Re-inking pads

I love the foam ink pads from Stampin' Up!, but because they are so inky, they need to be re-inked and cleaned up often in order to give us the great stamping results we like.  To do that, you will need ink refills, a plastic spoon and handi-wipes.  Notice in the photo above that I store each color collection of refills in a wood-mount stamp case for easy storage.

Re-inking and cleaning ink pads is simple.  But it can be messy, so if you have a new manicure you want to keep pretty, or don't want your hands to get stained, I recommend wearing gloves.

First, squeeze drops of ink from the APPROPRIATELY COLORED refill all over the top of your pad.

Next, with the bottom of your spoon, rub, rub, rub, the ink into the foam, first one way then the other and back again.  That will push the ink down into your pad so it will be ready to use when you are.

If your ink pad case is messy, use handi-wipes to clean them.

When ink pads are open, sometimes it's hard to tell what color they are.  So I cut a piece of the color label on the back and stick it on the inside bottom of the case so I can identify what color the ink is.