What is a Digital Stamp?

Digital stamps have been new to everyone at some point and I know some of my readers haven't been completely sure what I've been wittering on about when I've mentioned my new digi stamp designs on here!  I remember discovering digi stamps only a few years back and I got very excited by the possibilities of creating them!

Keryn made my caravan digi into a gorgeous new home card!

But, for those of you who aren't sure - what exactly is a digital stamp?

OK, so maybe digital stamp is a slightly misleading term.  It came about simply because they are a digital version of a rubber stamp (the illustrative stamps used by card makers).  Digital stamps aren't really stamps at all, but are used in pretty much the same way (with a few differences and benefits!) as those rubber stamps.

Basically, digi stamps are just a downloadable, printable image - designed with card makers and paper crafters in mind and saved at a high resolution so you get a good image.  They mostly come as black and white line drawings (although you can get them in colour, too) and one of the main benefits is that they can be resized really easily on your computer before printing - there's an excellent You-Tube video that explains the easiest way of doing this for anyone new to using digi stamps.

this candy floss cart is one of my new digi stamps

As well as being able to resize, rotate and flip, you get a few other benefits with digis:

• They're downloaded in a high-resolution format, so the image stays good even if you make it bigger.

• They can be printed off as many times as you like, without any wear and tear or inky mess, both of which can happen with rubber stamps.

• You don't need anywhere except a computer hard drive (or flash drive) to store all your digi images - perfect for those of us a little short on space! 

• Because they are digital, they usually work out much cheaper than rubber stamps

• You get your download instantly with most suppliers (you will with Handmade Harbour, as soon as the website's up and running!)

one of my sewing machine images 

(I think there'll end up being quite a few of these!)

I'm going to be sharing some of my images as digital stamps on the brand new Handmade Harbour website, which launches on the 3rd June 2013.  Watch out for it!  I'm very excited, but also a little apprehensive as it's a brand new venture for me!  There's a lot of work going into this, but I am enjoying every minute, so I do hope there are some people out there who like them!

And with my brain feeling frazzled with all this website-building (not a natural strength of mine, I don't mind admitting!) I am hoping I don't make any major mistakes along the way.  Feel free to point them out if I do!