Rubber Stamping

 Rubber stamping is an excellent way to start making cards and to also add a professional look to your hand made cards.

 You can do a lot more with rubber stamping than just stamp a design directly on a card.

 Decoupage is one technique that can be done with rubber stamping. This is where you cut designs out and layer them on top of each other to create a 3D effect.

 Embossing with embossing powder is another technique that is used with rubber stamping. this is where you pour embossing powder on the wet ink after stamping and heat it with a heat gun until the powder melts to the card.

 There are different techniques to apply ink to a stamp. The first is to press the stamp onto the ink pad rocking it gently side to side. My personal feeling is that this is the best way. I prefer holding the stamp in my hand turned up side down. Taking the ink pad and tapping it gently onto the stamp checking to see if the ink is applied evenly.

 When you apply the stamp to the card you want the image on hold the stamp firmly on the card with one hand and take the other hand and press firmly around all the edges. This way the image will have nice clean sharp edges.You can also stamp images to be cut out and used as embellishments by glueing them directly to the card or attaching a piece of foam to them before glueing them to the card to create a 3D effect.

 Other ways to decorate cards with stamps are with gel pens, color pencils or water paints to add color to the image.

 There is a large variety of rubber stamps on the market and can be a very large investment ranging in price from $3.00 to $30.00 for each stamp depending on the size or image, but you will get many years of use out of a stamp. Good quality stamps are well worth the investment if you plan to keep making cards. They last for a very long time and the quality of your work will be the look of a professional. Something you will be proud of and happy that you did.

 I started out like most others have just making one quick card for an occasion that came up and next thing I knew it was years latter and my collection of stamps keeps growing. Yes! It is addicting! but well worth the rewards and feelings you get when you see the reaction on peoples faces that have received your cards.

 It makes the person feel appreciated when they know you took the time to make a card just for them.

 There are endless ideas you can create with stamping. Your imagination is the limit.

 I hope you have fun with stamping and enjoy the rewards that come along with it.

 So think of the style of cards that most interest you and select a couple stamps to get started with.