Favorite Tools By:  Steph Schirmer

This month I decided to dive into the wonderful world of tools we possess.  Over the years I am sure we all have collected a wide variety.  Things we just can’t live without and wonder how we survived without them.  So I posed that questions to the group, what is the one tool you can’t live without, be it stamp pads, gadgets, markers what ever it is tell me what it is.   I got a wide variety of things.  So read on, see if you agree are these things you can’t live without?????

 By far the most popular answer was a paper cutter.  Several people put this at the top.  A lot of brands were mentioned from the Genesis Trimmer, Fiskars Trimmers, Creative Memories Small Guillotine Trimmer and Carl’s Paper Trimmer.  Everyone said find one you are comfortable with and can operate because you use this item a lot.

Xyron machines ranked high.  Pam Vandevers has four of them to make all her cards, tags and pages much easier to work with.  Annette of our design team said,   “They are perfect for making any little embellishment adhere to a project.”  She even has a tip for all the parents out there, “With the repositionable cartridge, the creativity of our little ones needn’t be stifled, let them decorate the walls of their rooms or the fridge or whatever you can easily remove it later.” Personally, I have to admit when I first got my 850 I thought okay what am I going to do with this, but now I find I too cant live without it.

Inkpads were popular too.  Versamark pads were popular for embossing, adding chalks, resist and mica powders.  A black pad was a must for stamping images.  Archival, Brilliance, India Black Ink, Adirondacks and Distress Inks topped the list.  Here are a couple of suggestions when using Marvy’s and chalk pads:

 Sue Lorang says,  “Marvy dye ink pads and markers are my favorite because they match close in color and besides normal stamping and coloring you can put the inks on a more solid stamp and mist them and get a watercolor effect.  You can also use them to color acetate, put down color, mist and then lay the card front on it for some interesting backgrounds.”

 Connie McGinnis loves chalk inks.  She says,  “I use them for stamping but also on vellum (they dry when others stay wet) and on glossy papers.  I use them to “paint” images by using the little cut and dry nibs.  I run the nib across the inkpad and apply the color.  After I apply the base color I can go into a  darker  ink and do some shading.  I also used color dusters to add a shadow or a hint of color to my backgrounds.  On glossy papers you can layer colors start with the lightest let dry and add another let dry and another and on top when finished each color shows thru a bit.”

 Another item mentioned was the Japanese Screw punch.  Ginny says, “It is great for adding fibers or brads to artwork and never inconvenient in places for the traditional hole punch to reach.  The mechanics of the punch allow for almost no effort to make a hole through thick materials like heavy cardboard.  There is no pounding with a hammer just push down release.”  It is portable and can be taken anywhere very easily.  I have to agree I use mine for everything, a great investment for me.

 Stamps were brought up.  One was a splatter stamp from Stampin Up’s Itty Bitty Background set great for adding extra touches of color and the other was Hero Arts lower case alphabet stamps (printers).  I know that I used to look at stamps as just stamps.  After taking a Sherrill Kahn class I realized that they can be used with other mediums other then inks.  I think we all need to look at our stamps as tools and work outside our comfort zone with them.

Other items mentioned as must have tools were:

 Glue sticks

Yes Paste

Double sided tape

Cosmetic sponges

Diamond Glaze

Heat Gun

Fiskars Microtip Scissors

Baby Wipes

Bone Folders

These last few suggestions are great.  It makes you look at things as tools you wouldn’t normally think about.

Pat Lewellen says, “My favorite tool is a stamp scrubber I made using a pad which is to be used for painting.  It is 3.5” x 4.5”, I bought it at Walmart and glued it in a Huggies container for travel.  It works great, very portable and cost about 4 bucks.”

C a design team member says, “I use all kinds of things that were not made for stamping.  To me a tool is a tool.  I use a dryer holder that is made for drying cats to hold my embossing too.  I got 50 cent boxes at Harbor Freight that are used to hold shells for reloading and I put a little sand at the bottom of them and they hold a lot of my most often used tools and brushes.  I go to a liquidator place that gets a lot of art things, medical supplies no longer needed and get some real deal.”

Heather says, “I have expensive gizmos that can do anything but I have taught this to a lot of people…take clean, crumpled, plastic wrap wadded up and pounced on an ink pad and stamped on paper to make a fun background.  Easy, quick and anyone can do it.  Its second cousins are crumpled tin foil and crumpled wax paper.”

 So as you can see there are a lot of tools out there.  I am sure we all have our favorites.  Just remember to use them.

 As always I would like to thank the following for their contributions they help make my column easier:

 The Stampers Mall Design team members:

 Sue Lorang, Annette, Missy Wong, Shona Watson, Phyllis J, Betty McCommon, Mary Drinkwater  and C

 My Fellow Tennessee Stampers:

 Boo Martin (Stamp BOO-TIQUE), Nancy Walker, Robin Orewiler, Linda Jean, Cindy Trobaugh, Meg Lowitzer, Nancy Curry, Heather, Pat Lewellen, Jeanine in Cleveland, Ginny, Pam Vandevers Debbie Neis and Connie McGinnis

 If you have any ideas let me know I will gladly pose a question to the group.  I love learning something from everyone!!!!

Steph Schirmer sschirmer@stampersmall.com