Stamp story

Rubber stamping is a fun and engrossing past-time, and like many hobbies, benefits from organizing your tools and supplies. Many organizational tools can be low-cost, as well as effective. Here are some handy tips to keep your rubber stamps stored safely and organized carefully.

One of the most important things with rubber stamps is keeping them out of direct sunlight. The rubber will degrade over time, and the stamp image will become less clear and crisp. The sun's rays will cause the rubber to crack and dry out. You also want to avoid excessive humidity. Ideally, you should keep your stamps in a cool, dry place, without excessive temperature changes.

Mounted and unmounted rubber stamps should be stored separately, which will help you find what you are looking for easier. Unmounted stamps can be stored in flat, thin containers, like CD cases. To store in a CD case, just use EZ mount to stick your stamps to the inside of the case. You can then label the spine and the front of the case for easy filing. Another storage idea for unmounted stamps is to store them in a photo box on card stock. Attach Velcro to the card stock and place your stamps on the Velcro on one side of the card stock, and have the image on the front of the card stock, making it easy to flip through and find the appropriate stamp.

With wood mounted stamps, you may want to store them on a rack, which makes for space-saving and convenient storage. While there is a variety of ready made storage racks and cabinets, you can easily make your own. A cassette tape rack can be an effective stamp holder and organizer. You may need to create more space for each stamp by breaking off every other rung so your stamps will fit properly. Another inexpensive rack idea is using the side of an old baby's crib, the kind that has wooden slats. If you turn the crib on its end and remove any hardware, you will have shelves that can easily hold your stamps that are wood mounted, just install it to the wall.

If your short on time, you may want to consider purchasing pre-made stamp holders and racks, but, with a little creativity, you can easily make your own inexpensive racks and displays for your stamps and your stamping materials. As long as you can easily find what you are looking for, and have protected your stamps from the extremes of heat and humidity, then your organizational system works!

Amy Wells writes about effective rubber stamping tips and techniques. Looking for stamping supplies? Find discounted, high quality rubber stamps and supplies at: http://www.BuyRubberStamp.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Wells

Did you know that you can create your own custom rubber stamp for all of your crafting projects?

Do you enjoy creating custom artwork? Are you into making unique holiday cards?

Do you enjoy scrap booking and other home crafts?

Have you ever wished you could make your own rubber stamp for a special project? Now you can.

It used to be that you had to go through a company to have a special mold made. You were subject to a one-time mold setup fee. Then you were required to buy a certain number of the stamps and in the end you still did not own the stamp. The company keeps the mold! Or charges you a high price to get it from them.

What if you only want one stamp? What if you'd like to keep your design safe? The answer is to make your own. It is not as hard as you think.

Here is how you make your own rubber stamp:

Design Creation

Create your design in Black & White on your computer using whatever graphics software you are comfortable with. You can also draw it by hand and either scan it in or use an Intuois drawing pad. If you don't have a scanner you can take your drawing to an office store and have them scan it.
Copy it and Reverse the Black and White in the image so that the black part of the design becomes that part that you will want ink to be on when you stamp it on a piece of paper. Save the reverse image as a separate file from your original design. You will be able to use the original design to create custom stencils later. If you can't get it reversed with your software you can print it using reversing negatives. They come in the kit with the Art Stamp Maker.
Print your reverse image design onto a clear transparency.

Use the Art Stamp Maker

Put the transparency with your custom design on the Double Glass Frame.
Place the Rubber Dam around your design as close as possible to the design without crowding it too much.
Cover the design with the Liqui-Stamp (Polymer). Note: The rubber dam material is placed close to the design to save on Liqui-Stamp Polymer.
Expose the whole thing for 8 Minutes in The Art Stamp Maker. Kind of reminds you of using an easy bake oven. This allows the Liqui-stamp polymer to hardeninto a commercial quality art stamp.
Wash off the excess unexposed Liqui-Stamp with the brush provided in the kit and check to see if the stamp is completely clean and ready to trim and mount.
Dry your custom art stamp and trim off any excess material. Glue it to any mount of your choice. It can be a simple block of wood or a fancy commercially made mount. It is up to you.

The Really Super Cool Part

You now have a commercial quality stamp of your own personal design and you did it in less than 15 minutes!
Your negative copy can be reused again and again to make the same stamp. That means you can sell your design or share it with friends and family.
The Art Stamp Maker can handle up to 25 square inches(4 ½" x 5 ½") at a time so you can make more than one at a time.
You can make a full plate of Art Stamps at one time.
You can have words or a design or both.

Things to do with your Custom Stamp