Doing things a little differently

I have always loved wood mounted stamps.  At one point in my stamp collecting life I would buy only wood mounted stamps and eschewed cling mount and especially clear stamps.  But life changes.

Wood stamps are heavy, cumbersome, and difficult to store.  This I found out.  Especially when you have millions of them.

Plus, the quality of the cling mount and clear stamp varieties have really improved in the last couple of years.  Kind of like appliances.  And of  course the invention of the Misti stamping tool is a total game changer.

And now that I have discovered some new products, I am taking the leap and removing my beloved stamps from their wood mounts.  Well, many of them, anyway.  The process is slow and painstaking, but I think the results will be worth it.

First--the products I am using:   EZ Mount Cling Thin--this stuff is fabulous.  Easy to cut, so once the stamp is off the block, converting to Cling Mount is EZ!  But not all stamps are worthy of this process.  My rarely used but still coveted collage stamps are undergoing a different process!

Thus the second new product I am using:  Allene's Tack It Over and Over repositionable glue.  Available only online at JoAnn's.com.  I remove the stamp (not the mount, just the red rubber) and paint on a mayonnaise layer of this glue.  Let it dry until it is clear, then voila--the stamp is easily stickable to a regular acrylic mount or your Misti.  Of course you must use a stamping mat since there is no foam backing, but the Misti makes this really not a problem.

So here is a picture of one of the stamp albums I am making from my collage stamps:

I have inserted 110 lb cardstock into a page protector and "clung" my newly glued-on-the-back-with-Tack-It-Over-and-Over stamps on top of the page protector.  The 110 lb weight gives a little bit of strength to the backing, plus you can stamp your images on the facing side so you have a stamp register.

Here is a picture of the Tack It Over and Over:

Another product I foresee using is Tack and Peel.  I bought it originally to use with the glued Tack It Over and Over stamps, but you don't need it.  But you can use it if you don't want to put glue on the backs of your rubber stamps.

Since starting this process I have emptied drawers of stamps (drawers that can hold other things now!),  What am I doing with my no longer needed blocks?  Of course they are going in boxes in the garage--who knows when I will need them!!!!!!

Stenciling again!

Seriously, July already?  I must have been busy, but it's all a blur!  I have started stenciling again, and today I am sharing a cupcake card I made.  New techniques for me--stenciling on black background first of all and second of all using one of the newer plastic stencils for the background.  Here is the card, and yes, I know it's not perfect, but I like it:

Grrrr--just finding my pictures has suddenly become a gigantic problem!  You think you know a system, and then all the rules change!  But I did find it!

I stenciled the cupcakes using white embossing paste (regular) onto black cardstock using a Dreamweaver stencil.  After the stenciling was dry, I then replaced the  clean stencil on top of it and dabbed on color with stencil brushes and applicators.  I found out that you really need a heavy coat of the white embossing paste on the black paper!  You can see my efforts don't quite measure up!  But hey, I'm just getting started again after a year or so!

Oh, I used pigment inks, so it took days for the ink to dry.  But the color pop is WOW!

The background confetti is stenciled in the same way, but with a plastic stencil from Hero Arts (yes, new!) on white card.  It took forever to replace the clean stencil onto the pasted card because you have to puzzle out which way it goes!  But I like the look and will definitely make some more cards like this one.  But better!  I may stick to white cardstock for a while until I get my groove on.

BTW I ordered several more  Dreamweaver stencils from Stencil with Style.  They are going out of business and you can probably only get these brass stencils in future from Stampendous, and a limited number of images at that.  Stencils are disappearing from the Stencil with Style website at a pretty good clip as inventory is reduced.  I love my stencils!  I now have a dedicated drawer in my craft room for them.  I even have an old timey lightbox!  There are tons of techniques to try!

Thanks for looking!  I'll be in my craft room.......