Thursday, February 2, 2012

Tutorial on Using a Stamp Positioner

I know a lot of you are big fans of stamp positioners. So am I. With wood-mounted stamps, a stamp positioner is critical for exact placement.

Some people, however, are scared of stamp positioners. They seem cumbersome and awkward. But really, they are essential tools for clean-and-simple stamping. So here's a little tutorial. Once you play around with a stamp positioner, you'll realize just how powerful this simple little tool is.

Trust me.


1. I started with the word big stamped on the edge of a portrait-oriented card using a large clear alphabet. I wanted to put the word hugs tucked under the letter i in big. The only stamp I had with the word hugs on it was this wood-mounted stamp from Hero Arts (discontinued).



2. So I stamped the sentiment on my stamp positioner. Mine is an old one from the long-defunct Personal Stamp Exchange (duh). It consists of an L-shaped piece of thick acrylic and a thinner sheet of acrylic. All stamp positioners I've seen are variations on these two things and work the same way. Tuck the thinner sheet into the L, use the corner of the L to guide the wood-mounted stamp down onto the thinner sheet. Always use a dark ink on the stamp positioner so you can see it clearly.




3. Now, since I just want the word hugs, I cleaned the stamp and masked off the lots of, inked hugs, and removed the post-its.



5. Put the thinner acrylic sheet over the place you want to stamp your image, and slide the L up to the corner.





6. Holding the L shaped piece in place, move the thinner sheet away, and use the L to guide your stamp onto the paper. And that's all there is to it!!!!



 


I finished the card with some large parentheses.




See, now. It's not that bad, is it? If you don't have a stamp positioner and use wood-mounted stamps, get one. If you have one and don't use it, drag it out and play. I double-dog dare you!

And now I'm off to play the OLW77. Tweet, tweet!!!


17 comments:

  1. I love the big "big"!
    It took me a while before I bought a stamp positioner but now I use it all the time and waste less cardstock.

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  2. This is a wonderful card. I love the bright colors and those three large parentheses. I went nuts with my stamp positioner on this weeks OLW card (mine is the one with the two columns of owls). I have a home made stamp positioner made out of Legos, and it works just fine, although I will prefer a clear stamp every time.

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  3. Great tutorial! I love my stamp positioner as I cannot stand crooked stamps. I'm a bit obsessive about things being level - I'm always straightening pictures hanging on the wall (at friends' houses too - can't help myself!!).

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  4. A definite craft room essential...gives all those wooden mounted stamps a new lease of life!!
    Love the 'big' font by the way :0)

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  5. The money I spent on a stamp positioner is some of the best money I've spent. I resisted buying one, not wanting to fiddle with it, not wanting to spend the money. Now I consider it one of the bare minimum necessities for stamping like ink, paper and stamps.

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  6. Fabulous card! And stamp positioners??? Greatest thing since sliced bread! Seriously! Can't stamp without mine!

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  7. Love, love,love my stamp positioner(s) - I have multiples for when I stamp with friends.

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  8. Susan
    You are an absolute life saver!!!!Love you. THANKS SO MUCH for this tut.
    I follow but don't always comment (me bad) but I love your site.

    I have at least 8 exact stamped cards to do and there are 6 stamps being used and I am really new at stamping so you have just saved me a lot of headache.
    Myrna

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  9. Thank you for your constant inspiration and suggestions on how to make my stamping better. I can't always spend much on my card making and I know how much you rate the stamp positioner and so I looked for a cheaper way of doing it. I found (somewhere) a home-made one. I created my own by using some Lego Duplo blocks to create my right angle and I use a piece of acetate to stamp onto.

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  10. Is THAT the use for the L shaped acrylic block I have ??? LOL omg what a dork I am! Bwahahaha!

    I have an old SU positioner so I am use to THAT type in my defense! :)

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  11. I can't stamp without one.

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  12. Great card!! I have a stamp positioner and sometimes using it goes quite well and sometimes it doesn't. LOL! Still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong when it doesn't. I actually have one like yours as well we the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I bought the one like yours first and never could get it to work for me... maybe I'll try it again.

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  13. Great tutorial, Susan! I'm relatively new to my stamp positioner (although I love it). Just one more thought to add -- when you stamp on the positioning sheet, you'll want to use non-permanent ink so that you can clean the sheet easily afterwards. (ask me how I know this!)

    Love your cards as always!

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  14. I didn't think a stamp positioner was an essential piece of kit until I bought one last summer (I had a discount coupon burning a hole in my pocket). It is amazing the difference it makes - it is definitely my best purchase of 2011.

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  15. Couldn't stamp without mine! I just cringe when I see a card and the stamping is not straight. I just think to myself "Really"?

    Thank you for taking the time to put together this wonderful tutorial. I think it should be required reading for all stampers! LOL!

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  16. Thanks for this tutorial. I found one at a thrift store and wasn't sure how to use it.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!