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I am a new stamper and am loving this hobby! Since I cannot purchase every set of stamps I want, I would like your suggestions on your favorite sets of SU stamps. Which ones can you not live without and which ones were a disappointment? What about colors? Any ones that are more versatile?
I can't live without Doodle This, it's my most used set. For colors I am always using Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, and Celery. I also highly recomend markers, I use those every time I stamp and then you have all the colors. See if you can find a marker club to join where you can get a little at a time.
Welcome!
__________________ Sarah CAS Challenge Spring 2013 Design Team Member Visit my blog
My absolutely most used stamp is the random spots from Itty Bitty backgrounds, but my most favorites are Roses in Winter, Natural Beauty, Frosty, Flaky Friends, and the Paisley and Crosshatch backgrounds. Unfortunately I think almost all of them are now retired. :(
I can't live without Doodle This, it's my most used set. For colors I am always using Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, and Celery. I also highly recomend markers, I use those every time I stamp and then you have all the colors. See if you can find a marker club to join where you can get a little at a time.
Welcome!
Thanks.....I hate to ask a dumb question, but "What is a marker club?" I really am a newbie!!
OK let's see.... I started with Artfully Asian about a year ago. I love that set, but really have moved on since getting it. Looking through my gallery, Fabulous Flowers, Boatloads of love/Loads of love, Baroque motifs and Priceless are the top ones I use. But I also love Unforgettable, Wild about you, and DD Daisy (retired). My all time favorite is Wonderful Wings (also retired), but I haven't used that set in ages. I think I know what I am pulling out tonight!!
Colors, basic black for sure (unless you have a permanent black already). The classic spots are pretty affordable, 12 spots for a little over $20. I bought RR first. But I second the choc chip. I love that color!!!
__________________ Kelly
♥ Mommy to my handsome twin 3 year old boys and beautiful 1 year old girl♥
The approach that I would HIGHLY recommend is to identify a few sets that appeal to you and then check out the galleries for those sets. That way you can see the stamps "in action" and decide if it's a set you would use a lot.
Colors are all about what appeals to you! I wouldn't stick to just one color family though, I'd venture out.
If I could only have 6 colors, this would be my list. All of these coordinate with each other. A color coach is a great tool, also. I use mine all the time.
Celery
Teal
Real Red
Pretty in Pink
Olive
Soft Sky
Thanks.....I hate to ask a dumb question, but "What is a marker club?" I really am a newbie!!
Some demos offer a marker club. If you get so many people (usually 6) to contribute so much a month ($25-$30), then at the end of a defined amount of months each person will have a complete set of all the SU markers. But if you limit yourself to one family of markers a month, it's really not that bad (roughly - just guessing I don't have totals in front of me - $35 to $40 after tax and shipping).
__________________ Kelly
♥ Mommy to my handsome twin 3 year old boys and beautiful 1 year old girl♥
The two stamp sets that I would not want to live without are Lovely as a Tree and Sincere Salutations. Both are super versatile. The colors sort of depend on your personal preference. I love the earth elements family, so my favorites are pumpkin pie, old olive, ruby red and chocolate chip, but I make it a point to use all the colors, even ones I don't necessarily "love".
And I would totally echo Sarah's recommendation of the markers. You can do pretty much everything with markers that youcan do with an ink pad and more, so it's a great way to get started with all the colors. And a marker club is a good way to do it if you can't afford to get the entire caddy at once, becasue the caddy is definitley nice to have!
Thanks.....I hate to ask a dumb question, but "What is a marker club?" I really am a newbie!!
Some SU demo do a club where each month four of you get together and learn a technique with the markers. You pay one fourth of the box of markers, and at the end of four months you have gotten the complete set with the carrying case. It's a great way to get the set, but break up the payment for it. You can also buy the marker family or marker one at a time, but you won't get the neat carrying case that way.
Right now I'm using Embrace Life and A Little Birdie told me a lot, because they are both very versatile. And, while I don't have it I know a lot of demos swear by lovely as a tree.
Some demos offer a marker club. If you get so many people (usually 6) to contribute so much a month ($25-$30), then at the end of set months each person will have a complete set of all the SU markers. But I don't have that many customers to offer this yet. But if you limit yourself to one color of markers a month, it's really not that bad (roughly - just guessing I don't have totals in front of me - $40 after tax and shipping).
Different demos run their marker clubs differently. I think 4 members is a popular option because then every member gets one color family per month. But, of course, the monthly cost of that is higher as well.
If you aren't a demo, you can get some retired sets pretty inexpensively in the B/S/T forums from those who are demos and can't demo them anymore...that is one of the routes I took in the beginning....check some random galleries and see what style you like( bright and whimsical/distressed/elegant/etc.)
then....ask us again!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by krystie lee
The approach that I would HIGHLY recommend is to identify a few sets that appeal to you and then check out the galleries for those sets. That way you can see the stamps "in action" and decide if it's a set you would use a lot.
Colors are all about what appeals to you! I wouldn't stick to just one color family though, I'd venture out.
totally agree ^
i most always check the gallery submissions BEFORE buying a set.
my most disappointing set purchase was 'sketch it'
all time fav would be 'little pieces' very versatile
as for ink/CS colors... i am still collecting. i usually buy at least one color of ink and matching CS each month.
good luck and welcome to the addiction! no 12 step program for me tho.
The approach that I would HIGHLY recommend is to identify a few sets that appeal to you and then check out the galleries for those sets. That way you can see the stamps "in action" and decide if it's a set you would use a lot.
Colors are all about what appeals to you! I wouldn't stick to just one color family though, I'd venture out.
If I could only have 6 colors, this would be my list. All of these coordinate with each other. A color coach is a great tool, also. I use mine all the time.
Celery
Teal
Real Red
Pretty in Pink
Olive
Soft Sky
Krystie--Just wanted to say I loved your gallery! You have some beautiful cards!
One of my favorite word sets is 'It's Your Birthday', it is always on my desk. 'True Friend' has been fun to play with, I use 'Fun and Fast Notes' often. I also love 'Close as a Memory', 'Eat Cake' and 'Peaceful Wishes'. There are several sets in the new catty that I can't wait to play with! Hope this helps!
I LOVE, will never tire of, and will never get rid of:
Gorgeous Grapes - retired (great for both masculine and feminine, elegant and casual, great on tiles ... I could go on forever!)
Baroque Motifs
Linen - retired
Sincere Salutations
Warm Words
Warmest Regards - retired
Wild About You
Hope that helps!
__________________ ~*~ Clara ~*~ If you can think it, you can ink it!
Mostly the word sets are the ones I can't live without... the image stamps all go in phases for me, love it when they are new, then I move on mostly... with that in mind,
Some of my favorites:
It's Your Birthday
Curvy Verses
Eat Cake
Unfrogetable & Wild About You are both the "cute" style and fairly versatile
Little Pieces
You'll get a wide variety of opinions on a question like that, good luck and hope this helps some!
Great question. My favorite sets in my collection right now are:
Lovely as a Tree
Warmest Regards - retired hostess set (should be able to pick one up fairly cheaply.)
Sassy Stems - retired
The color choices listed above are great. Personally I don't think you can go wrong with a Black (I prefer Staz-on), Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Rose Red. Getting spots of a color family is another reasonably cheap way to go. And you CAN ink up a background stamp with one - just takes a little patience.
My most used sets are probably:
Little Pieces (I love Big Pieces too, although it doesn't get quite as much use.)
Sincere Salutations
Warmest Regards
Artfully Asian
In Full Bloom
Riveting
Wonderful Words
Bud Basics
Unfroggetable
__________________ "You may not have lost all your marbles, but there's definitely a hole in the bag." Grumpy Cat
Lovely as a Tree
All in Bloom
Heartfelt
Sassy Stems
.....I find these are classics which you can "go to" for a long time....I have many others I like, but these popped into my head immediately. I have not used Heartfelt in a while. That being said, it is only because I am trying to ink up other sets I have not used. But Heartfelt is very pretty and a real keeper in my mind. Very feminine and romantic. I heard SU! keeps it in the catty for sentimental reasons?
Lovely as a Tree - I have used it for Christmas cards (two years in a row), birthdays, sympathy, thank you cards, etc. It also makes great masculine cards. If I could only have one set, this is the one I would keep above all others.
As for colors, that is purely subjective. My favorites are Earth Elements and Bold Brights. You could start out with the spots (much cheaper) and see if there are any spot sets that you like and get the pads in that set. I have spots and pads in all four color groups, and I use both the spots and pads for different things.
I think the most versatile stamp set, after Lovely as a Tree, is Heartfelt Thanks. You can use Lovely as a Tree for all the kinds of cards given in the post above, but Heartfelt Thanks makes hundreds of kinds of lovely floral cards. It's great!
Office Acoutrement, of course spelled wrong but I don't want to look it up, is the one stamp set I always end up using no matter what card I am making.
My all-time favourite stamp sets are: Lovely as a tree (very versatile), Linen Background (retired) and Heartfelt Thanks (also very versatile). Unfrogettable is my fave kids card stamp set. My favourite colours are celery, chocolate chip, and bashful blue.
__________________ I got a Nikon camera. I love to take photographs, so momma don't take my kodachrome away."
Paul Simon
The sets I use over and over again are: Priceless, Baroque Motifs, Touch of Nature, and All Holidays.
The colors i use most often are the In Colors, plus certainly celery, bashful blue, real red and regal rose. Old olive is a close contender. (oh boy, am I hearing too much political rhetoric or what?) LOL
As far as current catalog sets this one isn't my favorite but I have probably used it the most: Simply Said and the matching wheel. Lovely as a Tree is another good set - can be used for masculine cards, holidays...very good set to have on hand.
definitly Lovely as a tree and a word set are musts. I have a retired word set Elegant Greetings that I always use. But now in place of it is Elegant Cheer or Sincere Salutations would be perfect as they cover alot of different occasions. Noble is a set I always go back to as well for masculine cards. I have made male birthday, get well and think of you cards from that set. I even used it for a sympathy card.
Colors are basically up to the stamper. I use more of Elements in the fall and on the Noble deer Set. Soft Subtles I use more in the spring and on my flowery cards.Regals I use Always Artichoke ALOT and a few others here and there. I really only use the brights on kids cards.
The approach that I would HIGHLY recommend is to identify a few sets that appeal to you and then check out the galleries for those sets. That way you can see the stamps "in action" and decide if it's a set you would use a lot.
Colors are all about what appeals to you! I wouldn't stick to just one color family though, I'd venture out.
If I could only have 6 colors, this would be my list. All of these coordinate with each other. A color coach is a great tool, also. I use mine all the time.
Celery
Teal
Real Red
Pretty in Pink
Olive
Soft Sky
I completely agree with finding what you like in the catalog and them scoping out the gallery. When I am deciding whether to order a set I look at the gallery for that set and I create an idea file (electronically) with all my favourite ideas from that gallery. If I can think of new ways to use the set and things that it goes with that I have...and if it will be versatile, then I'll probably order it.
For colors - right now I love the pomegranite. But for basics you need some whisper white or very vanilla, you need a brown like chocolate chip and then go with your taste. I like artichoke and burgundy (I actually liked last year's cranberry crisp better than the burgundy now, but oh well). Also, I just got rose red and it's very nice (kind of like a backed off pomegranite!) Maybe with paper see if there is a designer pack that appeals to you and then get some card stock to coordinate? That way everything works together.
Favorite SU Stamps
