Christmas Rubber Stamps and...A Better Way
Back in the day, stamping parties were a fairly fashionable thing. Many folks were purchasing all variety of stamps and, of course, ink pads. These were used to make creative greeting cards. I didn't think I'd be interested in going to this stamping party a friend of mine was throwing, but it was beholden upon me to go—and maybe I'd find some Christmas rubber stamps, as the holidays were rapidly approaching.
The sales rep had a wide variety of stamps as well as colored ink pads and pens to create your cards. She also presented different styles of card stock with matching envelopes. The stamps ranged from general purpose to, yes...Christmas rubber stamps. Her 'pitch' included the importance in being sure the stamps were made of rubber; so they'd stamp cleanly and retain their image better.
It's a relatively pricey project to pursue if you're going to buy the paper, pens, ink pads and stamps. However, I was only interested in the Christmas rubber stamps. We usually have parties at Christmas time, so my thinking was; I could use the Christmas stamps to make some invitations.
While trying to determine which ink pads to buy, the rep asked me what I would be using the stamps for. I said that I wanted to make party invitations. That's when she actually suggested that I purchase the markers as opposed to the ink pads. She implied that if I wasn't going to do a lot of stamping, I could utilize the markers for other projects as well, while the ink pads are purely used for stamping.
Soon, my Christmas rubber stamps and supplemental supplies came. I proceeded to experiment on regular paper with my new stamps and markers. One of my favorite stamps had the likeness of a pine tree limb with a pine cone on it. I cut gift tag size sections of paper and began making tags for our Christmas presents.
I found a perfect stamp for our party invitations; it had an image of a dove with an olive branch on it. I used the bright white matte card stock for the invitations with a blue color for the dove and for the olive branch: brown and green. I used that same blue marker to write "You Are Invited" on the front side of my cards. They came out terrific.
I found another use for the card stock: bookmarks. I used the Christmas rubber stamps to create holiday themed bookmarks. I had a fun time doing the projects and was pleased with the results, but it's extremely time consuming.
A Better Way Than Christmas Rubber Stamps
I now have more fun creating cards on my computer using my own art, clip art and holiday looking fonts. The program I use is reasonably priced, extremely powerful, but very easy to use. It's called Xara Xtreme. Download the free trial and check it out for yourself.
Happy creating!