Tutorial- Tips and Tricks - always better when shared.....

Tips and Tricks

Today I thought I would pass along a couple tips and tricks I've seen and heard. Tips are great but somehow get overlooked or not passed on. So, here are a couple for you to enjoy. Maybe you already know about them but maybe there is one here that is new to you. 

First, a simple feature of our markers that I never knew until last year. Our Stampin' Write markers have two ends, one is a pen and the other is a marker. Every time I used them I'd uncap one end, look at what I had and then recap it and open the other end because 9 times out of 10, I needed the other end. Well, I don't do that anymore. A genius in the design department made a line on each end of the marker. There is a thin line on the pen side 

and a thick line on the marker end. Simple and so useful!

Next tip still on markers. Did you know that you can refill our markers? If you use them a lot and they start to get empty, you can bring them back to life. Just use tweezers to pull the marker end off. I know, this may be difficult to do but trust me, as long as you're careful, you ARE NOT going to ruin your marker. 

Once the marker end is off, you use the same color re-inker to drop color into the barrel of the pen and replace the marker end. I let mine set a while on its side and it was good as new. Remember to always store your markers on their side, never on their end.

Third tip is for storing stamps. I realize this one could be filed under OCD but I enjoy my stamps more when they are nice and organized. I'm sure it's no surprise to you that the wood stamps often come in a box that is ten times too big for the set. Then they flop all over the box turning on their sides bumping into each other like a stamp mosh pit. Well, when it comes to wood, I put the stamps in all nice and neat and then fill the empty space with crumbled paper. This won't work with clear stamps so to keep the clear sets organized, I keep the big rubber piece the stamps originally came in and pop the stamps in and out when I need them. This is also a great way to quickly see if a stamp is missing from a set.

Fourth tip could save me millions! How many times have you glued down a piece of paper only to see that you stuck it on crooked? Even if your quick, when you peel the two papers apart, damage WILL be done. You probably have to scrap the papers and try again. Well, if you use dental floss, you can separate the papers with minimal damage. You just slide the floss between the papers from top to bottom and they'll separate. This only works with the snail adhesive and not the liquid glue or sticky strip and I'd recommend waxed floss. So go ahead and put a pack of waxed dental floss in with your other stamping supplies. Just think of what an ice breaker it will be at your next class, club or stamp camp. 

Last tip is another storage tip. At Stampin' Up we sell the empty DVD type cases. They are the same ones as the clear stamps come in. When I first saw them I wondered what I would need them for and dismissed them. WELL, there is a super creative demonstrator that suggested that we use them for storage.

Here are some supplies that fit nicely into those empty cases...dimensionals, markers (you could store an entire family together), jewels and pearls, sticky strip, bone folder and scissors, blender pens, gel pens or replacement blades for your paper cutter to name a few

Hope these tips help!