12 Days/Posts of Christmas - Day 9

It's kind of funny, but typing up these 12 Days/Posts of Christmas I realize how much stuff I put off buying for so long and how much $$ I've ended up spending over time! But, once I came to accept that I was going to be doing this seriously and actually sticking to it, it's so worth it. I dont' know about you, but I find paper crafting so relaxing and almost therapeutic!

Anyways, on to the real post. Another thing that I was cheap about buying was a good stamp cleaner. I had just used water and an old cloth or paper towel to clean my stamps before. Now I use Stampin' Up! Stampin' Scrub and Stampin' Mist. I can't even begin to describe the difference. My stamps don't get totally stained like they did before and the rubber works so much better.

Stampin' Up! Stampin' Mist ($4.75 for 2 oz; $10.75 for 8 oz refill) cleans and conditions your rubber stamps. Features are:

• cleans all types of ink off rubber
• comes in a nonaerosol spray container
• can spray directly on stamp or Stampin' Scrub

For best results, the Stampin' Mist should be used immediately after stamping. Note that dark ink may still stain rubber; Stampin' Mist cleans but does not eliminate stains (It is recommended to use a specially formulated StazOn cleaner when using StazOn ink).

Stampin' Up! Stampin' Scrub ($17.95; 2 Scrub refill pads $10.25) is a dual sided tray that contains black fibre scrubbing pads. You clean with Stampin' Mist on one side and dry the stamp on the other side. Features of Stampin' Scrub are:

• holds two removable scrubbing pads
• replaceable pads
• heavy duty case
• large enough to clean large background stamps
• umbrella label for drying side
• three water drops identify wet cleaning side

To use the Stampin' Scrub, spray Stampin' Mist on the wet pad, then rub your stamp on the wet pad. Then rub the stamp dry on the dry side of the Stampin' Scrub to remove any leftover ink or moisture. If the removable pads become heavily soiled themselves over time, you can simply remove them, run them under water and airdry them until they are ready to use again (do not put them in the dishwasher).