My Favorite Stamping Ink Pads: a Review

Some of the ink pads in this blog post were sent to me to try. Most of the ink pads shown were purchased on my own. All opinions expressed herein are mine.

Are you looking for some stamping ink pad recommendations? I have some for you! I LOVE stamping, and over the 20 years I've been crafting, I've fallen in love with several beautiful colors and ink pad styles I think you'll love. If you're looking for companies with great color options and high quality ink pads for an affordable price, then keep reading for my review on stamping ink pads.

The Stamp Market Ink Pads:

These are my newest purchases for ink pads. I've been watching this company for a while, and a couple of things convinced me to buy them. 1) Their strong sense of beautiful color mixes, and 2) The quality of previous products I've purchased from them. These gorgeous dye inks come in a variety of colors, but started with their main stamping ink and cardstock colors. Their owner is fabulous at selecting on trend colors. I bought these after watching a friend use the pads at a scrapbooking crop. Their prices are competitive and they offer matching colors in cardstock and embellishments. You can shop their store HERE.

Catherine Pooler Ink Pads:

I've been a fan of Catherine's for a while now, and when she released her own set of ink pads I knew I wanted to try them. Catherine generously sent me several colors to try; along with a darling holiday stamp set. I was astonished at how "juicy" her ink pads are. They are also a dye ink pad and the colors are rich and stamp beautifully. She has several color families to choose from so start with either colors you know you love or a color family you are drawn to. You can purchase ink pads separately as well. As soon as I realized how perfect her color choices were, I purchased more pads on my own. Recently I got the purple colors as they are just the perfect shade of purple. I love it when a company "gets" the color trends. You can shop Catherine's ink pads HERE or by clicking the links below.

Scrapbook.com Ink Pads:

This is another company that sent me some ink pads to try. Again, these ink pads blew me away. These are Hybrid Ink Pads. What I love about Scrapbook.com's ink pads is that you can get them in color tones so if you are looking for a light, medium, and dark yellow ink pad, they have them. This makes layered stamping SOooooo easy. They have lots of gorgeous colors to choose from and the ink quality is beautiful. You can find their ink pads HERE (I've also suggested a few colors below).

Stampin' Up! Ink Pads:

These ink pads were probably my first introduction to stamping pads, and I've been a long-term fan ever since. Stampin' Up! is known for the qualify of their products. They have a base set of popular colors and then rotate in some trending colors every few years. These stamp pads are large and work great for larger stamps but also work beautifully on smaller images. These are Dye Inks. Colors are rich and true to their ink pad covers. You can find additional matching items in their online store HERE.

Hero Arts Mini Ink Pads:

You can find these in sets where you get four colors in a set. I love these mini ink pads because they are perfect for a smaller investment. Again, Hero Arts KNOWS stamping so their ink pads have always been gorgeous and make my stamped images look great. I suggest some of these in the supply list below.

Altenew Ink Pads:

Altenew is a stamping company that really led the trend in layered stamping. So it makes perfect sense that they would create ink pads in tone sets perfect for their layered stamps. These are dye inks and you can get them as small or large ink pads. The quality is amazing and I was most impressed by how each tone layers with the next tone. You can get really beautiful, true-to-life colors with these ink pads; and then come in the most gorgeous and useful colors. You can buy individual pads or sets. You can find their ink pads HERE.

With each of these company recommendations you could probably get an entire set that would easily fulfill your every color need. I have found that I like certain colors from certain companies so I will mix and match my color purchases. How do I do that? If I see a stamper use an ink pad that speaks to me, I will often purchase it from his/her supply list. It's a great way to see how a color looks finished on a project. If you're looking for tones of a color, start with 2 or 3 tones of the most COMMON colors you use and then build from there.

If you have a ink pad company you love, please share in the comments below and tell us why. We're always eager to learn what works for someone else.

Supply List:

(Here is a small, suggested list of ink pads you might try. Please note these are affiliate links that pay a small portion of this blog post at no additional cost to you. To learn more about each product, simply click the images.)