Exploring your stamping and creating style

[lovepug2]

I typed this up on my ipad and when I went to post it told me I had to log in! So I'm on my laptop now typing this up. Warning its long and rambly!

In Heidi's spending thread, several of us mentioned having stamps that aren't our style anymore.
I went through my stamps recently and pulled several aside that just don't work for me anymore.
When I first started stamping, I had no clue to what style I liked. I had been scrapbooking for a while and my style on that has always remained very clean and simple. My pages aren't/weren't trendy but I'm okay with that because it's what I like and tells the story that I wanted them to. I often did stamping on my pages so I have stamps that are more for scrapbooking but I have used them in cardmaking and other paper crafts.

 So when I went into card making/stamping, I first purchased some sets that I had seen online that I really liked. I still find myself going back to those same ones.
I also purchased lots of stamps from craft stores and yard sales that I got for pretty good deals. Some have been a good fit, some not. It's all a part of learning and figuring out what I liked. I've held on to those stamps for a while but some I have never used. I've decided to give some of them out as RAK's.

There are so many styles for paper crafting and I'm intrigued by all. I'm not sure what my exact style is but I know what it's not.

One thing I noticed is that I like pretty much any stamp that Hero Arts makes and those are my most inked up stamps. After surveying my collection, I've learned I can't say no to a butterfly, floral, bird or pumpkin stamp. I probably should since I have oodles of each but those are ones that I really enjoy creating with.

I have a small collection of wildlife/outdoor themed images. While it's not my personal style at all, it is for loved ones that I make cards for so it makes me happy to use them.

I don't own hardly any people stamps. It's not that I don't like them(but in all honesty, some of them creep me out!). I struggle with how to use them and color some of them. I've always been intrigued by the Primal Doll stamps. I think because they remind me of paper dolls that I had as a child. I was excited to see some of them at Hobby Lobby a while back and was able to get one for a few dollars on sale. While it's not my typical style, I've enjoyed experimenting with it and paper piecing with it.

As most of us here, I have a crafting budget and I've always been frugal with it. That said, I do have an embarrassing amount of uninked stamps! Mostly, it's due to time. Some due to I'm not sure how or what I want to use it for.

As I looked at some cards I've made and my stamp collection I was surprised as to how it reflects on my own personal style. I'm not a trendy dresser and don't keep up with all of the latest crazes. I'm pretty plain and simple but love color. I rarely wear pastel colors, there aren't any pastels in my house and it's rare I make a card with them. I think the look of shabby chic is so pretty but have a hard time pulling it off. When I think of how shabby chic translates into fashion, I think of lace and ruffles and pearls. I don't feel comfortable wearing any of those.

So let's chat! How has your stamping style evolved? Does it reflect your personal style too?

[howdyheidi]

Wow, this is such an excellent topic.  Thanks for starting this thread. I may post today and then again later.

I also am not 100% sure what my style is.  I think I trend toward clean and simple often, but that is not all that I like making.  For some things, maybe your style is something else, but I just don't have the skills to do it yet.  For example I am thinking about cards with tons going on with papers, die cuts and embellishments.  I would love to do that, but I am not that good at it. 

In real life, I do not have clothes that are ultra stylish.  For home decor I really tend to like modern country or something understated.  The thing about stamping and cards is that since it is small you can experiment with styles and colors that you like, but that you might not wear or paint your walls.

The one stamp that I find hard to pass up is any bird.  I just love birds, realistic or stylized! 

I also LOVE flowers.  I usually like more realistic flowers or flower silhouettes the best.  I want them all!

I agree that when I started stamping, I also made some mistakes with purchases.  I think those mistakes were because of the pictures on wood block stamps and not realizing what the stamp would look like when I stamped it.  Other mistakes were buying stamps because they were on sale or on trend and then finding they didn't work for me.  Especially sometimes I would get excited about a stamp set that I saw used in a video by a professional designer (who probably got the stamps for free).  I am glad I held onto them until now, though, because I am better at coloring now, I can do a little more with the stamps that must be colored.

I, like LeighAnn, also have some stamps that I have purchased to make cards for family.  This includes a few outdoorsy stamps, some sortof modern trendy ones and sports ones.

Specific companies, I also love Hero Arts. I specifically love their background stamps, most of which I think are timeless and the sentiment sets. 

I like Gina K a lot also for sentiments, flowers, and many of her stamps are my style (although many aren't too).

There are definitely other stamp companies that I like, but that are not as readily available, so I won't single out any more.

[Looser]

Neat topic, Pug!

I came to stamping as a craft somewhat 'late' in my creating life & as a direct spin-off of my prior work with stenciling & wearable art.

Looking back I can see that what held me back from embracing the 'rubber 'n ink' was my failure to see beyond the 'image'. Like many I saw stamps as a quick way to put a design on a surface--and only as it exsisted. I had already learned that that wasn't true for stencils, but it took me a bit to see that it was also true for stamps. Can you say "DOH"?!

Once I understood that stamps were 'tools', my style kicked in with them. What's my 'style' (as I see it)?  To explore how stuff works without getting bogged down by the 'rules'. 

[CarefreeSadie]

Wow, just wow!  This thread has already got me thinking.  Which is a good thing, really!  My style....LOL!  I like all the "styles" in scrapbooking and card making.  I started card making over 30 years ago so I have some old stamps and tools that I still use occasionally.  I still have a two file drawers full of plain colored card stock in many different colors in 11 x 8 1/2 paper.  I still use them, I own them, so I will use them.  I have always purchased reams of plain white heavy card stock to use in card making.  Then I got into scrapbooking and purchased patterned paper and plain paper in 12 x 12.  I have several files full of that paper too now.  I unmounted all my original rubber stamps for storage reasons so they now are in big plastic folders by season and type.  I still use these stamps a lot.  I started purchasing acrylic stamps about 15-20 years ago and I am sorry to say that some of those first acrylic stamps are not holding up very well.  I took a set out to use the other day and the acrylic is getting sticky like, it is weird.  They were still usable but I wonder how long they still will be usable.  I do think acrylic stamps are better made now then when they first came out.

I started card making just using stamps and matting.  I either colored the stamps or stamped with different colors of ink to make them different.  When I got the first big red die cut machine I was in heaven, I could stamp and cut.  I tried to only purchase the dies that would work for many different things because I had already found out with stamps that sometimes you can only use them so many times until you just can't use them for awhile anymore.  Nobody wants the same card for their birthday or other holiday over and over.  I have a lot of alphabet dies and shape dies.  I have never gotten rid of any of them.  I still use them but not as much as I did at first.  Then I got my first original cricut which I still use.  I have maybe 50 carts and the same original cricut and the expression now.  I use Make the Cut Software and the Design studio software.  I use these mostly for scrapbooking.  I have some of the Disney carts that I really like.  I got sucked into buying the cameo when it came out and I use that too with it's software and also with Make the cut software.

When I started scrapbooking my style was pretty clean and simple.  But I still put a lot on each page.  I look at those first pages and still love them.  In the last few years I have gotten more artsy with my cards and scrapbooking but I still do clean and simple at times.  I now own acrylic paint, a little distress stuff, and modeling paste, and gel mediums which I use a lot. 

I guess my "style" is basically the same as it always has been.  I find a lot of joy in being artistic and messy but yet there are times I truly just want to do classy and clean.  I think even though my craftroom is small there is room for all different "styles" to come out and play.  Last night I was using my gelli plate to make Valentine card backgrounds after I had made 4 or 5 clean and simple cards using very little patterned paper, washi tape, and stamps.  I really like those cards, the ones that have lots of white background and the two heart stamps in red and grey are the focal points.  But after making the multi colored heart backgrounds with my gelli plate I think I am really going to like those Valentine cards too.

This whole crazy stamping artsy world to me is all about experimenting with different mediums so my "style" is every "style" at least once.  LOL!  I need to go to lunch now but I might be back later to post more too, like howdyheidi!     

[Canadian, eh]

I'm still trying to figure out my style.  I used so many different mediums which depends on the stamp.  I"ve been going cutesy lately which isn't like me.  I"m still trying to find my way after stamping for 10 years. 

[Yankee]

I don't see that I have a style, except that I can't stand a empty or blank or white space on arts.
My daughter says I have a style, and that I keep getting better at it.
It's great having a cheering section!

[howdyheidi]

A question for those of you with more than one craft or art:

Do you think your style for stamping is the same or different than your style of the other art?

[lovepug2]

Everyone has made some fantastic points and discussions on what style can be. One thing is that it always seems to be evolving.

Heidi, great question. I've dabbled in many different crafts. The 3 that I've stuck with are paper crafting, painting and needlepoint(the last two I haven't done much of lately though!). I've done painting for other people that might reflect their style. Example- my mom loves Tuscan style colors and artwork so I did a painting for her that reflected that. It was hard to do because that is not my style at all! I rarely work with darker or earthy colors which is pretty true to my cardmaking. I like seeing how others use them but for myself, I find it challenging to work with those colors unless I'm making a fall card. Most of my paintings are abstract or loose abstract and that's a style that's not like my cardmaking. The one thing I think they have in common would be color palette since I tend to work with bright and bold colors.
As far as needlepoint goes? A lot of the images I've embroidered or cross stitched in the past I often wished there was a stamp image of!