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For those ladies out there that are using the acrylic block/EZ mount system....How do you store your acrylic blocks?? I'm planning on switching very soon (as soon as the money falls out of the sky) and I would like to know how you store them so they don't get scratched and ruined.
Also, how do you store your rubber stamps? On sheets in notebooks? I'm assuming this is the way most people do it. What kind of sheets do you use?
I keep my unmounteds in CD cases. Be sure they are the large ones, not the jewel cases as those are too thin. I bought them at Target and at Staples. They come out to be about a quarter a piece. I can store 30 CD cases in the space it takes me to store 5 wood mount sets.
As you my blocks I keep them in a zip lock bag. I don't worry about them getting scratched.
I keep my acrylic blocks on my desk in a plastic ziplock, but I am not too worried about them getting scratched up, just comes with the territory I think I keep my UM stamps in CD Jewel cases. I keep those in a wall mountable CD holder and a stand up small tower on my desk. I will have to have DH take a pic soon to show. I "stole" a lot of CD cases from DH and put his software CDs in slim line jewel cases. TeeHee!
You can also go to www.thestampingstudio.com and click on the green bar at the top that says "Unmounted System" to get an idea of what I am talking about.
BTW, I joined their club last month to get a great 30% discount on all their UM stamps in their store and 25% discount on everything else. Very low minimum requirement per quarter. If you decide to join up please use my name as a referral
BTW, I joined their club last month to get a great 30% discount on all their UM stamps in their store and 25% discount on everything else. Very low minimum requirement per quarter. If you decide to join up please use my name as a referral
Hello Ladies,
I keep my handles in 2 of the plastic boxes my stamps came in. I store my stamps in Jewel Cd cases. I have over 300 sets stored in a 2foot by 3 foot space.I get mine at www.actrecycling.org.
I get the ones marked scratched with some blemishes and they end up at about .14 each. I also have ladies that use the stamp and store boards. They are black hard coated boardsa you store in a 3 ring binder. Hope this helps.
In Him,
Shawna TAC angel # 565
UMs are just starting to get bigger around here. I have quite a few now from the Scottish Border Stamping company. I could not get the acrylic blocks around here this Spring so I improvised - I glued fun foam on the cover of a Ferrero Roche (sp??) chocolate container. I have several sizes - we love those devils!
I then put a strip of mono on the rubber, place it on the fun foam, turn the cover over and stamp on a computer mouse pad. Works really well for me! and a good reason to buy more chocolate!
Have any of you used your SU stamps w/ acrylic blocks? I love most my SU stamps on wood, but I have several TAC sets. I LOVE the alphabet w/ acrylic. I can spell words & have them lined up straight. It makes it so much faster if I have to repeat the same word.
How would you convert SU stamps that already have sticky stuff & foam on them to mountables? Would you get some of the plastic-y stuff to adhere then cut out your stamps? I've also bought cheap alphabet sets, trimmed them & put back on the wood blocks, but would rather have them unmounted. Thanks!
Oh, I also use CD cases for my stamps. Just have the blocks in a drawer, but ziplock is great idea.
I have done exactly what you described to ALL my SU! sets. Basically what you have to do is take the wood AND foam off the rubber. Buy some EZ mount foam, put that on your rubber and cut it to shape. Then it has a type of cling on the part that you adhere to the acrylic block. I went from using a lousy Rubber maid plastic tub for storing all my sets (Ugh!) to having all 72 sets fit in a 60 CD case holder, and I haven't used up all my slots yet even. Cuz if a set is small enough, you can fit two in one CD case! I love this system so much better and they are all at my fingertips. Helps to get the creative juices flowing
Michele creates some AWESOME alphabets and sentiment stamps! The vast majority of my UM's don't even have cushion! I haven't found that I need the cushion! Just the rubber on the acrylic block. I put removable double-stick tape on my acrylic blocks.
If you DO need/want cushion, I HIGHLY recommend the "red cushion" that Michele (the owner of Purple Onion) carries on her website. Not only is it cheaper than EZMount, it is MUCH easier to work with. I've used both. You can also get the Kai scissors (identical to SU's) on her website too. Michele also carries the acrylic blocks at a good price - these are the nice ones:
Then at the bottom of that page, click on "Kai's and Cushion" to see the red cushion.
I have a few of Michele's alpha sets and have not needed cushion. The only UMs that I use cushion on are Eat Cake Graphics stamps - the rubber is very thin and it lies almost completely flat on the acrylic block w/o the cushion. However, I LOVE these stamps - just add the dot-com to the company name.
I'm not even considering UM'ing my SU stamps, though!
No I didn't need any solvent or anything to remove the rubber from the foam, maybe just nuke em for 10 seconds or so if its giving you a hard time. Get usd to your fingers and scissors being sticky while you are converting your stamps, once you are done tho', you will be so glad you did. If you decide to buy more UM, go to this website www.thestampingstudio.com. Really great designs and prices.
All the sets they sell come wit the EZ foam included in the price - which are dirt cheap, especially if you join, you get an additional 30% off the price!!
I mount the UM's on the cushion, then the other sticky side to static cling. I find this works great to keep them mounted to the acrylic block no matter what size. I had problems with the EZ mount on small UM's.
I then take the stamp and put them on the storage sheet, slip the sheet into a page protector and store in the binder. I will also stamp a piece of cardstock and use slide that into the page protector as well.
The vinyl cling and storage sheets are VERY inexpensive. And Marge usually runs a special on the cushion sheets. These are large sheets of cushion. I absolutely love.
You can tell her Chris Coslet from NJ sent you if you want.
Her customer service is unbelievable. She's called me twice from California to discuss my order when she felt she could save me $$ on shipping. Lovely lady!!
No, as long as you are a member you can get 30% off your UM stamps and 25% off ALL other supplies in the store. This is great! Especially if you don't live in GA, you don't pay taxes. So I joined up and bought my quarterly minimum (only $75.00) BEFORE I moved out of SoCal, just so I wouldn't pay the taxes on it.
I am not a demo... What is the main reason you are switching to unmounted? Is it storage? Or is it that the acrylic is see-thru? Or is there some kind of real savings in buying unmounted?
But when you buy the SU stamps, you are paying for the wood, too. My daughter bought me a set of unmounted with a few acrylic blocks. I just hated switching them back and forth. And, I couldn't tell some of the fancy script letters apart.
I like the idea of unmounted for a couple of reasons:
Storage- I have 15 sets in a 3 ring binder with room for plenty more. The CD cases didn't work well for me because too many of my sets didn't fit in just one so I found it easier to just use the boards in a binder. Although I think I am just going to transfer the boards into a file box.
Positionability - using the acrylic handles allows me to see better where I am stamping (the clear acrylic stamps themselves are not neccessary). The mounting the stamps on the handle each time also allows me to position multiple stamps on the same block and stamp all at once. (Great for lining things up and getting the same thing each time.)
My counters to negatives:
Mounting each time- it really doesn't take more than 20 seconds and since I have several blocks I don't have to remount between each stamp. Just when I grab the stamp off my storage sheet I stick it on a block.
(Are there any others???)
As for the fact that the SU stamps already come with the wood, you are right so it doesn't save me money, but I love the SU stamps. Using the Ez mount costs me about an extra .20-.50 per set. Well worth it to me. If it weren't for shipping charges I would sell the blocks to make the money back. This is why some of us wish that SU would offer a rubber only option like TAC and several other rubberstamp companies. Keep the wood for those that want it, but at least offer the option for the rest of us.
Having pulled several sets off the SU foam last night, I didn't have a problem. I just pulled it off and had to roll some residue off a couple of the sets but nothing too messy.
A great site to see the ez-mount system is www.SundayInt.com A group of us just did a purchase from them and got great prices. I will prob. be doing another one in Dec or January if anyone is interested.
I store my UMs on EZ Mount storage folders. I bought them from Sunday International, and they work great! They also have "panels" that can be put in a notebook. I keep the acrylic blocks in a little storage unit that has three drawers, and I don't have any trouble with them getting scratched or ruined.
At one point, I really wished that SU would offer UMs, but it's really nice to just pull out a stamp and have it ready to go. To save space, I have mounted some of my SU stamps onto EZ Mount. I have my Greetings Galore set in the smallest case that SU sells! I did that when the set was a hostess set--now it's in the catalog. :-( I found the leaves in the DD Daisy set were hard to use because they didn't really fit the block straight up, so I mounted the leaves on EZ Mount. It's just a great option!
As for the cost difference between UMs and mounted stamps . . . I don't see that it amounts to much considering TAC's prices vs. SU's prices. It would just be a great option. And, some customers may be more willing to purchase an UM set to save money.
I see a huge differance in prices between un-mounted and mounted stamps. Yes I still buy a SU set when I just can't live without it( Hope is set) If SU gave us the choice of Unmounted I'd really be in trouble. I like the cost effectiveness of un's and there are LOTS of companies out there.Now if I could just win the lottery I'd have all the stamps in the world
Bwaa haaa haaa haaa okay back to reality. I just love stamping period and i'll get a stamp set where I can get it. I give my wood blocks to the neighber he uses them for wood crafts.
In Him,
Shawna
I am an SU demo, but I still have a pretty extensive UM's collection. For the stamps that I use most (my SU's), I do like having them on wood--always in the same place--never just lost on my desk. . . BUT I love having the option of buying some quirky alphabets or other small UM's for $10. It doesn't bother me to spend $5-$10 on something that I won't use often, but it WOULD bother me to spend $25-$39 on an alphabet that I didn't use often! So I like UM's just from a cost perspective. Sometimes being able to see where you are stamping is also a benefit.
I keep my small sets--like alphabets--in CD cases, but I keep my larger stamps on clear page protectors with the stamped image actually INSIDE the page protector so that I know what's missing before I rake the contents of my workspace into the trash. (Are you getting the picture of a creative MESSY here?? :lol: )
The UM's that I use the most are mounted on EZMount foam. The ones that I use seldom are simply painted with Aleen's Tack it Over and Over glue. You paint this glue on and let the rubber dry over night. Then it stays sticky for a LONG time and works fine with acrylic blocks unless it is a very large or very detailed (photo-realistic) image.
I also love Purple Onion Designs, Jody Poesy, Artful Lexicon, Starving Artiststamps, Biblical Impressions, Art by Moonlight. . . I'm sure there are more, but I pulled an almost all-nighter last night and have brain fade. :? I'm planning to get at least one CTMH alphabet, but I have heard *very* mixed reviews on stamping with acrylic rather than rubber stamps.
I bought a CTMH set as did a friend of mine. Neither one of us like them! I need to find a way to make a Susan Branch set functional -- they are rubber mounted and I just can't stamp with them like that! They aren't even trimmed! I just had to have the set though so I may see if hubby can make me some wooden blocks so I can use them the way I'm used to working with stamps.
I am not a demo... What is the main reason you are switching to unmounted? Is it storage? Or is it that the acrylic is see-thru? Or is there some kind of real savings in buying unmounted?
For one I am having storage issues at this point (over 100 stamp sets) Also, there are so many images that I have seen and would love to buy that can be purchased for next to nothing unmounted. I figure if I'm going to start investing in those, I might as well go all unmounted. I think it's a more efficient way to use alphabet stamps also.
I'm not particularly interested in CTMH stamps since I'm not fond of stamping with acrylic images, I'm more interested in mounting rubber images on acrylic blocks.
For SU Demo's, how do you demo the UM stamps at workshops?
ALso, for those that UM their alpha's, what do you do when you are spelling a word out on a block, and you need the same letter twice? Do you just leave spaces and then go back and fill them in?
Hmmm. . . I don't ever use UM's at my workshops. But if my ladies come over, they are highly likely to see them at my house, and I'm happy to tell them where I got a good price on anything that thay ask about.
On the alphabets that have only one letter, I usually leave a space and go back to stamp that letter. HTH!
Acrylic Blocks and UM Stamps
