The first rubberstamp I ever used on a consistent basis was an image of a cheese with a slice cut out of it. I used it on my Cheese zine correspondence and on all my letters to friends and family (1990 pre Internet) .  Around that time I also purchased a set of zoo animals stamps that were unmounted cheapies. Those were the only rubberstamps in my collection until 2005 when I picked up an issue of “Rubber Stamp Madness”, a magazine that featured readers submissions of gorgeous handmade rubberstamped cards and clever little mini-artworks called ATC’s (artist trading cards).  I was impressed with the simplicity of the craft and said, “Heck, I can do THAT!”

Since that time I have aquired an immense collection of rubberstamps and the paraphenalia that accompanies ‘stamping’. I let my OCD run rampant when I discovered a little tiny shop in old downtown Beaverton called “The Peddler’s Pack” that carried every imaginable rubberstamp and all the supplies a card artist would ever need for a lifetime. Eventually, Jessica caught the stamping fever and not a weekend went by without us giving in to our rubberstamp hunger and art supply craving.

It has become a joke with us, that we simply don’t have enough and that we NEED MORE! Honestly we have run out of boxes to hold all the stamps and so I made my own store display (Ala Peddler’s Pack) on my fireplace mantle.

This is three photos merged in a triptych. Someday I will lay out the CLEAR stamps. But I have idea where to put them.