#5 Making for Beginners 2020 - All About Stamps

Hi everyone and welcome to Part 5 in my series - Card Making for Beginners 2020 and today we are going to be talking all about stamps!

If you would rather watch than read, then jump straight away to the video which you can find by CLICKING HERE or on the image below. 

So let's dive straight and and talk about the different types of stamps that Stampin' Up! supply. 

If you take a look at pg 3 in the catalogue you will see a description of the two main types of stamps we sell: Cling and Photopolymer. Let's talk about these in more detail.

Cling Stamps

These are stamps made out of red rubber, designed to stamp really crisp, clear images with intricate details. They will need to be mounted on clear blocks. They come with highly adhesive illustrated labels which can be carefully applied - there are a lot of videos on YouTube showing how to do this and I will be filming one too soon. But they will also cling perfectly well to blocks without the labels and I tend to use mine like this.

Photopolymer Stamps

Photopolymer stamps are transparent and so are ideal for precision alignment - you can see exactly what and where you are stamping - and so they are ideal for beginners. It is recommended that you use a foam mat (pg 164) underneath your card stock to get a better image but I have to admit, I rarely do this! Photopolymer sets are great for sentiments as, because you can what you are doing, they can be stamped straight every time. As I mention in the video, you will find that with some ink colours, photopolymer stamps will stain - usually pink - but this does not affect them in any way.  

Photopolymer stamps are great for techniques like two and three step stamping (more of that later!) and another great advantage is that you can curve the stamps slightly onto your block to give more flexibility. See the video for more about this. 

All the information you need is given in the catalogue underneath each stamp set - the product code, the price, suggested sizes of blocks needed, the number of stamps, the type of stamp set (cling or photopolymer) and then, if applicable, any techniques that can be used - with the one shown, the set is a Two Step stamp.

All of our stamp sets come in DVD type storage cases which make them easy to store on a shelf. And the spines have all the information you need - name of set, type of stamp and images of the stamp set. 

There's a lot more tips and information in the video so please do take a look. 

I hope you are enjoying this series and finding it useful. Please feel free to get in touch if there's anything I can help with.

But that's it for today,

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