February 7, 2013

My Papertrey Ink Stamps Have Arrived!

A few weeks ago I was extremely lucky to win one of Papertrey Ink's monthly giveaways.  Using the coupon and my credit card, I bought a large order of stamps/supplies from their shop (I made sure it was a large order as the shipping fees were high).  Well, a few days ago the package arrived. :D

I must say, the company uses very nice packaging for their products.
The stamps come either in a large plastic case (with care instructions, a CD case for storage and stickers for placement) or a thinner plastic case or plastic bag, depending on the size of the set.  The die set I got came in the cute brown envelope.

The first thing I did was open the larger stamp sets and organize them in the CD cases.  The stickers go on the outside and show how to orient the stamps so they fit in the case.  I cut off the side label so it wouldn't force the rest of the stamps so close to the edge.  

The stamps originally come on a piece of thin plastic with a very thin plastic backing to keep them from sticking.  I figure I can use the backing plastic for projects, so there's minimal waste.  Do be aware that they don't give quite enough room for the stamps (since the pictures are the image you get when you use the stamp and they've got a bit of extra acrylic on all sides, making the actual stamps larger than the image).  As I wasn't convinced the stamps wouldn't stick together when I closed the case, I kept one of the super thin pieces of plastic inside to keep them apart.

Here's one set done. :)  
The stamps themselves remind me of my Close to my Heart stamps, only a bit sturdier.  They're quite think and I had little fear of them ripping when I took them off the plastic (as is the case with some of my other stamp sets).  

Do remember to condition them with a white eraser though.  I kept forgetting to do it, so my first few stamping attempts had that spotted 'the ink didn't want to stay' look, especially with markers.  My next project (after I remembered) came out beautifully, with both inks and markers.

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