Playtime!

This weekend has been the first proper chance I've had to have a play with all my new Stampin' Up! goodies and boy what fun I've had!

First of all I have to mention two items that have become my new 'stamping' best friends - the Stampin' Scrub and the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig.

Neither of them are particularly exciting to look at. They don't jump out of the catalogue at you shouting 'Buy Me!' like some of the stamp sets do. However, between them they've changed my crafting life, no word of a lie...yes, I really AM that sad! ;D

Anyone who knows me is fully aware of how much I hate cleaning. I am also a messy crafter. These two factors together meant that 90% of the time I wouldn't clean my stamps after I'd used them....until I got a Stampin' Scrub.

I'd considered buying it months ago but thought I'd be 'clever' and buy a cheaper alternative. Well, that 'clever' idea just wasted £9 and left me feeling frustrated when it didn't clean the stamps fully, or left them wet so I had to find kitchen towel to dry them off. Because the Stampin' Scrub has a 'wet' side, which you spritz with Stampin' Mist, for cleaning and a dry side for, well, drying, you don't get that problem. I'd even go as far as to say it actually makes cleaning stamps fun! So much so that I had a mass cleaning session yesterday, digging out all the poor stamps that hadn't been cleaned in ages and making them look new again. It worked even on ink that had been dried on for months. Definitely my No.1 hero product and I'll be singing it's praises to anyone who'll listen :)

As for the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig (SAMJ), well, what can I say? It's a device that allows you to select exactly where you want to stamp your image. Have you ever spent ages on a card or project only to misjudge the placement of crucial stamp? Suddenly, all that's noticeable is that wonky stamped image and the beauty of the rest of your card is ruined. This is the sort of thing I mean...

Sucks huh? But now I've got a SAMJ I don't have to worry about that any more. Have you ever tried Two Step Stamping? It's almost impossible without a SAMJ :( There's a really cute stamp set in the SU! Mini called 'Baby Blossoms' that uses two-step stamping and I'm really chuffed that I'm going to be able to use it properly now. Little tools like these make me happy :D