Reflections at the New Year
The New Year is always a time to look forward. After all, it’s the beginning of the year! But, for me, it’s also a time to look back. As I sit here, while my husband gets the family room ready to watch football, I’m thinking about my stamping journey. It’s not as straightforward as you might expect.
I started scrapbooking back in 1999. It was a hobby. It was a fun distraction from my high tech career. At that time, stickers were all the rage. I added stickers to each scrapbook page to help explain/support its theme.
But sometimes, it was difficult to find just the right stickers. And in just the right color. And, if I wanted to use letters, I often needed multiple packs to have all the A’s and N’s that my page titles required. What a nuisance.
Then one day, a scrapbooking friend invited me to her stamping home party. A Stampin’ Up! Demo was coming over to show us a little about rubber stamping.
That’s when I discovered the best part about stamping.
The Best Part about Stamping
You can pick the images you want and stamp them exactly in the color you want. And you weren’t limited to the quantity of images! Perfect for my scrapbooking. I spent a lot of time pulling together just the right look for each page.
I used stamps in the background to create my own “designer series paper”. I used stamps as focal images. I also LOVED to use stamps for titles on my pages. (I own quite the assortment of alphabets!) It wasn’t long before I started to collect rubber stamps and inks.
In time, I used stamps exclusively on my scrapbooks. And then, about 5 years later, I made the most startling discovery.
I could use stamped images to create greeting cards and invitations! Imagine that!
I started by making Christmas cards. That worked out pretty well. They were pretty. They were unique. And each card contained a little bit of me, because of the time I put into them.
My Stamping Business
Within a few months, I signed up to become an independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator. At the same time, I launched my custom card and invitation business. It’s funny how once things start to move forward, they can move forward very quickly.
So here I am, in January 2020, approaching my 15th anniversary as a Stampin’ Up! “demo”. Who would have ever believed it? How could an IT (i.e. Information Technology) person leave the technology behind and focus on paper crafting?! Where in the world would I learn to be creative?
I don’t know, but I did it!
Changes Since 2005
Stamping has changed a lot since then. Besides wood-mounted rubber, we have photopolymer stamps. Stamps are rarely mounted on wood. We have a TON of embellishments (e.g. ribbons, sequins, pom poms) and tools (dies, punches, heat tools). Even paper trimmers and cleaners have evolved.
I have done many crafts in my life. Most were fabric and fiber based – crocheting, embroidery, cross stitch, and quilting. But paper crafting has held my interest the longest.
What about you? How did you start stamping? Leave a comment and share how your journey started. I’d love to hear about it!
Happy New Year! May 2020 be a year filled with many good things and special stamping!
