Tips and Tricks Tuesday - Classy Cleaning

Cleaning. It has to be said cleaning is not my favourite chore or subject, and it tends to go hand in hand with every sort of activity that I enjoy:

Fancy a bit of gardening? Bring on the mud. 

Cooking? I will even have flour in my hair! 

The list goes on...

BUT I love the finished result, be it a beautiful planted container, a delicious meal, or a hand crafted, hand stamped, inked up to the eyeballs craft project. Cleanliness is an important part of our day to day lives and can't be neglected, and when it comes to my crafting, I can be a bit of a stickler!

Keeping clean as you work, and keeping your tools and products clean helps you to end up with a more polished and professional result. In addition your tools should last longer, protecting your investment in them. There are several ways of cleaning your stamps, and I am going to show you the easiest way by far to get your stamps pristine!

Items you will need:

NEW Stampin' Scrub

Stampin' Mist

This is the Stampin' Scrub, and it is the number one item you need to clean your stamps. It has rubber feet on the outside so it won't slip around, and the black furry panels inside are like a really deep pile velvet. Little symbols in the corner (water droplets and a sunshine) show you which is the 'wash' and 'dry' side.

Stampin' Mist is a fabulous product that is great for keeping your stamps in tip top shape. Spray the mist two or three times onto the 'Wash' side of your Stampin' Scrub and away you go! Simply rub the dirty rubber part of your stamp onto the moist 'Wash' side, then remove any excess by rubbing the stamp on the 'Dry' side.

The spray is refillable, but really goes a long way - I didn't need to refill mine for a whole YEAR!

The Stampin' Scrub 'pads' inside are black, so they won't look grotty over time, however it is worth giving your pads a clean every so often - I do mine about once a month. This helps to prevent the ink that has been cleaned off from accumulating.

How to clean your Stampin' Scrub:

1. Remove the panels from the Stampin' Scrub - try levering them up slightly at the corner, and then sliding them out. If you cannot get them out then don't worry, you can still give them a good clean, just not quite as thorough.
2. Run warm water out of your taps and soak the pads in the water for a few minutes.
3. Give your pads a good rub all over with your hands (This always leaves my hands beautifully ex-foliated and soft!) - you may see the dirt being lifted off and washed away.
4. If you Stampin' Scrub pads are REALLY dirty, then add a drop of dish soap and massage that in - make sure to rinse it all off though.
5. Leave your pads upright to dry - if you managed to get the pads out of the casing then popping them on their sides in a dish rack is perfect, or for those still in the case, stand the case upright and a little open like a tent to allow water to drain away.

I hope this helps you all, and have fun with your latest projects.

Happy Crafting