Hello! This is Jackie, and I’m here to confess my love of foam stamps, and to sing their praises.
Foam stamps are one of my favorite craft supplies/tools to work with when doing mixed media projects. Of course, their lines can’t be as delicate as rubber or photo-polymer stamps, but the bold lines of foam stamps are still quite appealing to me.
You can buy foam stamps in stores (Hobby Lobby), or online (Joggles, Art Foamies, and Clearsnap Magic). I have at least one from each place, and I love using them, but I also like to make them.
An envelope I gel printed using a gorgeous foam stamp I found at Hobby Lobby on sale for $0.88. Yes, $0.88.
And you too can make your own stamps. All you need is craft foam. Craft foam sheets and shapes (plain or self-adhesive) can be found at just about any craft store, or a store with a decent craft section, like Walmart.
(All the pictures henceforth are of stamps I’ve made.)
Craft foam can be mounted on a variety of surfaces: A wooden block, matte board, cardboard, paper roll, thick foam, etc. Through trial and error, I’ve found that Glossy Accents and Aleena’s Tack-It Over and Over work best as adhesives, so far.
The foam shapes are mounted to 6 mm foam by Darice.
The foam is adhered to the blocks of unmounted rubber stamps. The oval shape you see on the paper is on the other side of the smaller of the two stamps. Just flip, stamp, and repeat!
And it can be cut using various cutting tools like: scissors, cutting machine (Silhouette, Cricut), and die cut machine (Cuttlebug, Big Shot, etc.)
The foam in this picture was cut using the die in the top right corner.
I drew on the foam with a sharpie, cut out the shape with scissors and a craft knife, then adhered it to a paper roll. (3 mm foam)
The one on the left is the result of foam being cut in the previous picture. The one on the right was also hand cut… Each. Piece. (>_<) It took what seemed like forever.
The sharpie on foam project was a little messy, so this time I drew on a piece of paper with a sharpie and then scanned and cut it with the Silhouette Cameo. (2 mm foam)
This one is a design from the Silhouette Design Store, also cut using the Silhouette Cameo.
You can also make impressions in foam using a heating tool and objects around your craft room like: embossing folders, beads, stencils and stamps.
Heat the foam first, then quickly place the punchinella over it, and then place an acrylic block on top of both. Apply pressure for 15 seconds, and voila!
The impressions on the Clearsnap Magic stamps were made using embossing folders, a rubber stamp (the punched circle with the letters), a stencil (the stamp 2nd from the left), and a string of beads (stamp 3rd from the left).
Here are a few pictures of foam stamps I’ve made, and some of the ways I’ve used them in mixed media projects.
I was in the middle of this journal spread and decided I wanted a specific pattern I didn’t already have, so I made this stamp in a matter of minutes.
The impression on the stamp was made with an embossing folder.
There are six foam stamps used in this journal spread. Can you find them? 1) The arrows in teal along the top, 2) The double oval shape in black going under the wording, 3) the overlapping rectangles in the background in fuchsia and white covering the whole page, 4) The flower stamped in black on the right edge, 5) The teal lotus flower stamped on white paper and glued, 6) The lavender tribal pattern stamped on black paper and glued. Did you find all of them?
Well, I hope I’ve successfully passed on my addiction to foam stamps, and I can’t wait to see how you incorporate them into your projects. Don’t forget to tags us on IG (Gauche Alchemy and Creationsbyjsheri), and post on Gauche Alchemy Studio FB page when you do.
Until next time, be creative!
Jackie
