Embossed Stamped Stationery

Believe it or not, there are a few sections of the craft store that hold little interest for me: the fake flowers, clay, unfinished wood, and, until today, the rubber stamps. The latter have always seemed a bit pricey to me and I couldn't think of anything worthwhile to do with them. I'm not sure this latest craft counts as worthwhile but it's something fun to do to fill a lazy Sunday evening.

A few days ago I spotted Food, Wine, & Mod Podge's tutorial for embossed stationery and was ready to rush out and buy all of the necessary supplies. But I was patient and made the rounds to all of the nearby craft shops so I could dutifully use my coupons and not pay full price for anything. JoAnn Fabric happened to have embossing powder on clearance, Michaels had nice notecard/envelope sets on sale and lots of ink to choose from, and AC Moore had the embossing heat tool at 40% off with a coupon. Despite my efforts, I invested close to $20 in this project even though I was able to use the stamps I already had on hand. I'd picked up the two skull stamps around Halloween and my wonderful uncle gave me the Edward Gorey ballerina stamp last year. I'm so glad I now have a perfect way to put them to use!

The tutorial is spot on so if you're interested in trying this for yourself I'd recommend following those instructions. The only notes I have are to be sure to clear all of the embossing powder off before applying heat. There are a few smudges and spots around my stamps where I accidentally left some. I read somewhere that you might need to use a small brush or toothpick to do the job so I'll give that a go next time. Also, the heating process took less time than I expected, just a few seconds over each spot. The glossiness showed up almost immediately so be sure you don't overdo it with the heat. Still, even with a few errors I'm happy with my custom stationery and can't wait to start sending out notes.

I'm afraid this means I have a new crafting obsession as I spent the better part of the evening browsing Etsy for cute little rubber stamps. Looks like there's also one more aisle of the craft store for me to check out, much to my husband's chagrin.