Stamping in your Scrapbook
by Alison Beachem

Spring

I’ve never truly been a stamper.  So, stamps and stamping products are kind of “scary” to me.  But, over the last couple of years that I have been scrapbooking, I have picked up a few stamping products here and there.  There are a few reasons why I have shied away from adding stamping to my layouts.

First, I was afraid of trying a stamp and messing up my layout.   Second, the powders, pens, and heating tools seemed a bit daunting.   And last, I have a hard enough time remembering all the other product possibilities I own for each layout.

However, I finally gave it a shot.  After trying a couple different things, I really like it.  The versatility of colors and stamp choices can really change the look of a layout.  Here are a couple of beginner notes to keep in mind if you are wanting to step into the “stamping in your scrapbook” arena.

First, buy stamps with a simple design.  Look for stamps that if you stamped it is black, you would only need two or three colors of pens or pencils to add some color to the image.

The Morgan's

Donna

Second, choose stamps that are basic.  If you have ever bought punches, choose stamps as you would punches; hearts, stars, leaves, flowers.  Not baseball player, angel, etc.  Think of the possibilities for the stamps rather than one particular layout.

Third, choose stamping pads in your favorite cardstock colors.  There are certain colors of cardstock that I am always running out of.  Of course get black, silver, and gold stamp pads.  Try to choose other colors that coordinate with your favorite colors of paper.

If you are afraid of messing up your layout with a stamp, try creating a border strip to begin with.  Cut a 2” width of cardstock and stamp an image down the strip.  That way, if you do mess up, you have only wrecked a strip of paper and not your whole layout.

Another method is to stamp of a scrap of cardstock (the color you want to use) and cut out the image and adhere it to your layout.  When I use this technique, I stamp a couple extra so that I can choose the best stamped images.

Pretty in Pink

Practice with different colors of ink and different types of paper to get different looks.  Remember to use archival safe pigment ink.  Your stamped image will last the longest with this type of ink.