Blog Candy and Getting to Know You

502 Comments

Times Up and we already have a winner!!!!

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Do to some work commitments I was unable to stamp this morning. 😦   I really enjoyed last weeks comments letting me know where you are from.   Knowing about my readers helps to motivate me to continue sharing with you.   My Word! there are a lot of you readers out there!  My blog gets around 2,000 to 3,000 clicks a day and there are about 1,300 of you subscribed to this blog by e-mail.  The shear numbers freak me out a little, lol.

This week I want all of you to share with me, please what brought you to stamping?  In return I have some BLOG CANDY to give you a chance at!

So to enter for a chance to win these 16 Studio G, Series 6 stamp packs with a bonus Valentine pack, please leave me a comment on this post telling me what brought you to stamping.  If you are getting this blog update by e-mail you will need to click this link to leave a comment on this blog post:    http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/07/24/blog-candy-and-getting-to-know-you/

I will use a random number generator to pick the winner on the morning of Saturday, July 26th.

I will start by saying, my friend Claire Sharkey asked me to come along with her to a stamping workshop.  I didn’t care about rubber stamps and wasn’t all that interested, but I wanted to spend time with my friend, Claire, so I went along.  Next thing I know, I’m ordering my very first Stampin’ Up stamp set “Frosty”.  That was back in 2001. 

I almost felt guilty for stamping at first, because I like to paint with watercolors and pastels and there I was just stamping the images instead of drawing them.  But my stamping in time became more artist in nature and more satisfying too.  I know you don’t believe it, but I can pretty quickly do a scene now with stamps and ink.  Now I say quickly, but quickly to me is 1 hour.  I like the creative process and why rush it.  🙂   My paintings with pastel can take me, literally months to complete, so 1 hour to accomplish a scene seems super quick.

Alright, that is my beginning in stamping, what is yours?

502 thoughts on “Blog Candy and Getting to Know You”

  1. Anne's avatar Anne

    I was a waitress in a restaurant and about 10 ladies came in after a stamp club meeting and they had their cards in binders that they were looking through and wanted me to see what they had made that day. I was so———-amazed that I wanted to make some cards too. They told me about the LSS and how the lady who owned it taught classes. I signed up – took classes – one thing led to another – eventually I went to work at this stamp store and I have been hooked ever since. The stamp store is no longer here, but the friends I made while working there are and we still get together twice a month to stamp something.

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  2. Tonniece's avatar Tonniece

    Good Morning Michelle

    I missed telling you where I lived last time so here goes.
    I live in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, about a 35 Min drive from Toronto, or Niagara Falls, for those who don’t know the area.
    I started seeing all sorts of homemade cards in stores and I would spend a fortune getting just the right ones for friends and family.
    Then A friend and I went to a SU demo last year and it blew me away. I loved how the cards came together. I still have to find my niche I think, because I love so many styles that I get frustrated and leave projects unfinished all the time. I feel it’s people like you and quite a lot of others who show the process and the love for the art that are helping me come out of my shell and experiment more.
    Now I have to stop buying and start trying more.
    Thanks for all the inspiration.

    Happy Thursday

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  3. Anna D's avatar Anna D

    I started off scrapbooking and decided to have a play with foam stamps when they were introduced. From there I have slowly been learning about all the different inks and techniques but still have soooo much more to learn. I just love that stamping can be so versatile and a tool that can be used over and over again!

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  4. Linda Vogt's avatar Linda Vogt

    A coworker hosted a SU! party, which I attended and politely bought a stamp set and ink pad. 6 months later, the stamp set had not been touched, not even mounted. My friend asked to borrow it, mounted the stamps, and made a really cute card with it. This got my interest. Then she began bringing cards she had made to work, and I got hooked. A few months later, I became a SU! demonstrator (2003 I think), and I’ve been lovin’ stampin’ ever since.

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  5. Carol's avatar Carol

    wow, I missed telling you where I’m from too but it’s Gilbertsville, PA. That’s east coast PA, NW of Philadelphia.
    I began scrapbooking the first time I saw Lisa B selling a scrapbook kit on QVC many years ago. I had fun learning all the techniques along the way and getting to know the owners of my LSS. One day while browsing in that store, I spotted a card displayed on the counter to advertise an upcoming class. I loved the card so much I signed up for the class and have been hooked ever since. My first SU set I bought after that class was “sketch it” and I still have it. I still drift between cardmaking and scrapbooking and love them both, but I think card making is more rewarding because you can actually finish the project in half the time compared to a scrapbook page………..well SOMETIMES I can LOL Some days I tend to get way too involved in details, but it’s all good 🙂
    TFS this awesome blog candy. I find myself using these G studio stamps quite often lately!

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  6. SueB's avatar SueB

    Hi Michelle! I’m in the Flint MI area (transplanted from the Boston MA and Philadelphia PA areas) and was invited to a friend’s home for a Stampin’ Up! party back in 2001. I’d scrapbooked and played with stickers for years prior to that, but hadn’t add much stamping to my albums. I make cards more than scrapbooks lately but generally seem to switch my focus to different pasttimes at different times.

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  7. Karen m's avatar Karen m

    I had been making cards digitally for a few years. A coworker showed me a few cards she made and invited me to a SU party for a Christmas preview approx 3 years ago. I did not buy any stamps at that time, but my sister had a box of SU stamps she purchased but never used. She gave the stamps to me, I began reading and searching web sites and blogs for techniques and began stampin and have not looke back since. I love stamping and cardmaking. Learning new techniques and the ability to use stamps to create a card to give joy or encouragement to someone. Althought there have been times when I have wanted to keep a card because it was so beautiful, yet it eventually would go to someone special.

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  8. bunny's avatar bunny

    I only recently started stamping and it was because I was seeing and reading all these wonderful blogs that inspire like yours. Plus, my hubs is a creative guy and he got me into scrapbooking a while back.

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  9. Max's avatar Max

    I have always dabbled in crafts and love papercrafts in particular, but for the life of me could never understand other people’s addiction to stamps … seemed to me like they were a bit ‘loopy’ to go into raptures over a bit of rubber! Consequently I only owned a few message and text stamps to add greetings to cards.
    However, all that has now changed and I’m at serious risk of becoming one of those ‘loopy rubber addicts’ myself.
    After joining a couple of craft forums and eventually discovering blogs, I was introduced to a whole new world of inspiration and a spark was lit. Whilst I’m still very much a novice stamper, my collection is growing … I just wish my bank balance could match my new addiction.

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  10. Mitzi Koons's avatar Mitzi Koons

    Hi Michelle!
    What a great story! I first started stamping after winning a contest. I was already scrapbooking and totally despised the idea of stamping at first, then one day I received one of those newsletter emails from Creating Keepsakes and as I was scrolling through it I saw a contest offered by a company called Sugarloaf. So I clicked on it and went ahead and registered. The contest was for 72 sets of See D’s stamps. In a million years I never thought I’d win, but I became intrigued with stamps once I saw their unique system. A few days later I got the email saying I was one of 10 lucky winners in their biggest prize draw ever and I still thought it was just spam type of email. Then I went back to their website where they had the list of winners published and there I was! It started to sink in then – but didn’t fully hit me until UPS brought about 8 boxes full of stamps to my door. 72 sets with 20 or 30 images in each set was a boatload of stamps! I didn’t even own an inkpad!! 3 years later I’m addicted to stamping and now Sugarloaf is Inque Boutique and I’ve never looked back. Shortly after winning I was invited to a workshop by an SU demo through a lady at my hubby’s employer and the rest is history. I started going to workshops to learn how to use stamps and purchasing supplies to go home and use with my See D’s stamps. I just love it now. It doesn’t matter how bad of a mood I am in – if I can take time to stamp, I feel instantly better. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story and for the chance to win more stamps!!

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  11. Tessi's avatar Tessi

    Nevertheless, there I take part promt. I come from Germany and am also very active in a forum. I had started with 3D maps and wanted never to stamp, actually, with him start. But because in this forum always so nice maps were shown and I have noticed, stamp to the imagination no borders this by this are put………… was for me nobody hold more *lach* Daily I learn on top of that and simply have fun in it. Your maps inspire me terrifically, they are so wonderful.

    I still wish you a nice day

    LG Gitti

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  12. Sarah's avatar Sarah

    Hi – this isn’t an entry for the blog candy as it would be unfair for you to have to post them internationally – but I thought I’d join in anyway.

    I do very much enjoy your blog from here in the sunny English countryside.

    I was introduced to stamping when I met a new friend via an altered art-type forum I was a member of. She had just moved locally to me and invited me round to her place for a chat and supper.

    When I got there I was blown away by all her stamps – she has 1000s!

    she gave me a grab bag of rubber to get me started, some old copies of Take Ten, and a couple of lessons, and I was off 🙂

    Nowadays I use stamping in pretty much everything I do.

    Sarah

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  13. Sonia E.'s avatar Sonia E.

    My stamping beginning parallels yours. I went to a stamping party a friend of mine had. I bought one stamp set and never opened the box. It was a Celtic design.The next year, I was invited again. I bought another stamp set and didn’t open the box either. My friend had another party that year, but this time, something clicked. This was about 2000 or 2001. I’ve been stamping ever since, but would love to get to your level!

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  14. Alex's avatar Alex

    Hi Michelle!
    I´m Alex from Austria and visit your blog nearly every day because I love your work!
    Here is my Story how I started to stamp:
    I was invited from a friend for a handicraft afternoon in 2006. After trying the bigshot I sat there and watched her stitching a card. My friend sayd – ‘oh you are finished, but I have some other “work” for you’ and gave me her cute-stamps and some instructions.
    I started to stamp and color in the motives and after 2 hours she asked me were I am. I was so fascinated from the work that I forgot everything around me.
    One week later my first Stamps arrived.
    Everytime I have a bad or stressful day I only need to stamp to get the feeling of this first stamping day.
    Greetings Alex

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  15. Tamara's avatar Tamara

    I started with scrapbooking, then card making which has revolved into stamping. I have only been stamping for about the last year on and off. So am fairly new.
    It is a fun adventure, lots to learn. I am loving your style the best because it is so much like a painting, and I have always wanted to be an artist. God didn’t give me that talent. However, with your teachings I feel like I kind of am. Thank You.

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  16. Alexa's avatar Alexa

    Sorry for my bad english, i m Alexa from Germany
    this is the reason why I seldom comment never or only rare.

    Your works inspiered me very often and your name flow through the Bloggers world.

    Tahnk you very much vor the beautiful instructions and thanks for the Blog Candy that motivate to wrote a news.
    Lovley Greetings
    Alexa

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  17. Peggy Parenteau's avatar Peggy Parenteau

    I was NOT going to start stamping, I had so many crafts I was already accumulating–basketweaving, beading, lots of things. But one thing I wanted to do was to learn how to make paper. After searching long and hard I found a class at all places–Michael’s! It was a two part class, make the paper one week, come back the next week and make a card. The instructor showed us how to make our own stamps from craft foam. Well, great, but I got hooked. I know teach papermaking and have card classes in my house. So, that’s my story, I’m real happy in my craft room. Thanks for your wonderful inspiration. I now think “Zindorf” when I see sunrises, sunsets, silouettes of any kind. I LOVE thinking “Z”!!!!!!!!!!!!
    oxoxpeg

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  18. Lisa Robb's avatar Lisa Robb

    Hi Michelle, I am from Dubbo, Australia. I was a scrapbooker and went to a friend of a friends place to scrapbook and she was a SU Demo. She showed me the catalogue and stamped a couple of things while i was there. I asked if I could borrow her catalogue. I fell in love with the products. I had never used a stamp or made a card but by the end of the week I had signed up to be a demonstrator. My Starter Kit was my first purchase of stamps. I then had to learn how to stamp and make cards so I spent many nights blog hoping to learn as much as I could before my first workshop. That was 1 year and 1 month ago and I am so glad I did it.

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  19. Phyllis Gunn's avatar Phyllis Gunn

    About 20 years ago I purchased a foam Lady Bug stamp to use on a clay pot for inexpensive gifts. I got real creative and hand drew some of the hilights and background patterns. I’ve always been into “art” from clay, weaving, woodwork (building furniture mostly) and along came scrapbooking in 1996. I loved building stories with paper and stickers but got a little board with it and then I had an epiffany; use rubber stamps instead of those other more bulky embellishments!! BRILLIANT, I’m a smart person! Still thinking about it, another friend who was on my bowling league brought a get well card for everyone to sign that she had made. WOW! I think I actually foamed at the mouth! I said, “will you teach me how?” Turns out, she was a Stampin Up Demo. Not only can she bowl like a bat out of ……, she is an artist too who happens to stamp AND she’s got a very tender, generous, sincere heart. Because of her, I look at things all around me trying to decide how best to emulate what I see using a rubber stamp. Thanks to Jeanne Streiff who’s blog you can also see at http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ a new world opened up to me and I keep trying to capture it by stamping. I love trying all the different techniques from many different blogs but I have to say, Michelle, you are the best! Thanks for the blog candy but I’d look anyway.

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  20. Julchen's avatar Julchen

    Hi Michelle,

    I’m Julia from Germany and I have been stamping since 2005. I was active in a creative forum where a group of stampers were showing their cards and other stamped things, so I ordered some stamps and tried it out. And – I love it!
    Thank you for your great inspiration blog and for the chance to win such wunderful stamps!

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  21. Diana Barnett's avatar Diana Barnett

    I saw some stamps at Jo-Anns and wondered what they were all about. I decided to buy a book on the craft and that did it. I was hooked. Unfortunately I didn’t know that much and the book only had a small sampling of what to do. I hit the internet and found Stampin’ UP. As they say, the rest is history. I love every minute I can devote to stamping.

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  22. Marie's avatar Marie

    My neighbor introduced me to SU! and I was HOOKED!! I used to make fun of people who did stuff like stamp/scrap, but then I tried it and wondered why I hadn’t before!!! 🙂

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  23. Debbie B's avatar Debbie B

    Oh my, I was invited to workshop about rubber stamping. I thought yuk! But it was in the winter and I said okay, I didn’t have anything else to do. But it took the second workshop to hook me. I’ve been a demo ever since. Stampin’ Up! got me…
    Love it! I’m from Michigan, and the winter’s can be long, or so they seem, you need something. I’d been a long time crafter and the thought of rubber stamping was out of the question. Wrong! It’s about so much more.

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  24. Brie's avatar Brie

    Let me start by saying that I found your blog only about 2 weeks ago and I have come here daily anticipating something amazing- and have yet to feel even an ounce of disapointment.

    I started stamping originally about 13 years ago when (stamps were a little primitive and) I was in the 6th grade, being home schooled by my mom. She took me to a home party and several home schoolers decided to make a regular thing out of it for the “socialization”. I went back to public school the following year and forgot all about stamping. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I started suffering from anxiety attacks and needed something quiet I could do at night to keep myself busy but not wake my husband, so stamping was my therapy of choice. The good news is he didn’t care too much how much I spent on it since it was keeping me calm and letting him sleep! LOL! I think it was the combination of creating something and knowing that I would be able to give it to someone and hopefully bless them at the same time that made it so appealing. As I’m typing this (and can’t quite believe I’m being so open) I’ve got a new idea for a mini album about my recovery (panic attack free for 8 months now!). Thanks for putting yourself out here and sharing your talent!

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  25. Barb's avatar Barb

    I started out with scrapbooking after my mother died because I brought home all the old family photos and I wanted to preserve those photos for my children. Then I decided to make a personal ‘from me to you’ scrapbook for each of my children so I joined a few scrapping boards so I could learn as much as I could about scrapping and discovered all the cool toys available for scrappers. That led to my discovery of the Wishblade. I found the United Kingdom Scrappers board after my sweet hubby bought me the pink Wishblade when it debuted on HSN in March 2007. It was there at UKS that I discovered Penny Black stamps! I fell in love with the PB snowman stamps and got my first stamp (a PB snowman :D) and created my first Christmas card. I started collecting Penny Black stamps and now I am hooked on stamps in general, lol! A friend of mine told me about Studio G $ stamps and I started collecting those with Series 11. Ya’ gotta love those $ stamps! I just wish I could have ‘insta-stash’ of all the stamps I would love to own, but I am slowly building my collection. I am so addicted to stamps (sigh).

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  26. Chelle's avatar Chelle

    Initially, it was wedding preparations – I wanted specific wedding stationery, and coudln’t find what I wanted, so went to a Rubber Stamp store, and bought the supplies to do it myself.

    I took a bit of a break, and what sucked me in the 2nd time was going to a SU demo. I loved it. That was in NOvember, and it’s kind of exploded from there.

    Thanks for the chance to win!

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  27. Eveline van Heijst's avatar Eveline van Heijst

    Hi Michelle, I started out making cards with dry embossing. Then I started scrapbooking and through scrapbooking magazines I learned about SU. Everytime a cute/great looking stamp was used it was a SU stamp. Looked it up on the Internet and found loads about stamping, found SCS etc. Now I have quite some stamps, all kinds of brands, I even have some SU stamps. I love using them. I call my craft space my comfy place. Makes me happy even if I only sit there. I love making cards, my mother wants some and my sister wants some. So I make them cards too. Love the whole proces.
    Eveline from The Netherlands.

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  28. Gidget-Trish's avatar Gidget-Trish

    I started out with scrapbooking after many years of doing crafts, art (especially painting) and sewing projects. Because I had so many interests and because of the cost, I didn’t want to get into anything else. My girlfriend Linda wanted me to go to an SU house party, so I went but I had planned not to get involved….*LOL* Well needless to say, I bought some stamps and got immediately hooked by how quickly a project can be completed and look great. I LOVE shopping for supplies and my “play” room is now full of wonderful things to use to create my little masterpieces and is my own little piece of heaven on earth. I also love having friends over to “play” in my room. I have to make myself do some scrapbooking sometimes because I’d rather be trying a new stamping technique! I especially love your ” Zindorf ” style and your tutorials. Such fun! 🙂
    Take care,
    Trish

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  29. Suzie H's avatar Suzie H

    Moving back home(Ohio) after being gone for 17 yrs, it was hard to get into the groove with friends that hadn’t moved, with kids in H.S made some new friends and got introducted to scrapebooking. Jumped i with both feet and got invited to a stampin up party and the year they came out with the scrapebook catty, I signed up and have probably only scraped 10-15 pages since then. I loved the fact that I could sit down and make a card in such a short time. Now with grandchildren I have started to scrape again, but truely love card making. We have a group of ladies who make cards to send to soldiers to send to their families, have started a card ministry at my church and love looking on line to see what is new. I am addicted to your site. I get up, read my Bible and go to the computer to see what is new on your site. You have enabled my to broaden my horizen. Thank You,Thank You, Thank You. Suzie

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  30. Beth's avatar Beth

    Not quite ten years ago a very dear friend of mine invited me to a Stampin’ Up party. She explained to me how she had recently become interested in rubber stamping and scrap booking. I felt bad, but blew her off. My reasoning was what would I scrap book, after all I don’t have any children of my own. Then she became a demonstrator and invited me to another party. I knew I couldn’t blow her off again, so I went, got hooked and have been stamping ever since.

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  31. Eileen McClean's avatar Eileen McClean

    I went to a workshop at a teachers convention and then to my daughters wedding shower and that was that. I just love the creativity and it is so relaxing and rewarding. Thanks for your inspiration
    Eileen

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  32. Becky's avatar Becky

    I had been doing computer generated cards for years but recently got frustrated because I could not usually find the image I wanted or I did not like how it was layed out. So one day I was cruising through the net and found Splitcoast stampers, and I got hooked into making my own cards, though right now they are not nearly as nice as some of these lady’s. Some of these cards, including yours, is like art work :).

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  33. Susanna's avatar Susanna

    WOW! What a generous bit of candy!

    I was brought into stamping by a friend’s Stampin’ Up! party. I was instantly in love. I had always been crafty — but inpatient. I could never knit that entire afghan or patiently quilt. I loved the idea of making something special for someone and seeing the finished product quickly! It wasn’t long before I was scrapbooking and paper crafting everything in site. Ahhh… if only that one demonstrator knew what she had unleashed! 😛

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  34. Hilda's avatar Hilda

    Hi Michelle – A few of my coworkers were into stamping, and while I thought the cards they were making were pretty cool, it wasn’t until I saw “Boatloads of Love” in a SU! catalog last fall that I decided to give it a try. My love of tugboats was all it took! I ordered the stamp set, and the rest is history. Normally, I would buy a craft project and it would never make it out of the bag, but I stamped (and mailed!) almost 80 Christmas cards.
    I love checking out the blogs, and yours is one of my favorites! Thanks for sharing your incredible designs with all of us.

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  35. Peggy's avatar Peggy

    Hi Michelle- I was on vacation with my mother and sister in Branson. We ran into a little place that had several little shops. One of the shops was a stamp store. My sister and I Decided to go in and see what it was all about. The owner was a sweet lady and she had all kinds of cards on the wall. She told us how she did some of them and my intrest was sparked. I bought a couple of stamp sets and when I got home I started playing with them right away. I was hooked.
    Thank you for the oppertunity to win and thank you for doing all these wonderful tutorials.

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  36. Michelle B (JustPaintingAround)'s avatar Michelle B (JustPaintingAround)

    I have been painting with acrylics for years. My friend invited me to a SU party. I was only going because she was my friend. I mean “why would I want to spend so much money on just one stamp that could only do one thing”. Painting was much more flexible……Ha! I thought I’d maybe get some backgrounds I could use behind my painted items on a card. Then I thought I’d get stamps for things I couldn’t paint like cars or people. And now, I rarely paint anymore – I’m forgetting how! Thanks for teaching me so much & Thanks for the blog candy.

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  37. Tonya's avatar Tonya

    I think it started in middle school (mid-1970s) in the library. I loved stamping the date due cards. Ink to paper!

    And I’ve loved paper since a baby. My mom says that I chewed/ate all the corners of dad’s books in his library (probably teething). I still love paper. Not necessarily to eat….

    I played around with some pastels in middle/high school. Loved art class. Taught myself calligraphy (ink on paper) and embroidery (color on fabric — sorta like ink on paper).

    So when my sister and I were invited to a Stampin’ Up! party — we went. Partly because we didn’t want to go alone, partly because we weren’t sure what a stamping party was. We were hooked! She became a SU demo, and I supported her habit. 🙂 I became a SU! demo last fall, and I’m going to my first convention next week.

    My reason to stamp is to make cards. I have saved all the cards I’ve received since the early 1980s. And I love to give cards. It makes me happy, and I hope it makes the recipient happy too.

    That’s most of my story. Thanks for wanting to know about us. I love your work and am SO inspired by it. I’ve made a couple of attempts following your tutorials. Not too bad — but I’ve got a LONG way to go!

    Thanks a bunch!

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  38. Mary Puskar's avatar Mary Puskar

    Michelle hello! I’m a big admirer of your work. You rock with that brayer. I had eye surgery followed by complications two years ago. I was a lifelong sewer, dollmaker, quilter etc and can still do that but my sight suffered after the procedures and I didn’t have quite the acquity I had always had. Stamping and papercrafting does not require quite as much as the sewing and so I turned to that and have found it extremely rewarding. I’ll never give up sewing but papercrafting has brought so much joy to my life.

    Mary
    http://www.primitiveseasons.blogspot.com

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  39. Michele's avatar Michele

    I’m from NJ.
    I was invited to an SU! party by my cake decorating instructor. She just told me it was a small party. So I decided to bring my hubby (fiance) at the time with me. Well there were 10 women and my fiance. And yes he stamped along with us, and since he knew i would be into it he actually encouraged me to buy some extra stuff.

    well a few months later i signed up to be a demo!

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  40. Niki Winchell's avatar Niki Winchell

    Michelle,
    My friend Ann got me hooked on stamping. My son was about 2. I was frustrated that I could not get any projects finished. It just seemed as if I had only 15 or 20 minutes at a time to do anything that I wanted to do. Ann was a fledgling Stampin Up! demonstrator. She invited me to a workshop. I found I could finish a simple card in 15 or 20 minutes. What a sense of accomplishment–a finished project! My first stamp set was the Water Color Minis. My son is 9, and I haven’t bought a card in years. Of course, I’ve spent much more on stamps, inks, embossing powders, embellishments, the list goes on. I’m learned so much, and continue to enjoy and learn new stamping “stuff” all the time. Thanks for all the great tutorials.

    Niki

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  41. veee (vlstrs)'s avatar veee (vlstrs)

    I had moved away from friends and family. I wanted to “keep in touch” but buying cards for everyone was pretty expensive and time consuming. Unlike making my own! LOL I was traveling almost 50 weeks a year with my job and needed something that I could do while traveling. I found a great stamp store in Folsom, CA, it has since closed, took a class there, and started making cards. I was introduced to Stampin Up in 2003 when I moved to Austin, TX. My cards got a whole lot better with the monthly camps and the techniques from our demonstrator. I discover you, Michelle, a few months ago. My cards have taken another leap since then. I look at the blog everyday and am grateful that you are so generous with you time and share with all of us.

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  42. Rhett's Girl's avatar Rhett's Girl

    Hi from Normal, Illinois. My sister-in-law sent me stamped cards several years back and I was awed by her creations and the love that went into each one. I was positive I could never do that … yet the whole idea was so exciting! So one day after watching a Carol Duvall show on stamping, I jumped up to try it. Horrible results!! I forgot to write down the recipe and ended up using a watery Elmer’s glue solution to “decoupage” my art. After a few days my husband wondered why there was a stink coming from the dining room table. Turns out the cupful of gloppy glue had soured!! lol I started walking everyday soon after that with an artsy friend who really encouraged me to start making cards again, so that very day we pounded flowers onto fabric and paper. I LOVE nature like you do, and the cards turned out pretty, but needed a sentiment. Since I had seen Wonderful Words in many card magazines, I used the Internet to locate a Stampin’ Up distributor, and hosted a workshop with ten ladies at my house the next week. I got more than a few stamps that day! That was three years ago this August and, now, 600 cards later, and more stamps than the law allows, I am still lovin’ it and still in awe of the process. Thanks for a walk down memory lane and a chance for some sweet candy!!

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  43. Peggy Maier's avatar Peggy Maier

    I am subscribed thru your RSS feed because I don’t want to miss your next work of art. Thanks for inspiring me to try new things! (Whenever I see a sunset/sunrise card I immediately think “Zindorf!) It’s hard to remember your first name is Michelle! Anyhow… I was invited to a Stampin’ Up! party by my Pastor’s wife – I wasn’t all that interested, but came again the next time she asked, something clicked – and as most of your commenters said, “The rest is history!” She is still the demo, but I do the choosing of the cards we’ll be making at our Stamper’s Six club meetings, getting everything ready & showing the ladies how to make them. (I know, I know – I should be a demo – it’s probably just a matter of time) It’s a joke between us now that she should be ashamed of herself… a Pastor’s wife… getting me hooked on stamping. (Especially bad, because she’s also the one who introduced me to SCS)

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  44. Shirley Blair's avatar Shirley Blair

    Over 25 years ago, I visited my sister in California and saw a cute dove stamp that I thought would look nice on a Christmas envelope. Stamping wasn’t big then. Then about 10 years later I was invited to a ‘stamping’ party where the hostess was going to make her wedding invites. The leader explained how we could save money with stamps. HA!!! Well… yes the rest is history. I am still saving money…lol.

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  45. Wendalyn's avatar Wendalyn

    What great blog candy. That is simple I use to work with a girlfriend of mine and never even heard of stamping. Then she gave me a beautiful homemade card for my birthday and from then on I was hooked. That was 8 years ago and I have been hooked ever since making over a dozen cards each week… haha… I told my husband that making cards for myself would save us money. Little did he know at the time haha… Love your blog.

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  46. Lori's avatar Lori

    Hi Michelle! My story is a bit different. In 1997, my dd had to have major spinal surgery, and was in the ICU for a long time. My Mom stamped, but I never had. Mom put together a CARE package for dd, Mom thought it was something dd could do from bed. Mom showed me how the goodies worked. A heat gun, embossing power, stamps inkpads, and markers. DD could have cared less! But I was stuck 24/7 in the ICU and waiting room. I stamped and colored images for weeks. I still use the heat gun my Mom brought dd!

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  47. Dawn's avatar Dawn

    I came to stamping because I married into a Jewish family! We live in the middle of nowhere Northern Minnesota and I could not find any kind of cards, wrapping paper or gift tags for these crazy new (to me) holidays. A friend invited me to a Stampin’ Up party where I saw some great Jewish themed stamp sets. I also love that I can make Season’s Greetings cards for everyone- I’m just not organized enough to send Hanukah cards to some and Christmas to others. I joined a Stampin’ Hostess Club last year- I love my night out with the girls. The conversations we have when our hands are busy… I am so a Michelle wannabe! I majored in Fine Art Photo in college so was pretty snotty about stamping at first but I love what I can do with it without a darkroom and scary chemicals.

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  48. Jany's avatar Jany

    I am from Puerto Rico. I learned scrapbooking while in high school and since then I started loving papercraft (Maybe even before since my dad used to do me a few things in origami when I was a kid). I am quite good at crafts but while adolescent I lost interest and I retook them once I was about to finish the university. By error I ordered some wooden stamps, thinking they were stickers and left them behind except for one or other time when I wanted to use those images. A year ago, I took a card class and got interested (still forgeting those wood stamps I have somewhere at home and just last week I found). Took another class where the demo used stamping in scrapbooking and she had me completely.

    I love to scrapbook and to add stamping to it. Now I’m working in creating cards and other altered items as well as paper crafting and ALWAYS look for a way to add some stamping to it!

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  49. Lyn's avatar Lyn

    Back in 1996, a friend I taught with invited me to a “rubber stamp” party. I had NO interest in going (back then, I thought rubber stamps would be those things we stamped on students paper “Nice Work”, “Try Harder”, etc.) I could not imagine how that would be any fun at all, but I really liked Jackie and was afraid no one else would go so I went for the moral support. Over $100 of Stampin’ Up stuff later, I was hooked, decided to have my own party and about 6 after that became a Stampin’ Up demonstrator. I’ve gotten my mom, sister and sister-in-law all hooked as well. We love it!!

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  50. Dianne's avatar Dianne

    Well Miss Card Diva you deseve all this attention since your cards are the BEST..
    I used to make my own cards and when I started stamping them it was much easier then doing it all by hand.. I’ll still give the stamps I win to my friend Tonniece, since she is my card Diva :):)

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