Your first stamp

[sewsew]

Can't even remember WHEN I first started or which stamp was my first........been a very long time LOL! I did just find a D.O.T.S. stamp in my "old" boxed up stamps from the attic and I do have some really early SU ones.

I do remember going to a DOTS show probably 13/14 years ago and a SU one about the same time.

I never really "got into" rubber stamping until this past year though - so I've pulled out all my old stuff, started collecting NEW stuff, and surprise I've actually BEEN STAMPING!!!

I am looking for a box in my attic that should have about 20 or so OLD SU sets that a friend of a friend bought, never used, gave them to my friend who gave them to ME - still not used.

I'm sitting on a gold mine of SU products cuz this woman went NUTS on SU stuff and then NEVER EVER USED any of it. Lucky me cuz I got it all for FREE!!!!!!

Wish me luck in my attic today - I've moved several times since then and the boxes are really not labelled well! So much for free helps from family - they had no respect for my box labelling and list system!

[UnderstandBlue]

That' is awesome!! That's better than finding money in the dryer!!

[bdeyes9]

My first stamp was a small Paw Print. My DD was in 7th grade and a Cheerleader.
The mom's took turns making Goodie bags for the girls. I also got Glossy white handled bags and green PIGMENT ink. Well, I stamped the bags and you guessed it the ink never dried. On the FORTH day I went back to the store wanting to return the
"defective" ink. A lady overheard my complaint. She told me the ink wasn't defective
It just need to be embossed or I needed DYE ink..I ended up with embossing powder and a heat gun. I figured I could use the stuff again next time I needed to make some school related thing. The rest is History.

[Stamping Bella]

Ok.. my first stamp was when I was 8 (30 years ago), I went to Kennebunkport, Maine with my family and went into a little gift store and found a mary engelbreit stamp.. I still have it and have nevah been the same since..LOL

[vanislandwoman]

I think that as a kid we had a few rubber stamps in some Christmas present or something, but didn't do anything with them- I remember being frustrated because the alphabet letters were really hard to line up. Then when I was a Girl Guide leader, one year our girls were given a little stamp of a balloon. I think we decorated some stationery or something. Within a few months I was in a shop in Vancouver where there were ...imagine it!... hundreds of stamps! I was fascinated, and bought an All Night Media stamp (copyright 1985) called Balloonacy. I don't remember what I used it for...
Another year our kids got a stamp kit for Christmas, foam backed, four sentiments. And my little cache of early stamps also includes another foam backed set with a label, and some pretty heart images. I don't remember doing anything much with any of these- let my kids play around with them mostly, stamping images for them to colour. I only had an ink pad from an old address stamp. These were all in a box that I dug out after I started to 'really' stamp.
I'm just thinking that it would be fun to make some cards now using them. Hmmm...I think I'll go do that!
Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

[mhcolemon]

This was a fun read! My first set was SU's All About U. I still use it at times, and it's been probably 5-6 years. Many, many stamps/sets later and I still love stamping. Just got back from an SU party this afternoon, in fact.

[mother's daughter]

I can't remember my first stamp, but I know it was 1991 when my mom and I visited my middle sister and she was showing us how to stamp and heat emboss over the electric burners on the stove. My mom got into stamping a few years later (1993) with the basics, even using fabric and Heat N Bond on our cards. Boy things were primitive back then. No embellishments etc. There had been invites to SU demos, but we weren't interested in Scrapbooking. We had a great little store, Stampa Rosa (originators of House Mouse I believe) that continually grew until stamping went out for awhile and the owner wanted to retire.
Great thread.

[asbrewer]

I actually bought my first stamps as a young girl. Inkadinkado had a display cart at South Street Seaport in NYC when I was a little girl. We would go to the Pier 17 every summer when we would visit my grandparents (we lived in Ohio). My first stamp was a bear in a clown outfit. I would order more stamps from their catalog, but filling out an order form and send it in the mail. This was all long before the WWW! I would get chocolate smelling inks and lime ink and ink my images all over paper! I just found a kitty roll stamp tucked away in a box yesterday that was from Hallmark and gave it to my 5 year old!

Great thread!!!

[isuanastasia]

My first stamp was when I was about 7 years old (which was only 18 years ago haha). It is really special to me because it is my name 'Anastasia' and it is very hard to find regular items with my name on it, making a rubber stamp with my name on it super special! I use it on the back of all of my cards!

[br3n]

first stamp was PSX stamp of {pansy} maybe cant remember for sure it was in 1989/the second one was tulips and i believe they were also PSX.i bought them from a local stamp store and the lady that ran the store was so helpful in teaching techniques.i have no idea how many stamps i have ,i know it is thousands sigh but never enough.
br3n

[SuzyQue]

I bought my first stamp when I started working in the attendance office at the local high school. I stamped it on class admitting slips for kids who had been absent. It was the cutest little teddy bear and a kitten sitting next to each other. (I only put it on the girls' admits). I think my ink pad was blue. Then in 1996, I think, I was invited to a SU workshop. I bought a stamp that had 3 birdhouses on it, and was very surprised when arrived. I thought I had bought 3 stamps.
Now I couldn't tell you how many stamps I have. I did, however, get my two daughters hooked, as well as several good friends. We have a stamp club that has changed sizes many times. At one time I think there were 10 or 12 of us. Now only six of us remain, and we still have a good time together. We eat more than we stamp when we're together, but some cards are still made. Two of our members have become stampin' wonders. A lot of fun and pleasure has evolved since the kitten and teddy bear. I do still have that stamp. Think I will get it out and use it. LOL;)

[LeisaJane]

I was shopping in a mall in Nashville sometime in the mid 80's. I walked past a stamp store and saw a woman sitting on a stool behind a counter heat embossing. I was curious and went in to see what she was doing. She shared with me the 'magic' of heat embossing. I was fascinated. I think my first stamp was a tulip. I used to heat emboss it using my stove! I went on to make Christmas cards one year, but never really got in to it that much.

Then that fateful day in 2005 came when I was invited to a SU party. My son's girlfriend's aunt was a demo. My mom and I were just going to be polite, meet the family, and probably place what Lydia calls the 'pity order'. Well, we were the first to arrive and the last to leave. She was demonstrating Along the Shore from a mini catty. It was like the clouds parted and a light came shining down from the heavens with a choir singing. We both fell fast and hard, bought the whole set of markers, papers, inks, stamps, gel pens, Stamp-N-Scrub, etc. No telling how much that first order was. I'll never forget that first card....still have it.

My son and that girlfriend parted ways long ago, but thankfully, the love we have for rubber stamping and card making keeps growing. Our bank accounts can prove it! Oh, and heat embossing is still my favorite.

[Susanne527]

Wow...this questioned just moved cobwebs from the 'corners of my mind'...it was almost 19 years ago on a very hot, muggy July night and I finally put (2) of my three kids down in their cribs (new born Shane and my 16 month old Kala to bed)...I was looking at this catalog I received in the mail and I think the company was Azalus Ariers or something like that...(it was difficult to pronounce) and saw some "word" stamps aka "inspirations" is what we call them now....I ordered some with markers. After they arrived, I didn't know what to do with them....then, I found this tiny stamp store in town and watched the owner EMBOSS! Oh my gosh....you can say it was all over from that point on....I own thousands of stamps now!!!

[wimarinemom2006]

I started out with a scrapbook kit my neighbor bought me right before my son left for boot camp. She figured I needed something to keep me busy. After I finished the scrap book I went to a card making class. From that point on I was hooked. My first stamp was a House Mouse. I still have it and it's one of my favorites.

[stampinlynn]

Love reading these posts...my first were given to me by a friend about 8yrs ago...It is a flower bouquet and bumble bee...I couldn't make enough cards with these two. Now I have about 800 stamps and use most of them too!!!...How I got hooked was when she gave me a Christmas card all embossed in black (Wise Men) on white it was lovely and I needed to know how to do it. She proceeded to take me to my first Stampin UP party and that was when it all started and keeps on going. When you look back over the yrs of collecting and creating what a journey we all are on...how exciting it all is...so on that note happy to have shared...LYNN)

[wishfulthinker]

I bought my first stamps at a little gift shop with some embossing powder and a heat gun. They were beautiful fruit and flower stamps from PSX (I really wish they were still around) and I still use them today Magnolia by wishfulthinker - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers. I ended up selling lots of cards at a craft show with them. Then I didn't stamp for another 15 years until I went to an SU party and once again I was hooked. That was about 5 years ago....now I have so many stamps I can't even keep track of them!

[hilde jaeggli]

My first stamp I purchased in a stamping shop in Portland /. Oregon. I accompaned my husband on a business trip to USA including also Portland. Whilst he was in a day long meeting I walked around in the city. I never heard about stamping in my home country Switzerland. The woman in the shop was very polite and told me many things about stamping. This was in 1933. Ever since I am a devoted stamper, found also a shop near my home town and I do lots of cards stamping.

[hilde jaeggli]

Sorry in my message it appeared a mistake. It was in the year 1993 when I both my first stamp, now I have more the 100 stamps.

[tina van-eick]

My first stamp was purchased in the late 1980's at a kiosk in Montreal, Canada. It is a dragon with a little boy sitting on his finger. It looked like they were having a great conversation. I was intriqued. That's many hundreds of stamps ago...still love stamping.

[lindsaymay]

My first stamp was a set of alphabet stamps from PSX. I used them on EVERYTHING! then I think I got a Christmas stamp (all the money we will save on cards right LOL!) That was 15 years ago and I am so glad I found this rewarding hobby! I love hearing all of your stamp stories!

[JD from PAUSA]

This is such an interesting thread...I had to join in...
My first stamps were purchased at a "Dots" demo workshop (I still have them) They sat for many years in my drawer unused. I finally used them a few months ago, in fact I have some cards in my gallery using them. I actually started stamping after I bought a book about knitting! I know that doesn't make sense...but after reading a book series by Debbie Macomber about a lady owning a knitting shop and starting workshop...I went looking for knitting workshops or crochet workshops and never found one...but I did find a wonderful Stampin' Up Demo two years ago, and then I was hooked...

[Allistamps123]

I bought stamps for my kids when they were little and made a cute kit in a metal tin.

Then I taught preschool and kindergarten and used stamps in centers. I got into Su when a parent of a kindergartener I had began to demo and do monthly workshops (about five years ago).

One of my first sets was Feathered Friends, an all occasion set that I still love but have rarely used! She also went to each parent at the end of the year and raised about $120.00 and I got to make out an order!! I was so excited. I got things I probably would have not ordered on my own like the tattoo kit, watercolor pencils, etc.

[susanbri]

I started out several years ago cutting up old Christmas cards to remake into new Christmas cards and needed a stamp to put a sentiment on them. So my first stamp said "Celebrate the Joy of the Season". And it went on from there. I still occasionally remake old Christmas cards but I'm really hooked on rubber stamps and now have way too many!

[scgustaf]

I too went to a SU demonstration only because a friend was hosting in about 1995. I went with a firm mindset that I didn't need any more hobbies or unfinished projects. When I realized that stamping could work for a busy mom, and be accomplished in small bits of time, I was hooked, and bought my first set: SU's Button Bear which I still have, but hasn't seen ink in a long time as my collection keeps growing. I had a couple of different demos in those early years, and when I couldn't find anyone locally to purchase reinkers, I signed up and have now been a SU demo for 7-1/2 years. I have made many friends creating with stamps, paper and ink!

"The unfailing love of the Lord never ceases, by His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day." Lamentations 3:22,23

[calecian]

My first stamp was from PSX and was bought at my local craft store--it was a row of birdhouses and it was perfect because I was making a gift for a friend's birthday, had decided to make a set of notecards, and she collected birdhouses. She liked the notecards so much, I bought another stamp (also PSX) that was a Summer straw hat hanging on a tree trunk; I stamped and colored the image and layered over some sort of paper to give it a "tree trunk feel" (might have been mulberry paper). I recently found one of the Summer straw hat cards (my friend did use the cards and had sent me a note with it), looked at it and thought, "What was I thinking?!?!?!?" But that was "back in the day" and techniques, tools, and papers have all improved so much since then. About four or five years later, I received a postcard invitation to a Stampin' Up! party and the rest, as they say, is history! As someone else mentioned, I thought it had to do with "postage" stamps, because I collected first day covers and was surprised that my friend was into "stamps" as well -- something I didn't know about her. Obviously, I didn't pay much attention to the FRONT of the post card invitation!!! Like others, I spent WAY more than I had planned, started haunting my local craft store and a rubber stamp store that was right across the street, and haven't looked back! Out of curiosity and because of the mention of eBay, I looked on eBay just for PSX stamps. I found MANY of the stamps that I do own and, let's just say that if the prices continue to increase on some of the stamps, and IF I were to decide to purge some of my stamps (and that's a very BIG IF, meaning not at all likely to happen), I could have a very nice retirement nest egg; of course, it probably would be spent on more stamps . . . .

What a great thread and a fun trip down memory lane!

[Luanne Ford]

My first set was TAGS & MORE, found here: Tags and More INDEX by galleryindex - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers

I purchased it, along with a Black inkpad. I didn't do much with it, but then I started looking at the SU Catalog and saw more and more possiblities... My sunroom is now my stamp room. My husband calls it my "Happy Place"...

[creatingisfun]

my first stamps was CTMH.
I had won a basket of goodies, and thats how my obsession started ;)

[arkip]

mid "90s-one of my daughter's friends mom invited me to a DOTS party, couldn't make it but went over the next day to see what the heck it was all about. Bought a bear holding a bouquet and a birthday sentiment written with all the dots on the tips of the letters. Kept everything as inexpensive as possible in case I didn't like stamping. Yes, the toaster embossing worked if you were verrry careful not to toast the card! Haven't purchased a greeting card since, making my own gift wrap now w SU wide wheels. I think I'll ask my daughter if she remembers the name and send that lady a thankyou card! great thread.

[sacstamper]

My first was a unicorn that I bought for my daughter. My first "real" set was Toile Blossoms by SU. It has taken over a room in my house. This is such an addicting "hobby".

[ShariW]

My very first stamp was a little gift stamp for buying $25 worth of products from Stampin' Up. Several ladies from our church were going to this party and I wanted to go too. However, I didn't know what the party was all about and when I got there I WAS OVERWHELMED! I was teaching 2 and 3 year old Sunday School at the time and my coteacher was there and told me to get the "Sunday School" set. I was hooked after the make and take and I took my little flower stamp home with me, dragged out my husband's black ink pad for return addressing and proceeded to stamp every envelope I could find and color them in with colored pencils. I even took them to church with me the next day I was so excited. My poor husband was so tired when I got home that he just went to bed. That was about 12 1/2 years ago and I've been stamping ever sense. I knew that I would go nuts buying stuff (which I have - sigh), so that Friday, March 13th night, I gave my stamping to the Lord and it has been my ministry ever since. Also, it took me a while, but as of last September, I also now sell SU and love it! Thanks for "listening" to my story. Love this thread!

[laura6]

my first-ever stamp was a Hero Arts teddy bear wearing swim trunks, a snorkel, and flippers (? is that what tose duck-like shoes are that scuba divers wear?). My second stamp was a trail of bubbles (don't remember the maker).
I also invested in embossing powder, which I heated over a bare lightbulb LOL. I don't think there were embossing heat guns in 1991.
I still have never attended any Demo workshops. All my SU, House Mouse, and most of my wood-mounted stamps I bought off eBay for dirt cheap. I've since switched over to mainly buying clear stamps, either the $1 ones from Michaels or AC Moore, or sets on sale or with a coupon.
When I first started stamping, I accumulated all these 'country'-style stamps, of girls in bonnets, and rag dolls, and none of them are ever really my style. Now I sort of know my style, and have a lot less to buy

[Clyndago]

My first stamp was Stipple Hydrangea, and I still have it, along with the hundreds of other stamps I have accumulated over the years! My DD asked if she could host a SU party at our house, and I said, "Sure, but I'm not going to buy anything..." Well, like you, I was hooked! My DD told me she was soooo sorry...she knew I didn't need another hobby, but it turned out to be my most favorite thing to do!

[JoyceL]

My first is a floral stamp set from PSX, the kind where the rubber is mounted on a thick foam and all stamps are put into a clear plastic box. At that time there was only 1 stamp shop in Singapore in one of the out-of-town shopping mall. I signed up for one of their classes. That was in 1995.

Thereafter more brands were introduced and I also discovered other brands online, like Stampendous, Stamp Scape and some others that have gone out of business. I also discovered there are rubber stamp magazines and I subscribed to Rubberstampmaddness.

[Jennypoo]

Wow I had to think on this for a bit, but my first stamp set was a little embossing kit that you could use a blow dryer with. it was two teddie bears walking and hugging each other. it also had a heart on another stamp, I still have it too. My first SU was Soft Swirls, and thats when I really got into stamping, my friend in texas brought a SU catalog and that is where I ordered it from lol.

[sabknits]

I'm relatively new to stamping, compared to the rest of you. I've only been at it for 6 years. I was coming off an 8 year stint of intensive "hand knit to sell", knitting at red lights on my commute to and from work, selling through local craft shows.

Something just snapped one day and I couldn't pick up the needles! I needed a creative outlet and my DIL invited me to join her at a nearby stamp shop for a heat embossing workshop.

That workshop totally wiped me out! We used the instructors rubber stamps and embossing powder on metal and on metalized card stock. My fave was a Judikins bolio with oriental patterns and I was IN LOVE with the bamboo image. I bought that and ALL the supplies..... then I started REALLY looking around the shop and OH! MY! I was AMAZED that while I knew "everything" about knitting, I knew next to NOTHING about paper arts.

I was off and running! I spent 6 months just learning about all the different kinds and weights of paper and all the adhesives, inks, paints. I started collecting stamps and now have a HUGE stash.

Like some of you, I've started to unmount the rubber from the wood as I have no more space and am finding my containers are getting way too heavy to handle comfortably. As I work I try to select a few stamps from each box to pass along to someone else (and to make room for MORE!! I can't imagine myself ever stopping and moving on to something else!)

[Julie in Indy]

My first stamp was from DOTS (Dozens of Terrific Stamps), now known as CTMH. It was "Whitney" and I used her to make birthday party invitations.

[mitzi]

Loads of Love was my first purchase- and Loads of Money later, I'm still stamping ;) I was introduced to stamping after I entered an online contest on a whim and won 72 sets of what was then See D's stamps. I never thought I would love it as much as I do!

[SophieLaFontaine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitzi

Loads of Love was my first purchase- and Loads of Money later, I'm still stamping ;) I was introduced to stamping after I entered an online contest on a whim and won 72 sets of what was then See D's stamps. I never thought I would love it as much as I do!

<spew!> :mrgreen:

[tiffguam]

My first "real" stamp set was a Stampin Up Stamp Set. I can't remember the name, but it was a thanksgiving doodley set! There was once a point in time I would make a spreadsheet of all the sets I wanted and post it to the fridge for the hubs! LOL! Now, my list is too long with MANY more manufacturers!

[Tashak]

My first was a paw print stamp, I got it to use on a page about my dog. That was in 2003 I think, BTW, I still haven't finished that page about my dog, lol.

I HATED it and bought a couple more images thinking it was the stamp image I didn't like, not the actual stamp. Nope, it was the stamp, I hated not knowing the exact placement of what I was stamping.

Fast forward a few years I bought an Autumn Leaves stamp set, I was in heaven! I could see exactly where I was stamping. Now I have wood stamps as well as clear, but I know how to use them properly.