Create Personalized Stamps with our Stamp Designers

All businesses need leaders to ensure that operations move smoothly and employees are well-cared for. Here at The StampMaker, we are lucky that our business manager is Matt. Thanks to his support, our team can put their heart and hustle into making sure your orders get to you quickly. Meet Matt.

How long have you worked at StampMaker?

2 years

Position in the company? What do you do?

I’m in charge of managing employee benefits, payroll, bookkeeping, IT, state sales tax, and more.

How do you use stamps in your job?

I use date stamps for marking our payables for our records.

What part of your job is your favorite?

I love seeing the creative and cool stamp designs that our customers send in. We keep a wall of sticky notes with all of the cool designs we’ve received over the years and it is always great when we get to add a new stamp up there!

Do you have a favorite stamp body? Why is it your favorite?

I love the Trodat Professional series stamps. They are super consistent, always make a great impression, and feel great to use.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about stamps when you started working here?

It’s been really cool to see the creative ways that our customers use their stamps to make their mark. I’ve learned that stamps have a lot more applications than just standard paper.

If you could give customers one tip for ordering or using stamps, what would it be?

I would recommend practicing using your stamp before using it on any official or important documents. While stamps are simple to use, if you don’t apply even pressure across the stamp it could mess up your impression.

What is it like working at a small female/family owned company?

I love working at a small business because of how personable our team is. There is a real charm to having a team where everyone knows each other and we’re all able to be friends at work.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

I love golf, poker, football, and lacrosse. I am constantly looking for new things to try and love staying active.

If you want to learn more about our offerings, or have questions, please send us an email at [email protected], and Natalie, Eva, or one of our other Customer Service Representatives will be happy to support you in finding the products that work best for you.

If you have ever received a package from a small business, or opened a gift that had beautifully designed tissue paper, you will know how much presentation matters. Personalized tissue paper adds a thoughtful and polished look to gifts and business packaging, and it is easy to make yourself.

Learning how to make custom tissue paper at your home or small business is a fun and affordable DIY project. In this guide, we will walk you through required materials, tips and tricks for a successful stamp, and applications for customized tissue paper to make an impact.

What You’ll Need to Make DIY Custom Tissue Paper

Creating custom tissue paper is a simple and fun way to elevate gifts and packaging. Here are some of the key items you will need:

• Plain tissue paper - Lighter colored paper usually works best to show ink clearly
• A custom stamp - Work with a company that will create a fully custom design to best reflect your gift, brand, or personality. If you are looking for a crisper impression, ensure that your stamp is made from a high-quality rubber or polymer.
• Ink pad - For the highest quality impressions on tissue paper, a felt stamp pad is optimal.
• A flat, clean work space - If you need to protect your workplace from any potential bleed-through, a securely placed plastic tablecloth may be helpful.

How to Successfully Stamp on Tissue Paper

Stamping on tissue paper is a delicate process, as it is more prone to smudging and tearing than thicker paper types. However, there are a few steps you can take to have better success and a more polished finished product.

Prepare Your Workspace

Ensure that all the materials that you will need are within reach to avoid interrupting stamping once it has started. You will also want to make sure that the surface that you are laying your paper on is dry and free from dirt.

Lay Out Your Paper

Another important aspect of a clean stamp impression is flat, wrinkle-free tissue paper. Many generations of crafters have been ironing tissue paper for a perfect finish. This can be done by ensuring your iron is on the lowest heat setting, and any steaming features are turned off.

Stamping Your Tissue Paper

When it comes time to stamp your tissue paper, a gentle but firm touch is key. You should only have a single press of the stamp, as repeated stamping in the same spot can cause smudges and uneven lines.

Practice the amount of ink needed on your stamp, as well as the placement on the paper on a practice piece of tissue before completing your final project to learn the appropriate method.

Let Your Ink Dry

Before inking any other section of the paper where your hand or other materials may rest on the stamped paper, let the ink dry. If you continue stamping your tissue paper, or rest objects on the tissue prior to it drying you will have smudges.

Why Custom Tissue Paper Makes a Big Impression

Custom tissue paper is a simple but impactful way to add personality, professionalism, and polish to your packaging—whether it is for business or personal use. DIY custom tissue paper is a budget-friendly and creative solution for a variety of applications:

For Small Businesses

Branded tissue paper instantly upgrades your customer’s unboxing experience. Stamping your logo, slogan or custom design on tissue paper creates a cohesive, elevated look without the cost of outsourced custom packaging. It creates stronger brand recognition and allows you to stand out from your competitors.

For Gifts & Holidays

Stamping on tissue paper lets you personalize your gift wrap to the celebration or recipient. Whether it's a birthday, holiday, or a “just because” surprise, custom tissue paper adds charm and thoughtfulness to your gifts.

Purchasing Your Custom Stamp for Tissue Paper

The key tool for successfully personalizing tissue paper is a high quality stamp. Whether you are using it for business branding or to create a gift, you want to create a clean and consistent impression.

Additionally, a custom stamp with your logo, artwork, or name is a tool that you can reuse over and over again. Stamp gift tags, thank you cards, business cards, product boxes, and more for brand awareness.

Choose a custom stamp designer that provides customization options for size, font, and layout so that you can create a final product that truly represents your style and brand.

Working with The StampMaker

As a female-owned and family-operated business since 1993, we know how important a custom stamp is to small businesses and crafters alike. We offer a variety of sizes, from a quarter inch the whole way up to over seven inches. From your design to the shape and handle, our in-house team works with you to create a stamp that will best suit your needs.

As a small family run business we work closely with all the members of our team. Our dedicated employees are the we are able to get your orders shipped so quickly. Today we thought we would show a little of what goes into making a stamp from one of our production department members. Meet Kristin.

How long have you worked at StampMaker?

2 years

Position in the company? What do you do?

I work in our production department and I assemble our Maxlight stamps after customers orders have been received and processed by our customer service department.

How do you use stamps in your job?

I use dater stamps daily for filing purposes once orders have been fulfilled.

What part of your job is your favorite?

Always the end result! I enjoy making customers creations become real for them.

Do you have a favorite stamp body? Why is it your favorite?

I can honestly say I have a hard time picking a favorite. Each stamp has a different quality and depending on its intended use I would have to choose accordingly. I may be a little partial to the Maxlight stamps though:)

What was the most surprising thing you learned about stamps when you started working here?

The amazing creations that can be done with and ON them. I love all the detailed artwork I have got to see on some of the stamps. The creativity is one thing I really enjoy about this job!

If you could give customers one tip for ordering or using stamps, what would it be?

Always double check your spelling and any information you are putting on a stamp as it could lead to a delay in production!

What is it like working at a small female/family owned company?

It is the best. I have never had an employer who shows so much appreciation for their employees. We have a great team and I am proud to be a part of it.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

I enjoy traveling, and spending time with my family.

If you have any questions, please send us an email at [email protected], and Natalie, Eva, or one of our other Customer Service Representatives will be glad to help you get the products you need.

Like most small businesses our team members often wear a few hats. While a job title might simply be Customer Service Representative, they can also be found working on parts of production when not helping our customers pick the correct stamps for their tasks. The perk for our customers is that our other team members know the products they recommend to you since we have them in-house and ready to ship. And they work with and use the stamps on a daily bases.

Continuing our team introduction, meet Eva! One of our many hat wearing Customer Service Representatives.

How long have you worked at StampMaker?

9 months

Position in the company? What do you do?

Customer Service Rep: I assist clients with their needs by answering questions, making changes to orders as needed, and provide guidance for ordering stamps with us. I am also involved in the early-processing stages of some of the orders before they are in the production phase.

How do you use stamps in your job?

Outside of typical bookkeeping uses, we use stamps to communicate across departments on paperwork that is passed through a few hands. It is a quick and easy way to make sure everyone is on the same page.

What part of your job is your favorite?

I like seeing the designs that come through our website from customer orders. There are a lot of creative people out there!

Do you have a favorite stamp body? Why is it your favorite?

I have a couple of favorites; the first one would be my date stamp which is the Trodat 5117 from the Professional series. I like that it has a lever, and it makes a ‘clunk’ sound. Very official. My second favorite is my trusty little Trodat 4921 stamp. It is cute how small it is, and I can make fast and easy impressions with it. I highly recommend that stamp if you are wanting to make an impression with your initials or a simple symbol.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about stamps when you started working here?

Initially the only stamps I knew of were the classic wood handle stamps, I was surprised learning about self-inking stamps and how they function.

If you could give customers one tip for ordering or using stamps, what would it be?

Sometimes it can be difficult to select the size you would like an impression to be, a good trick is to measure the available area you can stamp on and decide an impression size from there.

What is it like working at a small female/family owned company?

I have always been a supporter of small businesses, and I am grateful that I can work at one. We have a nice work culture that is supportive of one another, while we all work as a team to complete the day’s work.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

Outside of work I am an artist, I enjoy creating illustrations and writing poetry!

We hope you enjoyed getting an insider look at a member of our customer service team.

If you have any questions, please send us an email at [email protected], and Natalie, Eva,  or one of our other Customer Service Representatives will be glad to help you get the products you need.

The holidays are over. The weather is still cold. The nights are long. If you are anything like me, having a fun project helps me not to feel so blah over the winter. This year, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my grandmothers, who used to compile a list of all the family birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations to have our cards ready well in advance—sometimes even months ahead.

While buying cards is easy, it’s not always easy on my wallet. Creating personalized cards with custom stamps is a great way to save money and have fun. It’s also an easy craft to enjoy alone, with the kids, or with your pals over a glass (or more) of wine.

Crafting your own cards is a great way to set yourself up for the year ahead, save some money, all while being creative with your free time. Picking out the best birthday cards for your mother in law, a fun thinking of you for your best friend, or even a silly note for your nephew make people feel special, so why not make it a fun project. Your loved ones will appreciate receiving such a personal gift and it gives you something to work on to lighten up your mood.

What You’ll Need to Make a Personalized Card

Diving back into card making only takes a few items you might already have lying around the house. Selecting the perfect paper sets the tone for personalizing the card to your friends and family. Whether you chose colored cardstock, printer paper, or blank notecards, the next things to gather are the stamps and ink. Creating customizing birthday stamps, creating anniversary or holiday designs, or even ordering some number stamps is a great way to get started. Using color pencils, pens, and markers can allow you to better control the end result of your designs. Grabbing glue and scissors can set you up for adding extra decorations or layering to your cards.

1. Paper: any color or style
2. Stamps: custom celebration designs
3. Colored pencils, pens, and markers
4. Optional: glue and scissors

How-To

Gathering your card making supplies is the first step to design a one of a kind heartfelt card. Starting with single layer cards is a great way to keep it simple, but you can always add layers to level up the design. Get out all your supplies, find some snacks, and make some cards with friends.

Step 1: Step up design and plan

Pinterest or social media sites are a good place to get ideas to help spark creativity, and if you need to order custom stamps now is the perfect time. Planning out where to put everything is pretty helpful to make sure you can fit all the designs and personalize the card for birthday, holidays, or get well. If you already know exactly what you want the card to look like or you are going for spontaneity move right on to cutting or folding paper. 

Step 2: Fold your paper in half

Measure paper to make sure it will fit in your envelopes. If folding, make sure the edges of your paper match up and you crease the paper so both sides are flat. If you decided to work on layers or cutouts, now is your chance to add those.

Step 3: Apply chosen stamps

Having an idea of where you want to place your stamps is the best way to begin. Then apply firm and complete pressure with every stamp you add. Creating a special color palette for every person can help make each card more individualized, which you can customize with a variety of ink pads.

Step 4: Touch up the designs

This is where you continue with your creativity and use any colored pencils, pens or markers to add extra drawings or touch up any aspect of the card. 

Step 5: Write a holiday or birthday message

Your card is ready for your heartfelt message to your loved one!

Card Design Ideas

Designing cards to celebrate birthdays and holidays can be a bit intimidating without a plan, so we are here with some ideas to help you decide what to create. Deciding what to focus on whether it be hobbies, favorite things, fun quotes, inside jokes, age, or just celebration in general. Tailoring the design based on the personality of your recipient can help make a beautiful and meaningful card. Choosing different colors or going for a monochromatic look can flow with whoever you are creating for. If your friend loves bright colors, choose bold tones for your card marking materials. For a person who appreciates more earthy subtle colors lean into the muted tones and some nature based stamps. Making birthday cards meaningful is the whole point of diy cards, so have fun expressing the individuality of your best friend’s birthday. Custom stamps make the possibilities endless, so use your knowledge of your recipient and create something so unique for them.

Don’t forget to create envelopes with return address stamp to match your cards!

After you have finished your handmade card, wrap it in an equally beautifully crafted envelope. You can use monograms, custom address stamps, or any other personal touches for your envelopes. Making a personalized return address stamp will elevate sending your specially crafted card to everyone. Marking your work with the pride of a custom envelope will demonstrate further just how much you care about making your brother’s birthday so special.

Conclusion

Birthday celebrations and anniversaries are the perfect excuse to start a fun craft and make the best personalized celebration for someone special. Making these easy cards is much better than rifling through endless aisles of store cards and you never need to worry about sending the same card as someone else. Crafting is a fun way to pass time when it is too dark outside to get anything really productive done. Now you can turn a tedious activity like birthday cards into fun with friends.

Our team at the StampMaker is amazing! We don't often talk about all the people it takes to run a small business, so we wanted to highlight some members of our team, with the added benefit of showing you how we all use stamps in our daily work.

First up, meet Natalie, one of our customer service representatives here at the StampMaker.

How long have you worked at StampMaker?

Five years, coming up on 6 in May.

Position in the company? What do you do?

I’m a customer service representative. I do a lot of different things, mainly answer emails, phone calls, and chats. Sometimes I create artwork files for customers to use to create orders. I also work with people to figure out what products they need to provide the best result for there applications.

How do you use stamps in your job?

Anytime I contact a customer regarding an order I stamp the paperwork with the date. When we pull up orders for production, we stamp them with the shipping method to help our shipping department categorize the orders.

What part of your job is your favorite?

I really enjoy helping people. It’s really fun for me to revise artwork files to create something that’s going to translate well to a stamped impression and it’s very satisfying seeing a design I’ve  worked with for a while come through production as an actual order. It’s also really great to provide a solution to a custom who has struggled with a specific application. It’s nice to know I am potentially making someone’s job/ hobby easier for them to enjoy.

Do you have a favorite stamp body? Why is it your favorite?

Any of the Trodat Professional Series stamps and the Trodat Date Stamps. They make a very satisfying sound when you press down. Also any of the Maxlight stamps because the impressions are so crisp.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about stamps when you started working here?

That different applications require different types of ink. The ink used for stamping on regular paper is different from the ink needed for stamping on metal and is also different from ink needed to make a quality impression on fabric.

If you could give customers one tip for ordering or using stamps, what would it be?

If you have any type of question regarding your order, reach out to us. We are happy to answer any questions or make adjustments to the order to make sure you receive a product that is going to work for your application. Also double check your receipt to see if there is any discrepancy between what you ordered and when you are needing.

What is it like working at a small female/family owned company?

It’s so great! We are such a tight knit group and I really feel taken care of by the company. I’ve worked in a corporate setting before and I did not like it at all. I felt like a commodity and I truly feel like a person here.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

I like to read, watch movies and hang out with my husband and kids.

We hope you enjoyed getting an insider look at a member of our customer service team.

You can read more details about how we use stamps in our office to keep tasks moving on our website. If you have any questions, please send us an email at [email protected], and Natalie or one of our other Customer Service Representatives will be glad to help you get the products you need.