HAPPY CRAFTER

WASILLA — It’s the personal touch that gets Denise Rexford’s stamp of approval. Creating her own unique, personal — and often quirky — cards and crafts, Rexford is a stamper.

Using multiple types and colors of ink, rubber stamps, craft paper, paper punches and glue, stamping is breaking out as a creative hobby. It’s a far cry from the traditional elementary school project where children cut shapes out of potatoes and stamp them on paper with food coloring.

“A lot of people do stamping to make their own cards, they do scrapbooking, you name it,” Rexford said. “You can put a stamp on anything.”

That includes card stock, magnets, glossy paper, glass, plastic and metal. The more exotic surfaces are perfect for alcohol-based inks, she said, while mixtures of dish soap and pigments are churned up by blowing through a straw to create a tie-dye-like effect.

“The appeal, I think, is it’s homemade and you can make it say anything you want,” Rexford said. “That’s what’s fun about stamping — there’s a stamp for just about anything.”

While a hobby for most, stamping is also Rexford’s business. As owner of Stampin Moose in Wasilla, the wife to Les and mother of LeiLani, a second-grader at Larson Elementary School, Rexford has turned her hobby into her business.

“I wish I had more time to play (with stamping),” she said, adding her 7-year-old daughter is already a veteran businesswoman. “My business partner is my daughter. She saw that daddy had a business and mommy had a business, but she was all bummed out because she didn’t have one. So, I told her she could have part of mine. Now her name is on all the business cards and everybody knows her.”

Like many hobbies, stamping can be inexpensive or break a person’s pocketbook, Rexford said. All that’s really required is a stamp and some ink. It’s the embellishments that add much to a project’s creativity.

“Oh, you can spend a lot,” she said. “I had a gal who came in. She had just started (stamping). She didn’t buy any stamps, but she bought some paper, brush markers, embellishments, and I think she walked out with, like, $260 worth of stuff. But you don’t have to have all that to start out with.”

Rexford’s passion for crafting boils over with her bubbly personality, and she admits that her creative side can lead to some interesting creations. For example, the card she made featuring an eagle with a fairy in its talons, a large stamp of a mug of beer with the saying, “24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day … coincidence?” She even has stamps that show whimsical undergarments.

Rexford has more than 2,000 new stamps at her store and dozens more used items, including a large selection of Alaska-themed stamps, which she says are popular with locals and tourists.

“Moose is big, bears are big, polar bears, fox and scenics are the popular Alaska-themed stamps,” she said.

Mostly, she said, stamping can be a great stress reliever.

“It’s very therapeutic,” Rexford said. “It gives you something to do with your time and you don’t have to worry about the outside world. A lot of people tell me that when they stamp, they don’t answer the phone, they don’t watch TV, they don’t do anything but stamp.

“It’s just getting away from everyday hustle and bustle. I have one gal who comes in, and she’s in a pretty bad relationship. She calls this her ‘happy place.’”

Stamping can also be time-consuming, Rexford said.

“Oh, it’s easy (to lose track of time),” she said. “I’m supposed to pick up my daughter at 3:30. On Thursday, I looked up at the clock and it was 25 minutes to 4. I was working on flower soft and time got away.”

Flower soft is something new in crafting and card-making that uses colored and shredded foam that’s glued onto images to add color and texture, like flowers in a hanging basket, she said.

And don’t be fooled by the stereotype that stamping is “a girly thing,” Rexford said. There are “plenty of manly stamps” out there.

“I actually have a gentleman who came in with his wife,” she said. “He said, ‘I don’t want to be here, it’s a stamp store.’ Then he saw I had ‘man stamps.’ We have fishing, camping, skiing, snowmachines, hockey. Now he loves it and he’s a better customer than his wife.”

Rexford’s husband, Les, said he’s spent plenty of time at the store stamping away himself.

Anyone considering taking up stamping as a hobby doesn’t have to jump into the deep end right away, Rexford said. There are plenty of beginning stamping classes people can take, and she recommends attending one first.

Those wanting to get the kids involved can use inks that will wash off of walls, carpet and even skin.

Because she’s a stamper and a business owner, Rexford said it “can be really hard” sometimes to not use some of the new stamps as they come in. “I admit it, I’m a stamp addict.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

IF YOU GO

What: Customer yard sale. A sale of crafts and items made by Stampin Moose customers. Part of the proceeds from the sale will benefit the American Red Cross.

When: May 18-20.

Where: Stampin Moose, 700 Railroad Ave., Wasilla

Learn more: visit stampinmoose.com or call 376-9887

STAMPING TIPS

• Individual rubber stamps are not too expensive, but buying a lot of them can add up quickly, so choose some general designs that have meaning to you and that you can reuse.

• Get a stamp pad. If you remember the standard off-red or black stamp pads that are usually used with date stamps, look again. Stamp pads come in all colors — even in multiple colors. Choose one or two that fit your style to get started.

• Color directly on the stamps with water-based markers. Markers are the least expensive way to add lots of custom colors to a stamp. The best part is that you can color directly onto the design so you can make only those parts you want a certain color.

• Breathe on your stamp. If during the coloring process the ink has dried out, breathe warm air over it to re-moisten it a bit.

• Press the stamp firmly and evenly against whatever surface you’re stamping. Do not rock or jiggle the stamp. That will cause it to smear. Then, lift the stamp carefully.

• Make the stamp part of a larger design. You can add your own calligraphy, drawing, or writing, or use it in conjunction with other stamps. Things like balloons and flowers can also be part of a larger bunch. Stamp a whole garden if you like.

• Cut out your stamps. A simple way to add depth and visual interest to a stamped project is to cut out around stamps. Then, attach them to a card or scrapbook with a bit of folded paper (or another material to add thickness) to make the image pop up out of the page.

• Clean stamps with a damp paper towel.

• Create your own stamps. You can carve your own stamp out of a potato, a sponge, an eraser, a piece of wood or another block of soft material. Remember to start with a flat surface and carefully carve out any part you don’t want in the stamp. You can trace the design with a pen first. Items that make good stamps are potatoes and cellulose sponges. Remember to cut the images backwards, as a mirror image so they appear the way you want them to on your paper.

• Design your a rubber stamp and have it produced for you. Search in the local phone book or on the Internet for “custom rubber stamp.” Many shops will cut a design.

Source: wikihow.com