Revisit Your Alpha Stamps

Words are a storyteller’s stock in trade. Perhaps that’s why I seem drawn to any patterned papers that use script or words, letter beads and … alphabet stamps. Yes, I love alphabet stamps. However, they aren’t just for titles and monograms anymore. The projects shown here all make use of alphabet stamps, yet you won’t see a single word or monogram on any of them.

Brought to you by the letter ‘A’
This card is just scraps of leftover paper and embossed images that were all created by using an uppercase letter ‘A’. You can use a clear acrylic block mount to aid in stamp placement, although I think the imprecision makes the star look more playful.

I simply stamped the letter ‘A’ five times around an imagined center, making sure the legs of the letter met, and then used silver embossing powder to add shine.

For the upper and lower border, I stamped the straight edge of cardstock repeatedly with the bottom legs of that same letter ‘A’, heat embossed with that same silver embossing powder, then trimmed around the resulting images. This stamp is from MaVinci’s “Chelsea Studio” set, a bold Arts and Crafts design font. Imagine how much different the effect could be with a flowing font such as the “Beautiful Ink” set, also from MaVinci.

Supplies
Stamp - MaVinci “Chelsea Studio”
Patterned paper - Making Memories
Embossing powder - Ranger Silver

Look at all the I-V!
The next project made use of two letter stamps, lowercase ‘i’ and ‘v’. I wanted to reflect the general pattern of the sedum blossoms in the photo, and the ‘v’ stamp was perfect for a repeating border. Adding the ‘i’ stamp on its side created a “skeleton” for the stamped photo borders.

For the corner element, I created the effect of leaves with overlaid blossoms. Using the uppercase ‘v’ from the same set, I stamped in a clocklike fashion until I had the appearance of leaves I wanted. I placed a colored brad at the center of this cluster, then tied a couple lengths of fluffy pink fiber around it. These letters came from Leave Memories’ “Springtime Garden” set, a flowing typeface with serifs. You could achieve a completely different effect with another alphabet font.

Supplies
Stamps - Leave Memories “Springtime Garden” stamps
Stamping ink - Stampa Rosa “Fresco”
Cardstock - Bazzill Basics
Patterned paper – unknown
Pink patterned paper - Hot Off The Press
Brads - Happy Hammer
Fiber - Fibers From Afar

Oh, the joy!
I lied. One of these projects does have a word on it. I’ll bet you might not have realized that if I hadn’t mentioned it, though. This last idea was inspired by a QuicKutz advertisement, adapted for use with alphabet stamps instead of the letter die cuts. I created a snowflake design for this card, using nothing but my Personal Stamp Exchange “Celtic Lowercase” Pixie set. It helps to experiment first on paper with the stamps you have on hand, as well as with the arrangement of them. Using a straightedge, I penciled in the radial arms of my snowflake on the cardstock, and then carefully stamped the word “joy” down each arm, ending with the comma stamp at the end. Between the radial arms, I created a “connection” using the parenthesis stamp, then added another set of commas just below that to give it a lacier effect. I stamped each arm, powdered with embossing powder, then brushed away any stray powder. Once I’d finished all my stamping and powdering, I heat embossed.

Take a look at some of the individual elements of the design. The letter ‘j’ at the center, surrounded by the parentheses only, could resemble a sand dollar. Remove one arm from the center of that “sand dollar,” and it looks like a starfish. You get the idea.

Supplies
Stamps - Personal Stamp Exchange-“Celtic Lowercase”
Embossing powder - Ranger “Seafoam White”

Start looking at your alphabet stamps as shapes rather than typeface, and there’s no telling where you’ll go. When you do stop between projects, be sure to share them here. Inspire us all to re-visit our alphabet stamp sets.