Frugal Friday - Ink

Hello there!  Today is Frugal Friday.  If you missed my introduction about Frugal Friday, click here to find out what it's all about.  Last Friday I talked about PAPER, and today we are going to talk about INK.

Like I said last week, when I started blogging years ago I loved doing color challenges and of course, I wanted all the colors of ink to go along with all that paper.  Stampin' Up sells ink collections (that is 12 mini ink pads called Ink Spots) in their 4 color families.  Over the course of a year or so, I ended up with 3 sets.  I have Bold Brights, Earth Elements, and Soft Subtles.  I never really fell in love with Rich Regals so I never bought it.  I have been using these Ink Spots for years and have never felt that I didn't have the right color.  I really can't believe how long they've lasted.  It ended up being a great investment.

I realize that this is over $60 of ink.  I was able to spend practically none of my own money by asking for these as Christmas gifts as well as hosting a Stampin' Up party.

I use mostly Papertrey Ink card stock and I have found that I can easily find a similar shade in my Stampin' Up Ink Spots.  Pink Passion pairs well with Raspberry Fizz, Old Olive with Ripe Avocado and so on.  Here's a picture of all inks I need.

You can see my Stampin' Up Ink Spots at the top.  I have Basic Black because it is definitely a color you need.  Versamark for heat embossing.  Jet Black Stazon for permanent black.  I have Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream and Fresh Snow, which I truly love.  I also have one Distress Ink that I use occasionally.

The only drawback to using Stampin' Up Ink Spots is that they are small.  If you are using a background stamp, it would be difficult to get an even coat of ink on the entire stamp.  For that reason, I have a few full size ink pads from Stampin' Up.

Since we are talking about ink, it's only appropriate to talk about ink cleaners.  I just recently started using a stamp scrub pad.  I used to have cleaner with a dauber tip that I would wipe on the stamp and then wipe off with a paper towel.  It worked fine, but now that I have scrubber, it's so much faster and my stamps look new again.

Also, I wanted to mention embossing powders since I mentioned Versamark earlier.  The only colors of embossing powder that I own is Gold, Clear, and Black.  This works fine for me.  If I ever want to emboss in a color like pink, I would just stamp it first with pink ink and then stamp it again in Versamark (using clear stamps or a stamp-a-ma-jig) and then clear emboss it.  You are left with what looks like pink embossing.

I have not joined the Copic band-wagon yet.  They are really too expensive to even think about.  For now, when I color, I just use good old Crayola markers.  I'm not really into cutesy images or images that require coloring, so I don't have that problem often.

I read recently that Stampin' Up is retiring a bunch of colors.  I have not seen the list yet, I hope it's not too many of the inks I have.  I will most likely replace them with a different brand of ink.   Like I said last week, I never buy the "in colors" from Stampin' Up since they retire so quickly.

Thanks so much for stopping by for the latest Frugal Friday topic.  I hope it was a little helpful for you!  I would love to her any feedback or answer any of your questions.  Thanks!

PS.  Next week's topic will be STAMPS!!!