Renee's Review	Tammy's Review	Stephanie's Review	Pomaika`i's Review	Donna's Review

Review by Renee

A few months back, after someone on the board “enabled” me into getting a set of alcohol based markers, I fell in love with stamping and coloring in the stamped images. Since then, I have found myself using my stamps more and more. Not only do I use them more, I am constantly on the hunt for new stamps that will allow me to color in some images. I also love to stamp and cut out images to use on projects. When I got two sets of Molly stamps to use for this review, I was really excited to see them. They allowed me to do the two things that I most enjoy when stamping.

Molly stamps are clear acrylic stamps that have delightful images available for stamping projects. The website bills them as fun, quirky stamp sets from the world’s most fanatical scrapper. I like fun and quirky, so I was very excited to be able to try these new stamps.

For this review, I received two sets of Molly Stamps clear acrylic stamps. I received the Wings on Things big stamp set as well as the Today’s Forecast stamp set. The Wings on Things set includes three large wing set images (both right and left wing), as well as four word images in a beautiful script font which is very reminiscent of the Scriptina font that I fell in love with shortly after I started scrapping. The set includes a large classic “angel” wing set, a butterfly wing set and a dragonfly wing set. In addition, it includes the phrase “my Angel”, “hope”, “believe” and “dream.”

In addition, I received the Today’s Forecast clear acrylic stamp set. This set illustrates the quirky side of Molly stamps. It features six face images, which look a lot like the emoticons that ones sees on the internet. Each face image is accompanied by four word phrases that describe the “mood” of the particular face. There are also two larger word phrases, “Today’s Forecast” and “My Mood Meter,” included with the set.

For my first project, I decided to use the faces from the Today’s Forecast set to stamp a few faces that I could color in. The stamps worked beautifully, created a perfect image on the first stamping. They were easy to cut out and were versatile enough to make an embellishment for most any project. I decided to use my stamped images on a layout of my son to accent the die cut stars on my layout. I really like how they add a custom, quirky accent to this boyish layout.

Title: Superstar
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics Black)
Patterned Paper (Bo Bunny Grease Monkey collection)
Stamps (Molly Stamps Today’s Forecast)
Markers (Bic)
Die cut system (Provocraft Cricut)
Die Cut Cartridge (Don Juan)
Button (button Sensations)
White Pen (American Crafts )
Ink (Ranger)
Ribbon (May Arts)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my second project, I decided I wanted to use the Wings on Things set to create a set of wings stamped on vellum. I used the classic angel wings stamp to make a set of wings. I was very pleased with the crisp, clean stamping that I got, even when stamping on vellum. I sprinkled a small amount of glitter on my wings and was pleased with how the wings retained their crisp, cleanness. I really like that the wings are stamped separately. Consequently, the left and right stamps are stamped as individual images such that each wing could be cut out separately and used as one. I also used the beautiful “Believe” word stamp to add a sentiment for my card.

Title: Believe card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics Black)
Patterned Paper (Dirty Laundry)
Vellum (Unknown)
Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Ink (Ranger)
Ribbon (Michael’s)
Die cut system and Cartridge (Provocraft cricut and Don Juan cartridge)
Glitter (Doodlebug)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I had a really great time playing with the Molly stamps. I look forward to playing with other sets in the future. I have seen several other sets on their website that would make great additions to my stamp collection. If you like a little quirky, you will love these stamp sets.

---

Review by Tammy

I received 2 different acrylic stamps sets, Wings on Things, Big and Today’s Forecast. Each set came packaged on a preprinted 4 x 6 inch transparent carrier sheet so you can easily see the details of the stamps. Molly Stamps is also an Angel company which means that the images may be used for personal or commercial use.

The Wings on Things, Big set includes angel, dragonfly, and butterfly wings, along with four different sentiments; My Angel, Hope, Believe, and Dream. The Wings on Things, Big set has beautiful detail on each of the images making the wings very realistic.

If you are looking for something a little more fun and whimsical then you might be interested in Today’s Forecast. The set includes six different faces or “moods” to choose from, with three corresponding words and phrases for each mood. Along with this set you will also receive two titles, My Mood-o-meter and Today’s Forecast.

The stamps are made from clear polymer and are yellow resistant. Each stamp is deeply etched which leaves you with a clearly stamped image every time.

I loved the beauty and detail found in the Wings on Things, Big set and decided to use it for my first project. I stamped and embossed the butterfly wings and colored them in with markers. Once the wings were placed on my page, they almost came to life. I loved how easy it was to create such elegant embellishments for this page. For an added texture, I stamped the words, Hope, Believe, and Dream onto the patterned paper using a watermark ink and clear embossing powder.

Title: Bloom where you are planted
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Simply Smooth White cardstock (Prism)
Wing on Things Big (Molly Stamps)
Patterned Cardstock (My Minds Eye)
Colorbox ink (Clearsnap)
Versamark (Tsukineko)
Clear Embossing Powder (Stampendous)
Black Embossing Powder (PKGlitz)
Black Pen (Micron)
Markers (Bic Mark-it)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The faces in the Today’s Forecast stamp set just made me laugh as I pictured them being the center of a field full of flowers. This thought was the inspiration for this card. Once the flower was finished on my card the Bright & Sunny phrase fit perfectly as the vein in the leaf and I stamped the other two sentiments in the bottom right corner of my card. Once this was finished, I felt that the entire card reflected the “mood” of the design that I chose.

Title: Bright and Sunny card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
UltraSmooth (Prism)
Patterned Paper (Sandylion)
Today's Forecast stamps (Molly Stamps)
colorbox ink (Clearsnap)
Twilight Embossing Glitter(PK Glitz)
Watercolor Crayons (Staedtler)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I loved the font used in the Wings on Things, Big stamp set and wanted to feature them on a card. I stamped them in the order they appeared on the enclosed preprinted carrier sheet and embossed them with black and layered it on coordinating cardstock. The wings were stamped and embossed with peach colors to blend with the background color and the layered words were then placed in the center. I added a bow to the bottom of the image to finish off this very tranquil design.

Title: Hope Believe Dream card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Simply Smooth Vanilla Cardstock (Prism)
Wings on Things Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Colorbox ink (Clearsnap)
Embossing Powder (PK Glitz)
Ribbon
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The Molly Stamps provide beautiful images with a wide variety of uses for cardmaking, scrapbook pages, altered art, or wherever your imagination takes you.

Whether you are looking for whimsical or serene, check out Molly Stamps for your next acrylic stamp purchase!

---

Review by Stephanie

When I first heard I’d be reviewing Molly Stamps this month, I immediately headed over to their website. I hadn’t heard of these stamps before so I was interested in seeing what they looked like. I discovered that Molly Stamps are the brainchild of Gayle Gowlowski and her husband, Russ Jones, who dove headfirst into the crafting environment soon after Russ and his partner created the hilarious mockumentary “Inside Scrapbooking”. That mockumentary was a hilarious parody of the scrapbook industry. If you haven’t seen it, go to their website and check it out. You are sure to laugh! Molly Stamps’ website indicates their “mission is to provide you with fun, quirky, quality stamp sets and accessories that will keep you creating entertaining works of art”. Viewing their site leads you to seven 4x6 sets of clear stamps along with blocks, ink pads and other goodies.

For this review, I received a set of acrylic stamps called “Today’s Forecast”. They are adorable and made me laugh! The set included 6 different faces, plus 18 words and 2 phrases all neatly packaged in a 4 x 6 package. The words, phrases, and faces were printed on the top sheet of acrylic so you know exactly where to replace the stamps after you’ve used them. The faces are finely detailed, very specific and have 3 corresponding words. I knew these were going to be fun to work with. The second stamp set I received was called “Wings on Things Big”. Along with 4 words, I received a pair of angel wings, a pair of dragonfly wings and a pair of butterfly wings, neatly packaged in a 4 x 6 package. Again, the stamps were printed on the top sheet of acrylic so you know exactly where to replace the stamps when you were finished with them. Each package details the use of that particular stamp set on the back. This was a very nice touch since most stamp sets only show details for one stamp set from their line. This was a definite plus.

My first cards utilize the Things on Wings Big set. For Dream, I used one word from the set as well as the butterfly wings. Since the wings are in 2 pieces, you have many options on using them. I chose to stamp them together forming a butterfly. Using a multi color stamp pad, I was able to create a multi colored butterfly without having to color it in. Adding a little wire and some jewels made for a very pretty butterfly.

Title: Dream Card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Sunflowers Dark)
Pattern Paper (DCWV)
Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Die cuts (Cricut, Wild Card)
Ink (Memories, Stazon)
Other (wire, jewels)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my second card, I stamped the dragonfly wings on vellum and was very pleased with how easily and beautifully they stamped on the vellum. I threaded beads together for the body of the dragonfly. Using bright and colorful papers provided a beautiful backdrop for the dragonfly and my message of Hope which I stamped directly on the card.

Title: Hope Card
Products used: Pattern Paper (DCWV)
Vellum (Making Memories)
Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Ink (Ranger, Stazon)
Other (wire, beads)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my third card, I stamped the dragonfly wings again on vellum, stamping them in 3 different colors. Using a brad in the center, I fanned out the wings to create a flower.

Title: Bloom
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Frosted Azalea)
Pattern Paper (Bo Bunny)
Vellum (Making Memories)
Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Punch (EKSuccess)
Brad (Queen & Co)
Chipboard (Imaginisce)
Embossing (Provocraft, Cuttlebug)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

When I first saw Today’s Forecast stamps, it was just after my teenager broke his leg. He was angry, annoyed and definitely ornery. Using these stamps in conjunction with a timeline of that awful day was a perfect addition for this layout.

Title: Timeline
Products used: Pattern Paper (Basic Grey)
Stamps (Molly Stamps, Autumn Leaves)
Ink (Ranger, Staz on)
Other (Transparency, paint)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

My next card also used Today’s Forecast. I chose some subdued papers and stamped the tearful face three times, adding stickles for the teardrops. I stamps “Sad” at the end of the arrow.

Title: Miss You
Products used: Pattern Paper (Scenic Route)
Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Ink (Ranger)
Stickles (Ranger)
Die cuts (Cricut, Plantin School Book)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my Happy card, I just love those smiley faces and decided to keep the card very simple, but upbeat, by using the faces as the flower centers.

Title: Happy Card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Crabapple Dark)
Pattern Paper (Flair)
Stamps (Molly Stamps)
Ink (Ranger, Staz on)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I really had a lot of fun playing with these stamps. They create such a crisp and clean image no matter what type of ink I used. These stamp sets are really fun to work with and are so very different from what is currently on the market today. I will definitely be using these stamps on a lot of my upcoming projects.

---

Review by Pomaika`i

Molly Stamps is named after the star of a tongue in cheek scrapbook mocumentary “Inside Scrapbooking”, a spoof on the sometimes too serious world of Scrapbooking. While filming this piece, Molly Stamps co-owner Russ Jones, inspired by the people he met and projects he saw, decided to join the industry. With his wife, Gale Gawlowski, the two founded Molly Stamps, a company whose mission is to provide fun, quirky, quality stamp sets and accessories that will keep you creating entertaining works of art!

For this review I received two sets of clear stamps. Each set holds multiple pre-cut polymer stamps, sandwiched between two sheets of 4 x 6” transparencies. One sheet is imprinted with the stamp designs for easy replacement. An added bonus is that the two sheets are connected at the top so that you won’t lose your top sheet in the mess on your desk. It was love at first sight for the “Wings” set and me, and I had to laugh when I first saw “Today’s Forecast”.

According to the packaging, these stamps are non-toxic and non-yellowing. As with other polymer stamps, they peel off the storage sheet easily and cling strongly to my acrylic block. I was able to use dye ink, pigment ink and embossing ink with equally good results.

The first set, “Wings on Things (Big)” has three pairs of wings (butterfly, angel, and dragonfly) and four flowing script sentiments (My Angel, Hope, Believe, and Dream). Each wing, right and left are separate stamps which allows for many creative uses.

The second set, “Today’s Forecast” is a funky set of “smiley” faces showing six emotions (content, smiley, sad, sick, angry and smitten) with 12 emotional descriptions in small type, three descriptions corresponding to each face. I especially love the “tornado warning” sentiment. Two larger phrases “Today’s Forecast” and “My Mood-o-meter” round out this fun and crazy stamp set.

For my first project, I used glossy paper to stamps my two wings. I created a body and colored in the image with glaze pens. I don’t know why I was moved to use the button stickers, but they coordinated with my butterfly really well. I ended up creating a needle holder with some felt and muslin, using the butterfly piece as a cover. This was one of those projects that sort of created itself.

Title:Butterfly Needle Case
Products used: Stamp (Molly Stamps; Wings on Things Big)
Ink (Adirondak, Ranger)
Pen (Sakura Glaze)
Stickers (Mrs. Grossman)
Other (ribbon, felt, muslin)
Adhesive (Joann Tacky Glue)

My second project is a matchbook album. I stamped the faces on solid cardstock and punched them out with a one inch circle punch. To decorate the title page I used one of the little sentiments “happy” to make a border. The see-thru stamps make it easy to place each image where you want to. I embossed the “my angel” sentiment which is made of very fine lines. The image came out perfectly!

Title:Dreams--Matchbook Album
Products used:Cardstock (Prism)
Stamp (Molly Stamps; Wings on Things Big, Today’s Forecast)
Patterned Paper (My Minds Eye)
Ink (Adirondak; Ranger, Big and Bossy)
Brads (SEI)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I had fun playing with these stamp sets from Molly Stamps. I loved the wings right off, there are so many possibilities for projects, and wings happen to be one of those images that I just can’t get enough of! Today’s Forecast is a quirky, cute set that I wish I had years ago when my son was little. It’s perfect for making imaginative tools for teaching kids about emotions. I was around when the smiley face was so popular and this reminds me so much of those “Have a nice day” items. I also love the sentiments like “tornado warnings” and “caution”. What a hoot! I will use these stamp sets again for sure.

I highly recommend you check out Molly Stamps. They have a nice inventory of stamp sets that you might not find anywhere else. Their high quality stamps will go the distance and will probably {alas} outlive us all, and at $15 a set, are a great value. I love a company with a sense of humor, and this you’ll certainly find at Molly Stamps. I forecast that with imaginative stamps like these, Molly Stamps will have a “Bright and Sunny” future.

---

Review by Donna

I recall seeing snippets of the hysterical video “Mocumentary” Inside Scrapbooking” starring the ultimate craftoholic Molly a couple of years ago, but little did I know that the wife of the fun, quirky creator behind the mockumentary and the talented artist behind Molly Stamps were one in the same! And Molly is the perfect personality to represent the style of these stamps – so fun and quirky!!

For this review, I received one set of Molly‘s “Wings on Things: Small” and one set of “Today’s Forecast” acrylic stamps. Both stamp sets arrived packaged in cellophane, with the clear stamps on a 7” x 4” carrier sheet and, because the images are printed on the carrier sheet, I immediately saw hours of stamping fun ahead. The angel set consists of small to medium sized images of an angel, a dragonfly, butterfly wings and smaller sized sentiments including hope, dream and believe. The Today’s Forecast set includes the cutest little faces (each about 1” in diameter) as well as smaller sentiments for happy, sad, angry, content, smitten and sick moods among a host of others – including phrases for the weather! Each set retails for $15.00, a very reasonable price for the many images that are included in each set and be prepared for a little surprise on the back of each package – wonderful images of some project examples!!

Molly stamps are constructed of non toxic, yellow resisting polymer and cling nicely to an acrylic block. The fun images are perfect for those crafters that enjoy thinking outside of the box and the images are perfect for cards, scrapbook pages or just about any paper craft or other project. You’ll find them perfect for use for either stamping or embossing and they clean up quite easily with soap and water or an acrylic stamp cleaner.

I especially loved the Today’s Forecast set of stamps, and I had quite a few ideas jumping around in my head for how I might want to use them. In the end, I decided to create a few mood magnets for the refrigerator. I began by creating three, 4-1/2” die cut flowers and then stamping a different “mood” to one petal on each flower. I then applied poly glaze and mod podge to the flowers and set them aside to dry. Next, I stamped the face images on to cardstock circles (for the flower centers) and then adhered clear acrylic domes over them. When all of the petals were dry, I adhered each flower together and lightly applied some Stickles for highlight. Lastly, I adhered each flower to a small magnet.

Title: Flower Mood Magnets
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (7Gypsies)
Bling (Heidi Swapp)
Acrylic Domes (AMuse)
PolyGlaze (Ranger)
Mod Podge (Paid)
Stickles (Ranger)
StazOn Ink (Tsukineko) Detail Pen (Sakura)
Other: Cricut Die Cutting Machine (Provocraft)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

for my second project, I used the Wings on Things set to create a greeting card. As soon as I set eyes on this set, I thought of Flair’s Amazing Grace Collection and I knew I wanted to somehow use them on one of the papers from that collection. And I did, by first using a purple shadow ink, repeatedly stamping the Molly wing images over the preprinted wings on the paper. I then lightly added a smidgen of white glitter and loved the “flowy” end result. After creating the card base and adding some ribbon, stickers and buttons, I stamped the “believe” sentiment on to a tag and hand stitched the tag to the ribbon tied around the card and my project was complete.

Title: Believe Card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Flair Designs)
Stickers (Flair Designs)
Ribbon (May Arts)
Buttons (American Crafts)
Floss (Making Memories)
Ink (Versamark)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

These stamps by “Molly” have no doubt been created with care and attention to detail. It’s a unique line of acrylic stamps and I found them truly fun to create with. Molly Stamps are a refreshing addition to the acrylic stamp market. The list of possibilities for these two particular sets is endless!

Thanks Molly Stamps!

---

Visit the ScrapFriends Molly Stamps Gallery