craftgrrl | First stamping attempt . . .

Hello ladies, I thought I'd ask a quick question about rubber stamping while also sharing my first attempt at it. Anyhoo, my question is this: I looked through the FAQ and found a discussion about buying cheap stamps (unmounted stamps seem to be the answer), but I was wondering if you stampers out there had some tips on how to save money on your projects overall. I've dropped an an obscene amount of dollars on only a few stamps and supplies (paper, card stock, and other tools) over the last few days. And I feel like I'll be wasting the money that I've already spent if I don't continue, so I need to know how I can keep the costs down in the future.

Anyway, here's a Mother's Day card that I just made.

I'm planning to do two; one for my mom and one for my mother-in-law. It's a bit cutesy for me, but I know the moms will like it. I stamped the flower and then colored the petals in with a brush marker. Those are rhinestones that I glued into the centers of the flowers . . . they didn't scan very well. Oh, and it just reads "Happy Mother's Day" on the inside, which was also stamped.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!