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Okay, I've been struggling with this ? for a while. Right now I feel like I'm 90% collector! I have always loved crafting, and I do love stamping as well as scrapbooking. But, I don't do as much as I should (not that there is a correct amount). I just find myself buying more and more stamp sets as well as scrapbooking goodies. I'm on this site daily (okay, several times daily)! I spend more time organizing, mounting and shopping than I actually stamp. I make cards for when I "need" them, last minute. I know part of my problem is being a perfectionist, I'm always waiting for the perfect time to create. I have great intentions, but I feel I just don't make it a true priority to "use" my collection. I guess I'm trying to justify my craft room full of supplies, and any future purchases! LOL!.
Do any of you, feel you collect more than you create? If so tell me your story, and then maybe we can inspire each other to use our stuff!
Dina
Oh, a lot of what you said strikes home with me. Except for the perfectionist part. But I LOVE going to stamp stores, any kind of craft stores, looking at the cards here, reading the forums, I definitely spend more time shorpping than stamping, and more time on this site than stamping. I never seem to have what I need to make the "perfect" card so I think if I buy more stuff I'll get better. It's a problem that I've struggled with.
I want to stamp, but often I find that I *need* one item I don't have to finish a card or layout, so have to make another shopping trip or place another order
Me too! Me too! Boy, I don't spend nearly enough time actually using my stuff but I'm constantly buying new things. I'm trying to get my stamp/scrap room more organized so that I can be happy playing in there. As it is I keep burying both of my tables under bags of new toys! I MUST have all the newest stuff -- both scrapping and stamping and then I just file it all away. I keep thinking that I'll make more time to stamp and scrapbook (because I used to -- one day every week was an all day scrap & stampathon). I'm really thinking summer has something to do with it. In the fall & winter it's really easy for me to just stay home in my pj's and play.
Everything you all said goes for me too. I laughed out loud at the comment about perfectionism....That is SO me! I can't make something unless everything is just so - the house is clean, the kids are fed, the idea is complete, and I have each and every accessory I need at hand. Needless to say, these conditions are never met so I just cruise this site and think about stamping instead. Don't know what to do about it, either. :sigh:
Count me in too. I definitely spend more time shopping and on SCS than I do stamping. My son told me I have an entire craft store in the dining room. (No stamp room until he moves out.) I think that my problem is twofold. During the school year, I don't have time to stamp because I always have papers to grade. In the summer, I'm always trying to catch up on things that haven't gotten done over the school year. I can sit down at the computer for 20 minutes, but I need a longer span of time to create something. I definitely stamp more in the summer, but I really need to use up some of the stuff that I have before I buy more.
I'd say I'm 80% collector. I'm sure I have plenty of stamps that have never seen ink.
We should check out each other's galleries, then all go make a card to post!
Me too! Me too! Boy, I don't spend nearly enough time actually using my stuff but I'm constantly buying new things. I'm trying to get my stamp/scrap room more organized so that I can be happy playing in there. As it is I keep burying both of my tables under bags of new toys! I MUST have all the newest stuff -- both scrapping and stamping and then I just file it all away. I keep thinking that I'll make more time to stamp and scrapbook (because I used to -- one day every week was an all day scrap & stampathon). I'm really thinking summer has something to do with it. In the fall & winter it's really easy for me to just stay home in my pj's and play.
This is me to a "t"...I do have tons of stuff and don't use half of it but feel that I will "need" it someday for one project or another. I love shopping in all kinds of craft stores etc. I have most everything I need or ever want but there is always one more thing that I can't live without...I have found that I have to be in a stampin' or scrappin' mood or my creations are just not up to snuff in my eyes. I do a much better job when I actually want to be in my stampin' space; and when my space is organized and neat. Doesn't matter if it gets messy while I'm playin' but it has to be neat when I start. Make sense? I am more apt to play with my stamps when it isn't so nice outside. Then I can cozy up downstairs and play.
Yeah, I'm not alone! I'm so glad to hear from others who are dealing with similar issues, regarding our hobby. I mentioned the perfectionism because I really feel that is the main thing holding me back. Several weeks ago I heard an artist/ crafter on tv (I don't remember what show) say something to the effect of... you have to let go of perfectionism and try/ do your craft, some things will turn out great others may not, but it's the actual doing and creating that is the point. So it really got me thinking. Now if only, I had all the stuff done on my to do list, I could focus on stamping and scrapping!
Dina
We should check out each other's galleries, then all go make a card to post!
That is a great idea, although I don't have a gallery yet.
I had an idea also.... Make 3 very different cards with each stamp set. That way sets that have never been used ,will "see ink" (as you said). And then we will have something to inspire us to re-use those sets in the future. Anyway, it's just a thought to get myself to actually use my stuff.
Dina
One thing I can suggest to help you stamp more than you collect is to participate in challenges. This has helped me immensely over the last several months. ASB has weekly challenges and I participate in just about every one of them. One recent challenge was very helpful. I bought a stamp set that I loved...but wasn't sure how much I would actually use it. Then someone posted a challenge to make 4 cards with your favorite set. Well, this happened to be my favorite set, so I took the challenge. It was a little difficult at first, but once I got past the first card, the ideas kept flowing.
I have also noticed that as the years have gone on, I have become much more selective about my stamp purchases. It used to be that I would want everything in the catalog. Now I actually think about how much I would use a set before I buy it. Of course it took me about 7 years to get to that point! LOL
I am slowly changing from a stamp collector to an actual stamper, I know because my next order is going to have a ton of cardstock (to replace all I have been using) and very few stamps (Although I like a lot of them I can't justify getting many more at this point)
__________________ Kristina Wife, Mommy, Stamper, Nurse Laura 6yo Jack 5yo, James 4/20/08 Megan arrived 3/16/09
I never thought of my insistence that everything I sit down to make turn into a useable project as perfectionism, but in light of dgmlmax's comment it certainly looks that way. It's hard to wrap my head around letting go of that.
I am also 90% collector. I have every intention of using all that I purchase but that intention goes out the window once I get on this site. Wonder why that is??
I am also 90% collector. I have every intention of using all that I purchase but that intention goes out the window once I get on this site. Wonder why that is??
I think it is just as much fun to look at other's creations as to make your own.
Well I LOVE to buy stuff, and I like buying it more that using it almost, but I think that just about everything I buy, I use. So I think I'm about 95% stamper, and 5% buyer. I have a lot of time on my hands, so I make a ton of cards. I make so many cards, I finally decided I should be doing something with them, so now I'm in the process of making cards for people in nursing homes that don't get visitors.
I have also noticed that as the years have gone on, I have become much more selective about my stamp purchases. It used to be that I would want everything in the catalog. Now I actually think about how much I would use a set before I buy it. Of course it took me about 7 years to get to that point! LOL
This is where i'm at right now too. I'm very picky about the stamp sets I buy, only because I want to make sure I will actually use them. Besides that, i'm running out of storage! LOL!
Oh Man! This is SO me and I have terrible guilt over continuing to purchase and collect and not using the stuff very often.
My problem is small children in the house all the time, 24 hours a day.... and I work from home, so any time that they are happy and occupied, I usually end up working.... or HERE!
I have trouble starting a crafting project unless I know I have an hour or two or uninterrupted time - which is never!
I have been collecting craft supplies so long, that by the time they all get into full-time school, I will be set with projects and supplies until they graduate!!
Thanks for posting this! Nice to know you are not alone!
I can totally relate.Right now, my excuse for buying is....get everything I need before I retire! Then I'll have all kinds of time to "play" But there's always something else I need..so I'll never be done ~sigh~
I do try to set aside a Saturday now and the for a "playday" with my sister and sister-in-law, and I have learned to totally ignore the housework....used to be that I ,too, had to have everything done before I felt comfortable about stamping.....but wooohoooo ...no more !! haha
I have also started to teach classes for a gal who owns one of the stamp stores in town, so this way I HAVE to be creative and get up there and actually USE my "stuff"
Happy Stampin'
For me I call this OCCI - Obsessed Collector with Completion Issues! Kid you not, I have over 500 SU sets and have never once used 10% of them. I, like you, spend most of my time on this website saving cards/projects that I intend to make sometime in the future. Then the new catty comes out or another mini and there are several sets I know I cannot live without, so the cycle goes on. I am an organizer too, so I have my sets methodically cataloged and organized and I even know how much I have spent on the entire lot yikes!!!!!!!! I am a hobbyist and know I could make some money off of this, I just have never felt like doing that so here I am with a craftroom that most would die for and I am producing very little. Do you think to yourself, "Hey if I just get in there and create everyday I will get myself in the groove of it?" Kind of like starting a new job and you know how nervous you are the first couple of weeks and then hey you become a pro at it. Well, I am still waiting to find my groove! Anyway, to make a short story long, I loved your thread and can so relate!!!
I am slowly changing from a stamp collector to an actual stamper, I know because my next order is going to have a ton of cardstock (to replace all I have been using) and very few stamps (Although I like a lot of them I can't justify getting many more at this point)
When I started stamping years back, my dh wasn't aware of how much I had. The Christmas after I started stamping, he was looking for a place to hide my Christmas gift and the place he selected had a ton of stamp sets (all of SU). He was shocked because he didn't know anything about my new hobby. Needless to say, I may have had a ton of stamps as I still do, and I am finding now that I need to justify to myself would I use a set before I buy it. I have several sets that I thought I just had to have and have not even mounted them. I also find that it is hard to get rid of some of them, just in case I might use them. I don't feel that I am very creative so I spend more time on SCS than I do trying to make a card. Maybe someday, I will get in gear and really sit down and make cards.
__________________ Sandy~
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
I'm glad to hear others suffer from the collect and hoard mentality, not just me. I do use everything I have, although not as often as I should or would like.
A couple of tips:
- Don't leave sets unmounted. I mount everything as soon as it arrives. Its much easier to pull out a mounted set when you are in the middle of a project than to pull out an unmounted one and then have to mount it. You know you won't do it, you'll just reach for an alternative set instead.
- You don't need hours to make a card. And you don't have to make whole cards each time. I have small kids and usually only get 1 hour breaks (when they take their naps). The trick is getting prepared.
On your first break, go and cut some cardstock in 1/2 and score down the middle (i.e. make the cards). On your second break, go pick a stamp set and a neutral piece of cardstock and stamp all over it. Then cut out these stamped images in the required sizes (often I am casing so this is decided for me). If you have time, color them. Now when you get to your third break, start assembling the designs to the card fronts, play with mats and accessories.
If only I could apply this logic to scrapbooking! I seem to have a much harder time working on layouts than cards as layouts (for me) seem to take much longer.
Well now I feel better about owning a couple thousand dollars in supplies that I never seem to use. HA! I feel normal again. Everything else in life has to be done and perfect before I'm "allowed" to stamp and we all know that's never going to happen. These days, it's stacked in the dining room and I compare it to playing Barbie when I was little -- by the time I get it all out, everyone dressed, and the furniture assembled, I don't want to play anymore. I spent hours getting ready, browsing the website for ideas, taking notes, by the time I sat down to actually stamp, I have lost interest. My next project is taking my new label maker and putting my name on my stamps, so when friends borrow them, (who actually stamp!!!!!) I can be sure I get them back, and thanks to this site, I'm going to make a three ring binder of my inventory and stamp each set so I can see what I have.
Location: Dreaming about playing in Sher's Craftroom!!!!
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OMG... I'm sooooo the collector. Is that what they call it now!! LOL. I just bought more stuff they other day and still haven't stamped. I see a new technique go buy the stuff for it and never do it!!! I'm bad, but part of my problem now is I don't have my stamp room anymore. I'm working on getting an area set up now. But you know how that goes!!!!
Hello My name is Shelley and I am stamp/scrap/craft collector! I buy buy buy with great intentions and never seem to get a thing made! When I do stamp I make on card in 6 hours....that is not good.
I think my biggest hang up is that I strive to "create" something new and different with each card.
For me the goal should be to find something I can "case" and just sit down and make it.
I find that I am overwhelmed with "ALL THIS STUFF" and tend to spend more time cleaning up and finding spots for everything I have recently purchased!
__________________
Shelley
The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
I am about 10% collecter. I do not have one stamp SU stamp that was never used. I do have a few dollar store stamps that I have not, but I buy those mainly for DD. I've been scrapbooking for about 6 years and have learned my lesson buy the time I got to stamping. I have many supplies I just had to have that now if I used them look VERY dated. I never used or rarely used them thinking that I'll use them later.
Also I have my space organized in a way that I don't have to dig for anything. If digging and seaching is required, I usually use something else.
That said. I am a terrible paper hoarder and now am starting on ribbons and charms. I do have them displayed so that I can see them instead of in a box somewhere. That is the first step for me. Now I just need to organize my beads and confetti so I'll start using that.
__________________ Taryn
"Forget regret or life is yours to miss." - Jonathan Larson
Perhaps a support group should be started!!!! I too was a collector, not a user, and to some extent still am. But about a year ago, I yelled at myself in my head (I do that a lot) and would now allow me to buy ANYTHING else until I started using the stuff I had. Got together with a friend and couple of like-minded family people and started using my stuff. Found this site and started using stuff more. The challenges are GREAT for getting the cards going. Also, I tend to buy my stamps (I've now allowed me to buy some more stuff but I limit what I buy) through these classes my demonstrator holds. She has them once a month, offers the stamp set to buy without shipping/handling, we make a few cards with it, and then take our projects and set home to use. I like this because I get a few examples of the set, which totally inspires me to use it more. I've also done more things that are not cards, the mini books, comp books, the clipboards, and other things all inspired by this site. I also talk to my demonstrator a lot before I buy things and actually LISTEN to her suggestions. She is great and never steers me wrong. She suggested the color wheel and I rolled my eyes at that but now that I have used it I LOVE IT. I'm not always good at picking colors to match and this thing is great. And when I buy things, I buy papers and inks so I can have all of the SU colors. It really makes a difference. Hoarding things was a big problem and still is (can't seem to make me use the ribbons I got as a gift from a friend or my hardware hodgepodge) but am slowly getting better at that. I hoarded the paper, wouldn't use it, now use it all the time. Totally makes a difference in the finished project, I love what I did, think I do a better job than I thought before, so get further inspired to keep going. Now if I could only learn to clean up my area when I'm done so when I want to stamp again, I don't have to take an hour to clean and put the 'past' away!!!! And I've organized my stuff so many different times that I've stopped trying. Mary
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Now that I have recovered
from all of your comments (what a hoot this has been to liven up my day)
When I started with SU (which was day 1 for me for stampin and scrappin) I was always frustrated because every time I wanted to do something, I didn't have the supplies, and I think that clicked on the feeling that I don't have enough. I didn't use what I have and I was always cruising the catty and stores for MORE. Plus it was so hard to find anything nice in Canada that I pounced on whatever I could find.
It is now 3 years later. I have begun to learn to balance using my stuff, and the thrill of getting new. This is what I do:
Quit trying to get the project perfect the first time, I allow myself to pitch what I don't like. Sometimes the image in my head needs tweeking to get it right IRL
Sell those darn stamp sets I know I will never use because they may be pretty but they don't 'fit' with my favorite sets. Kind of like when you buy a blouse on sale because it is a deal then spend the next 5 years trying to find a pair of pants that will go with it and by then it is out of style.
RAKS - allows me to play. I work on a design and if I really fall in love, I do up about 6 of them and keep them on my desk to fill RAK requests. Sometimes when I am on about the 3rd one, I come up with a better idea, and so make the change. All 6 never seem to look the same, and I stamp for a good cause.
Finally - if I need some retail therapy, I head to the store and buy a couple of sheets of discount patterned paper and a roll of ribbon to match, maybe a new punch or tool. Then I come home and make more RAKS. If I still love the paper, I may stop in a week later and pick up a few more sheets. Most of the time, I move on.
My name is Rose and I am an OCCI. Major time. I have more time in my life right now than I have ever had and I waste more time too. I can just see my daughter (Mich) reading this and saying "this is my mother to a T". I am becoming more guilt ridden about it but not doing much except making cards as they are due (past due actually - just getting to the July birthdays one at a time). I joined a stamp club to make myself do stuff. I really love doing it but lack motivation. Not sure if the "perfectionism" bit fits me tho. I always feel guilty when someone asks for RAKs or cards for the troops cause I dont have any cards on hand. Rose
I am just like that, too. What I have found helps me is to sit down with one stamp set and some ink pads. I pick colors that appeal to me on that particular day and then I just sit and see what I can create with that particular set. The sets I've found I have the most fun with are the geometric style sets. I can come up with all sorts of things playing around with the different shapes. Usually I end up with some cool background paper for scrapbooking or card fronts and since I am only using white cardstock I don't feel pressured as I would using designer paper, plus if I don't like what I did on one side I just flip it over. I like to create card fronts and then later attach to premade white cards that come with envelopes.
I also found it helps me to have a stamped index of what I already own. Then rather than looking through catalogs planning my next purchase I can flip through my notebook of what I already own and envision what I can create with what I already have. Since not all my stamps are SU the index shows me all that I have available and prevents me from ordering something too similar to what I already have.
What % of a stamp collector are you?
