The Stamparatus Stampin' Up! launched recently is probably one of the coolest tools I have seen them create in a long time! Don't get me wrong, the Stamp-a-ma-Jig had its place and it served us well, and I still love mine, but THIS new tool is nothing short of ingenious.
If making Christmas cards is in your future, be sure to read on…
Let's take a look:
Ok – so let me give you a little “tour”. The two clear squares at the top left are the plates on which you mount your stamps. See the hinges at the top of each of them? Those click into the hinge pieces on the base which is on the top right.
And yes, there are hinge mountings on two touching sides AND you can click the plates into the hinge mounts at any level (more on that later).
It comes with a mat for photopolymer stamps and two bar magnets.
PRO TIP:
Do NOT let the two bar magnets SNAP together. Not only will you ruin your nails trying to pull them apart, they can actually break with the force of snapping together – they are STRONG.
You can see that there is a beautiful, easy to read grid on the surface plate AND on the mounting plates making it ridiculously easy to get everything lined up exactly the way you want. And, because those magnets are so strong and are BARS and not little dots, you can move your paper anywhere on the surface and not worry about it slipping around.
Here's another look:
See how the mounting plates are snapped in so they would “criss cross” if they could both fold in at the same time?
NOTE: They CAN'T so don't try it!
This is so you can put two different stamps on each plate, put your paper down once and stamp BOTH stamps at once, well, top one first, side one next or vice versa. Making multiples, anyone? Did we just save SO MUCH TIME or what? But wait, there's more!
You can have up to FOUR different stamps to use at once or layered or however you want. How? The plates snap out so you can have, say, your stem on one surface, your leaves on the other side, a flower on another plate and then your bumblebee on the fourth.
Just line them up before inking and you can snap in and out as many times as you want to!
Did you see my post about Hinge Stamping?
Can you stand one more cool thing? Say you want to stamp the word “Thanks” in a row down the front of a card ombre style. You can put your paper down, secure with your magnet(s), mount your word and stamp in full ink at the top.
Now, instead of moving the paper and hoping that you have the right amount of space or worry about a smudge lining it up, remove the mounting plate and reattach it A FEW NOTCHES DOWN.
Restamp and repeat and you've got perfectly lined up images all the way down your paper!
Here is a video showing you Hinge Stamping.
Here's a video from Stampin' Up! that gives you an overview. Down below is another video that shows you how you can enhance your Stamparatus.
Want to learn more about it?
Here is a video where I show you how you can enhance your Stampartus to get even more use out of it.
Price Comparison
Is this the only stamp positioner on the market? No, it isn't.
The main competitor is much higher priced. It retails for between $70 and $90 with the mini version – which barely fits a standard card front – for $45 – $60. The Stamparatus Stampin' Up! offers is $49 and includes EVERYTHING you need to open the box, pull it out and get started.
The other competitor just recently pulled their version out of the US market.
Neither of them do what the Stampartus can with its hinges, flat/open platform, and dual plates that both work with both clear mount and photopolymer/acrylic stamps.
If you love two-, or three- or more-, step stamping, like to make multiples of a special design and/or like to execute your projects with precision, you can't get a better tool OR a better deal on a stamp positioner like the the Stamparatus Stampin' Up! offers.
