See also:

• Stamping Q & A

• Heat embossing

• Sponging
• Toilet Paper Castings with Rubber Stamps
  

Do you enjoy stamping or want to learn more about how to use stamping in your scrapbooking? Take part by clicking EasyEdit.

Share a technique or tip about stamping: Make sure you practice on a piece of scratch paper before stamping on your scrapbook page to make sure you are getting the right amount of ink on the stamp, etc.

One of the best tips I ever got about stamping was to "huff" on your stamps like you would to fog up a window before you put it on the paper. This really helps to keep the stamp even, especially if it is big.

Apply more pressure to larger stamps and less pressure for smaller ones.

Baby wipes are great stamp cleaners! They'll even keep black ink from staining the rubber (most of the time). :)

For a stamp cleaning video click here

Masking, Combining Stamps, Coloring Stamped Images

You can combine two or more stamps in an image to create your own unique picture. You can mask parts of an image that you want to protect while stamping over top of it. You can color stamped images using any variety of media -- ink, chalk, colored pencils, etc. Click here for a video tutorial of basic stamping, combining two stamps, masking and coloring the stamped image.

Store Stamps

*Makes pigment ink print well on vellum

*Stops the ink from bleeding when stamping on twill tape or ribbon.

*Works as an anti-static bag to prevent stray embossing grains from sticking where you don't want them

(For more info about the pouch, visit www.scraperfect.com)

Where are your favorite sources for stamps? (Include links when you can.)

1. A friend of mine is a Stampin’ Up consultant and I love alot of the stamps!

2. I'm also a big fan of Stampin' Up!® and I'm building a stamping resource for ideas for Stampin' Up!® stamp sets. It's still pretty new but there are some items in my Stamp Room.

3. It depends what I am looking for. If I am looking to get something cheap but am not in a rush to get it, I am all over ebay, if I know exactly what I am looking for I will go to large craft stores or to an online site such as www.addictedtostamping.com. However when I need ideas on techniques, tricks or want something out of the ordinary nothing beats a locally run shop, http://www.carouselrubberstamps.com/ is my favorite. Since it a small business the owners usually are extremely helpful because they depend on repeat business and I find that they only buy very small quantities of things so the stock changes all the time and they tend to be ahead of the curve on trends. Small stores also have the best classes because they will personalize them to exactly what their clients are looking for, and tend to run different classes so they don't get bored teaching!



What are your favorite stamps? A. I love clear stamps because they are easy to position and I don't have to cut them apart. The clear stamps by Autumn Leaves and Technique Tuesday are both high quality and have a huge variety of images.

B. If you have wooden stamps you can get the exact placement of the design just as well as witha clear acrylic stamp when you use a stamp positioner like a stamp-a-ma-jig, you get the exact placement you want every time. It's also great for stamping layering designs on top of each other too.

C. I personnally prefer acrylic stamps as it is easy to see where you are placing the stamp in relationship to your project.

D. I like the small Hero Arts alpha stamps. They are easy to use, and store when I take my supplies on the road with me.

E. Some of my new favorites are from Art Declassified. They are red rubber, but unmounted, so they leave a good impression, but are easy to store.




How do you organize all your stamps?
I have shelves in my room where I place them and can easily see them all...I find that better than in containers.

My collection of clear acrylic stamps seems to be growing daily and I've found a great way to organize them! I use 3" heavy duty view binders
with clear pencil pouches and place the stamp sets inside. With the view binder style I can easily create a cover to slip in and a label for the spine....with my stamps! If the binders are larger then 3" they become too bulky to handle. Be careful not to overload the binder as you don't want to risk damaging the stamps. You can organize them however you like inside the binders, e.g.- alphabets, punctuation, kids, etc. The binders also make it easy to transport to crops. Hope you like my idea! dawnadesigns

By Heather of Heather's Scrapbooks

Clear Acrylic Stamps are more versitile than rubber stamps. It allows you to have perfect placement. That was essential for the project below.
See below for instructions...

You can use acrylic stamps in many ways. I used them to spell out "Safari" as in the Animal Kingdom's Safari. First I started out with the round chipboard.
They come in a bag made by Creative Imaginations. To see how I created it click here.

By Heather of Heather's Scrapbooks