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My Paper Angel stamps are over 20 years old. I still use them and they are the reason I got "hooked" on stamping in the first place. Thanks, Marvin and Jill!!!!!
I probably started stamping in the early 1990s and I still have a few of those stamps left. When I started, AC Moore sold very few brands and most of their stock was Personal Stamp Exchange, so that is what I bought. My tastes have changed over the years, so I have since sold a number of those PSX stamps, but I do still have several of them -- mostly sentiments. I use them maybe a half dozen times a year.
I bought a few single stamps back in the 80s that I still have (and use). I've given away some of them, too, though. The first stamp SET that I bought was in 1995 (Battenburg Lace by Printworks, sold through the Stampin'Up! catalog). I still have that one, too, and use it from time to time.
Like most of us, I went through a "that's so cute I have to have it" phase and bought too much without thinking it through. I'm currently purging those and only keeping what I truly love. However, I find myself lately trying to track down older sets to buy. I use some old, some new - often together, even! And, even with purging, I still have too much...
I still have lots of stamps from the 80's and 90's, mostly PSX, Printworks, Darcie, Holly Berry, Stampendous, Printworks, Penny Black and Stampendous. Some are still my favorites and I use them all the time. Before I buy any new stamps I look through my binders to see what I have and if the new stuff is better or different; a lot of the time I like my old stamps more than the newer ones!
I still have lots of stamps from the 80's and 90's, mostly PSX, Printworks, Darcie, Holly Berry, Stampendous, Printworks, Penny Black and Stampendous. Some are still my favorites and I use them all the time. Before I buy any new stamps I look through my binders to see what I have and if the new stuff is better or different; a lot of the time I like my old stamps more than the newer ones!
I find that this is the case with me, too! It seems like, "back in the day", before all of the Internet sharing and all, that each company had their own style. Now (in my opinion) stamps - and paper and embellishments - have gone the same direction as popular music. If it worked for one person (or band), five or twelve or fifty more duplicate it instead of doing their own thing.
Seems like that's becoming more and more true in stamping/papercrafting, too - everything's starting to look like everything else! There are exceptions to this, of course, but I still think that "trendy" isn't always a good thing...
I have a few older SU sets from the early 90's. I think Chore Chart is one of them and I bought it off of ebay several years ago and I only used it a few times. I rarely use my older sets, but I do have a few that I would never want to part with.
@gregzgurl - agree that "back in the day" companies had their own style and today lots of companies have stamps that are so similar you can't tell one from another but luckily there are exceptions and those are the companies I like to spend time looking at their websites and seeing what stamps I must have.
I agree! I was looking through the SU catalog last night, and in several sets I noticed that I already have an image identical or similar to some of them.
That's okay, I really didn't want to spend any more money anyway! lol :lol"
My oldest stamps are circa 1990 and I sill use them :cool:
my oldest stamps are dated late 1980's and I go through cycles of what I use, I do use what is New to me when I get it ( or try ) but, I don't own any stamps I don't like and wont use... I'm good about weeding and purging every so often...
the hard part is my eyes are aging faster then the rest of me and some of my really old stamps I really love are getting harder and harder to color.
... ... Seems like that's becoming more and more true in stamping/papercrafting, too - everything's starting to look like everything else! There are exceptions to this, of course, but I still think that "trendy" isn't always a good thing...
I have to agree on this!
Aside from customary "teachers" stamps for motivation & grading, etc., my first "other" stamps go back to 2001 or 2002. I do have some true loves in there that will stay here until they pry my cold hands from them, ;) but I generally use what I need to do for design work, then I use what I especially like for myself.
I still have a few of the SU! sets I first bought more than 10 years ago. Some of those first sets have moved on to new homes, but I've kept a few. They aren't used as often anymore, but I do still use them occasionally. Vintage Postcard and Hedgehog Happiness were two of the first I bought and I don't see myself ever getting rid of them.
__________________ "You may not have lost all your marbles, but there's definitely a hole in the bag." Grumpy Cat
My oldest stamp is from around 1989. I made Christmas cards with it. It is a Christmas tree and I embossed it in my oven and coloured it with pastels. I haven't used it since, but I do still have it.
I bought my first stamps about ten years ago, but some of them were old PSX stamps even then, and some Hero Arts as well. I still have most of the PSX and some of the Hero stamps, though, and use them. The other brands have been purged over the years.
My Use It stamping resolution means that every image stamp I own gets used at least once every few years. I make a lot of cards, and have LOTS of stamps, LOL!
A PSX Christmas house stamp and a fairy purchased in 1992. Haven't used them in a while but since I have been cleaning my studio I have found older SU sets that I just loved and have started using them again. I don't think my style has changed much.. maybe a bit more refined but still no 'cutesie ones'.
I think I win. My oldest stamp is a unicorn stamp that I got in Greenwich Village at a boutique specializing in Unicorns. I got it in the early 70s and it still stamps fine. I also have a cat paw stamp from around that same time.
I used to stamp envelopes and stationary with them. Then color them with Day-Glo markers.
How old are your oldest stamps?
