{DIY} Showing Off Your Stamps

If you are at all like us, we love paper! (can you tell??) In this busy world of email/twittering/facebook, I think it is SO nice to write thank you notes and letters the old fashioned way! (on PAPER) I write about 2-3 a week, I feel like! There is no better finish than a custom stamp to pop your return address on the envelope. So personalized and cute (and quick). I like to match my ink color to whatever is hiding inside... so I have about 10 different ink pads to choose from.

I thought this DIY tutorial would be perfect in relevance since we just posted our weekly giveaway. Make sure to check out our blog giveaway for a chance to win a custom address stamp (or other variety) from ForYoo on etsy! Entries must be in by Friday at 10:59 am (Eastern) and we will announce a winner then!

Last Christmas I wanted to use dark red envelopes for my cards. I didn't want black ink and my brown stamp pad wasn't doing it for me either. I remembered I had tons of embossing powders at my fingertips (yes, I collect and purchase anything crafty and have been since I was 5!) You can buy them cheap at a hobby/craft store, and they go a long way.

I am going to show you how you can use your stamp to create an embossed look (instead of just flat). For Christmas, I used silver embossing powder and it really makes your envelope POP!

Here we go...

Tools you will need:
1} A rubber stamp (in this case, we used an address stamp) (Win one here!)
2} Envelope (or paper)
3} Embossing powder (any craft store would have a huge variety of colors) - I am using metallic silver here
4} Ink pad (people say you have to use an embossing pad, but I just use a pigment ink pad that is white or a light color so it won't show through)
5} Embossing heat gun (or honestly, holding the paper over a light bulb on a lamb will work - just take the shade off!)
{Step 1} Press your rubber stamp onto the ink pad.

{Step 2} Position the stamp over the card and apply firm even pressure to transfer your design to the paper.

{Step 3} Place the envelope over a paper plate or piece of scrap paper and sprinkle embossing powder over your stamped image.

{Step 4} Tap the card over your paper plate or sheet of paper to remove excess powder and pour excess powder back into the embossing powder container. (Pouring not shown here - just create a bend in the paper to funnel the powder back into the container.)



{Step 5} This is what your embossing powder will look like on the wet ink. Powdery image shown above.

{Step 6} Now you need to set the embossed design. Hold your heat gun about 2" from the design and move nozzle slowly in sections. You will see the embossing powder melt to create a glossy finish. If you use a lightbulb, you may need to hold the paper closer to the light bulb (turned on) to get the powder to melt.

Done!! If your paper is a tiny wrinkled you can heat the other side of the envelope and fan it. You can place it under a heavy book for a few minutes and it will flatten right back out.

Here is the finished product (ignore the edited smudge to the address) See how it is raised and metallic - I just love this look! Elegant and professional...
I'd love to hear about anyone else's ideas on how to make a stamp look fabulous!