Hi everyone.....it's Eleonor here! Think back....do you remember how you started cardmaking and scrapbooking? Do you still remember the day you first saw rubber and your life was changed forever? I do. I was on vacation in Florida and I walked into a craft store that had a huge stamp section and watched a staff member doing a demo on embossing. I was in awe. I saw her whip out that heat gun and watched as the gold embossing powder melted slowly then rose up again as the heat embossed the stamped image. I looked at my husband who happened to be there with me and he instantly knew that he was toast. He could tell what my eyes were saying....."I WANT TO BUY ALL OF THIS STUFF!" And thus the addiction started and it has grown slow but steady ever since......!
We all have our own stories, don't we? It would be fun to share how we got started with this hobby.....so I invite all of you to share with us how you got the stamping bug. Leave a comment telling us your story. We will pick one comment randomly on Monday, April 26 for some stamping blog candy.
I can't wait to hear everyone's stories!
Eleonor
Hmmm. It all began at a store in Seattle called the Paper Cat. There was a square strawberry label style stamp (PSX) in the window. I bought it and some black pigment ink, took it home, and it sat unused for a few years. I can't remember what happened next.
ReplyDeleteI've started stamping when I was in Grade 3 when the I'm Impressed team came to my school for the afterschool parent and kids workshops. I still remember when they were doing the demo, I was asking myself why the amazing embossing powder will melt when it's being heated and why the powder will stick on the image. Is it MAGIC? Ever since then, my mother and I fell in love in making cards for my families and friends. As well, whenever we see new pretty stamps and new supplies we can't stop buying them and learn the new techniques.
ReplyDeleteI grew up working in our family store loving stamping people's cheques with a good ol' rubber stamp. It's a great feeling imprinting ink onto a piece of paper. It's like working a printing press with the tips of your fingers. I used to think it would be fun to be a bank teller because you could use the fancy stamper they used on your deposit book. Since then, I've grown up and become a school teacher and I love stamping student's assignments. At the same time, I've loved collecting stationery and paper. I knew that if I started cardmaking I'd be totally broke because I love all the paraphenalia! So for many years, I've avoided even looking at stores for fear I'd be too enthralled. This and the lack of time in my life for hobbies. For it was the car accident I had and the snowstorms in winter 2008/2009 that turned this situation around. I was helping my aunt start her scrapbook and whilst keeping her company, I started to create some cards out of her scraps. I knew I was hooked. This was something I could dally with as I dealt with my pain. I could spend time creating and actually finishing a card all in one sitting! It felt so wonderful to have the time to use my imagination and temporarily escape from dealing with my pain. I have a whole station now set up with my stamps, papers and tools. I shouldn't have waited this long to have begun! :)
ReplyDeleteCheryl Said----
ReplyDeleteI guess there were always a few stamps around the house when I was growing up, and when my kids were young we threw together some very simple birthday cards and invitations. Then about 10 years ago I fiddled around with cutting out pieces of old calendars and trying to use these pieces on cards... BUT THEN ... just three years ago my daughter Kelsey was taking seniors in wheelchairs on an outing at Granville Island. Well, she got to a 'certain store', called home from there, and said "Mom you have to see all this stuff. You will go crazy." She even took pictures for me to see. I visited the store that week, signed up for a few classes (remember the Denami beach cards), and really got hooked. I spent a fortune on all this wonderful stuff I had to have. Some of you will remember all the dollars I had earned and spent at the A*muse-a-palooza event that year. I was sure all the ladies there hated me that night. But I have made friends with many of them now, and 700-plus stamps later, am kept busily having fun.
It all started for me when I decided that some of the Christmas cards I'd received were too beautiful to toss into the recycling bin - so I cut them up and remounted parts of them onto blank cards, and then realized I needed a stamp that said "Merry Christmas" so a friend told me about this great store on Granville Island where I could find a "Merry Christmas" stamp. I bought a couple of stamps and some ink and for a few years made Christmas cards that way. When I wanted to expand to birthday cards I went back to I'm Impressed for a "Happy Birthday" stamp and noticed the display for upcoming classes - I took the really basic beginner's class and instantly got hooked. So many stamps and supplies followed and now I make cards not only for myself, but also for my mother and two sisters, and then last November a couple of friends asked me to do them some Christmas cards. It's even better now that I'm retired as I have way more time for it.
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