Jul 24 2008
Blog Candy and Getting to Know You
Times Up and we already have a winner!!!!
Do to some work commitments I was unable to stamp this morning. :( I really enjoyed last weeks comments letting me know where you are from. Knowing about my readers helps to motivate me to continue sharing with you. My Word! there are a lot of you readers out there! My blog gets around 2,000 to 3,000 clicks a day and there are about 1,300 of you subscribed to this blog by e-mail. The shear numbers freak me out a little, lol.
This week I want all of you to share with me, please what brought you to stamping? In return I have some BLOG CANDY to give you a chance at!
So to enter for a chance to win these 16 Studio G, Series 6 stamp packs with a bonus Valentine pack, please leave me a comment on this post telling me what brought you to stamping. If you are getting this blog update by e-mail you will need to click this link to leave a comment on this blog post: http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/07/24/blog-candy-and-getting-to-know-you/
I will use a random number generator to pick the winner on the morning of Saturday, July 26th.
I will start by saying, my friend Claire Sharkey asked me to come along with her to a stamping workshop. I didn’t care about rubber stamps and wasn’t all that interested, but I wanted to spend time with my friend, Claire, so I went along. Next thing I know, I’m ordering my very first Stampin’ Up stamp set “Frosty”. That was back in 2001.
I almost felt guilty for stamping at first, because I like to paint with watercolors and pastels and there I was just stamping the images instead of drawing them. But my stamping in time became more artist in nature and more satisfying too. I know you don’t believe it, but I can pretty quickly do a scene now with stamps and ink. Now I say quickly, but quickly to me is 1 hour. I like the creative process and why rush it. :) My paintings with pastel can take me, literally months to complete, so 1 hour to accomplish a scene seems super quick.
Alright, that is my beginning in stamping, what is yours?
I was a waitress in a restaurant and about 10 ladies came in after a stamp club meeting and they had their cards in binders that they were looking through and wanted me to see what they had made that day. I was so———-amazed that I wanted to make some cards too. They told me about the LSS and how the lady who owned it taught classes. I signed up - took classes - one thing led to another - eventually I went to work at this stamp store and I have been hooked ever since. The stamp store is no longer here, but the friends I made while working there are and we still get together twice a month to stamp something.
Good Morning Michelle
I missed telling you where I lived last time so here goes.
I live in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, about a 35 Min drive from Toronto, or Niagara Falls, for those who don’t know the area.
I started seeing all sorts of homemade cards in stores and I would spend a fortune getting just the right ones for friends and family.
Then A friend and I went to a SU demo last year and it blew me away. I loved how the cards came together. I still have to find my niche I think, because I love so many styles that I get frustrated and leave projects unfinished all the time. I feel it’s people like you and quite a lot of others who show the process and the love for the art that are helping me come out of my shell and experiment more.
Now I have to stop buying and start trying more.
Thanks for all the inspiration.
Happy Thursday
I started off scrapbooking and decided to have a play with foam stamps when they were introduced. From there I have slowly been learning about all the different inks and techniques but still have soooo much more to learn. I just love that stamping can be so versatile and a tool that can be used over and over again!
A coworker hosted a SU! party, which I attended and politely bought a stamp set and ink pad. 6 months later, the stamp set had not been touched, not even mounted. My friend asked to borrow it, mounted the stamps, and made a really cute card with it. This got my interest. Then she began bringing cards she had made to work, and I got hooked. A few months later, I became a SU! demonstrator (2003 I think), and I’ve been lovin’ stampin’ ever since.
wow, I missed telling you where I’m from too but it’s Gilbertsville, PA. That’s east coast PA, NW of Philadelphia.
I began scrapbooking the first time I saw Lisa B selling a scrapbook kit on QVC many years ago. I had fun learning all the techniques along the way and getting to know the owners of my LSS. One day while browsing in that store, I spotted a card displayed on the counter to advertise an upcoming class. I loved the card so much I signed up for the class and have been hooked ever since. My first SU set I bought after that class was “sketch it” and I still have it. I still drift between cardmaking and scrapbooking and love them both, but I think card making is more rewarding because you can actually finish the project in half the time compared to a scrapbook page………..well SOMETIMES I can LOL Some days I tend to get way too involved in details, but it’s all good
TFS this awesome blog candy. I find myself using these G studio stamps quite often lately!
Hi Michelle! I’m in the Flint MI area (transplanted from the Boston MA and Philadelphia PA areas) and was invited to a friend’s home for a Stampin’ Up! party back in 2001. I’d scrapbooked and played with stickers for years prior to that, but hadn’t add much stamping to my albums. I make cards more than scrapbooks lately but generally seem to switch my focus to different pasttimes at different times.
I had been making cards digitally for a few years. A coworker showed me a few cards she made and invited me to a SU party for a Christmas preview approx 3 years ago. I did not buy any stamps at that time, but my sister had a box of SU stamps she purchased but never used. She gave the stamps to me, I began reading and searching web sites and blogs for techniques and began stampin and have not looke back since. I love stamping and cardmaking. Learning new techniques and the ability to use stamps to create a card to give joy or encouragement to someone. Althought there have been times when I have wanted to keep a card because it was so beautiful, yet it eventually would go to someone special.
I only recently started stamping and it was because I was seeing and reading all these wonderful blogs that inspire like yours. Plus, my hubs is a creative guy and he got me into scrapbooking a while back.
I have always dabbled in crafts and love papercrafts in particular, but for the life of me could never understand other people’s addiction to stamps … seemed to me like they were a bit ‘loopy’ to go into raptures over a bit of rubber! Consequently I only owned a few message and text stamps to add greetings to cards.
However, all that has now changed and I’m at serious risk of becoming one of those ‘loopy rubber addicts’ myself.
After joining a couple of craft forums and eventually discovering blogs, I was introduced to a whole new world of inspiration and a spark was lit. Whilst I’m still very much a novice stamper, my collection is growing … I just wish my bank balance could match my new addiction.
Hi Michelle!
What a great story! I first started stamping after winning a contest. I was already scrapbooking and totally despised the idea of stamping at first, then one day I received one of those newsletter emails from Creating Keepsakes and as I was scrolling through it I saw a contest offered by a company called Sugarloaf. So I clicked on it and went ahead and registered. The contest was for 72 sets of See D’s stamps. In a million years I never thought I’d win, but I became intrigued with stamps once I saw their unique system. A few days later I got the email saying I was one of 10 lucky winners in their biggest prize draw ever and I still thought it was just spam type of email. Then I went back to their website where they had the list of winners published and there I was! It started to sink in then - but didn’t fully hit me until UPS brought about 8 boxes full of stamps to my door. 72 sets with 20 or 30 images in each set was a boatload of stamps! I didn’t even own an inkpad!! 3 years later I’m addicted to stamping and now Sugarloaf is Inque Boutique and I’ve never looked back. Shortly after winning I was invited to a workshop by an SU demo through a lady at my hubby’s employer and the rest is history. I started going to workshops to learn how to use stamps and purchasing supplies to go home and use with my See D’s stamps. I just love it now. It doesn’t matter how bad of a mood I am in - if I can take time to stamp, I feel instantly better. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story and for the chance to win more stamps!!
Nevertheless, there I take part promt. I come from Germany and am also very active in a forum. I had started with 3D maps and wanted never to stamp, actually, with him start. But because in this forum always so nice maps were shown and I have noticed, stamp to the imagination no borders this by this are put………… was for me nobody hold more *lach* Daily I learn on top of that and simply have fun in it. Your maps inspire me terrifically, they are so wonderful.
I still wish you a nice day
LG Gitti
Hi - this isn’t an entry for the blog candy as it would be unfair for you to have to post them internationally - but I thought I’d join in anyway.
I do very much enjoy your blog from here in the sunny English countryside.
I was introduced to stamping when I met a new friend via an altered art-type forum I was a member of. She had just moved locally to me and invited me round to her place for a chat and supper.
When I got there I was blown away by all her stamps - she has 1000s!
she gave me a grab bag of rubber to get me started, some old copies of Take Ten, and a couple of lessons, and I was off
Nowadays I use stamping in pretty much everything I do.
Sarah
My stamping beginning parallels yours. I went to a stamping party a friend of mine had. I bought one stamp set and never opened the box. It was a Celtic design.The next year, I was invited again. I bought another stamp set and didn’t open the box either. My friend had another party that year, but this time, something clicked. This was about 2000 or 2001. I’ve been stamping ever since, but would love to get to your level!
Hi Michelle!
I´m Alex from Austria and visit your blog nearly every day because I love your work!
Here is my Story how I started to stamp:
I was invited from a friend for a handicraft afternoon in 2006. After trying the bigshot I sat there and watched her stitching a card. My friend sayd - ‘oh you are finished, but I have some other “work” for you’ and gave me her cute-stamps and some instructions.
I started to stamp and color in the motives and after 2 hours she asked me were I am. I was so fascinated from the work that I forgot everything around me.
One week later my first Stamps arrived.
Everytime I have a bad or stressful day I only need to stamp to get the feeling of this first stamping day.
Greetings Alex
I started with scrapbooking, then card making which has revolved into stamping. I have only been stamping for about the last year on and off. So am fairly new.
It is a fun adventure, lots to learn. I am loving your style the best because it is so much like a painting, and I have always wanted to be an artist. God didn’t give me that talent. However, with your teachings I feel like I kind of am. Thank You.
Sorry for my bad english, i m Alexa from Germany
this is the reason why I seldom comment never or only rare.
Your works inspiered me very often and your name flow through the Bloggers world.
Tahnk you very much vor the beautiful instructions and thanks for the Blog Candy that motivate to wrote a news.
Lovley Greetings
Alexa
I was NOT going to start stamping, I had so many crafts I was already accumulating–basketweaving, beading, lots of things. But one thing I wanted to do was to learn how to make paper. After searching long and hard I found a class at all places–Michael’s! It was a two part class, make the paper one week, come back the next week and make a card. The instructor showed us how to make our own stamps from craft foam. Well, great, but I got hooked. I know teach papermaking and have card classes in my house. So, that’s my story, I’m real happy in my craft room. Thanks for your wonderful inspiration. I now think “Zindorf” when I see sunrises, sunsets, silouettes of any kind. I LOVE thinking “Z”!!!!!!!!!!!!
oxoxpeg
Hi Michelle, I am from Dubbo, Australia. I was a scrapbooker and went to a friend of a friends place to scrapbook and she was a SU Demo. She showed me the catalogue and stamped a couple of things while i was there. I asked if I could borrow her catalogue. I fell in love with the products. I had never used a stamp or made a card but by the end of the week I had signed up to be a demonstrator. My Starter Kit was my first purchase of stamps. I then had to learn how to stamp and make cards so I spent many nights blog hoping to learn as much as I could before my first workshop. That was 1 year and 1 month ago and I am so glad I did it.
About 20 years ago I purchased a foam Lady Bug stamp to use on a clay pot for inexpensive gifts. I got real creative and hand drew some of the hilights and background patterns. I’ve always been into “art” from clay, weaving, woodwork (building furniture mostly) and along came scrapbooking in 1996. I loved building stories with paper and stickers but got a little board with it and then I had an epiffany; use rubber stamps instead of those other more bulky embellishments!! BRILLIANT, I’m a smart person! Still thinking about it, another friend who was on my bowling league brought a get well card for everyone to sign that she had made. WOW! I think I actually foamed at the mouth! I said, “will you teach me how?” Turns out, she was a Stampin Up Demo. Not only can she bowl like a bat out of ……, she is an artist too who happens to stamp AND she’s got a very tender, generous, sincere heart. Because of her, I look at things all around me trying to decide how best to emulate what I see using a rubber stamp. Thanks to Jeanne Streiff who’s blog you can also see at http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ a new world opened up to me and I keep trying to capture it by stamping. I love trying all the different techniques from many different blogs but I have to say, Michelle, you are the best! Thanks for the blog candy but I’d look anyway.
Hi Michelle,
I’m Julia from Germany and I have been stamping since 2005. I was active in a creative forum where a group of stampers were showing their cards and other stamped things, so I ordered some stamps and tried it out. And - I love it!
Thank you for your great inspiration blog and for the chance to win such wunderful stamps!
I saw some stamps at Jo-Anns and wondered what they were all about. I decided to buy a book on the craft and that did it. I was hooked. Unfortunately I didn’t know that much and the book only had a small sampling of what to do. I hit the internet and found Stampin’ UP. As they say, the rest is history. I love every minute I can devote to stamping.
My neighbor introduced me to SU! and I was HOOKED!! I used to make fun of people who did stuff like stamp/scrap, but then I tried it and wondered why I hadn’t before!!!
Oh my, I was invited to workshop about rubber stamping. I thought yuk! But it was in the winter and I said okay, I didn’t have anything else to do. But it took the second workshop to hook me. I’ve been a demo ever since. Stampin’ Up! got me…
Love it! I’m from Michigan, and the winter’s can be long, or so they seem, you need something. I’d been a long time crafter and the thought of rubber stamping was out of the question. Wrong! It’s about so much more.
Let me start by saying that I found your blog only about 2 weeks ago and I have come here daily anticipating something amazing- and have yet to feel even an ounce of disapointment.
I started stamping originally about 13 years ago when (stamps were a little primitive and) I was in the 6th grade, being home schooled by my mom. She took me to a home party and several home schoolers decided to make a regular thing out of it for the “socialization”. I went back to public school the following year and forgot all about stamping. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I started suffering from anxiety attacks and needed something quiet I could do at night to keep myself busy but not wake my husband, so stamping was my therapy of choice. The good news is he didn’t care too much how much I spent on it since it was keeping me calm and letting him sleep! LOL! I think it was the combination of creating something and knowing that I would be able to give it to someone and hopefully bless them at the same time that made it so appealing. As I’m typing this (and can’t quite believe I’m being so open) I’ve got a new idea for a mini album about my recovery (panic attack free for 8 months now!). Thanks for putting yourself out here and sharing your talent!
I started out with scrapbooking after my mother died because I brought home all the old family photos and I wanted to preserve those photos for my children. Then I decided to make a personal ‘from me to you’ scrapbook for each of my children so I joined a few scrapping boards so I could learn as much as I could about scrapping and discovered all the cool toys available for scrappers. That led to my discovery of the Wishblade. I found the United Kingdom Scrappers board after my sweet hubby bought me the pink Wishblade when it debuted on HSN in March 2007. It was there at UKS that I discovered Penny Black stamps! I fell in love with the PB snowman stamps and got my first stamp (a PB snowman :D) and created my first Christmas card. I started collecting Penny Black stamps and now I am hooked on stamps in general, lol! A friend of mine told me about Studio G $ stamps and I started collecting those with Series 11. Ya’ gotta love those $ stamps! I just wish I could have ‘insta-stash’ of all the stamps I would love to own, but I am slowly building my collection. I am so addicted to stamps (sigh).
Initially, it was wedding preparations - I wanted specific wedding stationery, and coudln’t find what I wanted, so went to a Rubber Stamp store, and bought the supplies to do it myself.
I took a bit of a break, and what sucked me in the 2nd time was going to a SU demo. I loved it. That was in NOvember, and it’s kind of exploded from there.
Thanks for the chance to win!
Hi Michelle, I started out making cards with dry embossing. Then I started scrapbooking and through scrapbooking magazines I learned about SU. Everytime a cute/great looking stamp was used it was a SU stamp. Looked it up on the Internet and found loads about stamping, found SCS etc. Now I have quite some stamps, all kinds of brands, I even have some SU stamps. I love using them. I call my craft space my comfy place. Makes me happy even if I only sit there. I love making cards, my mother wants some and my sister wants some. So I make them cards too. Love the whole proces.
Eveline from The Netherlands.
I started out with scrapbooking after many years of doing crafts, art (especially painting) and sewing projects. Because I had so many interests and because of the cost, I didn’t want to get into anything else. My girlfriend Linda wanted me to go to an SU house party, so I went but I had planned not to get involved….*LOL* Well needless to say, I bought some stamps and got immediately hooked by how quickly a project can be completed and look great. I LOVE shopping for supplies and my “play” room is now full of wonderful things to use to create my little masterpieces and is my own little piece of heaven on earth. I also love having friends over to “play” in my room. I have to make myself do some scrapbooking sometimes because I’d rather be trying a new stamping technique! I especially love your ” Zindorf ” style and your tutorials. Such fun!
Take care,
Trish
Moving back home(Ohio) after being gone for 17 yrs, it was hard to get into the groove with friends that hadn’t moved, with kids in H.S made some new friends and got introducted to scrapebooking. Jumped i with both feet and got invited to a stampin up party and the year they came out with the scrapebook catty, I signed up and have probably only scraped 10-15 pages since then. I loved the fact that I could sit down and make a card in such a short time. Now with grandchildren I have started to scrape again, but truely love card making. We have a group of ladies who make cards to send to soldiers to send to their families, have started a card ministry at my church and love looking on line to see what is new. I am addicted to your site. I get up, read my Bible and go to the computer to see what is new on your site. You have enabled my to broaden my horizen. Thank You,Thank You, Thank You. Suzie
Not quite ten years ago a very dear friend of mine invited me to a Stampin’ Up party. She explained to me how she had recently become interested in rubber stamping and scrap booking. I felt bad, but blew her off. My reasoning was what would I scrap book, after all I don’t have any children of my own. Then she became a demonstrator and invited me to another party. I knew I couldn’t blow her off again, so I went, got hooked and have been stamping ever since.
I went to a workshop at a teachers convention and then to my daughters wedding shower and that was that. I just love the creativity and it is so relaxing and rewarding. Thanks for your inspiration
Eileen
I had been doing computer generated cards for years but recently got frustrated because I could not usually find the image I wanted or I did not like how it was layed out. So one day I was cruising through the net and found Splitcoast stampers, and I got hooked into making my own cards, though right now they are not nearly as nice as some of these lady’s. Some of these cards, including yours, is like art work :).
WOW! What a generous bit of candy!
I was brought into stamping by a friend’s Stampin’ Up! party. I was instantly in love. I had always been crafty — but inpatient. I could never knit that entire afghan or patiently quilt. I loved the idea of making something special for someone and seeing the finished product quickly! It wasn’t long before I was scrapbooking and paper crafting everything in site. Ahhh… if only that one demonstrator knew what she had unleashed!
Hi Michelle - A few of my coworkers were into stamping, and while I thought the cards they were making were pretty cool, it wasn’t until I saw “Boatloads of Love” in a SU! catalog last fall that I decided to give it a try. My love of tugboats was all it took! I ordered the stamp set, and the rest is history. Normally, I would buy a craft project and it would never make it out of the bag, but I stamped (and mailed!) almost 80 Christmas cards.
I love checking out the blogs, and yours is one of my favorites! Thanks for sharing your incredible designs with all of us.
Hi Michelle- I was on vacation with my mother and sister in Branson. We ran into a little place that had several little shops. One of the shops was a stamp store. My sister and I Decided to go in and see what it was all about. The owner was a sweet lady and she had all kinds of cards on the wall. She told us how she did some of them and my intrest was sparked. I bought a couple of stamp sets and when I got home I started playing with them right away. I was hooked.
Thank you for the oppertunity to win and thank you for doing all these wonderful tutorials.
I have been painting with acrylics for years. My friend invited me to a SU party. I was only going because she was my friend. I mean “why would I want to spend so much money on just one stamp that could only do one thing”. Painting was much more flexible……Ha! I thought I’d maybe get some backgrounds I could use behind my painted items on a card. Then I thought I’d get stamps for things I couldn’t paint like cars or people. And now, I rarely paint anymore - I’m forgetting how! Thanks for teaching me so much & Thanks for the blog candy.
I think it started in middle school (mid-1970s) in the library. I loved stamping the date due cards. Ink to paper!
And I’ve loved paper since a baby. My mom says that I chewed/ate all the corners of dad’s books in his library (probably teething). I still love paper. Not necessarily to eat….
I played around with some pastels in middle/high school. Loved art class. Taught myself calligraphy (ink on paper) and embroidery (color on fabric — sorta like ink on paper).
So when my sister and I were invited to a Stampin’ Up! party — we went. Partly because we didn’t want to go alone, partly because we weren’t sure what a stamping party was. We were hooked! She became a SU demo, and I supported her habit.
I became a SU! demo last fall, and I’m going to my first convention next week.
My reason to stamp is to make cards. I have saved all the cards I’ve received since the early 1980s. And I love to give cards. It makes me happy, and I hope it makes the recipient happy too.
That’s most of my story. Thanks for wanting to know about us. I love your work and am SO inspired by it. I’ve made a couple of attempts following your tutorials. Not too bad — but I’ve got a LONG way to go!
Thanks a bunch!
Michelle hello! I’m a big admirer of your work. You rock with that brayer. I had eye surgery followed by complications two years ago. I was a lifelong sewer, dollmaker, quilter etc and can still do that but my sight suffered after the procedures and I didn’t have quite the acquity I had always had. Stamping and papercrafting does not require quite as much as the sewing and so I turned to that and have found it extremely rewarding. I’ll never give up sewing but papercrafting has brought so much joy to my life.
Mary
http://www.primitiveseasons.blogspot.com
I’m from NJ.
I was invited to an SU! party by my cake decorating instructor. She just told me it was a small party. So I decided to bring my hubby (fiance) at the time with me. Well there were 10 women and my fiance. And yes he stamped along with us, and since he knew i would be into it he actually encouraged me to buy some extra stuff.
well a few months later i signed up to be a demo!
Michelle,
My friend Ann got me hooked on stamping. My son was about 2. I was frustrated that I could not get any projects finished. It just seemed as if I had only 15 or 20 minutes at a time to do anything that I wanted to do. Ann was a fledgling Stampin Up! demonstrator. She invited me to a workshop. I found I could finish a simple card in 15 or 20 minutes. What a sense of accomplishment–a finished project! My first stamp set was the Water Color Minis. My son is 9, and I haven’t bought a card in years. Of course, I’ve spent much more on stamps, inks, embossing powders, embellishments, the list goes on. I’m learned so much, and continue to enjoy and learn new stamping “stuff” all the time. Thanks for all the great tutorials.
Niki
I had moved away from friends and family. I wanted to “keep in touch” but buying cards for everyone was pretty expensive and time consuming. Unlike making my own! LOL I was traveling almost 50 weeks a year with my job and needed something that I could do while traveling. I found a great stamp store in Folsom, CA, it has since closed, took a class there, and started making cards. I was introduced to Stampin Up in 2003 when I moved to Austin, TX. My cards got a whole lot better with the monthly camps and the techniques from our demonstrator. I discover you, Michelle, a few months ago. My cards have taken another leap since then. I look at the blog everyday and am grateful that you are so generous with you time and share with all of us.
Hi from Normal, Illinois. My sister-in-law sent me stamped cards several years back and I was awed by her creations and the love that went into each one. I was positive I could never do that … yet the whole idea was so exciting! So one day after watching a Carol Duvall show on stamping, I jumped up to try it. Horrible results!! I forgot to write down the recipe and ended up using a watery Elmer’s glue solution to “decoupage” my art. After a few days my husband wondered why there was a stink coming from the dining room table. Turns out the cupful of gloppy glue had soured!! lol I started walking everyday soon after that with an artsy friend who really encouraged me to start making cards again, so that very day we pounded flowers onto fabric and paper. I LOVE nature like you do, and the cards turned out pretty, but needed a sentiment. Since I had seen Wonderful Words in many card magazines, I used the Internet to locate a Stampin’ Up distributor, and hosted a workshop with ten ladies at my house the next week. I got more than a few stamps that day! That was three years ago this August and, now, 600 cards later, and more stamps than the law allows, I am still lovin’ it and still in awe of the process. Thanks for a walk down memory lane and a chance for some sweet candy!!
I am subscribed thru your RSS feed because I don’t want to miss your next work of art. Thanks for inspiring me to try new things! (Whenever I see a sunset/sunrise card I immediately think “Zindorf!) It’s hard to remember your first name is Michelle! Anyhow… I was invited to a Stampin’ Up! party by my Pastor’s wife - I wasn’t all that interested, but came again the next time she asked, something clicked - and as most of your commenters said, “The rest is history!” She is still the demo, but I do the choosing of the cards we’ll be making at our Stamper’s Six club meetings, getting everything ready & showing the ladies how to make them. (I know, I know - I should be a demo - it’s probably just a matter of time) It’s a joke between us now that she should be ashamed of herself… a Pastor’s wife… getting me hooked on stamping. (Especially bad, because she’s also the one who introduced me to SCS)
Over 25 years ago, I visited my sister in California and saw a cute dove stamp that I thought would look nice on a Christmas envelope. Stamping wasn’t big then. Then about 10 years later I was invited to a ’stamping’ party where the hostess was going to make her wedding invites. The leader explained how we could save money with stamps. HA!!! Well… yes the rest is history. I am still saving money…lol.
What great blog candy. That is simple I use to work with a girlfriend of mine and never even heard of stamping. Then she gave me a beautiful homemade card for my birthday and from then on I was hooked. That was 8 years ago and I have been hooked ever since making over a dozen cards each week… haha… I told my husband that making cards for myself would save us money. Little did he know at the time haha… Love your blog.
Hi Michelle! My story is a bit different. In 1997, my dd had to have major spinal surgery, and was in the ICU for a long time. My Mom stamped, but I never had. Mom put together a CARE package for dd, Mom thought it was something dd could do from bed. Mom showed me how the goodies worked. A heat gun, embossing power, stamps inkpads, and markers. DD could have cared less! But I was stuck 24/7 in the ICU and waiting room. I stamped and colored images for weeks. I still use the heat gun my Mom brought dd!
I came to stamping because I married into a Jewish family! We live in the middle of nowhere Northern Minnesota and I could not find any kind of cards, wrapping paper or gift tags for these crazy new (to me) holidays. A friend invited me to a Stampin’ Up party where I saw some great Jewish themed stamp sets. I also love that I can make Season’s Greetings cards for everyone- I’m just not organized enough to send Hanukah cards to some and Christmas to others. I joined a Stampin’ Hostess Club last year- I love my night out with the girls. The conversations we have when our hands are busy… I am so a Michelle wannabe! I majored in Fine Art Photo in college so was pretty snotty about stamping at first but I love what I can do with it without a darkroom and scary chemicals.
I am from Puerto Rico. I learned scrapbooking while in high school and since then I started loving papercraft (Maybe even before since my dad used to do me a few things in origami when I was a kid). I am quite good at crafts but while adolescent I lost interest and I retook them once I was about to finish the university. By error I ordered some wooden stamps, thinking they were stickers and left them behind except for one or other time when I wanted to use those images. A year ago, I took a card class and got interested (still forgeting those wood stamps I have somewhere at home and just last week I found). Took another class where the demo used stamping in scrapbooking and she had me completely.
I love to scrapbook and to add stamping to it. Now I’m working in creating cards and other altered items as well as paper crafting and ALWAYS look for a way to add some stamping to it!
Back in 1996, a friend I taught with invited me to a “rubber stamp” party. I had NO interest in going (back then, I thought rubber stamps would be those things we stamped on students paper “Nice Work”, “Try Harder”, etc.) I could not imagine how that would be any fun at all, but I really liked Jackie and was afraid no one else would go so I went for the moral support. Over $100 of Stampin’ Up stuff later, I was hooked, decided to have my own party and about 6 after that became a Stampin’ Up demonstrator. I’ve gotten my mom, sister and sister-in-law all hooked as well. We love it!!
Well Miss Card Diva you deseve all this attention since your cards are the BEST..
I used to make my own cards and when I started stamping them it was much easier then doing it all by hand.. I’ll still give the stamps I win to my friend Tonniece, since she is my card Diva :):)
I was invited to a Stampin’ Up demo. I was an active digital artist at the time, and I couldn’t understand why stamp art got so much more respect than digital art. Anuyway, the demo gave us a challenge - she set out several colors and a stamp set, and we had to create our own cards. I was really intrgued by how different everyone’s cards were using the same materials…
I think I have more stamps and inks now than that demo ever did.
I started off with scrapbooking and then a friend of mine was selling all of her stuff that she did not use anymore. I bought it all from her and contacted a consultant for stampin up and have not been able to quit since. I use stamping for birthday cards at our office and I also use it on my scrapbook pages.
Thank you for the chance at the blog candy, keep up the great work on our card designs.
I suppose the shortest and most honest answer to the question “what brought me to stamping” would be the length of time UK citizens spend awaiting surgery on National Health Service waiting lists.
To expand a little - I had Gall Stones and needed my Gall Bladder removed - I was suffering quite a lot with outbreaks of pain from the blasted stones - so when i could not sleep I would turn on the TV in the middle of the night and watch anything while waiting for the pain to go. I became quite knowlegable about such products as the Jack La Lanne Juicer - those 30 minute long informercials can become quite hypnotic at 3am - but I digress! I found a shopping channel called Create and Craft, at first I thought card making was rather an odd hobby - why make them when you can buy them so cheaply? But then I saw a lady called Jayne Nestorenko and the amazing work she does with medallion stamps… I decided I want to make cards like that and started to think quite seriously about giving this rather odd hobby a go……. next I realised Jayne was not the only hugely talented demonstrator on that channel and I became addicted to the work of Glenda Wateworth……. and there you have it… the rest as they say is history.
I received a very clever House Mouse Christmas card from my sister-in-law way back in 2000. I noticed “Stampa Rosa” on the card, got on the internet, started searching, and WHOAAAA!!!! Hold me back!!! I have been buying and stamping ever since. It helps a lot, too, that it was my husband’s sister who got me started so he has a hard time complaining about the hobby and its costs, LOL!!! !
Omigosh, I can’t remember! I think I got my first alphabet stamp set when I was 8 or 9! The obsession began early for me, LOL!
Thanks for all the inspiration, Michelle!
Even though I have some really old stamps that I used to make gift tags at Christmas, I really became turned on to stamping and making cards through a friend who sold Stampin’ Up. Now I work at a rubber stamp store and teach!! I’ve come a long way, baby. LOL
Great stories everyone.
Mine is very simple… I WAS ENABLED! I have been a scrapbooker for years and constantly go to the message boards. People would show these beautiful cards with stamped images and I wanted to be able to do the same.
I discovered Bella stamps shortly after and then I bought my first House Mouse stamp and Penny Black. I don’t have many stamps, but I truly treasure my little collection.
Many a year ago, I was on a year’s leave to complete a degree, but I had some spare time and wanted to do something different. Use the other side of my brain, so to speak. I went to a beginner’s stamping class and that was it. I was hooked!
I started stamping in college as a part time job with “DOTS”. I was always crafty and it was a nice way to make some extra money that would work well with my class schedule. I have stuck with it now for 13 years and do cards, scrapbooks, and other odds and ends. Not great on my budget but great with my creative outlet.
Oh Michelle, I am so grateful that I found your blog at the beginning of the year and I am one of those you subscribe to getting your blog daily, plus I have your webpage as my homepage!!! I so enjoy reading all your entries and the fact that you stamp, use ink to create your cards! Keep it up, please!!!
I began stamping 11 years ago, like most people, attending a stamping party. The first time I saw embossing, I was hooked, big time. Little did I know that I would be stamping every day and have my own room and a husband who supports and encourages me with my craft!
Have a wonderful few days vacation and then your teaching time. Oh, how I wish I could be there! Thank you, for coming along side everyday with me, for that is what it feels like to me when I read your blog!
Jesse aka Inkyhive
I have sewed, scrapbooked and made cards since I was a child and I scrapbooked my high school trip to Paris in 1972!
I heard about Stampin Up in 1995 when I went into a copy center to buy some colored paper. The manager of the copy paper store and I started talking about how much we love paper….and we became friends. She was in Stampin Up and I became a good customer. I couldn’t be a demonstrator because I had 3 children plus 3 foster children, I home-schooled them and ran my own country painted wood craft show business, had a farm & animals and my plate was full! Then my friend told me she wanted to open a rubber stamp store and I encouraged her for over a year to go for it. She did and it was a huge success, partly due to the amount of product I bought from her! LOL
I think I first did some stamping in about 1983 with my Mom and sister. When I got out of college I may have purchased a few stamps here and there. Then in 2000 when we moved back home to the Black Hills here in South Dakota, I did stamping in a big way as we had a great little shop downtown. It closed, I moved on to scrapbooking. Then, this January I went with my Mom and sister to a Stampin’ Up! retreat and got TOTALLY hooked again! I signed up as a new Demonstrator 4 months later!
I’ve been making cards for years…mostly paper piecing and I really tried to avoid getting stamps. I just knew that I would be addicted…yep. I am.
Hi I’m from Michigan. I had a friend try to get me to try StampinUp’s rubber stamps butI was like no I don’t know anything about using them and its not really for me. Then I was intrigued by talk in an online group about heat embossing. Well I was curious enough to want to try but no idea where to get anything. My dh went out and bought me all the supplies including my first stamps as a surprise. And well…I’ve been hooked on stamps ever since. I laugh now when I think back how I was content in the beginning with just 6 ink colors. lol The next person who mentioned StampinUp sent me a catty and started my madness of a collection I have now. lol Great question!!!
I started NOT wanting to scrapbook. All my pics are already in books…some with better notes than others but I sort of stumbled on it and here I am a few years later. I’ve always been interested in crafts but put them aside when I didn’t feel I had the time. Now I do so I make cards and mini-books.
A girl I worked with stamped every couple months with her friends. She invited me to her house during one of their times. I had one stamp left from making placecards for a banquet. She said bring that and some paper. They let me use their stuff and taught me embossing. That’s all it took, now several thousand stamps later…
I have been making my own greeting cards in some way or form for over 20 years. I could never justify the increasing price of cards… if I could make them! So I did… hand drawn, then adding computer fonts, then a mix of hand drawn and computer… went to my first SU! Party in 2002. I was hooked!! I really didn’t buy that many stamps, but the ideas and the products… OMG! Paper other than white? Brads and ink, markers… the lucky thing is … I can draw and copy, so now my cards are a mix of stamps, hand drawn, stickers, computer generated… and other STUFF. It is so fun to have something created, almost instantly!!
I started out scrapbooking and eventually started playing with stamps and different inks. I am still discovering new things and love it. Thanks for your blog. It’s great!
I was working in a local scrapbook store, and one of the girls there got me interested in stamping. She shared a lot of great techniques for using them, and her cards and pages were always gorgeous, so she inspired me!
Thanks for the chance to win, Michelle.
Kelly in Maryland
I actually was a scrapbooker first and bought a couple of stamps to use on my scrapbook pages for more variety than just stickers and such. Then I attended my first SU workshop and bought a couple of sets. There began my addiction. I started buying stamps right and left, went to conventions and bought tons more, ordered them online, joined stamp-of-the-month groups, and lived and breathed stamps. Started making cards so I could use my stamps more. Now I’m a card fanatic. And a stampaholic. I stamp cards, frames, scrapbooks, journals, you name it. If you stand still long enough, I’ll probably stamp YOU! LOL
I went to a CTMH party at a friends bosses house. Her boss is a single mother of two teenaged daughters and she loves to stamp so I went along just to buy a few things so that the hostess could get some free stuff. Little did I know that my first little purchase would start the “store” in my basement!!
My next door neighbor was always bringing me thank you cards or birthday cards she made. I started getting interested and went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few things and she showed me the basics. She invited me to a SU party and I loved it. I placed an order as often as I could. Then I found SCS and a world of other stamp companies. Stamping relaxes me and it is how I unwind after a days work at my job. I love it. Your cards are fabulous. I enjoy reading your blog dailey.
RETIREMENT brought me to rubber stamping, actually during a trip to CA we happened upon a store that had a small collection of rubber stamps, I purchased my first two–a stamp of OHIO, where i live, and a clarinet because my daughter plays the clarinet. I still own these two stamps but have added ‘too many’ more to my collection over the past ten years. Early in my stamping ‘career’ i made many cards for my college age daughter, which she saved and recently went through the box of ‘old cards’ that i considered pretty good at the time, well, wow, how i’ve improved!
I’m in Arizona.
It’s my mother’s fault!!! that I stamp!!! It really is! Back in 1998, my mother signed herself and me up for a rubber stamping class through the community education classes of one of the school districts here. It’s funny, though, I have 3 sisters and none of them enjoy stamping. My mother passed away in 1999, and now when I stamp, I think of my mother.
Denise
I started stamping about 1 1/2 years ago. My inspiration was a good friend of mine who has stamped for years. I was also green with envy when we received her gorgeous Christmas cards/invitations/etc. I finally signed up for the Introduction to Rubber Stamping class at my local Archiver’s store. I was hooked from then. Soon afterwards my friend invited me to go with her to a stamping convention in Hampton Roads, VA. I came home with so many awesome treasures!! Our bonus room is now my craft room with the majority of supplies being stamping! This year I was introduced to Stampin’ Up!! I am in love!!
I was a scrapbooker, happily making scrapbook pages, when one of my scrapbooking friends started selling Stampin’ Up products and invited me to a party. At first, I was not interested at all. I think I bought a wheel and handle and ink and a baby set since I had just became a grandma. Once I saw how nicely and easily that stamping could be incorporated into scrapbooking …. and how nicely all my scrapbooking supplies could also make cards …. I was hooked!
I love your work and love your blog. I hope to win the blog candy! Thank you, Christina Amador GCBSamador@sbcglobal.net
I had tried stamping years and years ago with just some things I purchased randomly at a craft store. It didn’t go too well. All the cards were so ameteur-ish. Then when a new neighbor moved in next door she said she noticed I liked to craft and invited me to a SU stamp camp. I was hooked……….That was 5 years ago.
Thanks for the chance to win. I look forward to your e-mail tutorials. You make it look so easy. You’re such an inspiration!!
Dorothy
Love your work and blog! Love the goodies you are giving away too! Christina Amador
GCBSamador@sbcglobal.net
Well I missed that too, I was on vacation…anywho….I am from Texas and have been scrapbooking for over 15 years. I went to a Stampin Up show about 8 years ago, and have been doing it ever since!I started blogging last summer, and have been having fun with it. I have always had my hand in some kind of craft, and this stamping and creating is so fun! Thanks for the opportunity
After the birth of my first child, I was with her non-stop. I was relishing in being a new mom and my neighbor, a Stampin Up! demonstrator made me a beautiful card. I fell in love with it and she invited me into her craft room. WHOA! I almost fell out on the floor when I saw it. She had wall to wall stamps. So she invited me to attend one of her stamp classes. I had an absolute blast and got hooked immediately. So hooked that I invited two of my girlfriends to a class and they got the bug and it became a Tuesday night ritual, it was so much fun being with my friends and being creative. I then went on to have two more children and the stamping slowed down some, but I have recently started scrapbooking and card making again. For me it is a necessary stress relief. That was all back in 2002.
I’ve always loved collecting stationary and I would always decorate my envelopes when I wrote people. I bought my first rubber stamps in 5th grade and still have them. I bought a couple stamps here and there mostly to decorate envelopes when I wrote home when my husband joined the Air Force and we moved away with our 18 month old at the time.
Then June 2003 while living in Okinawa, Japan a girl invited me to a Stampin Up party, I had never heard of that company and wasn’t sure what to expect. I got there and I was in love, it was right up my alley. I was so overwhelmed by the catalog and she had a huge retiring list and it was just crazy. I finally bought the butterfly wheel, pretty in pink ink cartridge, a handle, and the Kanji set. Then ;ater I called the woman back and bought the catalog and that is where the process began.
I would order sooo much I finally became a demo in March 2005. I have probably over 300 sets, I once had an inventory sheet, but hard drive crashed and I lost it and never made a new one up.
Anyway that is where it all began, my cardmaking has slowed a bit since we have another child who is almost 9 months and into everything
I was introduced to rubber stamping at a stampin up class about 3 years ago. I am a very creative person and collect lots of creative supplies….lol I truly enjoy watching a card come together and the joy someone expresses when receiving it.
About 2 weeks after my mom died a friend of mine ask me to go somewhere with her and it was a Stampin’ Up! meeting to form a club. She had been in it the year before and they were going to restart it. We did a small make and take and I fell in love with it. I have not stoped stamping from that day. I think it was as much as an outlet for me to keep my mind on other things and not the loss that I had. And boy does it work. I love it and have no plans of ever stopping…. Looking forward to the birth of my first Granddaughter in Oct. (Madelyn Brooke) Can’t wait to put her in a Scrapbook………………
I unwillingly went to a coworker’s wife’s SU! workshop and had a plan for fake phone calls and EVERYTHING to be able to leave early. And then it happened. My now beloved upline made a card with DD Daisy, a bag with the Posy and Vine wheels in Pink Passion and Green Galore. It was like someone slipping a drug in my drink. I spent $175, had my own $1300 workshop and then signed up!! That was in 2001. At convention next week I will get my award for $100,000 in career sales with Stampin’ Up! and I honestly think I love stamping more every day. I wish I could do it full time. The best part though- the friends I’ve made, my wonderful upline (I work for her husband now) and all my internet friends that I feel like I know and love, like you Michelle!!
My mother in law went to a SU gathering and bought me a stamp set and a couple ink pads for my birthday one year (I remember thinking - what the heck - I have to put the stamps together??). It sat untouched for years. Then my co-worker and very good friend took me to a stamp party and I had a blast. I am now a stamp addict. I seem to do much better buying product than setting aside time to stamp (too many hobbies not enough time - I love fiber arts too). I know this is a problem and I am working on it. I no longer buy cards and am learning great techniques for products I already have. Your blog is wonderful inspiration.
I only had one rubber stamp in my possession and that one said “Paid in Full” until my daughter decided she needed to become a Stampin Up Demo and she asked me to “partner” with her. I couldn’t be a joint demo but I could be a supportive Mom so I said I would. I attended the Stamp Camps with her, inviting my friends from work to help fill her table. Luckily, they were already into stamping so it made for a good start for her. I loved the projects and wanting to help my daughter reach her goals, I also started purchasing the products. I was making the birthday cards for my department at work so the first sets I ordered were always Birthday oriented but as my interest in the craft has grown, I have expanded my collection to include other themes as well as other brands of stamps.
Well, my daughter is still a demo, although not as into it as I hoped she would be and I am hooked. Maybe someday, I will become a demo if only just to feed my addicton.
My story begins with a friend giving me a fold out mini album and instructions on how to make it. My craft room did not exist then, I had not ventured that way. I made it with construction paper, glue stick, exacto knife, and sharpie markers. The rest is history and now I am a Demonstrator totally addicted to papercrafting. The start was 2003 and 5 years later I share my obsession with others and truly enjoy every moment of it.
I wanted to do an album for my mother because she was facing surgery and getting older and I just wanted to do it. I started with a scrapbook of our Mother’s Day church Banquet and then went to Poquoson, VA (I live in MD) to visit some friends. She was scrapping and had a Close To My Heard idea book. I LOVED the stamps in the book. I went home with her book and ordered some things, then I emailed a consultant I found on the consultant locator and told her I wanted to sign up to be a consultant. I had never been a consultant for anything before, but love the product and signed up. I love stamping images on the pages and I’ve branched out into making cards.
http://www.sullyscrapandstamp.blogspot.com
when I was 10 yrs ld my mother ran a rubberstamp business mostly for business back then ( it was 1980) I would watch and help her with the mounting and we did laminating and engraving etc. was great fun then when i was in highschool she started her own custom rubberstamp business and I sold at the school and drew the designs then she wasnt able to take care of it and I was not at home ( had kids and moved away) if i had known i would have kept the business I would have adored making them now. I still have a 20 year old bottle of Gold EP from stewart superior back when you used a heat press to emboss stationary. and yes it still works like charm . I am still a beginner tho even tho i have done intermediate and advanced things as I am constantly learning new things and have to start all over thank you for giving me that challenging experience every day!
Hi Michelle…I’m from BC, Canada and I just have to say how much I enjoy visiting your blog and not just because of the candy, lol. You have an incredible talent. I have tried your method, but let me just say, they don’t look like your creations! I was introduced by my dearest friend who wanted to show me something “neat” She had made a bookmark that was embossed and stamped. This was one of the most creative bookmarks that I have ever seen. She had also made a few gift tags and I thought to myself…I can make those, meaning the gift tags. 12 years and thousands of dollars later, I’m hooked! Thanks for all the inspiring ideas you have shown us!!
Hi Michelle:
I’m from Castro Valley, California, which is in the S.F. Bay area. I started stamping about 5 years ago, mainly because a group of girlfriends wanted to get together every month and exchange homemade cards. I must say that I kind of lost interest in stamping after awhile, and then I saw how you and other talented artists expanded on the art of stamping on Splitcoast. I have always loved drawing and watercoloring and when I brought that into my stamping creations, they took on a new life and interest for me. The cards I created were more a part of my personality and artistic ability. Of course, that means that I spend far longer on a card than I used to, but they mean more to me and I hope they also mean more to those I give them to. Thank you, Michelle, for inspiring me every single day.
Wendy Gorton
My DIL became a SU Demo. Initially, I just wanted to help her. Then I found SCS and the PIF thread and I’m BIG TIME addicted. Thanks for all the tutorials you offer to help us…they’re wonderful!
Hi, Michelle,
I went to an SU workshop with my daughter just to see what it was about. I liked what I saw but didn’t see it as something I would do very often. After a second workshop, my daughter talked me into stamping with her weekly. I became hooked! I’ve been stamping for over 12 years now!
Hi Michelle! I’m Ally from Ontario, Canada and I just love your blog… super, duper inspirational! I got it to stamping through my love of scrapbooking. I have become so addicted to stamping that I have so many acrylic sets that I am unable to store them all in the space I have now. I just love the little Studio G sets … so cute…. love their images and their sentiments! I am stamp obsessed to say the least! I look forward to your next stampy creation!
let me start of with…WOW 2-3 thousand is something to be so proud of!! congrats!!!! your work is amazing!!
why i started stamping………..i started stamping because i fell in love with clear stamps (see thru, storage, portability) and i started with scrapbooking and now make cards and other altered items. i love stamping and cutting out the images to make my own embellisments for my pages. the whole inking/disstressing/stamping/etc thing is facinating to me because it allows me to make my own papers the way “I” want to and my pages will ALWAYS be different from others.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INSPIRATION!!
Michelle, I am from Warner Robins, Ga and I first started scrapping in 2001, then in 2004, I was invited to a SU party and I have not stopped since then. I became a demo in Nov. 2006 and absolutely love stamping. I have so enjoyed your blog because of your artistic talent that brings your cards to life! I love them and look forward to seeing your work everyday. Thanks so much for the chance to win blog stuff!
Pinky
My married daughter enjoys stamping. She introduced me to it. It give me a way to spent alot of time with here.
I needed a birthday card and was out looking when I passed a store that had rubber stamps and supplies in it. they also had card examples and I was hooked!
Sheri
Michelle, thanks for sharing - your talent is amazing and I look forward to seeing your blog each day. I have always been into creating - thanks to a mother who taught and encouraged me. As for stamping, my daughter gave me a stamp and some ink for Christmas in 1996 and that’s all it took.
Hey, Michelle! I’m actually a new subscriber to your blog, and I have been so impressed by your style and artwork from day one! I was not a crafty person until I got married, and my mother-in-law–who is my best friend and confidante–was into EVERYTHING…quilting, stamping, photography, Bible study, Stained glass…you name it…she did it. Anywho…she taught me some basics of stamping and I played with it a little bit while living in Germany for the military, but didn’t really “get” into it.
When we came back stateside, I couldn’t believe the different things available for scrapbooking and all these cute embelishments and stuff. Stamping had grown to a phenomenon! The things these artists were creating!
I still didn’t get into it until a few years ago. I decided I wanted to know some of these new techniques…while giving a jewelry show I learned that one of my customers was a SU! demo. I decided to book a workshop and invited my closest friends. The rest is history…I had so much fun and now had a demonstrator at my disposal too! I think I hosted 3 workshops before I finally decided to sign up myself. I’ve been making cards ever since as a hobbyist. My latest project will be birth announcements for my first nephew due in October….FUN FUN FUN!
So…keep up the good work…keep us looking…you are so gifted, and I so appreciate your willingness to share with all us strangers.
I started scrapbooking about 10 years ago and used to get so tired of buying letter stickers. I always had tons left over that I never used for anything. Anyhow I ran into a fun lady at a craft fair from Stampin Up and she had a special on Alphabet stamps. Little did I know a knew stamping addiction had just started. I now make way more cards than scrapbook. I am still trying to find an even balance but it is all fun.
June Susmarski
ps thanks for the chance for the new stamps
Hi Michelle….
I came to stamping by way of scrapbooking. Have always done crafts, from a very early age, starting with sewing and then moving from basket making to quilting to…..well….as you can see I was always open to new crafts. Well…I joined a monthly scrapbooking group at a local craft store and one of the teachers at the store needed people for their first stamp class……and the rest is history……I am still a scrapbooker, but am definitely a ‘committed’ stamp…….’committed’ as in addicted….lol.
Hi Michelle, msut have missed the other chat. I”m Wanda from Greensboro, NC and love your ideas. I got into su from being at a yard sale of a demo’s. Signed up immediately for a party at my house - had 25 people to come. Then the next month, I signed up as a demo (got one color family of pads free). I got into stamping to make my own cards as I love sending cards to cheer people. But I don’t get to send many, so think it’s time to give up the demo’ship (i’m a hobbyist anyway). But just this week, I plan on casing at least 2 of your cards. I’m the one on SCS that you left a message on for my running horse last week or week before.
thanks for sharing your ideas, and continue to share with us.
My best friend from high school was a Stampin up demonstrator. I went to visit her one weekend and she taught me how to stamp. The way I figure it, she owes me about $3,000.00 dollars–all so I could save some money to make cards for my friends and family. But I truly enjoy doing it and would love to win some blog candy to add to my addiction, I mean hobby.
Hi Michelle,
I got started stamping when my sister in law invited me to a stamping party. I had never done anything like it and had a great time. I haven’t stopped stamping since.
Since I have found your blog I finally found a use for my brayer too!! Keep up the beautiful work!
This is so much fun Michelle. It’s neat to read how others got introduced to stamping. (And BTW I am formerly from BC, Canada!) I was taken to my first SU party by a neighbour. All I bought were some stampin’ spots, and I had no idea that you could use rubber stamps for anything artistic. I’m always into a craft of somekind, so this really piqued my interest. Before you know it I had a party, spent a few hundred dollars on stuff and became a SU Demo. That was just a short 31 months ago. Now I have branched out from SU, and finding your blog was like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I love your style. I think I’m here to stay - I love stamping and card making so much and I love trying out new techniques also. Finding Technique Junkies was like walking through an open door on so many marvelous techniques and mediums. Stamp on ladies!!!
Hi Michelle,
This is Brenda from Sugar Land, Texas. I got started stamping in a similar manner to you. A friend invited me to a Stampin’ Up workshop. I didn’t have a clue about any of it…but I think I spent $200 because I had to have it all! My talents are not as advanced as yours but it’s still a fun hobby. I love it when non-stampers see a card I made and they are SOOOO impressed!! But little do they know how easy it was! Fun!
Hello. My name is also Michelle, and I really love your blog. I love to stamp, and your imagination and talent inspire me to try things I’ve never done before. I came to stamping because of my daughter. She insisted I go to scrapbooking classes with her a few years ago. I went for two years, but I didn’t really enjoy it, and I kept going to do some mother/daughter stuff with her. In class, all I wanted to do was cut and paste, and make pretty, but the teacher/demo insisted on me sorting pictures, deciding what to do with them, and then journalling. Then I found a card-making group, and when I joined, I ddn’t have to sort pictures anymore! Shortly after, the leader of the group had a Stampin’Up! party, and I met the most amazing demo, and an addiction was created. I learned so much from her! She also set me onto Splitcoast Stampers, and the rest, as they say, is history. I have been amking cards for two years now, and there was no looking back. Stamping has taken over pretty much all my free time, and I want to improve my cards, and increase my scope. Your blog and designs help me do that. Thank you.
I had been making my own cards for years, using die cuts, computer images and sentiments, ribbons, and patterned paper. I had a couple of stamps but didn’t really know what to do with them. Then my co-worker invited me to a SU! stamp camp that her daughter was hosting in 2003 and I been hooked ever since. (I swear I buy more from my demo then she buys herself.) I get such enjoyment stamping, it just fits my creative niche. Thanks for all the wonderful inspiration you give us daily.
I did not let you know where I am from. I am from Sunbury, Pennsylvania. One of my friends invited me to house for a party and decided to buy one stamp set, a black stamp pad and some markers to color the images. I chose a stamp set that I could use for different occassions. Needless to say I enjoyed myself tremendously at the party and couldn’t wait to get my order. When it arrived I started to make cards and really got hooked on it. I just love making cards and now I have started doing scrapbook pages. I love the versatility of stamps and love coming up with new card designs. Thanks for another chance and the blog candy.
4 years ago, while staying at our condo in Venice, Florida, a friend of mine asked me “have you ever stamped before”? I responded “is that some kind of a dance”? She laughed and invited me to a one-day workshop. From that day on I’ve been hooked!!! I now know it isn’t a dance, but I dance around each and every time I create something with my very own hands:-) Thanks for allowing me to share this silly but true story and also for the opportunity for a chance to win your blog candy.
I live in Monkton, MD. It is a few mile’s south of the PA border. Originally from Illinois. Back In 1992 or thereabout, we were having a house warming party with friend’s The subdivision behind us was all huge expensive home’s. One of then was having a sorta open house where different vendor’s were in each room selling their good’s. One was the Goose Barn. A wonderful stamp store. I was totally there for hour’s. I was hooked. Becky, the owner, would have parties in the barn. Like Tupperware but stamp’s. I went to a Convention in Carson with Becky in 1992. It was my first convention and totally overwhelming. The last stamp I bought was of a lady sitting down with her leg’s crosed and she uis rubbing her feet. That was how I felt whene the day was over. I still have that stamp. I can’t even give a store bought card as people are offended that I did not make them a card. I kinda like that. It is a great therapy for me now.
I orginally started in scrapbooking back in 1997. I loved it then and still love it today. I still scrapbook quite often. Then a friend had a SU party in 1998 and I bought a stamp set at the party because I felt I had to. But it was still sometime before I really got into stamping. I loved making cards, just didn’t stamp them that much. Then about 2 years ago the stamping bug hit me. I have been hooked ever since. I have learned a lot of techniques, but my cards have really started showing some pizzazz since following your blogs. I have been learning things about a bit of ink and a stamp set that I didn’t know you could do.
Needless to say, our office/craftroom is mainly a craftroom now. Hubby is always looking for ways to improve and make things easier for me. And I proudly show off all my stamps, ink and projects now. And it is great in my scrapbooking also.
Thanks for a chance to win the blog candy. I have never gotten to try to Studio G stamps yet, but sure am wanting to. They look awesome.
Kim
Hi Michelle…I have some friends that were getting together to stamp once a month. After hearing them talk about there time together and seeing some of their creations, I wanted to join. That was about three years ago. We still get together to stamp and of course we have our trips to Archivers, Hobby Lobby…etc. By the way, one of my friends is a SU demo. We are her best customers!
Pam
I bought a few stamps because I liked the picture on the front. Didn’t get the results I wanted so I stopped stamping. Then a coworker who knows I like crafts asked me to join a workshop with her. So I joined. During this workshop we learned how to make the most gorgeous card I’d ever seen and I’ve been hooked ever since.
My neighbor was a stampin up demo and she invited me up to her house to stamp. Well , that was the start of it. Now another friend and I go to conventions all over.
We have a ball. The last one we went to was in Springfield Mass. We stay the weekend so we can go both days and see all the new stuff.
She comes to my house once a week and we get out our stamps and we play. I then send the cards I’ve made to my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
They enjoy getting the cards.
Joan
My start in stamping occurred when I became disabled from a work related injury. I was a nurse most of my life and was at a loss as what to do. My best friend of over 35 years was a SU demonstrator and she suggested stamping cards. I purchased some things from her….actually a whole box full….brought it home from Ohio and never used it. Took me two years to open that box again and once I did I have NEVER looked back. I AM ADDICTED SO BADLY NOW!!!!!!!!! But I love it and all these blogs are so great to get my creative juices flowing. Never bored now and I have made so many friends due to SU. Thanks for asking us. evette
I started stamping when I my husband and I were visting a small Amish town not far from our house. We were just walking around the town, mostly looking at antiques when we came across a rubber stamp store. We decided to go in and the women who owned the store demo’d a couple stamps for me and showed me how to emboss and to color them. I was hooked. I couldn’t believe how easy it looked and the beautiful cards I could make. I bought a few stamps that day and went home and created a few cards. I visited that store LOTS more times as I really started to love stamping and my hobby just grew and grew and grew…..
Thank you for giving us a chance to share our stories and to win the blog candy! I look forward to your blog every day!
Kathy
I started scrapbooking in 2000 after my daughter presented us with triplets. A few friends who were also scrapbooking tried to get me interested in stamping. “Oh no, I don’t need one more hobby.” Six weeks later after going to a Close to My Heart party justt to shut them up - I was hooked. Now I have to struggle to find time to scrapbook beacuse I’m always busy stamping. This spring I decided to join into the http://www.cardsforheroes.org project and I’m having a ball doing it.
I walked into a stamp store………..it was that simple……..the owner took the time and patience to sit down with me and show me how to use markers on a pear stamp. The image was beautiful…..I still have it. Shading was remarkable and the glossy paper made it pop.
hooked from then on…………
Kathy L……
I came to stamping by way of Daisy Girl Scouts! My girls were in the troop and a mother was selling D.O.T.S. which is now Close to My Heart. I came, I stamped, I stayed! That was over 15 years ago and I’m still here.
You inspire me to keep at it and thanks for the opportunity to win some blog candy. I really appreciate it!
A friend had given me a couple of handmade cards that piqued my curiosity. When I found out she was in a monthly SU club, I asked if I might order “a stamp” when they order. Within a couple of months they asked me to join! At my first meeting we went around the table answering the question, “How many stamps do you own?” I could not believe that some of those girls owned hundreds of stamps! And now, 10 years later…
What fun reading to learn of everyone’s stamping beginnings. Mine began back around 1987 when my son wanted to have a campout in the backyard for his birthday party. We found a tree line stamp (which I still have), a birthday invitation stamp, some ink and cardstock and we went to town making those little party invitations together. Those were my first stamps and while my “style” of card making has changed greatly over the past 20+ years, the fun hasn’t changed a bit. I still love getting inky!
Jennifer
I started stamping about 10 years ago when I tired of the same old look in my scrapbooks, I have been working at my LSS for about 3 years, which has both scrapbooking and stamping. I have recently put actual 12×12’s on the shelf and been making chipboard, cd case, etc of every kind for family and friends. I just would rather do things for my mom’s who are in thier late 70’s that they can sit out and brag on their grand children now. In the begining I just stamped titles and backgrounds, now the whole projects are stamp art!
Michelle, Jacksonville, FL
I have been into painting ceramics and doing some needlepoint for a long time and I have loved to color since I can remember using whatever it is I have at hand. I initially decided that I wanted to get into scrapbooking as the amount of pictures I have is horendous but I was trying to find something that could be used repeatedly in different ways. My friend suggested trying stamping and well 3 years later I am still going and I laugh continuously when I enter my bedroom closet as there sits my horendous supply of photographs still waiting to be scrapbooked.
My business is ceramic painting and making the bisqueware. 2 years ago I was at a craft show saw someone making a lovely card. It was my friends birthday a few weeks from then and thought “how lovely to do a card for her” Bought my first stamp, went home and was totally befuddled as I didn’t have all the goodies, but had some coloured pencils and bits and pieces. Was very impressed with my first effort. So now I just can’t find enough hours in the day to carry on with my new “hobby” and from a shoebos full of card goodies have progressed somewhat.
I’ve always been creative some way or another. I’m not sure how I got to SU but I asked for a local demo to send me a catalog. She dropped one off at my work and I was mesmerized by all the stamps and creativity right at my fingertips in the catalog. I like to stamp, it has beome a more solid hobby. And I’ve truly enjoyed your website. Your techniques are amazing and very easy to understand and follow!! Thanks for all the sharing.
Hi Michelle! You asked, so here is my long and winding road to SCS.
I have always loved all things Victorian and aboUT 20 some years ago I stumbled upon some beautiful rubber stamps images by PSX, and also found a stamping group that met in the community room of a local grocery store. I enjoyed stamping however never got very good at it because I did not have any mastering of techniques. (For example I would stamp and emboss on dark cardstock and wonder why it did not look nice). And then the throes of single parenthood took hold of my life and I put everything up in attic. I think in the back of my mind I knew that this would become a passion for me, just not at that time in my life!!
Fast forward to six years ago, my friend Daryl invited me to a Stampin Up party. I bought ,my first set, Antique Collectibles, (remember I love Victoriana), and my creativity and passion was reignited. My children are now 31 and 28 and out of the house, and I am an empty nester who stamps EVERy DAY!! I love SCS, I love the community that has taught me so so much, and you are a big part of that. I would come across your images in the daily challenge uuploads and literally suck in my breath, and would think “this ZINDORF person really makes this medium SING, and what the heck IS a Zinndorf???” Of course I know know you are Michelle, and really appreciate your generous sharing of your tecniques. Thanks so much for being YOU! HUGS, Nancyruth (self ordained president of the Zindorf Fan Club!!!)
My employee, Sharon, was a stamper. The first time she brought some of her cards in I was amazed at her work. So I began to look for a local stamp store and found one nearby. WOW! Excitement set in and I went wild and spent too much. I signed up for the classes and then I saw the Stampscape cards. OMG! I was hooked. That was in 2002 I think. I sure hope my husband never asks me for my inventory sheet. He will drop dead if he ever saw how much I’ve spent on this craft since 2002. I won’t even total the worksheets up anymore. I did once. That was two years ago. I could probably by a car by now. I love seeing your work as you have given me a new and different inspiration to add to my cards. Thank you so much I LOVE IT!
Couple years ago, my dear friend Caroline, gave me her handmade Christmas card, I thought it would be great idea to exchange handmade cards with my 2 firends, and we start to make 2-3 card to exchange for Christmas and Easter, one year I made some card for my mom too, and she really like them, I was looking for some inspiration in magazines, you know I’m from Poland, few years ago it was VERY rare to get magazines about crafts or any nice paper etc. now it’s changing but still we have very little shops which provide stamps or papers. I order German magazine, and I was amazed by different technics, I saw beautiful card with stamped image:) wow!I was surfing the Internet to get know more about stamping and discover many websites:) my first stamps I bought in December 2007, since that time I learn much and try to make nice cards:)
I was working as an aide with a young teacher who had recently moved to the state and didn’t know alot of people. We became great friends and my daughter and I spent many Saturdays with her. Then one day she introduced us to stamping and scrapbooking and that was it. We started making our Saturdays stamping/scrapbooking day. Then at the end of the year she moved back home to Connecticut and left my daughter to take off from there. It has been several years now and I love it even more. It allows me to release my creative energy and it also gives me something that my daughter and I (now a teenager) can still do together and enjoy. I do so appreciate my friend introducing me to papercrafting, and I still miss her terribly.
Carolyn Sharkas
ceashark@aol.com
In 2005, I was attending a huge scrapbooking weekend event where they had “classes”. Christine Whited (from Cincinnati) had all these inexperienced scrappers making adorable cards…and she made it seem easy. I found out later she was studying to be a Math teacher (which is what I was). I believe it helped her give the kind of clear instructions we needed. My first purchase? The demo kit! Well, I had to have it all!
I was invited to an SU party in my neighborhood. Since you “have” to go to these things I went but with no expectations. Boy was I surprised by how much fun I had. I ordered 2 wheels with ink cartridges because I was a bit afraid of the stamps. Somehow the fear subsided and I became addicted. Hundreds of stamp sets later I had to give myself an entire stamp ROOM. If there were a 12-step program for stampers I’d be the first to join. But I don’t think I’ll ever kick the habit. There are very few stamps I don’t want and there are absolutely no techniques I don’t want to learn. I just wish I’d found stamping sooner. By the way, I live on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV so I’m always surrounded by inspiration but I get excited each time I see your blog in my email. You are my inspiration now. Please keep the beautiful work coming.
Michelle, I was down in the dumps… needing some motivation — some eye candy… and I stumbled along to your blog.
Your art is stunning and your step by step tutorials are wonderful. You saw my take on your “wanted” card (you’re too kind with your compliments to me on that one).
You are an inspiration to me (and certainly to others as well).
I would love to win but mainly to tell you thank you!! I know it takes a lot of time to put those tutorials together. Thank you so much.
~Kim D in FL
Hello from Columbus, Ohio home of the Buckeyes.
I stay at home and care for my 84 year old mother, and getting more bored as the days went buy. I decided I needed something to fill the time, so I bought a few stamps, pads and paper, looked up card making on the internet and gave it a try. I’m now into my 15th swap in the last 4 months. Lovin every minute.
In 1997 I was a a flea market, and there was a Stampin Up gal there. She was letting people make their own Christmas card, she gave a choice of two styles, and had everything ready……it was so much fun, I was totally hooked, and have been every since.
I am a scrapper. I started making cards with my scraps. Then I joined an on line card making group. After seeing all they could do with stamps, I decided it was time to try it out. I have been stamping ever since.
My daughter showed me cards she made at a SU class! I was into scrapbooking before, but I don’t think I did 1 page since then! Only cards!!!
Thanks for your tutorials, they are sooooooo great!
I wanted very badly to create a handmade card for my 4-year-old grandson, so I started looking for ideas in scrapbooking magazines, cruising Michael’s and Ben Franklin’s and finally stumbling into the local stamp store where they offered classes in card making. Wow!! I was hooked! I progressed from taking classes to teaching classes and now I am a demonstrator for TAC. I have my very own small stamp/paper store right here in my little room. LOL! I just have to say I absolutely love all your creations and I look forward to every new post. I think you should create a book using every one of your tutorials. With the colors you use and your designs, it could easily be a “coffee table” book. Thank you for sharing so generously.
Karen
karen_l@bresnan.net
Hi from Farmington, MN. I started stamping about 10 years ago with my 5 yr-old daughter. We attended a Stampin’ Up party and it was all down hill from there!! LOL! I have a whole room for stamping now and I just love creating and sharing cards and gifts. Your blog has definitely been an inspiration. I get an email each day, so I can keep up with all your projects. Thanks for putting all the efforts you do into sharing this hobby with all of us.
Rene’
thanks for the chance to win Mich