This time it was a custom stamp kit from Michael's. Excuse while I start to justify, but I had been looking for an address embosser or self inking address stamp to the tune of $30. You know, because I send so many letters (I don't) and the stamps will save so much time on the return labels.
Plus, I reasoned to my DH who didn't understand the value of this stamp set, I could make thank you cards and birthday cards and all the cards that I would normally go to the store and spend a few bucks on. Pop out a few custom made cards and the set has nearly completely paid for itself.So I bought two. They're different though and one font set isn't enough variety to make cards out of. Duh.
Without further ado, here are the stamp sets. So far I've used them for 4 special occasions. Like Easter. And birthdays.
And now I've shared them with the world making everyone's life easier which is practically a public service so totes worth it.
Right DH?
The Good
Stamp packaging is great. Only one set comes in a handy case. All the letters from both sets fits in the one case making organizing a cinch. The letters pop into lines in the case so they don't jumble. There's a clear area of the case that holds rings and stamp mounts allowing the user to see everything when the case is open.
Circle stamps are the coolest. The round stamps have pretty border frames or the option to place words in a circular arrangement.
A lot of uses. Aside from address stamps, these stamps will help me make gift tags, jar labels, book inserts, recipe cards, invitations, zomg.
Clear mounts make it easy to accurately place the stamps. This is a huge upgrade over wood stamps which take a little bit more planning to get in the right place.
The Bad
Pulling apart the letters. In the circle stamp collection the letters broke apart really easily. The rubber was thick and perforations pulled apart cleanly. But in the set with the case, the letters were hard to pull apart on the perforations. I tried using a knife and an X-acto and ended up use an extra sharp razor to break them apart.Custom stamps are tedious. As in sometimes tweezers are necessary to get the ltters in place. And there are a lot of letters.
The case is not big enough. The case doesn't hold all of the stamp mounts making it an appealing idea to pick up another case. As for now I'm keeping the mounts that don't fit in the case in their original packaging. Not perfect.
The Ugly
The stamps are not always level. I don't know if this is my inexperience but it's extremely difficult to get the letters to stamp at the same thickness because they vary in height on the mount.
It takes a lot of tries. In order to get the letters level, I would do a practice stamp, move the uneven letters and stamp again. It took about 4 tries per stamp before I got it to an acceptable place and even then it wasn't perfect. As a result, when I was finished with the stamp, I didn't want to undo my work and make new stamps.
Final Verdict
I would buy this again instead of the address stamps. The two sets only cost me about $40 at Michael's and give me a lot more options.
The creative possibilities exceeds the issues that will likely go away with a little more practice.
Plus, the compliments we got from the tag I put on our Easter hostess gift was worth the effort.
