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Welcome back! In part one of this three-part series, the advantages and disadvantages of laser-engraved rubber stamps were discussed. As discussed in the first article, although laser engraving has a high start-up cost, its quality and efficiency are second to none. In this segment, you will learn the benefit and fallbacks of a photoengraving stamp-making method.

Making a rubber stamp through a chemical or photopolymer process will also require significant start-up costs. Depending on the equipment capabilities, quality, or size, a photopolymer stamp-making kit may cost anywhere from $400-$4000. This process requires a significant amount of labor and tends to have a higher turnaround time.

The first step of the photopolymer process involves creating a negative of the image to be engraved. To begin, create or obtain a completely black graphic on a completely white background. If the graphic has colors, save or convert it to a monochrome or two-color format. A simple graphics editor, such as Paint (which automatically comes with a Windows OS) will allow the user to

Whether you

You know the feeling. The kids have tons of demands, vacation is just around the corner, that big project at work is eating all of your free time. How will you ever make those handmade cards for the big party, or mail the invitations for the guests at the big wedding? What started out as a great idea for some very special cards has turned into a stressful project. These ten simple steps will maximize your time and free up your creativity when making multiple cards for any size project.

1. Determine and plan your cardmaking schedule. Do you want to set aside a few hours or just 30 minutes at a time? Pick a design suitable for the available time. Make a simple “assembly line” schedule to maximize the time you have to spend on the project.

2. Work on individual elements, individually. It may sound silly, but working on one element of the cards will retain the “look” of the cards while creating a “unity” among them. Start by stamping all of the impressions, then work on cutting out all of the backgrounds, folding all of the paper, tearing all of the sheets simultaneously. You don’t want to spend too much time on any one card.

3. Have a party! Kids and relatives love to involved. Make the work fun and don’t be overly concerned about the smaller details of the project. You will ultimately put all of the individual components together, giving you plenty of time to add any special touches. Working together with other people will also add a new level of uniqueness to your cards.

4. Stop writing. One of the most frustrating tasks of mass producing cards is hand writing messages. Find “handwriting fonts” available online, at your nearest craft supply store, or your local computer store. Sign the finished card or pen in any details or RSVP information as you would with a store purchased card.

5. Use a paper trimmer. If you need a fast way to make background frames or trim down embellishments, scissors just won’t cut it! Stacking paper in 5-10 sheet groups and trimming all at once will provide perfect multiple shapes. Often, your scraps can be stacked in such a way to trim them into useable pieces with a trimmer. Rotary trimmers will also allow you to add perfect “scalloped” edges to the base of the card(s).

6. Punch It. Remember your time is valuable. Whether it’s a heart, circle, flower, even a fork and spoon, your local craft store will have a perfect punch for the card. Cutting out shapes by hand is tedious and rarely looks well. Circles can be particularly difficult.

7. Stamp, Stamp, Stamp. When placing stamped images on a card, use one stamp at a time and make as many impressions as needed. Don’t clean stamps or switch colors until all of the cards have been stamped. This keeps your ink pads from becoming “mixed” and makes the impressions uniform.

8. Avoid difficult embellishments. I am sure that rows of bows, lines of brads, or glued dots would look wonderful on each card. Finding a simpler alternative will save you hours. Paper tears, taped bows, even stylish stickers can be just as attractive without the hours of difficult handy work.

9. Customize backgrounds. If you absolutely must have a “look” provided by a stamped background, make a “master” copy on white paper EXACTLY how it should look. Scan the paper design into a computer at 300 dpi. (If you’re already confused, spend a minute with the scanner manual.) Print onto colored cardstock or paper. When done properly, no one will even notice!

10. Have fun

by: Rachel Paxton

There is nothing as special or personal as a homemade Valentine’s Day card. Surprise your friends and family with your handmade creations. Here are some ideas to get you started. The link at the end of the article shows photographs of the finished cards.

Materials:

Four blank greeting cards (available at craft stores), dark red piece of scrapbooking paper, white piece of cardstock, cream colored piece of cardstock, red and white gingham piece of scrapbooking paper, paper cutter, scissors, glue stick, computer, printer, sewing machine.

Card #1

For this card you will need a dark red piece of scrapbooking paper, a red and white gingham piece of scrapbooking paper (or other coordinating piece of paper), and a piece of white cardstock. Cut a piece of the dark red paper to fit the front of the greeting card and glue it in place. The dark red is the background of the card. Cut two strips of the gingham paper, approximately an inch and a half wide. Cut them to the width of the card (this card will open horizontally). Tear a freehand heart from the gingham paper, large enough to fill up approximately three quarters of the entire card. Next glue the strips of gingham paper to the front of the card with space in between them. The idea is that there is a “strip” of gingham, a strip of red, a strip of gingham, and then a strip of red. Use your sewing machine to stitch* along the edges of the strips of gingham paper, and then stitch around the edge of the card. Glue the heart in the middle of the card. Type “Happy Valentine’s Day” on your computer and print out on white cardstock. Cut out the phrase (narrow strip) and glue to the center of the heart.

* Stitching tips: If you have never used your sewing machine to make cards, it is easy! Just sew on the paper like you would on fabric. You might want to reserve a needle just for paper so you don’t dull the needle for your fabric projects. There are two ways you can include stitching in your card making projects. You can either stitch directly on the card, or you can stitch on a separate piece of paper and then glue that piece to the card (then the stitching won’t show through the card).

Card #2:

This Valentine’s Day card is quick and easy. Cut a piece of dark red paper to fit the front of your blank card and glue it in place. Type “Happy Valentine’s Day” on your computer and print it on the cream colored paper. Mat the cut-out phrase first on a dark red piece of paper, and then mat that piece on another piece of cream colored cardstock to create a layered look. This card will open horizontally, so turn it in that direction and glue the Valentine’s sentiment to the top third of the card. For the bottom portion of the card cut three small freehand hearts from the dark red paper. Glue these hearts to three torn scraps (in the shapes of squares) of cream colored paper. Space these pieces across the bottom of the card and glue in place. Stitch around the outside of the card and around the “Happy Valentine’s Day” if you wish, but it isn’t necessary.

Card #3:

This card is made from a dark red piece of paper and a cream colored piece of paper. Cut a piece of the dark red paper to fit the front of your blank card and glue it in place. Cut a large square from the cream colored paper and glue it just above the center of the card. Glue the piece of paper in place. Tear a large heart from the dark red paper and glue it in the center of the cream colored square. Type “Happy Valentine’s Day” on your computer. Print on cream colored paper and glue in the center of the heart. Stitch around the cream colored square and the edge of the card, if you wish.

Card #4:

This card is made from a dark red piece of paper, the gingham paper, and white card stock. This card will open horizontally. Cut a piece of the dark red paper to fit the front of your pre-made card and glue it in place. Cut two strips of gingham paper and glue them to the top and bottom of the card so that there is a red strip in between. Cut three freehand hearts from the gingham paper and space them out in the red portion of the card. Glue them in place. Type “Happy Valentine’s Day” on your computer and print on white paper. Cut out into a narrow strip (narrower than hearts) and glue in the center of the card on top of the hearts.

Notes: – The terms “card stock” and “paper” are used interchangably here, but it is up to you which kind of paper you use, depending on the look you are trying to achieve – A sewing machine isn’t necessary for this project, it is just a nice added touch – You don’t have to use your computer for this project, you can handwrite the words if you wish.

Photos of finished cards: http://www.crafty-moms.com/valentines-day-cards.shtml

by: Caroline Smith

Buying scrapbooking supplies has never been simpler, with the huge variety of products available online these days. From albums and paper to all kinds of embellishments, the internet can be a fantastic place to buy your scrapbook supplies. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced scrapper you should be able to find a huge variety of scrapbooking accessories and equipment to help you put your creative ideas into practice. Web sites are also great places to find lots of free scrapbooking ideas to inspire you to try out new techniques and experiment with different page layouts.

There are so many scrapbooking supplies on sale these days that it can be a bit daunting for new scrapbookers to know where to start! The seven essential items that are needed for all scrapbooks include album, refill pages, cardstock and acid-free adhesive. Good quality scissors are important, and a paper trimmer can be very useful. Acid-free, permanent pens are crucial for journaling and other annotations. Then there is the huge variety of scrapbook materials designed for decorating your pages, including stickers, frames and die cuts, as well as paper piecing patterns and stencils. You can use your imagination and have a lot of fun with embellishments!

One way to save time when deciding on what supplies you need is to buy a pre-packaged scrapbooking kit. Ready made kits come in a big choice of themes, and contain a coordinated selection of products related to a specific theme, such as weddings, travel or babies. Using a kit can make it quicker and easier to plan your scrapbook layouts, at the same time giving you the flexibility to come up with a unique look and add your personal touches. If you like to use digital scrapbooking software, there are loads of downloads and CDs available to help you build your pages on your computer.

The Internet is a brilliant source of all sorts of scrapbooking supplies and ideas to help you preserve your treasured photos in a unique and memorable way.

About The Author

Caroline Smith is an author and regular contributor to http://www.free-scrapbooking-ideas.com – An online resource packed with hints and tips for all scrapbooking enthusiasts.

by: Caroline Smith

For free scrapbooking ideas the Internet is a great place to look. There are some excellent sites full of creative tips and suggestions to help you make your own unique scrapbooks. If you’re looking for an original way to organize your favorite photos, arranging them in special scrapbook albums could be the solution. Scrapping is a very popular hobby, and offers a wonderful way to preserve your treasured memories for posterity. It’s an enjoyable and addictive pastime that allows you to use your imagination and add your personal touches to your pages.

Ready made scrapbook kits can be really good, particularly if you are making a themed scrapbook, such as for a wedding, a vacation or the birth of a baby. Pre-packaged kits come in a huge range of themes, and contain a selection of coordinated materials such as cardstock, stencils, frames or stickers. One advantage of using a kit to create your scrapbooking layouts is that it saves you the time of having to choose your supplies separately, making it quicker and simpler to design your pages. If you’ve got a digital camera, then there are some good digital scrapbooking software packages that enable you to use your computer to try out different looks. You can play around with all kinds of things, from templates to font styles.

There are many other free scrapbook ideas online, and loads of artistic ways of adding embellishments to your pages. In addition to using stickers, there are all sorts of paper piecing patterns; die cuts and other accessories that can help add color and style to your page. As well as using photographs and other visual images, many scrappers like to use words to enhance the meaning of the pictures. Journaling is a great way to record your memories and feelings related to the events in the photos. You may want to add scrapbooking quotes or poems, where appropriate, to help bring the stories to life. This can work well in both chronological or heritage scrapbooks, as well as in other types of albums.

If you’re looking for new ways to display your photos and memorabilia in scrapbooks, the Internet can be an excellent source of inspiration!

About The Author

Caroline Smith is an author and regular contributor to http://www.free-scrapbooking-ideas.com – An online resource packed with hints and tips for every scrapbooking enthusiast.

Author: Kathy Williams

Who would have thought that your scrapbooking and card making had a connection to the Maya Indians? Rubber Stamping is certainly one of the fastest growing hobbies today, and for good reason. With its inexpensive materials and creative versatility, rubber stamping provides millions with hours of fun and creativity. How did it all start?

• Spanish explorers were the first to talk about a “sticky substance” that bounced, used by South America Indians. Though it didn’t revolutionalize the world at that time, these same Indians were using a primitive form of rubber stamping to “mark and tattoo” images on men and women.

• In 1736, Charles Marie de la Condamine, a French scientist studying the Amazon, sent a piece of “India Rubber” back to France.

• Rubber got its name in 1770, when the scientist Sir Joseph Priestly made a comment about a substance “excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil.” Hence the “rubbing out” of pencil marks gave it the term “rubber”. Up until this time, people wishing to erase pencil marks had to use bread crumbs.

• Rubber Stamping owes much gratitude to a hardware store owner who decided to quit his job to solve the “sticky problem” he had heard about. Though his persistence was tested time and again, even filing bankruptcy and going to jail for failure to pay debts, Charles Goodyear eventually discovered that heat was the secret to rubber’s “curing”.

• As early as 1866, a man carved information in a flat piece of rubber and mounted it to a curved block of wood. This 4″x 6″ mounted rubber stamp was being used to print information on bath tubs.

• Early rubber stamps consisted mainly of words and phrases used to mark packages and manufactured products. Stamping suppliers began to spring up in Ohio and the West.

• Rubber stamping as a hobby took off in the early 1970’s with companies such as All Night Media (1974) and Hero Arts (1974). Soon the craze had caught and many other companies decided to cash in on a hobby that would last for decades.

• It wasn’t until a boom in the 1990’s that rubber stamping became so popular with millions of crafter’s worldwide. As thousands of companies begin to produce rubber stamps, the availability and unique designs become common everywhere!

It’s no wonder why rubber stamping has turned into a worldwide crafting phenomenon. Women and men alike have found hundreds of creative uses for rubber stamps, from scrapbooking and cardmaking, to gift bags and 3D artwork. Give it a try, you’ll see!