Back to the Basics

One question I get asked frequently is, "What do I need to begin stamping?" Having scrapbooked and stamped for over 7 years, I easily forget how overwhelming it can seem when you are just beginning these hobbies. I mean, if I were to take up knitting tomorrow, would I know what I needed to get started? Not at all!

Now I was going to type up a list of the basic essentials, then I had an "ah-ha" moment - I have this handy, dandy blog so why not post a list, complete with pictures? And here it is:



1) Rubber Stamp Cleaning Solution and Cleaning Pad - Good, proper care of your stamps will help them to last a lifetime. The cleaning solution not only cleans ink off your stamps, but also prevents the rubber from drying out and cracking. The cleaning pad has nylon bristles that get into the nooks and crannies of your stamps, greatly aiding in the removal of ink. To use these, lightly spray the solution onto one side of the pad (two or three sprays is enough). Gently rub your stamp on the pad you just sprayed to clean, then gently rub your stamp on the other (unsprayed) pad to dry.

2) Adhesives - There are so many to choose from and what kind to get is a matter of what you are trying to adhere! Good, all-purpose adhesives to start with include tape runners, glue dots, and glue sticks. These will work fine for holding cardstock together. The tape runner will also glue ribbon down to cardstock. Glue dots are great for adding embellishments, too (such as buttons or metal pieces).

3) Trimmer and scissors - At some point, you'll have to cut cardstock. A 12" personal trimmer with an extendable measuring arm is indispensable. It allows you to make straight, clean cuts and to measure your paper right as you cut. Paper trimmers have an optional scoring blade that you can insert in place of the cutting blade (the orange piece in the trimmer in the photo) when you need to make score lines on your paper (I'll talk about scoring a few pictures down). A sharp pair of Paper Snips helps when you want to cut out a stamped image. These scissors are sharp right to the blade tips, which makes getting into tight little places (like between flower petals) a breeze.

4) Cardstock - The foundation of your projects, so choose a high-quality paper! Good cardstock is not only fun to work with, but also more versatile since its thickness allows you to create more than just cards and scrapbook pages. Cardstock is available in rainbows of colors and even in textures! There is nothing lovelier than a stack of richly colored paper LOL! Cardstock generally comes in 2 sizes - 8 1/2x11 and 12x12. Cutting an 8 1/2x11 sheet in half nets you 2 standard sized cards. But that is by no means the only size card you can make!

5) Black Ink Pad and Reinker - The most basic and versatile ink color you can buy. A good black ink pad will be waterproof so you can color your stamped image with a variety of mediums, if you desire. Another important feature of a good black ink pad is having a readily available reinker. Your ink pad will go dry at some point but rather than buying a new one, you can use the inexpensive reinker to "juice up" your dry pad. One reinker bottle will give you more than a few touch-ups, making it very economical. For this reason, it's wise to purchase a matching reinker when you purchase an ink pad.

6) Stamps - The obvious LOL! If you have no stamps, get yourself a versatile set that combines a variety of images and sayings. You do not have to keep the image with its saying, either. You can cut the rubber to separate the image and words and mount them on opposite sides of the same block, or you can ink up just the portion of the stamp you want to use. You could also buy a set with versatile images and a second set of just greetings and phrases.

7) Bone Folder - If you don't have a scoring blade for your paper trimmer, then you'll need a bone folder. What is scoring, though, and why do it? Scoring is making an indented line in a piece of cardstock, with the idea that this will be a fold line (check out a store-bought card). Scoring is important to the overall aesthetics of your project. If you folded paper in half without scoring it first, you would see cracks along the fold line - not very pretty. This is because paper is made of fibers. Scoring breaks the surface layer of fibers for you, so that when you crease the paper, your fold line is smooth and crisp - much prettier!

I hope this little tutorial helps you to ease your way into stamping, if you were feeling overwhelmed. This essentials list is also a good "class kit" - if you bring these things with you to stamping events, you'll find you spend much less time waiting and much more time creating!

Now go create something!

- Nicole