Cleaning tool - - -

Cleaning up products before storage - - over the weekend I shopped a used stamping sale and I was happy to be able to bring new to me items into my craft room. Before I store it all I clean it all -- some of the wooden stamps I bought were used and still had inks on them. I wanted to clean off as much ink as I could before I sorted and stored them for later use. 

To clean inks off my stamps I use a mixture of half water to half Simple Green in a small spray bottle. I spray this mixture onto the inked stamps and let it sit for a minute. Then I use a cleaning mat from the Dollar Tree to clean the stamps - here is a photo to show this gray cleaning mat with a sprayed stamp on it:

the photo after I have rubbed off the cleaner/ink from the stamp:

This cleaning mat even cleans the inks off the smaller stamps where the words are smaller and closer together:

I have a second cleaning mat I use to clean my steel ruled dies before I store them after use. Many times if I should use a glittered card stock with these dies the glitter gets all over the black backing of the die. To clean this off after I die cut my image I rub the die across the cleaning mat and all the glitter or paper fuzz comes off and the die is ready for the next use before I store it again:

I have marked the back of the stamp cleaning mat so I know which mat is for which use. These were only $1.00 (or now $1.25) and they get a lot of use in this craft room. Storing things away from this weekend's sale but I wanted to share these two cleaning tips that have worked for me in my craft room.