Focus: Stamps

I love to create. But my scrapping budget has always been pretty limited. So when I was first introduced to stamps for scrapping, I loved the idea that I could use them over and over again in a variety of ways – limited only by my own imagination. This week’s challenge insisted I look at my stamps with fresh eyes. I’m not a CTMH consultant or a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, so I don’t have countless sets at my disposal. But I still want to use what I have, and I want to use it creatively. I’m so glad I was challenged this way, because I tried things I wouldn’t usually try and I loved my results.

So what did we do? Well, there’s the obvious stuff – that stamps are really good at. I love me a stamped flourish, a sweet saying, or some big fat letters for my title. Stamps are great for keeping our handwritten journaling looking straight and neat.

Then there’s the not-as-obvious stuff. Heidi used a journaling stamp and then in the midst of her handwritting, added colorful stamped characters and words to complete her message. What a great use for those tiny stamps I have! Tiny stamps can create a set of ideal embellishments too, as Tinalyn’s Halloween page beautifully illustrates. A punch + patterned paper + a small stamp = embellishment; used in combination with other tiny embellishments you create yourself = your own set of embellishments ideal for the layout in front of you!

Stamps make me the designer. Christine and Lynn make their own patterned paper with stamps. This way, Christine can color her cupcakes to perfectly match the birthday photos. ;) And I love how Kim uses stamps with other materials to create her flowers. Using only part of my stamped image on my circles made me feel pretty creative.

I love to create. I think you do too. But it has occurred to me this week, that we’ve all taken different paths to get to this point in our scrapping. For many of us, stamps have been with us most of the way. Because of this, I think our experiences with stamps may be more varied than they are with vellum or all of the tiny scraps of paper that we save. But one thing we have in common - we can all try something fresh with our stamps. The design team did. Enjoy your supplies!

p.s. The cricut and cuttlebug layouts - Wow!