Unmounted Stamps - It's a GOOD Thing!

Unmounted rubber stamps....

I used to whisper these "bad" words.

Up until recently I LOVED my wood mounted stamps - the feel of the groove in the wood, the weight of it, the way it was ready to go when I needed it, and the decal sticker showing me the stamp image.

If you've been reading my blog then you know that I've been unmounting some of my Stampin' Up! stamps (mostly retired ones) and putting Ez-mount on them. It's a slow process - I have a TON of wood mounted stamps! That's just one of the hazards/benefits of being a Stampin' Up! Demo and a rubber stamp addict.

But I have to tell you that I am LOVING using my stamps unmounted with acrylic blocks.

They take up less space (great for storage but also taking with you to classes and crops) and you can SEE exactly where you are going to stamp your image.

I'm going to share with you another - perhaps lesser known - advantage of unmounted rubber.

This photo shows my Best of Cluck set (retired from Stampin' Up! last year) nicely arranged in a empty CD case.

Do you notice anything unusual about it? You can click on the photo to get a closer look...

I'll give you a hint...

I'm using this stamp set in a class to make this "chicken" thank you card.

I've trimmed off the words "Now that's eggciting!" that go under this image!

Now I can stamp the image alone or the image and the words or even the words separately whenever I need them.

Yes I know you can do this with wood blocks too but you have to mask off what you don't want to appear when you stamp or wipe off the ink that you don't want or use markers to ink the rubber.

I just think that this way is easier. Don't you?

When I'm ready I'll unveil my stamp shelves to show you how I'm storing these and what a big difference in storage space this has made for me.