In responding to a thread about not stamping as much as we'd like, I posted the following tips which I thought I'd share here.

- Don't leave stamp sets unmounted. I mount everything as soon as it arrives. Its much easier to pull out a mounted set when you are in the middle of a project than to pull out an unmounted one and then have to mount it. You know you won't do it, you'll just reach for an alternative set instead.

- You don't need hours to make a card. And you don't have to make whole cards each time. I have small kids and usually only get 1 hour breaks (when they take their naps). The trick is getting prepared.

On your first break, go and cut some cardstock in 1/2 and score down the middle (i.e. make the cards). On your second break, go pick a stamp set and a neutral piece of cardstock and stamp all over it. Then cut out these stamped images in the required sizes (often I am casing so this is decided for me). If you have time, color them. Now when you get to your third break, start assembling the designs to the card fronts, play with mats and accessories.

If only I could apply this logic to scrapbooking! I seem to have a much harder time working on layouts than cards as layouts (for me) seem to take much longer.