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Rubber Stamping-Avocation or Addiction

© Leslie Frederick

I never thought a piece of rubber stuck to a piece of wood could become vital to my very existence. Was I ever mistaken! I picked up my first rubber stamp several years ago, thinking it would be cute to use as I corrected papers for my daughter's elementary school class. As a mom helper it was my responsibility to grade the spelling tests on Friday nite. My smiley face drawings lacked a certain je ne sais quoi...not to mention I was no threat to any artist on the planet. Unfortunately when I picked up the stamp I neglected to purchase ink. So it was another month before I managed to use the stamp.

After I purchased the ink and used the stamp my daughter's assessment of my efforts was "cute". High praise from an eleven year old and I was officially hooked. (Actually I enjoyed the process, but the kudos from the kid reinforced my happiness).

Rubber stamping is one of the fastest growing hobby/crafts in the craft market today. The number of web-sites devoted to this craft is growing by leaps and bounds. There are myriad sites devoted to just the stamps, but many sites also combine tips, links, how-tos and projects. My efforts will be to sort through these on the Suite 101 reader's behalf enabling you to hit the sites that give out the best information so that you can spend your time stamping instead of surfing!

We'll talk embossing, layering, masking and foiling. We'll discuss the merits of color from chalk to markers. We'll explore the different types of specialty papers and find out what kind of adhesives are best. Stamping in scrapbooks, on glass, and a host of other surfaces will be topics as well. We may even squeeze in an interview or too with some of today's hottest stamp gurus!

So get your embossing guns plugged in, your stamp pads open and your rubber stamps poised...(and while you are waiting check out these sites!) http://www.jangle.com (i love the title of their stamp area...do ya ink so?) http://www.rubberstamper.com (the quinessential stamp magazine on-line) http://www.agate.net/~silvrfox/ (great links!) http://www.22cool.com (one of the originals, but still one of the best) http:www0.delphi.com/rubber (the 0 is not a typo...its in the url- check out the katalog reviews here!)