Usually the words are the last thing you add to a card. You are ready to wrap up your creation and put it in your card stash or drop it in the mail to a friend. The last thing you want is to stamp on a "Thank You" or "Happy Birthday" and have it come out crooked. And when you are stamping on a piece of decorative chipboard as in this example above, you don't get a second chance.The key to easily aligned words starts when you mount your stamps. Here are my tricks for keeping my words on the straight and narrow...
First, when I mount rubber stamps, I get out my gridded ruler. Line up bottom edge of some of your wording with one line on the ruler. Align another line on the ruler with the straight edge of a block. This is of course easier with non-script fonts.
Then when you are stamping, you can use the straight edge of your block to help you place your word straight on your card.
So what if you have already mounted your stamps or despite all your efforts, they just don't mount straight? Keep a little ruled paper handy for a test stamp. Just stamp your image on your ruled paper lining up a straight edge of the stamp block with the ruled lines on the paper. You can then see how straight or angled your image will be. "Life" shown here was not mounted straight on the block and always comes out crooked.
At this point, you may need to reach for your Stamp-ah-ma-jig - a cool little tool from Stampin' Up that helps you line up your images perfectly every time. OR, often I'll just turn the stamp a little clockwise (or counterclockwise) to get a perfect image.
If you don't have a good straight edge to go by when placing your stamp on your paper or in this case chipboard, just use a gridded ruler again. Gridded rulers can be found in the quilting department of craft or sewing stores.
Ingredients: Stamp Sets all by Stampin' Up! Birthday, Baroque Motifs, and Make It Count
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