Years go by and Melissa is moving back to my area. We begin to scrapbook regularly. Since we are both new moms, it becomes harder to find time. I was working part time and she was working full-time and pregnant with her second. Because Melissa needed more to do, she starts school part time to get her degree.
We found it harder to connect and eventually don't see each other for almost a decade. This year, I started subtly asking her when she wanted to come over. Melissa came over once before Christmas and made a few cards. Her girls are in dance class and she totes them back and forth and I don't see her until early this summer.
When she comes, she just wants to hang out and catch up. I shake my head and say, "No, you came all this way. You are going to sit there and make something." By all this way, I mean she lives 45 minutes away. Melissa makes a couple of kit layouts and then makes this card for a baby shower.
Now I got her hooked again. Melissa's spark comes back and I am fanning the flames with all my stamp sets. Then, we have the Junkie Meet up hosted by Stacey from Scrapmania. I drag her along for a weekend of fun. There is no turning back now. Melissa is back in the club.
Melissa was at my house when I started this card. I really wanted to use up as much of that yummy pink metallic paper that I made here. I used a Taylored Expressions die to cut out the frame. Then, digging through my pattern paper I found two patterns. That is when I got stuck and did not know what else to do. Melissa was there to suggest a cupcake. There you go, crafting with friends can save lives. I could have been stuck in the abyss of my basement. My family could have starved because I was paralyzed in my room not knowing what else to do.
Just think, Melissa got me hooked first and now I am just returning the favor. So be sure to leave a comment below telling me who or how you got started stamping.
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I was sending cards to OWH and watching Sandy's unboxing videos of cards others had sent in. There was one embossing folder I kept seeing that I really liked. I came across the folder on EBay and bought it. It was made by Stampin' Up! and it was retired. The lady who sold it to me sent me a beautiful card and told me she was a demonstrator. I asked her for a catalog. Keep in mind that the embossing folder was the first SU product I had ever bought. She sent the catalog in February, and anyone familiar with SU knows that Feburary is during Sale-a-bration - the best time of the year in SU world 😊 I looked at the catalog... no, I studied the catalog like I was going to be tested on it! I figured out the best deal for me would to become a demonstrator myself. I read that there was no obligation, so I just wouldn't buy anything else. So,I logged on and since the lady was so nice to send me a catalog, she woke up the next day to find out I was her new downline. At that time, you could get an extra 10÷ off of your first order. So, I did go ahead and do that. Then, something else came out in the new catalog that I really wanted. Next...well, that is how the story keeps going! I have a couple of friends who have placed orders here and there that have helped me meet my minimums. Every time I think it is the quarter that I will drop, I get an order that keeps it from happening. I, of course, am my best customer!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that was a really long story to say it could have been Sandy Allnock that lead me to all of the stamps I own, it could be my upline, I may have done it to myself, but in the end, my story and your story are really just alike! It all comes down to seeing that first SU catalog!!
Have a beautiful day, Iliana!
See SU is a gateway drug. I can't help myself when the new In Colors come in. I can't stop thinking about them until them are ordered. Wonder how many you have brought into the club.
DeleteFor me it started with CTMH (SU followed, of course) I had been scrapbooking for some time, when I was invited to a CTMH party. I bought a few things, and tried to incorporate stamping a little bit into my scrapbooks. That never really panned out. and I was so heavily "invested" in scrapbooking that I didn't want to jump into stamping and cardmaking. I felt that stamps were too pricey for me, and were hard to obtain, having to get them through CTMH or SU consultants, and I didn't really know any. I did have a stamp store nearby for a very short time. Sadly, by the time I was more interested, it had closed. Through scrapbooking, and the old Cricut message board, I met more people who were stampers, including a friend who was an SU demo. That's when I started building my collection, and making more of my own cards. I would buy stamps at the big box stores, many of which turned out not to be the best quality. Then, when FB took really off, and more stamp companies popped up, I really turned into a Junkie!
ReplyDeleteI love CTMH. I was in a group that ordered every other month. It was opposite a SU group. I have a lot of their stamps. I need to get back into scrapbooking. I am behind by 5 years. Thanks for telling me your story.
DeleteA good friend was a SU demonstrator and got me started when I was still an avid needle worker. I loved anything with a needle. Then I hurt my elbow and needed a new hobby. My daughter became a SU demonstrator who lives many states away and I thought paper crafting was something we could do in common. That was 10 years ago. Oh how my stash has grown. I collect from so many different companies but my best tool is the MISTI. How did we ever stamp with out it.....
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome thing to have in common with your daughter! It is a great way to spend time together.
DeleteIliana, you basically told MY story. My friend Darlene invited me to her house for a SU party and I became an instant addict. That was in 1999 and for 12 years that was all I bought, SU products. I had classes regularly and I am sure I paid for a few of my demonstrators trips that she "earned" through her sales! LOL We got our first computer in 2006, so once I learned my way around on it, I began to see there was a stamping world beyond SU. I found some stamp companies and bloggers that were amazing and began following them and their work and I have hardly seen a SU catalogue since. LOL
ReplyDeleteI should probably start a club called Stampaholic's Anonymous! I am pretty sure I could fill a room, I can't be the only one surely??? HAHA
I know! I can be the president of Stampoholics Anonymous. LOL!
DeleteA friend of mine nvited me to a Creative memories home party and I learned how to scrapbook. I had a son that was 8 months old and I started an album. I thought about becoming a demonstrator and took the plunge. My customers were all people that I got to know in birthing classes. We would have a get together every Friday night, the girls would come over and we would discuss motherhood and of course show off our cute pictures. My sister had gone to a Stampin Up party and she became a Stampin up demonstrator. That was a marriage made in heaven, she learned to scrapbook and I learned to stamp.
ReplyDeletecreative memories had a policy that you could allow you to use what they considered "contraband". Like stamps. They only did stickers at the time and I wasn't going to go against the rules so I quit selling. I have to say there are so many companies out there with wonderful products. I get the ones I like. I do try to buy local though. If I didn't have a store around like Scrapmania, I don't know what I would do. If you want a stamp or paper of something special, Stacy can usually get it for you. I get a lot of crafting supplies, and I'm what you would call a technique junkie. Embossing powders and folders, foiling, watercolor, gilding flakes, slider, shakers, and cards that light up and stamps that layer, I have seen so many new thing in the last 20 years, imagine what types of crafts we will do in twenty more years. It makes me happy!
I started scrapbooking with Creative Memories, too. I actually still have the blue plastic frames that I used to cut out my pictures. I am only 5 years behind.
DeleteMany years ago I was invited by a co-worker to a stamping party. Wasn't at all sure what it was but a couple of us went. It was DOTS which is now CTMH. we bought a few things to make our Christmas cards. I remember my husband thinking how economical it was!!! Oh Lord. I still remember how much I loved making those cards. Then came stampin up. Now all the on-line companies! Still wish I had a local store to go to for classes & supplies. I'm also a quilter so my craft room overfloweth. Such fun!
ReplyDeleteSince our grandchildren live far away, a friend suggested that I make cards as a way to stay in touch. Those few initial cards became a consuming hobby in no time at all, superseding my love of (and space for) making jewelry!! I really appreciate videos and blogs from folks such as yourself, who so generously share your ideas and techniques.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun card--I'll bet your sister loves it! I really like the idea you shared to put sticky paper on each side of foam to make the sides raised for the shaker part and am looking forward to giving that a try.
ReplyDeleteMy first intro to stamps was a Stampin Up party back in the 90s. My neighbor friend (who didn't stamp) hosted a party for someone and my mom and I went. I enjoyed making a little card and got a catalog and was just completely overwhelmed. To be nice at the party, my mom ordered some some inks and an autumn set of leaf stamps and when they arrived she just gave them to me b/c she didn't have any interest in it. I still have that set. :) I think I wound up enjoying their catalogs as much as anything.
Then I remember seeing stamps at Michael's while I waiting in line to check out and bought a couple. I just used the stamps for little PTA teacher gifts like making bookmarks. Now it's embarrassing how many stamps I have collected, and I'm up to 2 MISTIs :)
Never be embarrassed. Just think of all the smiles you created.
DeleteMy story is kinda close to Avra's. I was heavily into scrapbooking and wondered why so many people would spend so much money on stamps that could only be stamped in one size, when I had a Cricut, and then a Silhouette, that could make images and sentiments in any size and font. Then a friend, Allison, suggested a free Archiver's class, and I got to try heat embossing. Then I thought, well, sentiments would be nice to have and all I need is black ink and clear powder. From there it was a very slippery slope! Several more Archiver's classes later, and after finding Jennifer McGuire, I liked the smaller "canvas" of a card for creativity and less pressure. Somehow though, I feel just as pressured now on a A2 card as I used to on a 12x12 layout (because they usually get mailed to crafty friends) and no scrapbooking gets done anymore. I'm almost 14 years behind (I was already getting a late start). I honestly wish I had never gotten sidetracked on card making and just kept on scrapbooking!!! I'd have sooooo many pages to show for it by now, I'd be actually using my hoard of paper, and I wouldn't have spent nearly $5k or more on stamps and inks and accessories (though I truly LOVE my MISTI... $ well spent). While I managed to avoid the SU or CTMH addictions, I have full set syndrome on multiple brands of inks (LOVE the new Impression Obsession inks), markers, pencils, and mediums. I'm an equal opportunity paper buyer as well, so I have multiple brands there too. Gotta have the right shade for all occasions, right? *sigh* Hi, my name is Karen, and I'm a Junkie. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, welcome to our group.
DeleteI have been hooked on cardmaking since my friend & I attended a huge sewing/craft show & I saw someone make a card using brass stencils. Of course, we bought some & my sewing endeavors went out the window. Then a friend invited me to a Stampin Up party & cardmaking became an obsession. I am now an SU demo , mostly as a hobby, & every day I see new techniques I want to try here on the internet. I keep telling my husband that all this creative crafting is only insurance against dementia!
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point. If you don't use it you lose it.
DeleteI was at a Friday night crop at the local stamp store working on a scrapbook from a recent trip to California to visit my brother. A woman at the next table had a copy of Take Ten Magazine and was making card with stamps. I just kept wandering over to her table completely transfixed by the process. I made my first card that night (a snowman from stamping three squares and drawing the rest) and I was hooked.
ReplyDeleteSomeone gives you a little taste and then you're a goner.
DeleteMy own gateway drug was Club Scrap... prior to then, in the mid-90s, I started noticing a software package at a computer store, and then came Lisa Bearnson's magazine Creating Keepsakes in 1996. I had known her face well from WordPefect magazine, so when it showed up in a brand new magazine, I was intrigued to take a look at it. I subscribed, and for the longest time, kept each issue thinking they'd be very historical items!
ReplyDeleteIn the back of the magazine, they published a local directory of scrapbookers, and I looked to see if there were any near me. At the time I lived in New York City, and there were a couple listed from Long Island, but that was all. That was "far away" for me at the time, but I reached out to them, and we began to have monthly get togethers at their houses, my first trips out to Long Island.
On my first visit, they let me borrow their leaf punches and some cardstock, and I punched the heck out of several sheets of green, yellow, orange, red, and brown cardstock, I thought that punch was the coolest thing ever! I intended to use them in some autumn layouts, but didn't really get around to it. (I still have the page protector that has all those punchies, too!)
Over the next few months, I began noticing that some of Tracey's layouts were noticeably different than others, and were kind of mesmerizing--the paper designs were so beautiful. At that point, in the early days, most scrapbooking paper designs were focused on either juvenile themes, or geometric (lines, plaids, circles, etc.), or a little bit of floral. But Tracey's papers, actually cardstock, were more "grown up" themes, and very artistic, which appealed to me much more. So I asked her where she got her papers, and she said a subscription to Club Scrap, the first monthly scrapping kit that got mailed to your door (started in 1999). At the time I couldn't afford $27.95 a month, but finally after 3 months of looking longingly at her stunning layouts, I finally decided to bite the bullet and join (2001). Be still my heart -- after that first kit arrived, I knew I had to purchase all previous kits they still had available; and I've been a member ever since. I'm totally addicted to their lovely cardstock designs and matching stamps, stencils, etc.
It wasn't very long before scrapping extended into card making, too, and I got happily sucked down that rabbit hole as well. I, too, found and loved participating in Sandy Allnock's Operation Write Home, and was so sad to see it fold.
From 2005 to 2010, Club Scrap tried a consultant marketing program; I was the first to join and the last to leave when they closed it down...
I still have years of photos left to scrap! I keep getting sidetracked with cards and more recently, paper crafting projects. I keep justifying my purchases saying "I'm getting everything I need now so that when I retire, I can focus on using them to scrap." Well, retirement came and I still haven't had time to do all I wanted to do... I hope after the kids are finally out of the house at the end of the year, I'll be able to settle down and focus!