Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
Ok, here's the deal. I have TONS of stamping stuff. I have been involved in stamping for many years, however, I am losing the deisre to stamp! :shock:
I really thought with my husband in Iraq that I'd be living in my craft room! But, all I can really think about is how to get rid of it all!!!!!! I've forced myself to go in there, but I don't want to use any of it!
I keep telling myself that the desire to stamp will come back........ but I don't think it will! :oops:
I've sold alot of my retired stamps and it felt good to mail them off! :shock: Of course, I still have thousands of dollars worth of stuff and not sure what to do with it all!!!!!!
...could be because DH is away-when you're feeling happier and he's home and life is like it should be, you may want to pick it up again. I'd wait awhile before selling it all off!
Oh Barb, lie down on the couch and work it out! You can not give up stamping, it is like a cult - you can check out but you can never leave. Your paper can get old and faded, but it just means you have to try vintage styles until the new stock arrives :-)
Seriously, having your dh away would alter you life in so many ways I could not imagine. You may get the bug back if you stamp with a group - join a class, or organize a group of gals just to get together and gab a bit and stamp some too. Perhaps there is someone who was new and interested in learning, you could be their teacher.
Barb we need to get together and STAMP......... or better yet.... you need to come to Debbie's house friday night, EVERYONE has been wanting to meet you
Maybe challenge yourself? You could tell yourself you're going to go and make 5 cards to send to Keri for the troops or to send as RAK's, and not worry about if they're your style or even if you like them at the end of the night. Give yourself permission to just have fun and maybe you'll wind up being inspired again!
Is it possible you are suffering from mild depression as your husband is away? This would depress me . . . I can't stand it when he's away even for one night, and I can't focus on things I normally enjoy . . .
He has to leave for work-related trip tonight for 2 nights, and I'm already feeling a little anxious . . . we try to spend very little time apart . . .
I can see where worrying about your dh's safety while he's in Iraq would be expecially taxing on one's energy and enthusiasm for much else . . .
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Babs}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
Barb,
I don't have any advice, just give yourself a chance. I like the idea of making 5 cards for the troops, so even if they aren't your taste or style, it's OK. Having a spouse away must be awfully stressful - don't let something that's supposed to be fun add to your stress. And always remember, there are 25,00 of us here who can listen, err, read.
Speaking from todays experience, I would have to say WAIT!!!! DON'T MAKE A HASTY MOVE...My DH is gone right now as well...one week down eleven to go...today was really hard...I tried to stamp. I made a few Wedding invites for my little Brother that I hated...made them over about five times...My mom loved them and I have ten people that commented in the gallery...so I think it is just me today... I also made a girlfriend a card for her birthday that I hate but she is getting it anyway! It looks ok but I didn't enjoy making it because I felt I was working with two left hands full of THUMBS!!! My day has not been the best and I think it showed in my work...
So my advice is let it sit... remember why you loved it to begin with and see if it is just a "mood"... I am hoping I wake up happy again tomorrow and can get some good old stamping in!
And as always, breathe in, breathe out...ahhhhhhh
My first thought was the same as JulieHRR's. Depression? It does some mighty strange things to people, especially women. It can mess up your hormones which makes everything 10x worse. I know our first PCS I was so homesick-for my MIL-that I'd sleep all day and night. I didn't want to do anything I normally would've done. Then I got a job that made everything a whole lot better.
Can you close the door to your room? don't even look at it for several days. Read a book, watch some movies, golf, whatever makes you happy. See if these things help you any.
Good luck,
I'll say a special prayer for you tonight. For some reason, a lot of them come true.
mary h.
I don't think it's depression (don't get me wrong, I miss hubby terribly, and do worry!) however, I've been doing cross stitch, lots of reading, going to the gym, and hanging out with friends. So I am doing things, just not so much feeling the stamping. :(
__________________ Barb Coughlin
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape!
i went through that this past fall for about a month and a half. Couldn't figure out why. I just had no desire to stamp. I did other things and then it came back to me and now I'm enjoying it again.
Do other things that you enjoy. I find that NOT looking through the gallery helps..I think I get overwhelmed looking at all the beautiful work and then don't feel that I can do as good as them.
I went through the same thing the last few months of my pregnancy until right after christmas. I just wasn't inspired and didn't have any desire to fiddle. Although I still enjoyed looking at the galleries, I just didn't feel like sitting and trying to come up w/ ideas to stamp on paper just so that someone could throw it away. I would have wasted time, money and I just didn't see how it could be worth it.
But then SAB started and I got my Bundle Up! set and a few more sets...and wow. The urge came back. I've gotten a second wind. Don't know why this happened. I had ALL of my stampin' stuff at my moms. Never brought a lick of it home. Now, along w/ my 3 kids (all under 3 1/2) and their stuff, I take my stampin' stuff to and from. I stamp again while their napping, as I browse this site. Not sure why this happened or how it stopped. It just did.
I wish you luck with dealing with this. No matter how you decide! Also, thanks for sharing your husband w/ the rest of the country. I don't know how you gals do it. God Bless and Speed!
My neighbor's husband is off in the war and she too has packed up all of her stamps. She said the same thing that she doesn't have the desire. I told her that her husband would love getting some of her homemade cards since he is so far away. I think that your husband would probably enjoy having something nice made by you also. Don't give up your stamping, if you need to put it on hold.
I would like to share something that happened to me. Before I became a stamper I use to sew all kinds of cloth dolls. I even sold them. I did this for many years and I thought I would never give it up. I have always done some kind of crafts since I was young but this sewing thing really seemed like it was for me. Well my dad died about five yrs. ago and for some reason after he died I totally lost interest in it and have never had a desire since. I didn't give all my material, patterns, etc. away until recently. What I did was I packed it all up and stored it away, thinking maybe my desire would come back. Than we sold our house last Feb. to move into a cond and I had to do something with all that stuff. I figured if I hadn't done anything with it for five yrs. I probably wasn't going to in the near future so I decided to give it all away. I wouldn't give my stamping away as I could either sell it or trade it. Maybe you could just pack it up and store it somewhere for now and see what happens. Do you like to scrapbook? If so maybe you could use some of your things for now for that. With your hubby being away he might like to have all those pictures. If you want to talk please email me. Carol
I think these things can come and go like seasons, when there are big changes in your life! From the moment I found out I was expecting my second baby to the day he was born, I did NOT stamp once. I just had no desire whatsoever. I was even the hostess for my stamp club during that time and ended up earning 6 new sets--they sat unmounted in a drawer for months afterwards. I was worried and told my husband that I felt silly having hundreds of dollars of stamping supplies that I had no interest in! He reminded me that I had no emotional energy left between my older child and being pregnant...so creative energy was waaaaay down the line. There just wasn't any.
Then after my baby was born, I all of a sudden felt more normal and took an interest in stamping again! It just appeared one day, as suddenly as it had left. I don't know why! But I thought I'd second the folks who are counseling to just wait it out--if you still aren't interested after your life goes back to a more even keel, then you know you can make a bundle selling off your stock.
Best wishes to you!
Amanda
__________________ Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. --Mark Twain
well - first let me say - don't beat yourself up for not being in the mood. i have been stamping for about 7 years? and there have been long stretches where i wasn't in the mood. so far, i have always come back to it - whether a week or a month, or even longer. but i am also not sure that some day i won't want to do it any more. something else will be more interesting, or whatever. (can't quite imagine that, but i don't rule out the possibility.) the whole thing is a hobby and is supposed to be fun and relaxing for you. if it isn't, then put it aside for as long as it takes to want to do it again. or not. don't tell yourself now how this has to turn out. remember - fun and relaxing!!!
i am currrently going through the same thing you are - my husband has been deployed now for 5 months in iraq. i didn't stamp much at all the first few months. don't know why - i just didn't. had fun browsing here and shopping for stuff - but hardly used any of it. now the bug has hit again for whatever reason.
i've learned (after many many deployments) that things are just plain different when they are gone. i am a capable woman and all that, so i handle it fine, i guess. (People keep telling me i do, anyway!) but no matter what, it is different. routines change. life changes. just stay healthy and happy as best you can. you are in survival mode, as i call it, while they are gone. do whatever it takes to get through, and then re-examine it all after his return.
god bless you. and remember - don't beat yourself up for not enjoying it right now. it will almost surely come back to you. (but if not, that's okay too.) it's all good....
__________________
Marni - SCS #14788 and SU Demo
My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. Thornton Wilder
i've learned (after many many deployments) that things are just plain different when they are gone. i am a capable woman and all that, so i handle it fine, i guess. (People keep telling me i do, anyway!) but no matter what, it is different. routines change. life changes. just stay healthy and happy as best you can. you are in survival mode, as i call it, while they are gone. do whatever it takes to get through, and then re-examine it all after his return.
It sounds to me like you're just not in the mood. I haven't been in the mood to scrapbook in well over a year. I know it'll come back some day, so I'm not stressing over how behind I am. I figure it'll just give me more to scrap when I feel like it.
I'm not always in the mood to make cards either. I have lots of other things I love to do, so I just do that stuff instead. Don't rush to get rid of your stuff. You could get the urge again tomorrow or next week or next month, and you'd be so sorry if you sold everything.
Here is my free advise to you. Don’t sell anymore of your sets unless you desperately need the money. They are not costing you anything just having them sit there. Don’t “force�? yourself to go in there. You’ll go in there when you are ready to. What you are going through is a type of grieving and it will pass. Perhaps when you begin to feel better about things you will take up stamping again. Next time you contact your husband ask him if anyone there could use some cards to send home to their loved ones. You could turn this into a positive mission project of providing cards for those there to use. Give it some time, time is the greatest healer.
i've learned (after many many deployments) that things are just plain different when they are gone. i am a capable woman and all that, so i handle it fine, i guess. (People keep telling me i do, anyway!) but no matter what, it is different. routines change. life changes. just stay healthy and happy as best you can. you are in survival mode, as i call it, while they are gone. do whatever it takes to get through, and then re-examine it all after his return.
Next time you contact your husband ask him if anyone there could use some cards to send home to their loved ones. You could turn this into a positive mission project of providing cards for those there to use.
Thinking about it now........... I made enough cards to send to my hubby for each day he was gone (approx. 450 different ones) and enough cards for him to take with him to share with his buddies. Maybe I am experiencing major burnout! :shock:
__________________ Barb Coughlin
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape!
I would agree with everyone that it is normal to go through spells where you don't feel like stamping. I just recently went through one myself. I like the idea of closing the door, or if it's more serious, packing the stuff away for awhile. Don't force it. It's ok to take a break!
If you feel that you just need motivation, then join a swap. Several people suggested that to me when I felt in a slump and it helped.
I'm not saying that this is what you are going through, but I use to quilt. And I mean quilt!!!! I would crank out 7-10 quilts per year, big ones! I was hooked. Then all of a sudden I didn't want to see another scrap of fabric. I had a ton of fabric, and supplies. I packed them up and moved them with me from place to place for years. Finally, one day I sold them. Looking back I don't regret it at all. I realized that my grandmother had died, and she was a quilter. I started quilting a couple years after her death. I think it was my way of greiving. And it was ok to let go of.
So anyway, please just make sure that this is truly done for you before you part with all your stuff.
I'll keep you and your DH in my thoughts! I hope he returns home soon.
Angie
__________________ I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone. Bill Cosby
I would definetly wait awhile before you sold everything. Thnk about how long it took you to get the stuff and how much money you have invested. You wouldn't want to get rid of it all and then get the urge and have to start over. If after a few months and you still have no desire, try selling/trading a few things and see how you feel.
Good luck! I think we have all been there in one way or another whether it be stampin, scrapbooking, etc
__________________
Powerful Women's Motto:
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says.. 'Oh sh*t....she's awake'
Desperately looking for help!!!!!!!
I feel the urge to lay on the couch and spill my guts! 
