Welcome to Class 2 of our Card Making 101 series! After completing class 1 and mastering everything we need to know about stamps, it’s time to learn about the variety of inks for card making. With so many options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but this guide will simplify the process. We’ll discuss the different types of inks, their best uses, and a few essential recommendations to help you get started confidently. Plus, we’ve included a free downloadable resource to help you easily track and understand the differences between inks!
In class 2 of our Card Making 101 series, you will learn about the:
- Classic Stampin’ Pads: How to open, label, and reink them
- Stampin’ Spots: Differences between the Classic & Uninked
- Black Ink Pads: Differences between Memento & StazOn
- VersaMark Pad
- Uninked Stampin’ Pad & White Craft Refill
Want to learn more about the basics of card making? CLICK HERE for our full Card Making 101 series where we discuss stamps, paper, and more for your card making.
Card Making 101, Class 2
In this video class, I (Jackie, an experienced card maker) teach Jesi (my daughter, a new card maker) everything she needs to know about inks for card making. We hope that if you’re also new to making cards you can learn alongside Jesi and build your knowledge and confidence as she does.
There’s a lot more information shared in the video class than what’s written below. So make sure to give it a watch to learn everything you need to know about inks for card making! Below is just quick information about some of the most commonly asked questions about inks.
CLICK HERE to download your free ink guide.
Classic Stampin’ Pads
These are the “core” inks for card making. They come in 51 different colors that coordinate with all Stampin’ Up! products. Classic Stampin’ Pads are quick-drying water-based ink. I recommend cleaning this ink off your stamps by using the Simply Shammy or Stampin’ Mist. Information and tips about these ink pads that I share in the video class include:
- An easy way to open them.
- Different options to label them.
- How to “fix” a too juicy ink pad. Some ink pads tend to hold more ink than others, and you’ll notice this when you’re stamped image isn’t showing all the details of the stamp.
- How to reink the pads using ink refills. An ink pad with an ink refill will last you forever!
Stampin’ Spots
Stampin’ Spots are available in two different options: an 8 spot assortment pack or uninked. The assortment pack is a great way to get a few inks for card making if you’re just starting out. However, they do dry out faster than your Classic Pads, so I recommend purchasing the ink refills with them. If you want different colors than what comes in the assortment, then the uninked spots are a great option. These come in a pack of 5 and you can turn them into any color of ink you want.
Black Ink: Memento & StazOn
These are the two black inks for card making that often get confused. Even though they are both black, they each have their different purposes.
Memento: This is my go-to all-around black ink. This is the must-use ink pad when coloring with the Stampin’ Blends or Stampin’ Writes. It’s a general use black ink and easily cleans off with the Simply Shammy or Stampin’ Mist.
StaZon: This is a permanent black ink that is good for stamping on many surfaces. You can stamp on paper, tile, glass, plastic, etc. This is the must-use ink pad when water coloring. Because this is permanent ink, you do need to use StazOn Cleaner to clean it off your stamps.
VersaMark
One of my favorite ink pads! VersaMark is a clear pigment ink with two main uses. First, you can use it to stamp tone on tone. If you stamp it on colored cardstock it will look like you stamped your image with the same color ink as the cardstock. It’s a slow drying ink so you’ll notice the color darkens with time. This is a great card making technique to do for creating backgrounds. The second use of VersaMark is for heat embossing, which we will cover later in Card Making 201!
White Craft
The White Craft Stampin’ Pad is not one that I use often, but it does create beautiful images! This is a slow-drying white pigment ink. It stamps opaque white on dark cardstock, and can also be used for heat embossing. Since it is a thicker ink, I recommend you clean it off your stamps using Stampin’ Mist.
Shop The Different Inks For Card Making
If you’re ready to get yourself a few inks for card making, I’ve tried to make it easy for you to shop by adding all the different options we talked about below. For the Classic Stampin’ Pads and Ink Refills, you can buy each of these individually. I only added the bundles below because there is a bundled savings for purchasing a whole color group. CLICK HERE for the online store where you can browse and shop all the inks available.
Learn More About The Basics Of Card Making
Don’t miss any of the other classes in Card Making 101 that will help you learn all about card making, what you need, and how to get started!
January 2025 Happenings
Create 6 new card templates from Volume 4 of our FREE Creativity Made Simple: Card Templates video series. Create layouts to help you design quick & easy cards using any stamps, ink, & paper you have.
In addition to making your free card templates, there are even more exciting January happenings…
- Spring Mini Catalog coming Jan. 7
- Sale-A-Bration coming Jan. 7
- New Online Exclusive Products coming Jan. 7
- Creativate Retreat Jan. 17-18
Thank you so much for visiting my website today! I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy card making project. If you did, please leave us a comment below! If you have any questions, I would love to help you and answer them, just follow the link below to contact me. If you would like to place a Stampin’ Up! order, I would be thrilled if you selected me to be your demonstrator.
Contact Jackie | More Project Ideas | Card Tutorials | Stay Up To Date on Happenings
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Hello Jackie from M Gayle Smith in Mackay, Queensland, Australia,
I have been following your video tutorials on cardmaking, and templates for a while now. Congratulations on the current sessions of Card Making 101 Classes!
I started making cards in the 1980’s, lost my mojo in 2010 and only regained my enthusiasm again last year when I was not able to visit my friend who was in hospital for over 10 weeks after 3 complicated back surgeries.
Although we were on the mobile phone often, I restarted making cards to send to her, to hopefully put a smile on her face and see that she was always in my thoughts.
In all the time I have made cards, I never really understood the basics of what sort of stamp pad/ink I should be using.
Thank you Jackie
Such a beautiful story of why you started making cards again! That is the exact reason why I love making cards, blessing others with a handmade note to let them know you are thinking of them. It’s so special! I’m so happy that you were able to learn a few things from our new series. No matter how long you’ve been doing the craft, there’s always something new to be learned.