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A friend had a SU party in Jan 2003. We made a card with Nature's Wonder and one with The Fine Print and that had me hooked. I ordered over $150 worth of stuff and got 3 free sets and it was all down hill from there. :shock: :oops: :lol:
I took classes at a LSS and found Hero Arts stamps and others and the addiction grew. Now over 120 stamp sets later I continue to be my demos best customer. She says I should sign up to be a hobby demo but I don't want the income tax hassle and all my friends who stamp would remain loyal to her. Plus I tell her to think about all the instant income she would loose.
To this day Nature's Wonder is still one of my favorite stamp sets...
HI - my name is Fran and I am addicted to rubber stamping.
My co-worker Renee had a Stampin' Up! party in 1999 and invited me and some other friends (well, ok... she brought in the catalog and I begged her to have a party, truth be told... because I wanted to see what it was all about)
I was hooked from the beginning... but didn't sign up to demo until a year or so later because we had just built a house and I had no extra cash.
I think the first sets that I ordered at that first party were Meow Meow and Lovely as a Tree.
I got started scrapbooking by being invited to a CM party. I just fell in love with the idea. I had been keeping a scrapbook....you know the big old books that have paper that is like construction paper. Anyway, I figured that scrapbooking was just the kind of hobby I was looking for.
I actually started stamping before I started scrapbooking, but all of my stuff was sitting in a box collecting dust. I got frustrated with stamping because nothing went together. All of the stuff that I had was odds and ends from places like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc. When I was pregnant with my first baby I was invited to an SU workshop. I went reluctantly because I really was "turned off" to stamping and I was sicker than sick because of my pregnancy (I was sick the whole 9 months). The only reason I went at all was because it was my SIL's mother having the show, and she is so very very nice. Anyway I was turned on to stamping again because SU's products coordinated. I was so stinking excited. I bought Cuddles and Tickles and other products to make birth announcements. Let's say it has just gone "down-hill" from there. Three years and many many many dollars later :shock: I am still loving it.
By the way I sold all of my other stuff, and am now exclusively SU (except for one dachshund dog stamp).
Well, I got hooked on scrapbooking about 4 years ago, about six months after my first DS was born. Someone from my MOMs Club invited me to a CM party. While I like the CM tools, I have never been a fan of the look of CM scrapbooks. (I'm the kind of obsessive person that likes to spend 3-4 hours on a page). But, that CM party experience got me rolling with it. Scrapbooking was just the kind of creative outlet I had been looking for.
A couple of years later I started making my own greeting cards as a way to use more of my scrapbooking supplies (I am also an obsessive collector of anything paper crafts-related, so I have a LOT of supplies!). My knowledge of stamps went only as far as the ones I used for greetings and verses in my cards.
Then, last February, I was invited to a SU! party. Wow! It was like a big light came shining down from above, and a whole new world was illuminated! We made some cards using the Spring Garden stamp set, which I still love, but the real clincher was the catalog! Everything looked so professional and classy. I fell in love! And I just felt immediately that it was *ME*. I wanted so many things out of that catalog, that I decided to sign up as a demo so that I could at least get a discount. Then I thought that of all of the creative companies that I had seen, this was one that I would feel proud to represent. Plus, I figured if I had workshops and sold some stuff, then I'd have more to spend! I wanted to earn the Stampin' Start goodies. So, I have done probably about 20 workshops since then, and have built quite a collection of SU! products. I still love it as much as I did a year ago! And this wonderful website keeps my wishlist growing, and growing, and growing, and growing....
The only downside to SU! has been that I almost completely shifted away from scrapbooking and got more into card-making. While it takes me 3-4 hours to put a page together, I can create a card I can be proud of in 15-20 minutes. My DH has been harping on me lately to get back into scrapbooking ("don't you have ENOUGH cards?" :shock: ). So, I have been making a real effort to get back into it. 5 pages in the last week!
Looking forward to hearing everyone else's stories!
Debbie
I started stamping about 8 yrs ago, when my best friend became a demonstrator for SU. She moved out of town about 3 yrs ago. I was in a terrible state of depression. My only daughter died in June of 2001 of lung cancer at the age of 42. My best friend moved away..I was sad...My friend convinced me to become a demonstrater in August of 2003. This has helped me a lot..I enjoy what I do. My first set was "swags and ---------." I can't even remember the complete name. I LOVE STAMPING
I went to 1 SU party..
booked a party...
signed up
actually I was going to sign up even before my party because I thought it would be a great thing because I wanted to do something in scrapbooking but did not want to be a CM demo.(love the cutting systems...but that is all). I waited so I could at least think about it ...LOL.
One of my co-workers was becoming a demo two years ago and asked if I would come to a practice demo of hers. She wanted people of all stampin skill types there. I was the never ever stamper. I placed my first order shortly after that, it was during sellabration so I thought I was getting a good deal. Can't remember my first set exactly, but I know I got border builders and greeting for all reasons early on. The sellabration set never made it to the catalog and I don't use it myself so I don't even know the name. She is now trying to get me to be a demo.
Started scrapping in 1999--intro'd to CM in Oklahoma. DH LOVED the idea--he loves pictures, and always wanted a way to display them. Supported me in my new hobby like crazy. Then we moved to Kansas, no CM; Oregon, found a CM demo (my best friend from high school; how cool is that?), and then we moved out here to Ohio. Stopped scrapping because of depression (moving really sucks, you know), then my good friend signed up to be an SU demo. Conned me into coming to a camp/party (don't remember which one), said there was a hostess group which I promptly joined, and I am now one of her most loyal customers (not to mention a source of profit :oops: :shock: ) DH also LOVES the stamping--he hates the idea of buying cards--not the $$$, but he thinks it is very impersonal; much prefers the homemade cards that I make.
I started scrapbooking 3 years ago, just went to Michael's and bought cardstock, stickers, punch-outs, and the necessary tools to get started. I looked at their stamps and decided that I was never going to implement stamping into my scrapbooks because nothing matched and I just wasn't sure what I wanted. Not to mention the limited (not to mention rather dowdy-looking) selection of ink pads. And I wasn't really interested in making cards so I decided I just wasn't meant to be a stamper.
Then in summer of 2003 a friend from MOPS who felt the same way I did invited me to her SU workshop and when I saw the catalog with all the sets that matched and the 48 colors I knew I was going in deep and never getting out.
My first sets I purchased were A Greeting for all Reasons, Itty Bitty Bolds and the retired zoo animals set, I can't remember the name.
In the summer of 2004 I gave in completely and decided I was never going to purchase cardstock (colored anyway) at Michaels or Walmart again. I also decided I won't purchase eyelets anywhere else either. I'm tired of the way nothing matches and SU's prices are actually better in some cases. I still do buy some ribbon at Michael's, I really like polka-dots and SU doesn't have ribbon with them. Sorry so long but that's my story. 12-step program, anyone?
Julie
I started scrapbooking 8 yrs ago in college, my sis was a CM demo, and got me into the "quick pages = completed albums" idea. I got a bunch of supplies, and loved their stickers, but hated that once a sticker was used that was it. no more of that sticker :( but I had no idea there was any other option. then 4 or so yrs ago I started scrappin' with a friend that stamped a little, and thought it was cool, but seemed expensive (all her stamps were from CTMH it was still DOTS at the time and sold all their stamps individually.) then a few months later a friend invited me to attend a SU! WS as her guest. I was so impressed with how quickly I could make a whole background page with the wheels. so I ordered a wheel (butterfly, the one that went with flutterbys), handle and cartridge. I figured that some day I might have to get a few pads, and a set or 2. then I found out about SAB. so I got brushstroke alphabet (LOVED the idea of never running out of a letter!) and a few stamp pads, and a free set (watercolor minis). it was all down hill from there. soon I needed more colors, and this set, and that one, and now here I am many many dollars, and 180 stamp sets later (though this # changes constantly). and there's no looking back now!
what a fun trip down memory lane! can't wait to hear more stories.
Michelle
Well, my best friend has been a demo for something like 5 years now. She didn't invite me to a stamp camp until 2003. Do you believe that?!?! I always admired her "works of art", but never thought I could do anything close to what she had done. Then I got my first stamp camp invite and of course I went. 2-3 stamp camps later I had to be a demo myself just to save me some $$!! I became a demo in July 2004. I absolutely love SU!!! I know my first order was $150 or so, but then I had 2 $500 orders before I decided to sign up. One of my first stamp sets was Bold Alphabet. I used to be strictly a scrapbooker, but my best friend has gotten me hooked on making cards now as well and all of the people that receive them absolutely love them
I was first introduced to stamping about 5 years ago. My SIL and a friend of hers searched for someone to buy "stuff" from and found a SU demonstator. They got into and this demo would hold free workshops. They always invited me to go and I usually would just to get out of the house from my then baby son. I didn't have any money to spend like the rest did so I just kept telling them and myself that I was not creative and I didn't really like it like they did. This went on for a few years until SAB time last year. My husband had a new job and my business was going well so we had extra money. I think the first thing I bought were the large flower eyelets. The first set I bought was Watercolor Garden (Which I still use and love). I would buy thing here and there but I would always keep all my stuff and my SIL house (who by the way had signed up to be a demo by this time). Well she finally told me that I needed to take my stuff home before I lost interest so I bought a black ink pad, a scrub, mist, and a few other things I felt I needed to stamp at home and it has all gone downhill from there. I found it to be a great release from my daily stresses and my dh thinks it is great that I finally found a hobby(he had been after me for years about needing something) that I enjoyed. Well I signed up to be a demo in January and will have my first two workshops next week. I got four sets delivered today by Mr. Brown ( I love that man) and while I was putting them away it occured to me that I have come a long way in a year. I bet I have about 50 sets so far with no stopping in site.
Anyway sorry for being so long but that is my story and I'm sticking to it.
A customer at our shop got me hooked on sbing. I knew I wanted to do something different with the pictures I had of my boys when they were little, but didn't know how to put it all together! She started me down that happy path....as for Stamping. I have always admired stamping and the things I saw others could do. Cards, gift boxes, sb pages...you name it. Well. one day I was talking about it to the secretary at my dentist's office and she said she knew an SU demo'r and would introduce me. WELL! That was two years and about a million $$$ ago! :lol: My demo'r is the greatest! She is very supportive, always has lots of ideas and is never pushy. I love both scrapping and stamping and can honestly say that this is one 'habit' I will never want to kick!!
__________________ "I have cats, but they don't smoke or associate with dogs...."
I have been stamping since 1996. I belonged to a MOPS group and some kind person brought in their stamps for us to make Christmas Cards with. Then my friend and I decided we would make our Christmas cards, so we went to a stamp store and bought some things as well as going to a DOTS party.
I had fun with those stamps, though my first stamp was really a Mary Engelbreight stamp I found at a gift shop in 1984 or 1985. It is the Santa going down the chimney with Believe underneath. I only used it to stamp on the backs of my Christmas card envelopes!
Well, some time later, I met someone at MOPS who was an SU! demo. I booked a workshop with her and ended up ordering most of what I needed to get free stuff since I only had 3 people come! I really loved SU!'s stuff; I loved the coordination of it all.
In 1998 I started scrapbooking. I had looked at the stuff at the local stamp store and thought, No way am I doing that! But my inlaws had a 50th wedding anniversary, so I volunteered to do a memory book for them. I sent out an announcement with the invitations, but didn't get many things from people to include. So I ended up raiding their pictures to make pages. Some of those pages I just shudder to think of! They were really hideous.
I then stopped scrapbooking for a while because I had a new baby. But once he was about 8 months, I began with the birth pages of each of my children and it became a full-blown obsession for about 2 years! I literally scrapbooked 5 nights out of 7.
Then I became the parish secretary of our church. I still made my Christmas cards and a few birthday cards. But now I had to come up with get well cards for people and hated the thought of buying them. So I got into making them again. And got obsessed with stamps all over again.
I started participating in a monthly swap with some ladies on a Christian web board. I met someone who was an SU! demo who tried to recruit me. I didn't want to sign up with someone who lived so far away, so I called the number on the back of the only SU! catalog I had. My friend had dropped and passed her customers to another demonstrator. That's who I ended up calling and I signed up with her. I really lucked out, since she is a great upline!
I hate to tell you how many stamps I have...it's really obscene! Actually, I stopped counting after I became a demo...before that it was around 800! And I've been a demo for 2 years now! Ack! :oops: :shock: :lol:
My sister and I went to a SU party in early 02...just to be nice to a friend. The demo had us make a lunch bag with rollers(I liked that) and the card that is folded into a flower(hated that) I ended up getting a roller and ink to make the gift bags for my sister's baby shower later that summer. Cut to 3/04...go to another SU party ...again, just to be nice...now I am hooked, it is a disease for me now, although I am not great at any of it yet, I am having a blast, and have now about 80 stamp sets with all the stuff to go with them. Still hate that folded flower card though
Hooked up with a childhood friend while she was in town visiting her parents. She was stamping an anniversary card for her husband and I was hooked the minute I saw this card! Never went to a workshop much less had heard of SU! She went back home to MA. the following day and we talked on the phone as soon as she got home. I signed up that day! That was over 6 years ago!
__________________ Stacy Ü
"Never, never give up."
Winston Churchill
I went to a stamp party as a favor to a friend who was just beginning her career as a demo. I have many other crafting hobbies, sewing, quilting, and really wasn't looking for another stress relieving outlet. I thought I was happy but I just didn't know what happy was. Oh my gosh, all those stamps, all those colors, pretty little embellishments (I thought embellishments were the lines my kids added to stories). My friends now think that I have OSD (obsessive stamper disorder). I look at things in stores, in my house, anywhere, and try to figure out how can I stamp on that? My DH is very supportive but has stated for the record that if he wakes up with a stamp on his rump he will start searching for a stampers anonymouse group!
As a small child, I used to collect stationary and I liked stamps too. I used to save my ice-cream money to save for the holiday stamps they would offer in the scholastic book orders. I still have my childhood stamps. I used to decorate envelopes and stamp under my name. I never had anyone in my family stamp or scrapbook so I guess it was just something I did to be a little creative. When I got older, I would buy stamps here and there, even at Wal-Mart. I would still decorate my envelopes or my stationary.
When I got to Okinawa, it took me awhile to get settled and find a circle of friends. When I did, it was nice. They would have party after of party of Tupperware etc. Finally in June 2003 someone had a Stampin’ Up party I was invited to. I of course had never heard of Stampin' Up and didn’t know what to expect, but I figured if it dealt with stamps it would be fun. I went and of course, I was hooked. I went at a bad time though for a new person because there was that big list of stamps that were retiring and 10% off and I had never seen the catalog so I of course was clueless to what to get and felt like I didn’t have time to see everything. So I ended up getting a wheel, a handle, an ink cartridge, and the Kanji set and called that demo later and booked a party in August (2003). I just recently had my second party ever and it did awesome. I have been to so many now and speaking of parties I am going to a Stampin' Up one tonight. In addition, I am currently waiting on my paperwork to become a demo, I can’t wait.
Stamping and making cards is something I love doing and it is relaxing, my other relaxing hobbies are rollerskating and playing the drumset, which I haven't done in awhile. I want to thank everyone for being so supportive on this website. You make a person feel at home even overseas. I am so glad that Stampin' Up came into my life, just one more thing to make me happy
I was stationed in Korea in 94-95 and my roomate had a few stamping supplies and a stamp company catalog, we ordered out of that catalog a couple of times. I sent my ds lots of cards with the stuff, back then it was bears, bunnies, and hearts. When I came back to the states I signed up for a community sponsored class and the teacher had us buy the SU set "bold hearts and flowers" we made 6-8 cards with that set. I then took another class at a local high school and that teacher was a SU demo--I started buying and haven't stopped! I also love hero arts and denami stamps!
I wanted to start scrapbooking for a few years and kept asking for a scrapbook kit for different gift-giving occasions. My DH never got me one, so in November six years ago I looked up Creative Memories on the website and found a consultant in my town. I called her and she was having a crop within the week. I went and made my first page. I was hooked. But looking back to that first page, it is obvious that I wouldn't be satisfied with CM - too many stickers, too much color for CM! Anyway, I got the biggest kit they had and went to town! Then I progressed to classes at the scrapbook stores and then a group of friends/relatives and I had private classes with a teacher once a month. Last year in March, our teacher told us she would be moving in August and it was out of town, so our classes would be coming to an end. The following week, my SIL went to a craft show and there was an SU demo there with the Show on the Go. My SIL got information from her and told me, "I may have found what we can do after XXX moves!" A few weeks went by and we went to the SU demo's crop night. That was the first time I had stamped and the first time I had ever EMBOSSED! I loved it! I was definitely hooked! Three weeks later, my SIL had a workshop and I signed up as a demo myself!
I think it has been about 3 and 1/2 years now, well one of my friends had a SU catalog at a boring meeting we were attending. I started looking through it and immediately wanted it all. I made a wish list and we ordered. The first time I stamped, I was kind of discouraged because I couldn't think of any ideas. Then a friend told me about looking on-line to help jump start the flow of ideas for different sets. Been stamping like crazy since. Several friends of mine and I get together about once a month to stamp and that is always so fun.
my brother's fiance wanted to start scrapbooking so my mom and i thought we'd get her some stuff for christmas (i believe this was back in late october/early november of last year). well, we kept buying and buying and buying--everything looked fun! so, my mom decided we wanted to play too (gotta love mom!) and instead of giving her everything we told her about it. i wasn't sold on the idea, but it looked kinda fun. i agreed to take a few classes at the lss with her and my mom signed us up for one several women she works with were attending (and since it was all my mother's idea, i feel compelled to mention that SHE didn't sign up for this class! we were to go and come back and teach her what we learned!)
honestly, it was the worst great experience ever! i had never done any stamping and the only embossing i'd ever heard of took place on my high school graduation announcements and wedding invites! when we signed up we weren't aware it was an advanced class. the project was a calendar that fit in a cd holder--one page for each month. we embossed, we stamped, we tagged, we used beads, we used wire, there were markers, wheels, stamp pads and techniques galore. it was insane. but worst of all, we were both clueless and the class was so large the instructor didn't have much one on one time. she paired us up and each pair got a basket with all the supplies needed for the month they were working on along with a sample and instructions. the instructor finally realized we were clueless when we were working on november (this was when we were about 1/2 way done!) and the instructions said to brayer--we were like, what's that mean? :oops: because of all the stuff my mom and i had purchased, the store owner thought we knew what we were doing! (we did have a lot of stuff...and most of it we had no idea how to use! we had conversations like "hammer? what do we need a mini-hammer for?" "i'm not sure, but it was with the scrapbooking stuff so i got us one." "oh, ok!" :lol: )
i tell ya, i learned a LOT in that class. i think there was a different technique for each month! to give you an idea of how bad it was, the class was supposed to be from 8-12, we didn't finish our calendars till after 2! crazy crazy crazy! but most of my calendar actually turned out really nice (if i had it scanned i'd post it).
but, my mom was right (are you reading this mom???) and it was great. i had a lot of fun and i've attended tons of other classes for cards and scrapbooking--really love it. my mom discovered su from her friends at work (later found out the instructor for my first class was their demo) and told me about it. i made a mention of it to another friend and he invited me to a get-together at his place (not a true ws but a friend of his is a demo and was helping us make christmas cards). it just snowballed from there and now i'm expecting my demo kit to arrive tuesday!
I had a table at a local holiday bazaar selling these bags I sell and the woman across from me was selling her stamped goods. They were AWESOME!!! We talked for a while and it stuck in my head. Then, a few months later I was invited to a SU workshop and I have been hooked ever since!
I went to my first Stampin' Up! demonstration in 1996 and bought Button Bear, which I still have. I didn't really start stamping much, though, until a little over a year ago, when my daughter moved all her stamping gear to my house (she lives right down the road), and we set up a stamping room in one of my spare bedrooms. She didn't have much room at her house and thought it would be nice not to have to take everything out and put it all away again. I started playing with her stamps whenever I had a spare minute, and it quickly turned into an obsession! (With two small children, she rarely gets a chance to stamp now!)
I've more than doubled the amount of stamp sets she had! If she ever wants her stuff back now, she'll have to arm wrestle me for them! :lol: :lol: :lol:
__________________ "Life is much too important to be taken seriously." Oscar Wilde Proud to be a member of Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge DT! My BlogMy Gallery
Scrapbooking was my first love. I was introduced to it "CM style" by my then- SIL who was a CMC. I was intimidated by the shapes and white pages though (this was I think around 1993 or so) so I didn't do much with that. I had my DD in 2000 and decided to do a baby scrapbook for her and was amazed and fell in love with patterned paper and die cuts so that was where I went with that. Then one day I went online to find a Raggedy Ann stamp to go with a layout I had decided I had to do with a pic of her and her raggedy ann and me when I was little with my doll, and lo and behold I found a message board totally devoted to scrapbooking and became obsessed with all the trends, etc. and started buying layout books, etd.
Once for a border swap I used a few of the stamps I had in my drawer I had gotten from Michaels, but didn't really like the way they came out (my embossing stuff was yuck). Soon after that I went to a craft show and met my soon to be upline who I booked a SU show with. I fell in love with the stamps but didn't think my past record with stamping would do, and never had the show, mostly because I couldn't get enought people to come to the house.
She later invited me to join her stamper six and THAT was the day I became hooked on SU -- I never used them for my scrapbooks though, for some reason I kept them separate. I became a demo and bought so much stuff my first year I think I am "set" for a lifetime but I earned it all with my commissions and rewards and rebates.
Now I stamp and scrapbook, think about stamping all the time, and I do cards and announcements and invitations for family/friends and also do scrapbooks for them as time allows -- there is always a work in progress! We are building a house this summer and I will be getting my own room for my office/studio and I can't wait!!!
So, how did you all start...
