Rubber StampsAdd Another Dimension to Your Scrapbook Layouts
Some are Outlines, some are full featured, some are designed to be used in their entirety or cut and used as partial images. Also available are Monogram Stamps that are so flexible and intricate in their design and capabilities that they don't even need to be specially ordered. The Font stamps can be used for journaling, titles and borders and come in a wide variety of sizes and both Upper and Lower Case. The Image stamps can be used to make a background image on paper, or for cards, tags, layout embellishments, anything you can think of. Mounted Rubber - Rubber stamps are traditionally mounted on wooden blocks with a foam cushion between the wood block and the molded rubber image. 
The Circle and Fan stamps are part of the Michael Strong Cloisonne Collection. Unmounted Rubber - More recently, rubber stamps have become available in unmounted sheet rubber which needs to be trimmed first to the basic shape of the stamp image, and then mounted in one of several ways to clear acrylic blocks. There are about the size of 1/2 sheet of notebook paper or 5 & 1/2 by 8 inches. Normally all of the images on the sheet are in the same family of images.
Below is another type of acrylic block with grid lines marked on it. If you were doing lettering and placing individual letters on this block, the white grid lines would be very useful in aligning the letters in a straight line. Tip: Don't forget if you are doing lettering, the word will be reversed. Left to Right when it appears on the block so that when you turn it over the stamp it will read Right to Left.
Click here to go to a photo tutorial on how to
Clear Acrylic Stamps - Are available that adhere directly to the clear acrylic blocks with static cling properties. No mess or time consuming cutting and gluing process to get them ready to use. They are ready right from the package.
Again these can be inked, used, removed and cleaned and will still maintain their adherence properties. Like other unmounteds, these can be stored on plastic sheet protectors in 3-ring binders and some of these even come with their own plastic storage sheet. And getting an accurate placement on the paper is even easier than with the Unmounted Rubber since you can actually see right through the stamp itself. I have heard a lot of pros and cons for different types of rubber stamps, and I really think it boils down to a personal preference. Some like the way the wood feels in their hands, some like the fact that they can store more images by using unmounteds, some like the fact that they can see through the acrylic. I use all three as I am interested in the image that the stamp produces. When using any type of stamp or mount, inking with your color of choice should be done by tapping the ink pad onto the design of the stamp. This will make it easier to ink only the raised edges of the image and try to avoid getting the ink on the rest of the image. This will insure a nice image when stamping with out stray ink marks or shadows. When thoroughly inked, press the stamp onto the paper carefully and press straight down for a second or two without moving or rocking the stamp. It would be helpful to make sure the surface under the paper is flat, and have a small cushion, magazine, mouse pad, fun foam or stamping pad under the paper to provide a better quality image. Once stamped, the image may need to be dried with a heat gun or just left a while to dry on it's own. That depends on the type of ink you are using. Some inks will dry by themselves, some require heat.
Stamped images can be left untouched, they can be embossed, they can be outlined and colored in with inks, water colors, or pens. The images can be cut out and used as die cuts or tags, or the same image can be stamped repeatedly on non-patterned paper to create a design for background paper or even a border. Here is one example. 
The border above was made from: 1.) Stamping grape leaves of two sizes in three colors of green inks. 2.) Then for the vines, I had drew some curved and curled lines with a Zig writer pen in green. 3.) When stamping the leaves I tried to keep them in bunches, positioned around the paper, 4.) And, I purposely stamped some of the leaf images off the edge of the paper. 5.) Don't forget to put down a sheet of paper to take the ink from the stamp part that goes off the paper. I got the idea for the border from the thank you card on the right hand page. The card came with the photos from a lady I met through my work and I wanted to keep the card and the photos together. Rubber stamping tools most commonly used are the stamps, inks, stamping cushion, heat gun, stamp cleaners or mild soap. Go to Unmounted Rubber photo tutorial
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