Stamp Lingo

This is back to the basics.  My sister-in-law, Gail  - Hi Gail!  ; )  - is taking the plunge after being an avid follower of my blog these past couple of weeks and is going to start stamping!!  Gail is a very talented seamstress, quilter, cross-stitcher and smocker (I'm making up some of these words, but that doesn't diminish her skills!!)  She's done a lot of crafts including rubber stamping the "old way."  She just needs to learn about acrylic stamps and some of what has been happening lately.  Basically what I have been learning the past two years.

So here we go, Gail, and anyone else who is interested.

As with anything new, it's all about the lingo, so even though I catch myself saying rubber stamps - it's ACRYLIC these days - and what a difference that makes.  A see-through stamp on a see-through block.  What a concept.  It opens up a whole new world! (Cue music.)

If you were a collector of rubber stamps, they were bulky to store.  Acrylic stamps are thin. They peel off of their carrier sheets, as needed, and are placed on a clear block to be used.  Then after being cleaned they are returned to the carrier sheet - right back to their photo.

Getting started with my double stamp set - It"s Your Day
(available till September 30, 2012
for $5 with a $35 purchase)

 For my example, I am using 4 stamps together on one block as a small collage.  This would have been difficult to do with the old style rubber stamps.  Don't get me wrong.  I loved my rubber stamps, but this is better!!

An important thing to be aware of with acrylic stamps is that they don't have that little spongy part that exist in a rubber stamp between the wood and the rubber, so we take care of that with a sheet of spongy Styrofoam-like material.  This sheet comes with your stamp set and serves both as protection for your stamps in it's package as well as a work surface.  Place it under your scrap paper (a large sheet of blank newsprint works well.)

In the photo above I show the cushiony material on top of my scrap paper just so you can SEE that I am using it.  In all of the other photos on my blog - just know that it is there!!  I'll remind you occasionally.  ; )


The beauty of being able to see through the stamp and block is that you are able to line up your image and stamp it where you want it.  OK, so it's not perfect every time, but it's pretty close.   Take it from someone who did a lot of rubber stamping.  No matter how hard you concentrate, you CANNOT see through wood!

I wanted a bit of a zigzag border, so I  pieced this pattern together all around the edge.  I made some mistakes, but I don't think anyone would really look closely enough to notice.  I sure didn't at first!

Finished card complete with sparkles.