Let's Talk Stamps & Stamp Companies

After photography and scrapbooking, stamping was my next step into creating art.  That was almost ten years ago.  I started with Club Scrap stamps, which are high quality and nicely designed.  I dabbled with Stampin' Up and Close to My Heart stamps, mainly because I had friends who sold them, but neither really grabbed me.  Right now, my two current favorite stamp lines are from Stampotique (especially those designed by the Penney-Torrente) and Invoke Arts (you can see some cards I made with their stamps in this post).  Stampotique has a wonderful challenge blog and recently they were kind enough to award me a "designer's choice" badge for this brave girls graffiti wall altered book page I submitted.  "Yea me!" (oops, did I say that out loud?)  The current design challenge is to create a birthday card using a Stampotique stamp with the theme "not so sweet 16."  Snarky cards are right up my alley, so I made this super simple card. They run two challenges a month; one requires the use of their stamps but the other does not.  Thanks to Jacky for telling me about the blog.
Of course, I also love the Tim Holtz stamp line at Stampers Anonymous (except for the clowns!) and two local stamp lines (Alpha Stamps and Leavenworth Jackson). I'd love to hear about your favorite stamps and stamp companies!