Randi's Review	Andrea's Review	Kathleen's Review	Chris' Review	Karen's Review

Review by Randi

The Cat's Pajamas is a stamp manufacturer offering both wood-mounted and unmounted stamps. I received six of their new Valentine-themed wood mounted stamps for this review including the images of Frog Princess, Frog Prince, Heart Circle, and Heart Speak. The word stamps I received were Happily Ever After, Prince Charming, and Queen of Everything. The mounted image stamps are $6.50 for the frogs and circle heart, and $4.50 for "Heart Speak." The wood-mounted word stamps retail at $5.50. Choosing the unmounted option will save you two to three dollars per stamp. These are only a few of their Valentine-themed stamps, so you're sure to find lots of options when you shop their website.

There is more than meets the eye on this stamped layout. The first thing I did was stamp the word "prince charming" all over a piece of cardstock with VersaMark and emboss with clear embossing powder. Next I used the Circle Heart stamp with the same stamp resist technique. I was then able to create a custom patterned paper with three colors of ink rubbed randomly about the page. I followed this up with a frog prince stamped in black. The final step was to add a little black embossing powder here and there to give more of a rugged manly look. The deco square at the bottom of the page was punched from a remnant of my custom paper. Be sure to look for alternatives to stamping just paper, the twill tape was also stamped with the "Prince Charming" stamp.

Title: Prince Charming
Products used: Frog Prince, Heart Circle, Prince Charming Stamps, The Cat's Pajamas
White Prismatics Cardstock, Prism Papers
Marrone Exclusives Cardstock, Prism Papers
Inks, Ranger and VersaMark
White Epoxy Letter Stickers, Around the Block
Arrow Big Metal Brads, Around the Block
Twill Tape, Tie One On Ribbon Club
Mega Slide Mount, Loersch
Square Punch, Marvy Uchida
Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Adhesive Tech

The Frog Princess made a fun feature for this Valentine's Day card. After colorizing her with Perfect Pearls I added Ranger's Glossy Accents on top so she is now a 3-D frog speaking her love, too cute!

Title: Happily Ever After card
Products used: Frog Princess, Heart Speak, Happily Ever After Stamps, The Cat's Pajamas
Black and Classic Red Prismatics Cardstock, Prism Papers
Bianco Exclusives Cardstock, Prism Papers
Patterned Paper, Flair
Ribbon, Ric Rac, Tie One On Ribbon Club
Ink, Perfect Pearls, Perfect Medium, Ranger
Glossy Accents, Ranger
Black Embossing Powder, Cat's
Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Adhesive Tech

You can't help but love these cute frog characters with their supporting images and word stamps. Hop on over to The Cat's Pajamas and grab them for your Valentine celebration this year!

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Review by Andrea

Rubber stamps are one of the most versatile tools in my craft stash. They allow the creation of unique embellishments to match a layout both in color and design. The Cat's Pajamas stamps are retro in nature with bold images and sharp edges. The main focus are cats and dogs for different holidays and occasions. There are smart sayings that go along with the designs mostly in plain text font. The stamps are terrific for pet pages and for any time that a little humor is wanted to spruce up a page.

The selection of wood mounted stamps that came for this review is from the Valentine/Love Collection. The stamps range in size from 3/4" x 2 1/2" to 1 1/2" square. There were 3 sayings in my samples and 4 images, 2 of animals and 2 of hearts. The red rubber is attached to foam and to the wood mount. A clear sticker on the wood mount shows the image, web address, copyright and image name for easy identification. The stamps are easy to use and ready to go right off the bat. With the images being solid in design, a great ink impression is made with good detail.

When working with these stamps, I found them terrific for pet pages. My black cat, Lewis, loves laying on my desk while I'm working, so some candid photos of him matched well with the stamps. I did find that a little shadowing happened when inking the stamp generously and applying hard pressure when stamping. This was especially visible using the Heart Circle because the center is solid rubber and not cut out. With lighter pressure and lighter inking, the ink did not transfer from the middle of the Heart Circle onto the paper.

Title: Cool Cat
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics: Black, Frosted Kiwi, Frosted Cobalt)
Stamps (The Cat's Pajamas: Heart Circle, Cupid Kitty, I Love Mew!)
Ink (Tsukineko Brilliance, Graphite Black)
License Plate (Sticker Studio)
Paw Brads (Around The Block)
Color Selection (Bluegrass Publishing, Color Made Easy Book: Rough and Rowdy)
Sketch (www.123-Scrap.com)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I had a lot of fun creating this altered project for Valentine's Day. I used all of the stamps for the review somewhere on this piece! The stamps worked perfectly for this project by inking with permanent ink and stamping on painted chipboard pieces. I found that using lighter pressure with the stamp worked just fine because the image is so bold.

Title: "Love Shack" Wreath
Products used: Stamps (The Cat's Pajamas: Heart Circle, Cupid Kitty, Love Puppy, I Love Mew!, I Ruff You!, Love Speak, Happily)
Ink (Tsukineko Brilliance, Graphite Black)
Chipboard Letters (Zsiage AlphaStructures)
Letter Stamps (Stampabilities)
Paint (Jacquard, Making Memories and Delta)
Ribbon (Shoebox Trims and Stampin' Up!)
Rhinestones (Westrim)
Styrofoam Ring (The Rag Shop)
Hot Glue Gun (ColdHeat)
Glue Sticks (Ad Tech)
Eyelets, T-Pins, Glitter Hearts, Coasters, Fabric (unknown)

I really enjoyed using the Valentine's Collection for my projects and plan on making more cards for the occasion. That's another really great feature of stamps, they never get used up! I would recommend a little closer trimming on the rubber before mounting on wood. I am interested in trying the unmounted stamps too. That's a great offering from The Cat's Pajamas - mounted or unmounted images. The designs are cute, funky and a bit retro, but will never go out of style. I can't wait to see what else comes up throughout the year for designs! I can see myself visiting their site just to see the groovy new stamps! Check them out!

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Review by Kathleen

I received six different stamps from The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamps. The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamps sells various lines of whimsical, retro type stamps mainly featuring a black cat or a dog though you will find the occasional reindeer too. The cat is fabulous and makes me think of the television show ‘Bewitched’.

Two stamps I received were adorable retro-esque drawings of a cat playing cupid and a dog with a ‘love’ sign. There were also two phrase stamps and two different design stamps. All of the stamps coordinated.

The stamps I received were red rubber mounted on wood blocks but the company does sell unmounted stamps as well. The stamps are small and ones that I find particularly enjoyable when making themed cards.

My first project is a layout I created for two dogs I hold near and dear. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a dog person. However, these two dogs, which belong to family, are the coolest and I had to put into words how these special animals changed my perspective on the dog world. I used the dog character stamp for a bit of whimsy and the decorative heart stamp to accentuate my title and the dogs’ names.

Title: True Friends
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Love Puppy, Heart Circle Rubber Stamps (The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamps)
Fluid chalk ink (ColorBox)
Stamping ink (Staz-On)
Black Pen (Micron)
Watermarking ink (Versamark)
Alphabet rubber stamps (Time to Stamp)
Zigzag Stitch rubberstamp (Starving Artistamps)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

My second project is a card and matching envelope. I love cats and thought the cupid cat was delightful. The “I Love Mew” phrase stamp is perfect for a simple sentiment card.

Title: I Love Mew
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Zsiage)
Cupid Kitty, I Love Mew! Rubber stamps (The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamps)
Fluid chalk ink (ColorBox)
Stamping ink (Staz-on)
Twill (Tie One On ribbon club)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, 3D Design Blocks)

In summary, the stamps from The Cat’s Pajamas are fun to work with and the images are very cool. While I was browsing their website, I could not help but laugh and write down all the stamps I want to add to my collection. The themed cat and dog are great. I would definitely recommend The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamps to anyone.

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Review by Chris

The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamp Company offers original designs in red rubber stamps which are available both mounted and unmounted. The designs are retro-style, finely detailed and very cute! Cats and dogs prevail through-out the design lines, accompanied by other characters and clever sayings in cute fonts.

I received several love themed stamps: Love Puppy, Cupid Kitty, Heart Circle, Love Speak, I Ruff You!, I Love Mew!, and Happily. The stamps I received are trimmed and mounted with foam on wood blocks.

For my first project, I decided to use these cute stamps to make a Valentine’s Day card. I love the Cupid Kitty and accompanying saying “I Love Mew!” While stamping the Kitty, I did notice that there were some white spaces which occurred because I was stamping on textured cardstock. I also noticed that the edges of the rubber around the image picked up some of the ink from the pad. I had to be careful to check and wipe off any excess prior to stamping. I stamped the pink background using the Heart Circle stamp with Versamark ink. I love the faint heart circles that resulted.

Title: I Love Mew card
Products used: Stamps (The Cat's Pajamas, Cupid Kitty, Heart Circle, I Love Mew!)
Ink (Clearsnap, Ancient Page; Tsukineko, VersaMark)
Patterned Paper (Design Originals)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Glue Runner)

The cute Love Puppy stamp was perfect for creating an embellishment strip for a canvas featuring a picture of my son with his dog. They have a very special bond and “I Ruff You!” describes perfectly how they feel about each other! I stamped the “Love Speak” stamp on a translucent tile using StazOn ink. Once again I experienced a little extra ink on the edges of the rubber. Perhaps a closer trimming of the rubber would prevent this.

Title: I Ruff You!
Products used: Stamps (The Cat's Pajamas, Love Puppy, I Ruff You!, Love Speak)
Ink (Clearsnap, Ancient Page; Tsukineko, StazOn)
Patterned paper (PineCone Press, Self-Centered)
Tiles (ClubScrap)
Ribbon (St. Louis Trimming)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Glue Runner, A Fine Line...PVA Glue, A Fine Line...Finishing Touch)

The Cat's Pajamas stamps are unique and very cute. If you’re looking for some whimsy to add to your stamp collection, you should certainly check them out!

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Review by Karen

The Cat’s Pajamas Rubber Stamp company has some of the most whimsical designs around. For my review, I received image and sentiment stamps with a love theme. Each stamp is mounted on a wood block, however there is an unmounted option when ordering your stamps.

Each stamp comes with a black image sticker attached to the wood block, which shows both the image, item number and name. The wood block itself is cut on two sides with finger groves to help with holding the block. The red rubber image is deeply etched and mounted on cushion before being attached to the block. When looking at the images, I noticed that they are tightly cut so that no extra rubber is left on the stamp, which could cause “marks” when stamped.

In looking at the company website www.thecatspajamasrs.com, I noticed that they have many wonderful designs centered around dogs, cats and graphic images. My favorite stamp from them is the Heart Circle (D-6407). Once stamped, the image fits nicely into an 1 3/8” circle. I used this stamp in my first project to create the background by stamping the image with VersaMark ink on the light tan cardstock. I then punched three circles of the pink paper and stamped those as well. On the diamond shapes, I used the sentiment stamp “Happily Ever After…” with the VersaMark ink to create a “text” background paper.

Title: Us
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Rubber stamps (The Cat’s Pajamas)
Stamp ink (VersaMark)
Pen (Pigment Pro by American Crafts)
Die cut (Cricut)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my second project I stamped Frog Princess (D-6387) onto watercolor paper using Pallet ink. Once stamped, I heat set the ink, and colored in the image. Once the frog princess was colored completely I used my 1 3/8” punch to cut them out. I then matted each circle with a dark pink paper. I used the circles to create a border leading off my page.

Title: Princess
Products used: Cardstock (Doodlebug Designs by Bazzil)
Patterned Paper (Doodlebug Designs)
Princess letters (Doodlebug Designs)
Flower Paper Frill (Doodlebug Designs)
Princess Frog Stamp (The Cat's Pajamas Rubber Stamp)
Journaling Stamp (Autumn Leaves)
Jewels (Heidi Swapp)
Black Ink (Pallet ink by Stewart Superior)
Orange ink (VersaMagic Chalk ink)
Color pencils (Prismacolor)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, A Fine Line... Bead, Glass Etc.)

When it comes to rubber stamps, I feel that the etched image is the most important part. These images are deeply etched and backed with a nice thick cushion, which gave me a superior stamped image. I love the boldly drawn images, and the playful feel that these stamps have. My one request would be to create some larger images for scrapbookers. However, Cat’s Pajamas Stamps are winners at ANY size!

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