Knitting, Crochet and Crafts

Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp: Product Review

The Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Roller Stamp Set
The Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Roller Stamp Set

Need an easy way to add the date to your paper craft projects such as planner layouts, bullet journal spreads and scrapbooking layouts? If so, you might want to consider taking a look at the magnetic date stamp designed by Heidi Swapp. This stamp has its pros and cons, but overall it is really a useful product to have in your craft supplies stash. Read on for a discussion of the pros and cons of the Heidi Swapp magnetic date stamp:

More About the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

This stamp is basically an old-school style roller date stamp with a handle, but it has some additional details that make it seem fresh and new. Surrounding the image of the date, there is an option to attach one of three round magnetic attachments that all have different sentiments. One of them says “DETAILS OF EVERYDAY LIFE” (repeated twice); one of them says “NOTEWORTHY MOMENTS” (repeated three times); and one of them says “IT’S A GOOD DAY TO HAVE A GOOD DAY” (repeated twice). These sentiments are designed to encircle the date, so the final stamped image ends up being a circular design – unless you remove the magnetic attachments and stamp just the date. If you’re careful, it is possible to do that.

The Pros and Cons of Using the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

Pros: Benefits of the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

There are bunches of things I like about the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp:


Get the Current Date: 2022


The Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp includes the current year, 2022, and also 2023. The date range for this stamp is 2012-2023. This is important to be aware of, because many of the roller date stamps available for sale DO NOT INCLUDE THE CURRENT YEAR. For example, this Becky Higgins Project Life roller date stamp starts at 2012 and only goes up through 2021, although there is an option for 20__, which allows you to fill in whichever year suits your project .


Of course, the older stamps are still useful if you are making scrapbook layouts to document past years, but if you need a current date roller stamp, this particular stamp is one of the few options available for that right now. In fact, at the time I bought this, it was the only available option I could find for a roller date stamp that included the year 2022. That’s the primary reason I bought this instead of a different solution.


I anticipate this will change soon as more manufacturers update their offerings and make new releases available. In fact, there is a Paige Evans “Splendid” date stamp that will be available in around April of 2022. If you happen to come across this Heidi Swapp magnetic date stamp product review before that date, be aware that the competing Paige Evans roller date stamp is available for preorder at A Cherry on Top Crafts with a 20% preorder discount. I am planning on getting a Paige Evans Splendid date roller stamp for my own collection when it becomes available – I am looking forward to it!


Another selling point for this particular stamp: If you are new to paper crafts or new to stamping, you probably don’t already have a lot of the accessories you need for stamping. With clear stamps, you need to have at least one stamping block on hand, and it’s ideal to have a set of different sizes of stamp blocks. With this particular stamp, you don’t have to buy any stamping blocks in order to make use of it.


However, this is not a self-inking stamp, so you do need to have at least one ink pad on hand for using the stamp. If you don’t already have ink pads you’d like to use for this, I invite you to check out our list of the best ink pads for stamping on paper. There’s a lot to know about inks and ink pads, and that page will give you a crash course in getting up to speed on the inks you might want to try working with.


Get a Seriously Pretty Stamped Image of Today’s Date (Or Whichever Date Within the Stamp’s Range That You Happen to Need)


When you do a good job of stamping this stamp cleanly, the stamped image turns our gorgeous. It adds a really interesting touch to the scrapbooking layouts, planner layouts and other projects you use it on.


I have a Happy Planner Girl With Goals guided journal, and this stamp makes my journal pages look SO MUCH PRETTIER than they would if I were to just write in the date in the appropriate blank. Instead, I stamp this stamp onto colored cardstock or kraft cardstock and use a bit of adhesive to adhere it to the journal page. The results look super cool, which in turn helps to ensure that I will keep returning to the page to actually look at it and use it for staying on track with my goals. To me, this is win-win.


To some people, it might seem a little frivolous to spend a lot of time on decorating planner pages — but in the case of this date stamp, the decoration process doesn’t add a huge amount of additional time to a planning session, and it makes the planner layout look SO MUCH PRETTIER than it would otherwise. LOVE the results when I use this!


And for scrapbooking layouts, the stamp adds a lot of functionality as well as really pretty results. If you want to include the date on your scrapbooking layouts in an elegant and eye-catching way, this stamp is definitely a solution worth owning.

Cons: Things I Do Not Like About the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

For me, the primary appeal of a date roller stamp is its ease of use. Unfortunately, this particular date roller stamp IS NOT as easy to use as the other date roller stamps I have used in the past.


I don’t have a Misti or similar stamp positioning system to test this, but it looks to me like this wouldn’t be compatible with any of those.


I’ve seen some other crafters write reviews complaining that the magnetic portion of this stamp doesn’t correctly align with the date portion of the stamp. So far this has not been an issue for me; these elements on my stamp align well enough to be totally usable. However, if you buy one of these stamp sets, just be aware that there is a chance you might have to deal with a return if you happen to get one where the alignment isn’t perfect. In my experience, if you buy from Scrapbook.com, they are quick to send replacements for defective items, so I definitely recommend buying this from them if you are going to make a purchase. But I bought mine from them and mine does not have that problem.


That said, it is not possible to apply even pressure to every element of this stamp when you are stamping it. It’s easiest to use the handle to apply pressure to the stamp, but just doing that doesn’t guarantee an evenly stamped image. It’s not so easy to apply pressure to the other parts of the stamp all the way around the image. This means that you are likely to end up with some stamped images where portions of the design are very faint. So, be prepared to waste some paper and ink trying to get a clean, perfectly stamped image with this.


For that reason, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND stamping this directly onto a page that you have spent hours working on. No way. There is too great a risk that you will ruin your page. Instead, stamp your dated image onto unused paper. If the image comes out clean, either die cut it out (if you have a die cutter) or fussy cut around it with scissors and add it to your layout. Another option would be to cut around it using decorative scissors like Fiskars Paper Edgers.


If you already have a collection of clear stamps that you use for your paper crafts projects, you probably have a system set up for storing them. This stamp will most likely not fit into your existing stamp storage system easily or neatly. You’ll have to figure out a different solution for storing it. But if you have a system set up for storing old-fashioned wood-mounted rubber stamps, you can most likely fit it into that system pretty easily.


This is a four-piece set featuring the stamp itself plus the 3 magnetic attachments for the stamp. You’ll need to give some thought to how you’re going to store these pieces in order to keep them together. They come in a clamshell package that you could reuse for awhile if you are careful when you open it. Failing that, you’ll need to put them in a plastic baggie, a box, a tin or some other sort of storage container to keep them all together. Then you have to figure out where to keep it that so you don’t forget about it.

Cleaning the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

If you use ordinary soap and water to clean this stamp, you need to be sure of removing the magnetic attachment you’ve used and clean the two pieces separately, because otherwise water is likely to get trapped in between the stamp and the attachment. The whole thing needs to be dried carefully before storing it.


Will it rust if put away wet? Beats me; I’m not sure what it’s made of. Every other similar tool I took aboard our sailboat with me when I went sailing DID rust. So, not knowing one way or the other about this one, I would advise you to be careful to thoroughly dry it in case that could be an issue. All of this will be less of an issue if you’re using baby wipes or a stamp chamois to clean this tool when you are finished with it.

Country of Origin for the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

The Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp is made in China. Personally, these days, I have been making an effort to prioritize buying stamps that are made in the USA. For crafters in the USA, there are lots of choices for locally manufactured stamps that are affordable, well designed and of premium quality. But in this case, I’m not aware of any other comparable product that’s manufactured in the USA (or for that matter, anywhere). If you want this, the made-in-China product is the only option I’m personally aware of. But if you know of a made-in-USA product that is comparable, please do leave a comment and let us all know about it! THANKS for any insights you have to share!

Calendar and Date Stamps That Are Made in the USA

However, if a set of date stamps would be sufficient for your purposes, and you do not need it to be a roller stamp, and the stamped image doesn’t necessarily have to have a ring of sentiments around it, there are many, many, many made-in-USA options that would meet your needs. Check out these two for starters:

I own both of these made-in-USA calendar / date stamp sets, and can highly recommend both of them. They are wonderful!

The Verdict: Yes or No on the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp?

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this date stamp. I am using it frequently in my projects, and I am sure I will get my money’s worth out of it. So on the one hand, I can definitely recommend this to you if you’re aware of all the cons mentioned above, and you are willing to spend the time and effort messing around with this thing despite its cons.


But personally, I think it would be preferable to buy just a plain date roller stamp without the magnetic attachments. Problem is, at the time I purchased this, there was no other available option that I could find for a date roller stamp that had the current year, 2022. It was this or nothing. So I chose this, and am using it despite its cons. By the time you get around to reading this review, you will hopefully have more options available than I did at the time I purchased this. I’d recommend looking around at your other options and evaluating them before you buy this.


It really depends how much effort you want to put into dating your projects. If you’re hoping for the easiest possible solution, this is NOT IT. In that case, I’d advise you to just buy a plain date roller stamp that doesn’t have the magnetic attachment. I do recommend this particular set if you LOVE the finished image with the rings around it, and if you would be glad to have the option to change out the sentiments around the date image, and if the “cons” mentioned above aren’t deal breakers for you. In that case, you’re likely to enjoy this stamp set and will probably get your money’s worth out of it. I will definitely get my money’s worth out of this thing, even though I do not 100% love it and am on the lookout for easier alternatives.

Where to Buy the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Stamp

So there you have it: That’s our product review of the Heidi Swapp magnetic date roller stamp. We hope you found this information useful if you are considering the purchase of a date roller stamp or calendar stamp set.

Over to You: What’s Your Opinion on the Heidi Swapp Magnetic Date Roller Stamp?


Have you tried using the Heidi Swapp magnetic date roller stamp? What sorts of projects have you used it on?> How did it work for you? How did you like using it? If you have any insights to share, you’re invited to post a comment in the comments area below.


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    Posted By: Amy Solovay


    This page was last updated on 3-5-2022.