Category Archives: stamping

Jun26

Alpha Stamp Love

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Heather

As I said earlier this week, there are more ways to use alphabet stamp sets than just as titles. Check out these three ideas:

The thing to remember about alphabet stamps, is that you will fall in love with lots of different fonts, but you do not NEED them all. Invest in a good sans serif and a serif font, and that will cover most of your stamping needs. As you find more stamp sets, ask yourself, does this fill a size or style gap? You basically will want one large set, one medium set, and one small set. More than that is unnecessary. If something is ridiculously inexpensive, you can add it to your stash, but make sure you can think of multiple uses for it. You want any stamps you buy to have a long and useful life.

Above all, have fun! Stamping is imperfect and messy and will make you feel amazingly, surprisingly creative.

(If you want to start your collection, check out these sets from Two Peas in a Bucket. Have fun shopping!)

Jun24

Must Have Tools: Alpha Stamps

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Heather

Must Have Tools: Alpha Stamps

There are some things every scrapbooker needs in their tool box: a decent paper trimmer, a good pair of non-stick scissors, adhesive (you can never have too much), journaling pens or markers, and a clear ruler. (You can see the items I recommend here.)

Then there are the tools that, while not absolutely essential, can be used over and over again, in many different ways.

Today let’s talk about alphabet stamp sets.

While I LOVE alphabet stickers, they have a couple really big drawbacks. You always run out of a letter you want before you’ve used up the set. You will not run into that problem if you have an alphabet stamp set. Nor will you find your stamped letters lying in the bottom of your page protector when you come back to look at your page in a year or two.

A lot of people worry about messing up their titles if they stamp them, and while that is a concern, there are a couple things you can do to alleviate possible problems.

First thing you can do: adjust your attitude. You are stamping. You are making a handmade craft. Imperfection is a wonderful embellishment that shows your humanity.

That’s all well and good, but you still want to make sure your title is readable, right?

If you are using clear stamps, mount each stamp together on a single block. Fiskars (among others) even has blocks that have a gridline on them, which makes lining up your stamps even easier.

If you are using wood mounted stamps, place a ruler along the lower edge of where you are stamping your word. Use the marks on the ruler to evenly space out your letters, and keep the lower edge of the stamp on the edge of the ruler to stamp in a fairly straight line.

Another trick you can keep up your sleeve: use a fine tipped color matched marker to fill in any missing spots. If you don’t have a color matched marker, you can take a very fine tipped paint brush or one of ranger’s fantastixs to pick up color off your ink pad and fill in any empty spots.

Some of my favorite inks to use for stamping are Memento, Archival, and Palette inks in black. Be careful if you use Tim Holtz’ Distress Inks. They are wonderful inks, but they can bead up more than the average dye ink when used on clear stamps. Most pigment inks also work really well, but since they are slower drying, you may smear them.

One of my favorite things to do is to mix alpha letters with stamps, to create a really eclectic, texturally interesting title. Don’t be afraid of stamping! You can do it!

If you are still unsure of your ability to stamp, sign up for my newsletter. I’ve got a free video and .pdf all about common stamping mistakes and how to avoid them for newsletter subscribers.

Looking for more things you can do with alpha stamps? I’ll have more for you later this week!

Jun4

Wrapping Up WITL: Title and Section pages

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Heather

Wrapping Up WITL: Title and Section pages

It’s done!

Here’s a little video for you that shows how I put together the title and section pages:

I used a little bit of technique to add color and continuity throughout the album. A common technique and uniform colors really help put the finishing touch on any project.

A big thank you to Kristie Sloan of Artful Adventures for reminding me of this fun and simple technique. And also to Gina at Messtaken Identity, for the fun and inspiring recycled supplies, and to Ali Edwards for the simple yet profound idea of documenting daily life in detail one week each year. She’ll be documenting her Week in the Life later this year, and you should really follow along as she does. The way she records her stories really captures a moment in time superbly.

If you have any questions, please add them below! I’m off to start on another project now. What are you working on?

Apr5

Dealing with Imperfect Stamping

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Heather

Dealing with Imperfect Stamping

As much as I love using stamps to embellish my scrapbook pages, they don’t always turn out perfect. Then again, I’m not looking for perfect.

I’m sure you can pick out all the imperfections on this page. The pieces of missing images & the blurred edges don’t make this page any less effective. What’s the first thing you notice when you look at this? The photo, right? Does the imperfect stamping detract from this page? Not really. The page is intended to be messy and haphazard, like the boy in the photo, so the imperfect stamping just furthers the theme of the page along.

journaling spot stamps

You remember this page from Monday, right? Did you notice the incomplete, rather pebbly looking inking on the journaling spots and title? (Reminds me of mud!) That’s a result of using Distress inks with photo-polymer stamps, and to be expected. If you know how particular inks and stamps work together, you can prepare yourself mentally for when things go wrong. In this case, I knew Distress inks were a potential problem, but tried them anyway. I actually really like how the letters came out. I didn’t outline the edges of the letters, but it looks like I did. Don’t you love how happy accidents make something that was unplanned look like it was planned?

Do you see the bad stamp images on this page? No? Here, take a closer look:

Do you see it now? The blue swirl that’s blurred and ghosted? (Accidentally double stamped.) You don’t notice that for two reasons:

1. You are your harshest critic. Only you know if something is a mistake or intentional.

2 It’s mostly covered up with the strategically placed white flowers. Simplest strategy for dealing with stamping mistakes, other than claiming it was intentional? Cover it up!

To further illustrate the intentional bad stamping:

I had so many problems with this page: the multiple layers meant the image didn’t transfer correctly over paper edges, and when I tried to re-stamp it without a stamp positioner, I missed, and got a double image on one end. I used a fantastix and some brilliance ink to color the arrow so it looked purposeful. What do you think? Does it work?

One last example for you today:

If you look closely at the flourish, you’ll notice gaps at the edges of the photo and mat.

If the gaps really bother you, you can fill them in by using a tiny paint brush or a fantastix, and the ink from your ink pad, or, if you are lucky enough to have one, a matching marker. I filled in some here (bet you can’t tell where!) and left some alone. Looking at it now, there’s only one that still bugs me, but I am a firm believer in leaving a page alone once I’ve decided it’s done.

Are you feeling any braver now? Ready and able to stamp on your pages? Still nervous? I will have a PDF and short video on how to avoid common stamping mistakes to share with you next week if you sign up for my mailing list.

If you have stamped on pages before, link up an example. I’d love to see what you do!

Apr1

Stamping on Pages

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Heather

Stamping on Pages

When I began my crafting journey, I was a stamper. Back in 1991 thereabouts, there was a craft show at the local mall, and a vendor was there selling rubber stamps and embossing powder. When she showed me how to emboss, I was hooked. Unfortunately, at the time, there wasn’t much of a selection of stamps. Winnie-the-Pooh? Looney Toons characters? Sure. It was much harder to find lovely art stamps.

When I moved to the Capital Region (yes I live in upstate NY!) I discovered a locally owned store, entirely dedicated to rubber stamping. I was in heaven! But as my addiction progressed, it became harder and harder to give away my creations.

Enter motherhood. Between my desire to keep some pretty creations for my self, and my need to record family stories, scrapbooking became my go-to craft. It was hard for me to figure out how to add stamping to scrapbooking at first, but there are some simple things you can do.

You can create a background patterned paper: