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Reported by: By Gina KrupskyIf you spend any time at all reading stamping blogs, you might think that in order to stamp a card, you need to get a second mortgage on your house. By the time you’ve bought all the die cutting tools, dies, punches, special marker sets and every embellishment in every color under the sun, you may find yourself with no room left on your stamping table and lots of room left in your wallet where your money used to be.
I have friends who would love to start rubber stamping but they always say, “Oh no, I could never afford to start a hobby like that!”
If you’re new to the hobby or just want to know what to take on your stamping weekend away, this article is for you.
Stamping doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to be fun and functional. I spent a whole day bouncing from big box to local stamp store and made a list of some great things to help you get started.
Here’s a list of items and what they cost plus a few tools from home that can get you started today.
I purchased these items at a few of the stores in my area. All prices in US dollars.
Fiskars paper cutter- $9.95, (I used a coupon for ½ off from my local newspaper.)
Brads- $1.99 (I used a safety pin to poke the hole.)
Pack of white card stock- $3.99
Mono adhesive tape- $6.99
White Organdy ribbon 50 ft- $3.99 (I actually bought the ¼ inch roll.)
DCWV Brights Card stock- $7.99 (sale at big box)
DCWV Text Prints patterned paper $7.99 (sale at big box)
Black Stazon Pad- $5.99
50 pack of Rose Art Markers- $3.99
1 pack of white invitation envelopes- $4.99
6 Rubber stamps from the $1.00 bin at the big box (I only show you three here in my samples. I tried to buy some generic ones too, like flowers, because they have multiple uses.)
Scissors from home
A place to work with good light.
(By the way, these types of coupons are in the paper about every two weeks and the paper packs go on sale all the time. There are other manufacturer’s papers that go on sale too. You can always find paper to use that’s on sale somewhere, or you can try some of the great online stores. You can also buy single sheets of just the paper you like.)
My total- $64.00 plus tax.
Not bad considering I can make 50 or more cards from this kit. That’s just over $1.00 a card and that’s with the paper cutter and markers figured into the cost!
I had a method to my madness when I picked this patterned paper stack. I love it because when I use it, I don’t need any greeting stamps.
When I made this Mother’s Day or Mom’s birthday card, (it could be either, ) I only needed to use one stamp. The word “Mom” is all over this paper!
This stamp had the word “Sweet” under the cupcake. I thought I could use that word by itself somewhere else and just make the cupcake part of this birthday card.
Even Christmas cards are a breeze and don’t have to cost a fortune with this style of stamping. (But this stamp has multiple uses. It can also be used for birthdays. That’s a plus!)
One of the pieces of text paper that I like the best is this one.
You can trim any of these words out and layer them on to a solid piece of card stock. Then, affix them to your cards. With these sheets you have all kinds of greeting for all sorts of cards!
This is a great take along kit for stamping on the road. You can accomplish all kinds of projects in no time at all. Now, they may not be state of the art cards that use all the latest and greatest gizmos and gadgets, but even the most creative stampers in the industry enjoy simple card making once in a while. And if you are new to the hobby, you’ll have hours of basic stamping pleasure for not a lot of hard earned cash!
Am I saying you won’t want more stamps, new paper or fun tools? No way! But you don’t need them to begin the fun, relaxing hobby of rubber stamping.
So grab your list, get your bag full of goodies and join in on the fun! (And still have a little left over for groceries!)
30 Crafters have opinions about this post:
Excellent suggestions!!! When I do a workshop or class it seems the beginners are always overwhelmed with what to start with.
This is great advice, Gina!! You're awesome!
Great ideas, Gina, and an excellent review!
WOW Gina! Great Suggestion. A great mini gift to get someone who wants to stamp, but not sure if they will enjoy it. Since if they change their minds, they can always scrapbook with it.
On the other hand, I love to stamp and your new stamps are THE BOMB!!
THANKS FOR THIS ARTICAL! GREAT IDEAS!
Thanks for the awesome ideas!! My brother (of all people) always says I need a kit to show new stampers!!
This is such a great idea for the people beginning and people who are on a budget! I love it! Great job Gina, thank you for sharing with all of us!
great article - several years ago I put a kit together for Xmas for my adult daughter when she decided to get into stamping - about the only other thing I added was a heat embossing gun and clear embossing powder.
NancyS (momsnack)
Great article Gina. Every new stamper should be able to fford this list, even if they take a couple of weeks to get them all. Thanks for the ideas.
Excellent ideas!!! TFS.
Excellent article!
I can't tell you how many times I have heard about how expensive it must be to stamp and how someone couldn't afford it. My response? Calculate how much you spend on cards, gift bags and wrapping paper in a three month period (especially around the holidays) and then compare it to the cost of basic card making supplies. :-)
I rest my case!
Awesome suggestions Gina. Thanks.
Gina this is a great tip article! Thanks for sharing your ideas!
This is a really wonderful idea, Gina! I know a few people who get overwhelmed at the idea of making cards because of all the supplies needed (they've seen my craft space :) ) This would be agreat way to get started.
Wow this made me relook at supplies I already have. Thanks.
I love this Gina. I just went to a SCS (Pittsburgh) gathering today and I had so much stuff jammed in my little rolling suitcase that I couldn't find anything. Very poor planning on my part.
Gina, all your ideas are excellent! For a scrapbooker it isn't quite a leap, since they already have everything except stamps and ink. But it is very overwhelming to a new stamper! Kudos to you!
Excellent Ideas, Gina! Thanks!
Gina,
Thanks for a refreshing article reminding us that we don't have to have a small stamping store in our home before we can begin creating unique cards, made with love.
Wow and I thought I needed it all. Where were you when I started stamping. Great advice Gina
Thanks for the wonderful list! I recently got tempted into the hobby of stamping and after I delved into it I realized that it would turn out to be quite an expensive hobby. Now thanks to you, I get hope that it can be pursued on a budget!
Waow, great article, thanks so much Gina!
I started stamping and scrapbooking only a few months ago and I am sometimes overwhelmed with everything I think I absolutely need (or I should say "want", LOL!!!!
This can definitely be a pricey hobby if you are not careful so it's nice to be reminded that you can make beautiful homemade cards too without every single gadget on the market!
I am so buying those Rose Art markers ;-) I tried to borrow the kids' crayolas but they are all dried up already...
Great article! I linked it to my blog! AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!
Great article! Thanks for sharing!!!
Wonderful article Gina. Lots of terrific suggestions. I belive that stamping only costs as much as you want to spend. I spend way too much. I love buying allof the newest tools etc... ;)
Mary
Great article, Gina. Before you know it, all of the new stampers who were apprehensive about stamping will be just like the rest of us ... they will want it all!
Very good article. Such helpful suggestions for beginning & veteran stampers. Thanks.
thanks so much for the great tips! was wondering you had rose art markers in there did you use those to color in the images on your sample cards? i just cannot afford the copic markers and/or prismas.
Ann,
I did used Rose Art markers. They were actually pretty fun!
Gina K.
These are some great tips for those starting out, thanks for sharing!
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