You guys know how much I love stamps and using them on my projects, and that I have a slight stamp addiction, so having said that, a girl can never have too many stamps and there is always that need for the next project! 

 So I was thrilled to finally try my hand at cutting my won stamps on the Silhouette – and it worked like a dream. The stamps are not bad at all – they will never last a lifetime like the proper manufactured stamps we buy made from red rubber or acrylic but they work beautifully. The only thing that sets them apart is that the stamp material is not that thick, although it is very strong. This is only a problem when you start inking the stamp, but even then, when done the right way is not really an issue at all.

step 1 - You will need some stamp material, your special stamp cutting matt and your Silhouette machine.

 step 2 - Remove the white protective sheet from the cutting matt. You will notice the cutting matt is full of small holes. This is so that the stamp material [rubber sheet] can breathe – when you adhere the stamp material to the cutting matt you need to press it down to remove all the air bubbles from the sheet and the holes in the cutting matt helps with this process. If there is any air bubbles while cutting the stamp material may scrunch up and cause a misformed shape being cut.

 step 4 - Set your cutting blade to the #9 setting for cutting the stamp material.

 step 5 - Change the rollers on the machine so that they will fit onto the stamp cutting matt. Then load the cutting matt into the machine.

 step 6 - Open your Silhouette software. Open the design page settings and select “stamp” mat from the cutting matt box.

 step 7 - Change the paper to fit onto the cutting mat – which is also the size of the full sheet of stamp material 7.5×6”. TIP: I chose to use the entire sheet of stamp material rather then cut it to size to just cut one stamp. I filled the entire sheet with a range of stamps and cut them all at once – the left-overs I will use in another way.

 step 8 - Pick the design you want to cut for your first stamp. I used this gorgeous flower silhouette, but knew that the detail may be too much for the thin stamp material, so I edited it a bit. TIP: remember when cutting stamps, you rather want a bold solid design than a thin detailed image.

 step 9 - Pick your eraser tool from the menu on the left.

 step 10 - Erase the parts that you do not want to cut from the original design. I then copied the image so that I would cut two stamps of the same flower.

 step 11 - I also added some more designs to my stamp material that I wanted to cut.

 step 12 - Send the file to the machine and cut. Remove the cutting matt from the machine and carefully peel off the stamp sheet. You will notice that some areas you need to full at the stamp a bit release the design – be careful but not overly careful. The stamp material is quite strong and will tear with just the right amount of pressure.

 step 13 - Remove the stamp and adhere them to an acrylic block. You are now ready to stamp your images.

 step 14 - Because your stamp material is brand new, you will notice that it seems that the ink does not take to the stamp, this will correct itself by adding ink and stamping for a couple of times before you get perfect image. Using the right type of ink for this is essential.

step 15 - Stamp the image and sprinkle with embossing powder. Heat set until the powder turns shiny with a heat gun.

 I recommend using Versafine ink pads for basic stamping, Versamark for embossing your images and Versamagic for colourful stamped images. I tried all of these inks and they work perfectly on the Silhouette Stamp Material.

 Products Used