Monday, January 12, 2015

Fool Me Twice

I've had this stamp set sitting on or around my desk for awhile now.  It was one I was thinking about selling because I couldn't get it to stamp very well.  The stamps are clear acrylic, not deep cut at all and couldn't stamp a clean image to save their life.  It seemed like no matter how carefully you placed the stamp on the block they got an air bubble in them that lead to an uneven stamped image.
I wasn't quite ready to part with them because I felt I hadn't given them a fair shake.  I'd only tried them once or twice, got frustrated and gave up.  I always felt I should try different inks and different paper.  Then again I wasn't sure why I felt that as I wasn't that keen on special needs stamps, but there you have it.
I ran across several quarter sheets of glossy cardstock so I decided to finally give them their fair shake.  If you can't get solid stamps to stamp well on glossy, then pack them in.  These stamped okay on glossy but there was still a lot of unevenness and that was with me stamping very carefully and making sure all parts of the stamp got even pressure.
I used up 3 of the 5 quarter sheets of glossy I had out when I decided that I just didn't care anymore. This set was outta here.  I don't use glossy cardstock much and there wasn't anything overly special about this stamp set to make me want to make it work.

At least I can say I tried it out thoroughly now and can pass it on with a clean conscience.  I made my experiments up into three decent cards, so life is good.

The Fine Print:  Yucky stamp set by Simon Says Stamp "Flower Friend," cardstock by Club Scrap from the kit I puttered with in yesterday's post, yellow ribbons, paper flowers, shimmer brads, and bling from my stash.  BTW, this is the stamp set that made me decide to stop getting SSS's monthly kits since it appeared they were going to always be SSS brand stamps in them.  The first few weren't bad but I didn't want to risk it.

7 comments:

Leslie Hanna said...

Yay for sticking with it!

Krisha said...

Well you gave it a fair try and try again! I don't use much glossy cs either, so it isn't printing on what I normally use........... like you, out it goes! I does irk me!!

I do like what you managed to get from them. Love the bright colors.......since right now it is nothing but foggy and gray outside!!

stampingbowd said...

What you ended up creating is beautiful!!! I love how cheery all three are and NO snow!! :)

I have that very same set. I haven't used it a whole lot but when I did use it I liked it so that's very interesting that it didn't work for you. I am now wondering if a) you received a bad set or b) I wasn't picky enough!!! LOL You know NOW I must drag mine out and see how they stamp!! LOL Ok, well before publishing this comment I have gone and looked at the 3 cards I made with this set. The sentiment looks great. I never noticed if the flowers stamped oddly because I used water techniques with both of them! So there we have it. NOW I still need to drag the set out and see what happens! :) Bet you never thought your post would receive such a long drawn out comment!

Carol L said...

In spite of your troubles, you still came up with 3 great cards, and each one is so very pretty! I buy SSS stamps all the time and have never had an issue with any of them, so perhaps you just got a bad set for some reason. You made them work in spite of the problems, so yay you!

Karen Dunbrook said...

Happy, bright and fun cards. I agree with Angie...you may have got a bad set.
You may try inking with Versamark ink first (clear) then add the ink over that.
Good luck...looks like a cute set.
hugs,
K

Greta said...

I just used my first SSS stamp set (http://ggnursecreations.blogspot.com/2015/01/old-new-and-go-ducks.html) & had no problem with it, so if you see one you want I'd say give them another try. Your cards did turn out cute!

chrissy xx said...

Well you seem to have 'cracked' it lol..It's all turned out right in the end
Three BEAutiful cards and I LOve your colours
Chrisyxx