Analyzing My New Love of Stamps

For the longest time, when I looked at stamps and thought of using them for a project, all I saw was pressure to be perfect. I would think “What if I work on a whole card or layout or something all afternoon and then the last letter I stamp is messed up? It would all be ruined.” It seemed there were no second chances in stamping and that pressure just seemed overwhelming to a perfectionist like myself. But thanks to the wonders of Undu adhesive remover, no sticker placement was permanent. There were second chances in sticker usage. I couldn’t “ruin” a project by not getting a sticker on straight. Just whip out the Undu and “voila!” – another chance at perfect placement!

But this morning I started looking at that pressure from another angle while contemplating the answer to a message board question from a friend, who asked, ” Do you buy stuff to look at it, waiting until the ‘perfect project’ to use it – not wanting to waste it?” When another friend answered that she was afraid that she in fact did do that, because she was afraid she wouldn’t do the supplies “justice” in her project, it struck me that maybe part of my new love of rubber stamps is because they offer a relief from that pressure because of their reusability.

When I buy an embellishment that I love, my creative mind tends to be brimming over with all the different possible ways that it could be useful. But the embellishment can only be used once, or maybe twice if I buy multiples. I tuck it away and wait for that day to come that the right project presents itself for my special item to be used. I pull it out and consider using it. “Is THIS the project that it is perfect for? It would work….no, I’m sure it will work even better on something else.” And it gets tucked back away again. And so the item never gets used because I am afraid to take the plunge and use it, and then not have the item anymore when the real perfect project comes along, or I’m afraid that I will use it and then look at the completed project and feel like I “wasted” the special item.

But I have just realized that with stamps I don’t have that pressure! I can use a stamp as many times as I want, so I don’t have to wait to choose the “perfect” project to use that embellishment on that will do it justice. I can buy a set of images that I love and use them on anything and everything, with no need to evaluate the project or it’s quality or worthiness of the “special” product’s usage.

And now that I have recently discovered the easy-to-use clear stamps and removed the pressure of making perfectly placed beautiful impressions from my list of concerns, is it any wonder that my clear stamps are the first thing that I reach for lately when I construct a page? In so many ways than I at first realized, they are the no-pressure way to scrapbook!