Create Personalized Stamps with our Stamp Designers

As a small family run business we work closely with al 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

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.

January is the month of resolutions and fresh starts: cleaning, organizing, eating healthily, getting fit, and trying new things. So let’s take a look at some ideas to help keep those resolutions.

Here are some of the top resolutions we found in our office and how stamps have made their way into the New Year.

1. Work Out

There are so many options–from simply being more active to workout schedules or training for a competition–no single option will fit everyone’s needs. At the end of the day, just find an activity you enjoy. Sure, some people live to run, others to lift weights, but some just like hiking, playing pickleball, or taking a bike ride on the local rails-to-trails. Get yourself moving and have fun—then put a stamp on your calendar or journal noting your accomplishment.

Tips

• Creating personal plans to match your goals and hold you accountable.
• Getting out on your bicycle for group rides is a great (and easy) way to hold yourself to this year’s goals. Customizing the bike to better fit you and your needs just adds to the fun, comfort and performance.
• If you decide to join (or start) a group, make sure your experience level matches the group. While I am a rails-to-trails person my partner likes scaling mountains, hopping over protruding rocks, and jumping over the occasional fallen tree while mountain biking.
• Join a recreational sports league as a fun way to get out of the house. Masters swim teams, local softball leagues, kickball, and pick-up basketball are just a few of the options we have participated in over the years.
• Join a class for yoga, pilates, spinning or any number of options at your local gym or fitness center. 

2. Healthier Foods

Eating healthier goes hand in hand with getting fit. Whole30, Mediterranean diet, Keto, or low-carb are all options for eating healthier. Each of us needs to decide what works best for our dietary needs and lifestyle. What is often overlooked is where you are going to source the raw ingredients.

Instead of getting everything from our grocery store, which could be buying from states away, try a local farmers market or farm share. Not only are you more likely to find better quality and prices, but more money goes back into the farmers’ hands. It’s the hat trick of better eating. These small businesses use our designer to create custom art stamps, cost-effectively branding their businesses in their local communities.

Tips

• Meal planning is a great way to stay consistent with healthy eating. Matching quicker meals with nights you get home late and saving the longer (or new) recipes for nights you have more time.
• Prepping food for quick options at lunch or busy nights.
• Making a large batch meal that you can as lunch thought out the week or freezing for later use is a tactic I personally use.
• Start simple with the goal of 2 diet friendly dinners per week with leftovers for lunch. As you get more comfortable with recipes add more.
• Try a meal service that sends you the raw ingredients and teaches you how to make new meals which met your goals. While the ingredients might not be local its a great way to try new recipes and not be overwhelmed

3. Trying New Things

Many years ago, my mom purchased a family pass to a local children museum as a family Christmas gift. The museum had partnered with several other not–so–local museums which you could visit for free with the family pass. There was even a little passport booklet you could get stamped when visiting. Day trips–and even our family vacation–were planned around visiting these differently themed museums. It was a lot of fun, and we learned about everything from electricity to marine biology.

Museums aren’t the only option when looking for new places to visit. There are state and national parks, which we talked about a few months ago. Not only could this be new for you and those you travel with, but it also falls into the “being more active” bucket.

Ideas

• Concerts at your library or coffee shop are a great way to see new and upcoming artists. It is a wonderful way to support the arts and enjoy some (hopefully) good music. Plus these are generally free or low cost.
• Get season tickets to a local Theater. You will see a variety of different shows and season tickets sometimes come with special perks.
• Specialty or pop-up markets can be fun to walk around trying new foods and experience different activities.
• Craft or Seasonal Fairs. Browses the wares of local crafters, woodworkers, artists. See if they have any kits for beginners to try your hand at something new.
• Renaissance Faire! Need we say more. 

Stamping Essentials

After all the crazy of the holidays, we always feel like starting the New Year with a clean slate.

Now is a great time to do a little maintenance on the stamp(s) you already own. Making sure the rubber on the stamp is clean will help you get the best impression!

Check ink pads to make sure they are not dry or empty, allowing you to get new ink pads or ink refills ordered before you need them, saving you time and money.

Conclusion

January 1 is not the only day you can start new trends in your life–you can start whenever you want. Finding rewards or small reminder of your accomplishments through out the week can help you stay on track even when you want to binge a new season and eat your weight in tacos.

We love using custom stamps on our planners and journals. Create your own stamps to celebrate the small wins and motivate yourself on the days you missed your goal. Remember a missed day or goal is not a failure so keep going and don't be to hard on yourself. 

Crafting gift bags or totes for you and your friends is such an easy project to get your creativity flowing and add handmade flare to giving presents. Designing specialty gift bags for every occasion, not just Christmas, adds uniqueness to all your gifts. With just a few materials and simple steps, you can transform a plain bag into a custom piece of art. So grab your supplies, pick your stamp designs, and get ready to stamp your newest creation.

What You’ll Need

For this project you will need some ideas and a few simple materials.

• A plain paper bag, blank canvas tote bag, or any size fabric bag
• Assorted stamps
• Ink pad(s) with regular or fabric ink depending on which type of bag you use
• White cardstock or other liner
• Fabric paint or markers (optional)
• Iron and extra piece of fabric (optional)

You have a almost unlimited options on how creative and intricate you want your designs and color palette to be. For more colorful or dynamic designs using multiple ink pads, pens, fabric markers, or even fabric paint are highly recommend. Custom designed stamps are the easiest way to get clean imprints on your cotton tote or paper bags, but they are not the only elements you can use. Things like colored paper, gift wrap scraps, and ribbon can also be used to create unique bags for all the special people in your life.

How to Create DIY Stamped Gift Bags

To get the process started, you will need to pick a design or theme of the gift bag before collecting your supplies. Designing a cohesive gift can incorporate the holiday or personal elements of your gift recipient. Once you have curated the perfect plans for what details to include, take those ideas and gather your materials. Ordering custom outline or image stamps can spur the best bag creations. With your new stamps prepared and ready to use, you can get started stamping your special keepsake.

Step 1: Pick your theme and plan your designs

Holiday or personal touches can make the best bag designs. Plan what images, colors, or even writing you want wrapping your gifts.

Step 2: Order your custom themed stamps and gather materials

Custom made stamp designs, symbols, graphics, and sayings can be best to make clear and continuous harmony on your bag. Decide whether pre-inked stamps or buying separate stamp and ink pads suits your personal plans more. Having new holiday stamps or freshly refilled ink pads will ensure clear and crisp images as you stamp repeatedly.

Step 3: Setup your crafting area and prep your bag

Like with all crafts, ensure you have clean and protected surface for no bleeding or splatter is important. This will give you the best results on the project and protect your work surface. You will want a specific area to place your bag so it has space to lay flat. Having a smooth stamping surface is an important way to make sure your designs come out their best. Set your Cardstock inside the section of your bag that will stamp or draw over and move it each time you shift, so it does not run through the thin material.

Step 4: Begin stamping and crafting you bag

Now is your chance to let your creativity lead you any way it wants. Run wild or stay strictly inside the lines, but stamp clearly with gentle pressure to transfer the entire image to your fabric bag. If you opted for outline stamps, use your markers or pens to color in negative space for a fun pop. Using fabric paint or fabric markers for a canvas tote or fabric bag can make for a long last and colorful bag but you will need to make sure your stamps and inks work on fabric.

Learning more about stamping on fabric.

Step 5: Fill and use your new creation!

Once you have expended all your creativity and finished your masterpiece, it is time to make your design permanent. Let your bag dry for twenty four hours or use a piece of fabric and an iron to quickly seal the deigns. Then fill with the perfect gift or your prized possessions to carry with you every day.

Conclusion

Creating your own stamped bag is a fun and easy way to craft personalized gifts or stylish, environmentally friendly tote bags for yourself and your friends. This easy DIY turns even the wrapping into a memorable part of the gift-giving experience. Now go out and show off your stamped tote bag or gift bag with the best personalized presents every time.