Nov 24, 2013

Happy Birthday (and some talk about selecting stamp sets)

Love this squiggle frame from Clear and Simple.




MOOD WHEN DONE = Reasonably content

Supplies:

Stamps:  Clear and Simple Curly Label Frames 1, Stampin Up Itty Bitty Banners, and Lawn Fawn Cruising Through Life
Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black
Paper:  Neenah Solar White
Other:  Faber Castell Big Brush Markers, Stampin Up yellow marker, Ranger glossy accents, dimensionals

Talking:

I have developed a bad habit of taking my time to carefully look at stamp set offerings, buying a few knowing at the time that they will be exactly what I want, and then finding myself disappointed at my choices.

I never noticed this before -- I suspect because I bought a lot more sets in the past and so there was always something lying around to love!

See that curly label frame above?  I do like this a lot.  I love that whimsical style and think I will use this frequently.  When I went to find something to put inside it, though, I had almost nothing that worked, except this pinwheel.

So, I'm looking for advice on selecting sets.  How do you ensure that you buy what you like???


7 comments:

Kathy D said...

Joan, I seem to be doing the same thing. My budget is really limited, I fret over selections, they arrive...I don't seem to know what to do with the new stamps. Or the scale is a tiny bit off for what I THOUGHT I would do with them (like nothing from my collection fits inside the frame).

mypapercraftworld said...

Hi Joan ... tricky! At first, I used to buy sets quite quickly after being inspired by how someone else had used them ... but then I found that my creativity/inspiration/talent didn't match those of the original card maker, and struggled to come up with good ideas ... so I have a few stamps I use rarely (till my skills develop further!). Having made those mistakes (and spent the money that can't now be spent on something else!), I wait before buying. My wish book has lots of different companies' goodies in it ... when I'm ready to refresh my stash, I go through it and decide what to get. If I can't realistically see that I'm going to use more than three quarters of the set, I don't get it! Seems to work for me ... this year's stamp sets have all been used far more than last year's! Anita :)

Joan B said...

Thanks, you would think this part would be easy!

Joan B said...

appreciate your thoughts. I need to stop all buying until I reevaluate and come up with a plan that makes sense and cents!

Anonymous said...

I wrote a reply but when I clicked on "Publish", it simply vaporized. Does that happen to others? VERY maddening.

Helen said...

I struggle buying sets, with the exception of flowers and snowflakes, of which I have many! There are only few Christmas/winter sets I like, and I am not certain why, perhaps some of the stamps are too "cute" for my taste. Sentiments - I use about one quarter of the sentiments on each acetate sheet, and have begun to combine words from different sets by cutting apart the stamps.

Tanis Scott said...

Sometimes it's just a matter of playing with a new set and seeing what you can do with it before putting it away. Then, it's kind of committed to your memory, and you are more likely to think to pull it out again soon.