I have a lovely Vintage Magenta Cat Stamp, I'm not sure of the exact year of release, but I'm pretty sure it is about 20 years old,...

Your complete guide on Stamps for stamping! From rubber stamps, to clear stamps & more; understand the difference and how to use each of these craft stamps.

Your complete guide on Stamps for stamping! From rubber stamps, to clear stamps & more; understand the difference and how to use each of these craft stamps.

Key features of rubber stamp ink pads you need to know to choose the best ink pad for your project. Dye vs Pigment, Felt vs Sponge ink pad

When I first started stamping, I thought there was only one way to clean my stamps. I used a spray cleaner and scrubber. I was told this was pretty much my only option unless I wanted to harm my stamps. Now, there are several inexpensive cleaning products to clean your rubber stamps on the market that are totally safe. Cleaning products to clean your rubber stamps shouldn't take forever, take away from the fun of stamping, or cost a small fortune.

This post has been updated - click here to see the new post *Updated to add Product List on 12/29/15 Hi everyone, this post is an update and clarification ...

Do you want to try stamping but it is too expensive? Use this tutorial to try clear stamps and acrylic blocks - affordable choice.

I have two boxes of mounted rubber stamps. Above is a sample. I thought I would be able to find what I wanted if I efficiently labeled each one. Except I could never fit them back in the box where they were supposed to go so they ended up piled one atop another. Then I would have to dig to find what I wanted and I hate that. Today, I discovered I may be the last person on this great green earth to have discovered CD holders to store unmounted rubber stamps. Since I use my stamps for polymer clay, I felt I no longer needed them to be mounted. I either run the stamp and clay through the pasta machine together or I lay the clay on the stamp and give it a roll. I've always hated those wooden blocks. So scraper in hand, I removed all the backings from my mounted stamps. Below are the first three piles of filled CD holders. They are organized according to theme, shapes or textures. The larger tool took care of the large wooden blocks and the small putty knife worked for the rest. Some of my stamps were so old, the backing just fell away easily. Others needed a little persuading. Below sample is the stamps stored in the "Foliage" CD holder. Labeling is easy with the handy dandy label maker. So what began as two large boxes of stamps, ended in one small container in which I could also store the ink pads. I am so tickled with this little system. I googled "storage for rubber stamps" and tons of great ideas came up, including a video on the CD system. I am not going to index, at least not yet. It is small enough that I can flip through these in a blink. I did keep one block and one dense sponge to help apply even pressure when I need to. But other than that, I have a huge garbage bag of wooden blocks and sponges for the garbage men in the morning and a whole half of a studio cabinet shelf to fill with more goodies. Shopping just popped in my head and I mentally slapped myself back into reality.

You’ve wandered down the stamp isle at the craft store thinking it would be fun to start stamping. But when you look at the price of individual stamps, it can be a bit discouraging if you have a limited budget. … Continue reading →

I have tried many different methods of cleaning my red rubberstamps and the one above is the easiest, fastest and the least amount of mess. My secret? I use an unscented baby wipe! It must be unscented as fragrance will deteriorate your stamp and it must be a baby wipe, as anti-bacterial type wipes or …

Rubber stamps are a great way to decorate homemade cards and stationery or spruce up your home decorations. Inking your stamps – with permanent or pigment inks, water-based markers, or paint – will give you different looks. Using your...

If you are new to rubber stamping here are 10 mistakes that rubber stamping newbies make and tips for how to avoid them in your next project.

Clear embossing powder is an essential item in a rubber stampers toolbox. Learn how to use clear embossing powder in your rubber stamping projects.

Rubber stamps are a great way to decorate homemade cards and stationery or spruce up your home decorations. Inking your stamps – with permanent or pigment inks, water-based markers, or paint – will give you different looks. Using your...

Rubber stamps aren't just for paper!

Hello Stampers Well today it is a quick post to share one of the best tip for clear mount stamp. Now where did I learn this I am not sure but I would think it was on pinterest. This work like a ch

Good Morning, Stampers! If you are like me, you love the images from the Stampin' Around Wheels but can't get a straight image when you try to roll them onto your paper. I honestly have avoided purchasing them just for that reason! Well, I have found a great solution and I am excited to share it with you! Turn them into a clear-mount image! Yes, you will want to do this with ALL of the Stampin' Around Wheels! I have a step-by-step tutorial to show you just how to do that - take a look: You will begin with the a pre-purchased Stampin' Around Wheel. Here, I have the Etruscan Elegance Jumbo Wheel #127868 $8.50 from page 25 of the Holiday Mini Catalog. Using an Exacto Knife, carefully cut along the seam of the rubber. Gently pull the rubber off of the wheel. Discard the wheel. Lay the rubber piece flat. At this point, you can either leave the rubber as is, or in this case, I will cut them into (4) individual stamps. To cut them apart, carefully cut between the individual images. Adhere the rubber to the Clear Mount Cling Foam #124236 $10.95 / (2) 8 1/2 x 11" sheets. Pull the top protective layer off. Carefully lay the rubber on top. This is really sticky and difficult to remove. If it is not lined up exactly, no worries. We will take care of that in the next step! Using the Craft and Rubber Scissors, cut the rubber as close to the edge as possible. Peel off the top layer to expose the "cling". Adhere the cling foam stamp to the clear acrylic block and you are to stamp! How would you like to get one of these clear-mount stamps FREE??!! Simply place an online order of $25 or more (before tax and shipping) and I will send you a clear mount Etruscan Elegance stamp FREE! Offer 9/9/12 - 9/16/12 Does not include Club Orders/Kit Orders/Closed Orders Available ONLY thru Melissa Davies, Stampin' Up Demonstrator ORDER HERE Here is a card I made by simply stamping the image (3x) across the middle of the card front in Tangerine Tango ink. Then, I added a piece of Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP measuring 1" x 3 1/2" with a "v" notch to the card front. I inked up the sentiment from the Wacky Wishes Exclusive Hostess Stamp Set in Tangerine Tango and Basic Black markers. To finish, I added a small Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon to the DSP with a glue dot. SU!pplies: Stamps: Wacky Wishes, Etruscan Elegance Jumbo Wheel Ink: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black. Cardstock: Whisper White Accessories; Howlstooth and Scaringbone Designer Series Paper, Basic Black 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon Happy Stampin'! ~Melissa

After reading a message thread on the Two Peas Refugees Stamping board, I really wanted one of the nice stamp positioners available for sale...

If you use rubber stamps, you need to clean the stamping surface any time you want to change colors or whenever you're finished using it. Luckily, we have the tips and tricks you need to get your stamp clean without damaging the handle or...

ACK!!! Where has the summer gone? The kids are finally back in school and I'm trying to catch up on everything I've had to push back during the summer. I have had several emails about how I use my unmounted rubber stamps with my clear blocks, so I wanted to share this tutorial with you. The big *secret* is that I use Aleene's Tack it Over & Over to make my unmounted stamps sticky. Here's a little more info and details... The supplies you'll need are: Aleene's Tack it Over & Over Wax Paper Masking Tape Disposable foam paintbrush Disposable gloves Toothpicks Unmounted rubber stamps (already trimmed) First, I start off by taping down some wax paper to my surface using masking tape. This prevents any accidental glue from getting on your surface and also allows your stamps to be easily removed once the adhesive has dried. Then lay your stamps face down onto the wax paper surface. **If you have unmounted the stamps from wooden blocks, be sure all the foam has been removed first (you can usually easily rub it off with your finger, or use goo-be-gone or an adhesive remover to get any remaining foam off the rubber). I also make sure my stamps have been trimmed closely to the images and I cut apart any sayings before I add the glue. I can always line the words up just as they were originally intended, or stamp them in a different variation on my project when they are cut separately. The next step is to be sure to wear the disposable gloves. I have found I like to only wear one...on my left hand so that I can use that hand with a toothpick to hold down the stamps while I paint on the glue. I am right-handed. Trust me, you don't want to get this glue on your hands...it's hard to get off!! :) Then I squirt some glue on the backside of each stamp and spread it out with the foam brush. On smaller stamps, I have found you can use the paintbrush to "pounce" the glue on. If your fingers get in the way when you are holding the stamp still, you can use your toothpicks to hold it down. I usually paint on a medium heavy coat of glue. Don't want to drown your stamp in glue, but as long as it's fully covered, it will work. As the glue dries, you will see white spots where it is still wet and they will turn clear when the glue is completely dry. I usually leave the stamps out for a few hours just to make sure the glue is completely set and had time to get fully tacky. Here is a picture of my stamps after they have dried (and had time to get tacky) Again, I usually wait several hours to let the glue fully set. You can see how it's dried clear and kind of "shiny" where the adhesive was painted on. Before I put the stamps on my storage sheets, I usually stick them to the back of my hand to tone down the stickiness a bit...they are quite sticky when they have fresh adhesive on them. **If the stamps ever lose their stickiness down the road, I simply repeat the same process and add another thin layer of painted on glue. So far, I haven't had to do this to many of my stamps. The dried adhesive will last for a good while. Also note that sometimes you will get excess glue on the front or sides of your stamp by accident...I know I'm a messy painter at times. :) Don't worry about it...just rub it off with your fingers once it is dry. Remember to try not to touch the wet glue with your hands...it's a pain to get off. For some reason, the dried glue is easier to remove. It's kind of like rubber cement. Hope this helps answer some of your questions about my adhesive solution. The Tack it over & Over is relatively inexpensive (around $5 or under a bottle) and that lasts a LONG LONG time. I have found mine at Michael's craft store in with the other adhesive/glue bottles. If you have any questions, just let me know. :)

You all know I love clingmounted stamps and have been converting my woodmounted to cling YEARS before Stampin Up finally came around to the idea. I am super glad that they did keep the rubber because the images from rubber is so much nicer than the clear stamps that are also quite popular now days and vary in quality quite a bit. But I myself and others have complained that the stamps with the clingmount, once the image is put on the back with that clear image seems to not cling as well as the gray clingmount foam without the image. But I really like having the image in the back so I can see what I am stamping- hence the popularity of the "clear" stamps. So, although this is a little extra work, I want to show you my semi-solution to this. It is a bit more work but I think worth the effort in the long run. I first trim the extra rubber around the edge with the scissors at an angle so I will not cut into the foam surface side- you will trim a little of the foam but try not to cut off the base because you want to keep as much of the cling base surface area as possible. I also had trouble with mounting the clear sticker on the back and getting it centered just right- you know what happens to your eyes after 40? So this part is the extra work- I trim the sticker sheet as tightly to the image as possible as shown- you can see the diecut margins so it gives you about 1/8-1/4 inch clearance all around. I did this while watching TV and it went really fast. Then I pull off one side of the sticky side cover- it is always scored like this which makes it easy. It gives you the other side to hold onto and makes centering it on the foam much easier. I put the sticky on the back of the stamp as it should be- watching the orientation. So half will be stuck and the other half can be lifted as shown. Now that you have the sticky exactly where you want it, you can just peel of the other half of the sticky and stick it on the grey foam. This is what it looks after after you place the sticky on completely. I think this is much easier and exact than trying to put the stamp onto the sticker with the sticky side up as they instructed because the sticker always seem to pull up from the cling for me and I just had a lot of trouble with it. Now just peel off the backing and you have a perfectly placed image with clearance around the edge of the stamp of the just grey foam cling and it seems to just cling better. Care for the raw grey cling is the same- rinse off if you lose the cling to rid of dirt. The card at the beginning is a simple take ten card thank you for my customers this month- using vintage wallpaper embossing folder on Poppy cardstock- I can see that it will be my go to color this year. The dotted scallop ribbon border is just perfect! The image is from the Cute by the Inch hostess set stamped in Poppy ink on whisper white and mounted on Crumbcake CS punched with scallop square punch and the whole thing mounted with a dimensional to raise it up a bit. Another easy peasy card. I have a few variation ideas on this I will show you another time. Lynda

It was one of those experiments that went very smoothly and turned out amazingly well, which doesn't happen too often for me but when it does, it's super exciting! Printing fabric with stamp made f…

Stamps are a great addition to every creative toolbox. They can be pricey to accumulate unless you're willing to explore some simple techniques for making your own unique stamps. We love making our own wrapping paper and patterns using stamps - great expanses of open space along with total freedo

Make your own custom stamp design!

Get your kids creative juices flowing in no time with this super simple DIY foam stamp project! With just a few materials and a bit of patience, you’ll be

Our family is stamp-addicted. We have a really insane collection of stamps that we take out from time to time to create crazy scenes with people, speech bubbles, animals, aliens and any and every other thing you could possibly imagine. And I didn't buy a single one of those stamps. We have a bunch of

If you have a rubber stamp collection, you know how much money you’ve invested in those little suckers! If you have spent so much money on them, it makes sense to get as much use out of your rubber stamps as possible. Well, I’ve come to your rescue, with 6 Creative Ideas for Using Rubber […]

Inspiring creativity with Latina style and sparkle - crafts, DIY, recipes, and storytelling by Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica!

Stamping Techniques: Heres a list of all the different Rubber Stamping techniques which you can find directions for. Stamping and Embossing With Baby Wipes – Recycle the baby wipes you used f…

Make your own foam stamps: DIY custom stamps features a tutorial for making your own DIY custom foam stamps using foam stickers and a stamp pad or craft paint.

With some stencils and some foam, you can create your own custom made stamps. Follow this Make Your Own Foam Stamps tutorial for some great ideas on how to spruce up cards, scrapbook pages, napkins, walls, and so much more!

Do you wish you had that perfect stamp for a layout? Are you tired of buying stamp sets for just that one stamp, then not using any of the others in the set? Then this tutorial is for you. Learn ho…

After some serious research and trying different combinations, I have finally found a wonderful homemade rubber stamp cleaner. Using quite a few of the store bought cleaners, I had decided to try to find something a little less expensive and that would last longer. Lets face it, I use a lot of ink, and different colors, and those roll on cleaners just were not cutting it anymore. So I have decided to share my combination with all my friends. Now, I have tested this out for a few months and I love it! The ink just seems to run right off and it does not dry out your rubber stamps either. What you'll need. 1. Simple Green. You will most likely find this at Ace Hardware, or a Auto Part Store. 2. Pure Glycerin. Walgreens, and CVS carry this in the beauty section. Just make sure it is 100% Glycerin. It is a clear, oily liquid. 3. Any spray bottle. 4. A cleaning pad. I used "Scotch Brite Dobie" It will last a long time when scrubbing your stamps. You can also find these at Ace Hardware, or the Dollar Store. 5. Distilled water. After you gather all your ingredients, add a 1:1 ratio of the Simple Green and distilled water into your spray bottle. You then add two tablespoons of the pure glycerin and shake well. The glycerin is what protects your rubber stamps from drying out. When applying the solution to your stamps, just spray, then dab excess off onto a paper towel. You may have to do this a few times depending on how much ink is on the stamp. Then using your cleaning pad, scrub the stamp a few times to reach in between the groves, spray a little more solution, then wipe clean. Voila! Clean Stamps. 

How to Make Foam Stamps: This is the easiest way I've found to make foam stamps - they work pretty well for minimal effort, too. It's a great craft to do with kids because it all comes together so quick. Instant gratification foam stamps, yay! :D I used these foam stamps t…

There are 10 hacks for your rubber stamping crafts that are super helpful to know. Take note of them now and highlight your favorites.

When I first spotted the Triple Treat Flower rubber stamp in the Stampin' Up! 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog, I knew it was going to be one of my New Catalog Favorites. With quick and

When I first started stamping I could never get a clear image with brand new stamps. I used quality paper and quality ink. What was the problem? I was informed by a stamping friend “You need to condition your stamps before using them.” Huh? Brand spanking new photopolymer stamps and red rubber stamps have super clean stamping surfaces. Ink doesn’t want to stick to the surface of the stamp. There are several ways to condition your stamps to make sure you get the best image possible.

This is a guide about using rubber bands to make stamps. Making your own stamps is a craft in itself, especially when you start with rubber bands.

I love to look back at the year and share the Top Tuesday Tips 2023. The top Simply Simple Stamping Tips video of 2023? Take a look.