background. So, I spent a bunch of time making nice backgrounds, and tried to use them with my new stamp without learning the whole ink/brayer/baren process first. Oooops!

I was tired, so instead of taking a break after I didn't love the first couple, I kept going. More oops!

The ink covered inconsistently, and smooshed around the edges. I had the wrong amount, for sure. Instead of a baren, I was using an acrylic stamping block to apply pressure, which also somehow made things worse.

I took a day or two to be sad, and came back ready to actually learn to work with the ink and tools. I cut a bunch of patterned paper I had lying around and kept printing until I got the hang of it. The thinner paper was easier to learn with than the thick cardstock I had used before. I also switched to using a wooden spoon as a baren - something about the shape(?) makes a huge difference!

I haven't gone back and tried my original project again, but I do have a bunch of cute card fronts that I can use. I am starting to get the hang of it, but I want to keep practicing printing a bit more before I increase my difficulty level.

Thank you so much for this class! It taught me the basics and it gave me the confidence to keep trying when I created problems for myself.