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?
Here is a question that can open up a Pandora's box...
How did you get started stamping?
I was invited to a playgroup with my son. TRICK! It was a Stampin' Up! demonstration, and I was hooked. I loved the Versamark and pastels, and about 1 year later I became a demo.
So what's your story, how were you lucky enough to be bit by the stamping bug?
__________________ I want people to be afraid of how much they love me-M. Scott
A neighbor invited me over for a "stamp party" I thought it would be so lame but didnt want to hurt her feelings! Now I am addicted and became a demonstrator 6 months later! :lol:
My mom had a Stampin' Up! workshop during her annual Mother's Day brunch (for her girlfriends and women in the family and us girls) and it was just before the 2002-2003 catalog was retiring. I had to have a retiring stamp set for my Christmas cards so I bought that. I was hooked from then on! I went to a stamp camp that November and signed up as a demo. there.
I belong to a MOPS group (Mothers of PreSchoolers) and have since 1995. The Christmas of 1995 one of the other moms brought in her rubber stamps so we could make Christmas cards as our craft. Simple line images stamped on a single piece of cream colored cardstock, colored in with colored pencils. I found it very relaxing and thought, "Hey, I could do this and make our Christmas cards! I could SAVE MONEY MAKING OUR CARDS!!! :lol: :P :lol:
SO I went out forthwith to a stamp store and bought enough to fill a shoe box. And it snowballed from there.
My friend invited me to a SU party. I went, bought some stamps and let them sit for a few years... Then in 2002 my hubby lost his job. I decided to join SU because a minimum workshop being $150 my take being $30 that would at least buy diapers for my daughter or pay our gas bill.... Well right after I signed up my husband got a job and all the stamp money is mine to keep.... or buy more stamps ;o) or whatever. It's been good for me because with 5 kids stamping keeps me SAIN ;o)
Location: It's for me to know & you to find out!!!
Posts: 601
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi,
This is so great to find out how all of these wonderful people got started. I was just invited to a stamp camp about 5 years ago. Now I am thinking about becoming a demo.
Shannon
__________________
Shannon #4236
Happy Stamping
"Remember it took you a while to put the weight on, so it's going to take a bit of time to come off, so be patient."
I was invited to my first stamping workshop at a friends' house in July of 2003. The new catalog had JUST come out. Most of the ladies there were very experienced stampers, and I was the only newbie.
The demonstrator showed us how to make three cards, one of which was made with the Fish from Little Layers (which was in the Summer quarterly flyer at the time). I LOVED THAT FLIPPIN FISH. I bought the set because money was tight, but nothing else. Not even ink.
It amazed me at the demonstration that, even with the same stamps and the same colors, everyone's creation turned out different.
I did some research at the Stampin' Up! Web site about the kit -- and I initially signed up for the discount. Might as well buy it on sale if I'm going to get hooked, right? I ended up signing up with someone other than the demonstrator at the party.... she just wrote me off because I wasn't a big spender. (Word to the wise: ASK EVERYONE, and make no pre-judgements.)
OK nobody's gonna believe this, but here goes....I was invited to a demo by the mother of one of my kindergarten son's friends. And I didn't buy a thing. S'Truth, so help me God! The next day, though, she helped me stamp b-day party invitations for my son, and sent some stamps home with me to play with.....
Seven years later I'm still hooked, although I did have a break for awhile last year...
So Karen, where do you live? Wanna come to my party???
The gal who I signed under sent a catty home with my husband one day, " Saying I know if Becky has a cataloge she'll buy." Well after looking at it every spare minute for a week I phoned her and ask if I could sign up.
I bought my first stamp at a quilt show--it was a quilt block and I wanted to stamp some notecards. No spark because it was a pretty blah stamp. A few years later, I went to a CTMH party and thought the demonstrator wasn't very good at showing the product she was trying to sell. So no excitement, but I bought 6 stamps and had fun with them--for a little while. Then my SIL showed me her Stampin Up collection--and light dawned! :lol: The sets were awesome but I was frustrated because I didn't have a demo in my area. Finally, we moved and I found a wonderful demonstrator, friends who were rubber-crazy and I've been inky ever since! So, my first stamp purchase was 10 years ago, and I've been trying to make up for lost time the past year and a half.
I discovered SU! at my son's tee-ball game in 1997. There was a lady sitting on the bleachers with a catalog. I asked "What's that?" Boy was that a loaded question.
Within the first year, I hosted three parties and got two of my best friends hooked on stamps. I had around 50 SU! sets and about 300 non-SU! stamps. All purchased on an island 35 miles long x 10 miles wide! LOL
I quit stamping from 1999 until February 2003. The summer of 03, I exchanged all but 100 stamps for child care.
I rediscovered SU in Feb 2003 and signed up in June.
Wow! My daughter started it! Shortly after she married (2001), she began to mention stamping with a friend. One day I was at her home while she was just trimming her brand new set of SU stamps - Hand-Painted Petites. She had bought Old Olive and Eggplant Envy Classic pads. I watched her just begin to play with the 2-step set, and I knew this was fun stuff! Later, she was invited to a stamp camp and I went along ... I was hooked! That demonstrator is now my upline and also my friend!
I started stamping for the very first time in 2002. My son was a Bear Scout and I was his den leader. We had a Blue and Gold Banquet and the theme was very patriotic. The boys needed to make placemats but I had a very rowdy group and I ended up making a few. Anyway, I thought I would do something easy as the boys had such a short attention span. I was in a craft store and thought I would look at the stamps. How hard could it be...put some paint on it and stamp...Keep in mind I had never been interested in stamps and thought ppl were out there that did it...Ha! I was so lost! lol So, I show up with my pathetic placemats to help set up the hall at the scout camp and saw that one of the other den leaders had also stamped her groups decorations. "How'd ya do that?" I asked. "Oh it was easy and fun." she said. Ha! So anyway, I didn't really have time and neither did she (she had a ws to do that evening) and so I didn't get anything else outa her. A few days later my packs Committee Chairman asked me to come to her ws she was having. "Sure, I would love to." I'm such a sucker...I'm the one who will go to something and buy something to be polite. Anyway I went and told my dh that I was not gonna spend more than $20. I walked out with almost a $100 order that nite! OMGosh! I went to several more ws and joined her Stampin 10 group. I was hooked. Before long I had almost all the toys and about 1/2 the ink pads and a few stamp sets. My friend kept telling me that I should join up since I spend so much money I might as well get the discount too. Keep in mind that I had signed up already as a PChef consultant and that was not going well. I put it off and put it off. Then Jennifer calls and tells me that SU! is having a "sale" on signing up. I told her I would think about it. I factored in everything and decided to sign up as a Hobby Demo. I made my own minimum so I might as well get the discount and a little money back. lol Well, I have been stamping since then and love it! I have a wonderful upline and now that I am not working outside the home, I have decided to make this a buisness.
__________________ Melissa Wadkins (Mel)
Peace begins with a smile.
Member #3785
Okay... I started my business for the discount but more importantly to meet people. (I had just moved to PA from IN and new one person besides my then boyfriend, now husband.)
I was invited to a workshop by the one person that I new in PA and enjoyed myself. The demonstrator mentioned convention was in Las Vegas that year. I was feeling guilty for having a child out of marriage :shock: I decided I wanted to sign but needed a good "sales pitch." So I convince my DH to let me sign so and go to convention so we could get married and our wedding trip would be a tax write off.
Little did I know what an impact SU! would make on my life.
who didn't have a clue what to do with what she bought.
In 2000 I hosted 2 demonstration's and didn't really get to sit in on them since there were problems with some children that came (I would encourage you to ask the mom's NOT to bring their children, unless they're nursing, btw), so I never really got to participate in the demonstration but I wound up earning a bunch of free stuff and bought a bunch of stuff as well. I was already a GREAT customer.
In 2001 I tried to track another demonstrator down as the first one had quit and I REALLY wanted to learn to stamp. After contacting SU and obtaining names of 3 demo's, nobody bothered to call me back.
I pretty much gave up on getting into stamping as I am the sort of person who learns best by "DOING" not reading about it.
Fall 2003...I have a friend in our homeschool group who was kind enough to take me under her wing last fall, even though she's not a demonstrator. She was merely hosting a catalog party and had me come over to explain all the different techniques of stamping to me that she knew, to play with her sets, stamping assessories, etc. I once again, placed a big order and didn't really do anything with all the pretty stamp sets on my shelf.
Finally, to make a long story short, I knew I was hooked when the lightbulb finally started to go off. I just really got creative with my stamping about 2 months ago when I hosted my own demonstration and decided before the demonstraton that I wanted to have fun with this and earn my own stamp sets and make a little money to support my newfound addiction.
The rest is history...I've had my starter kit almost a month. Hee hee...I now have a very sweet gal who is my immediate upline, and another local gal who is above her in my upline who can answer quite a bit of my questions. Besides that though...I went surfing the net and found this WONDERMOUS place and have been having outbursts of creative juices ever since.
My new bedtime is around midnight by the time I get done parusing the galleries, reading the forums and stamping something I've seen in the gallery or read about.
I keep hoping they'll post a forum for a 12 step stampers forum, but haven't seen it yet. Hmmmmmmm, wonder if I need to make a recommendation.
Well...that's my story.
Now it's time to stamp before I lose my steam. :lol: :P :lol:
__________________ Stampin fool...will stamp on ANYTHING!
A good friend gave me a hand stamped card for my 40th birthday and I was WOWed, but didn't think I could do that! She later invited me to a stamp party in which all my friends would be attending so I went and decided to only order an alphabet set (for scrapbooking only, I am an avid scrapbooker, too!) and a couple of stamp pads, which I accomplished. I held a newborn baby at the party and barely glanced at anything she demoed. I took my order home and hardly played with it at all. One good friend booked off of this party and invited me and I felt obligated to go and was going to just get a couple more colors of ink pads, that's all. The baby wasn't there, I loved the cards she demoed and it was also sell-a-bration! I ordered $50 and got a free set and haven't stopped since! I started to try to count my stamp sets recently for that line of conversation and stopped at 75 because I got too scared to know how many I really own! (I am not a demo, either!)
I am creative and I didn't know it!
OH MY GOSH... I've been thinking about making a 12-step list for all of us. I'm sitting at my computer at almost 1:00am trying desperately to finish an essay for one of my classes. I keep promising myself that if I get to 700 words, I'll go to SCS and look around. Well, I get about 20 words written and bring up SCS.
So I went to the AA website and copied the 12-steps. Instead of working on my paper, I started a funny version of stamping 12-steps. I'll have to share it after I finish my essay!
Getting started stamping... I was invited (suckered into) to a demonstration at a friend's house. I left with a $100+ order. It has been downhill, or uphill depending on perspective, ever since. I do curse my friend though. I think my husband has voodoo dolls :twisted: of both of us somewhere (probably near the checkbook)!
__________________ "We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." Anais Nin
My niece was an SU! Hostess, and I drove an hour and a half, to be supportive (I had done it before-Tupperware, Pampered Chef, etc!!!) But stamping was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT! My DH would have had a heart attack if he knew how much I spent that fateful evening! When I got home I realized that this was a very social hobby and the nearest stamper was over an hour away. I became a Demo for the discount, but have about 20 hard-core customers that keep me afloat!
I am known among my friends and as far as my legend reaches as the "Crafty Keri, do it all..." I cook, I bake, I sew , home dec and clothes, Made my own wedding gown...yeah so you can say I was fated for this...But I had NEVER stamped until Feb of last year!!!! I went to a party, bought over eighty dollars worth of stuff, booked a party for a few months later and signed up after my party!!!! Talk about a whirlwind! So I am now almost at my one year mark, have not yet posted a loss but still have not made a penny. But let me tell you...stamping has made the legend of "Crafty Keri, do it all..." reach farther than it ever has before!
I am a consultant for Creative Memories and Mary Kay and my customers are always inviting me to their parties - I'm totally modulated with Tupperware and completely modernized with my cooking utensils through Pampered Chef. Of course, I was invited to quite a few SU parties through the years, too. But, figuring I wasn't creative, I would borrow a catty, place an outside order to be polite and that was the end of it. A couple of years later, now having an "inventory" of around $200 worth of SU products (never even mounted) my girlfriend had a SU party and insisted I come over so I would learn what to do with my stamping stuff. That was Feb of 2000. I have been completely addicted ever since!
Since finding this website over a year ago, I have toyed with the idea of becoming a SU consultant, too, but alas, I cannot as both CM and SU would deem it to be a conflict of interest since both supply scrapbooking needs. So, I will stick with CM since I have already invested 8 years of my life with them and have many loyal customers. For those of you considering it though I would say just jump in with both feet and do it. The details will work themselves out in the long run and your excitement will take you places you never dreamed you would go!
Love these stories. I received a stamped invitation in the mail. It was embossed and I was fascinated. I asked the stamper all kinds of questions and then went to the craft store and bought some things. My little itty bitty stamps and ink pads fit into a container that I can't even put all of my embellishments in now LOL. I branched out and then was invited to a SU party. I look back at my first attempt at stamping when I simply stamped something in black ink and colored with some colored pencils and markers. I thought it was so special. Little did I know how far it could go. I love it.
I went to my first party at a friends house in the fall of 2003 and I was hooked! I couldn't get enough so I signed up to be a demonstrator in Feb 2004 so I could afford to buy all the stuff I wanted. And I have been! I sink every single penny that I make into buying stamps and accessories. The past month or two I have only bought neccessities so I could save my money for all the new stamps. I have saved quite a bit so far. I can't wait till the new catalog is delivered! It's going to be a BIG order!
There were many events that brought me here. In 1997 when my daughter was born my SIL came over for a week and helped me stamp some announcements. She basically designed it though so I didn't really get to play.
Then, shortly after that, a friend showed me the scrapbook page she had made at a CM party. I said wow that's really cool but I'm not gonna spend $10 to go to something like that and I didn't know anyone who did it anyway. So I went to my local craft store and looked at some magazines, bought some paper, and started to create pages for my daughter. For the next year I did lots of scrapbooking. I loved it because it was a craft I could keep and had good reason to show it off.
Then in the spring of 1998 my SIL signed up with SU! She sent me a catalog and I looked at it every day for probably 3 months. I wanted everything!!! So when she came out for a visit I had her do a workshop for me and then I signed up. Mostly I wanted the supplies to do scrapbooking. But now I mostly make cards and never have enough time for my books!
I first moved to this area about three years ago. A few months after I got here one of my coworkers had a stamp party. It ended up being a fun way to get to know some people I worked with and little did I know what it would lead to-yikes! It was about a year later that I really got hooked and now there is no turning back.
This is my first post,this is such a good question I couldn't let it pass me by without me putting in my 2 cents.
About 4 years ago I was in Michael's standing in the stamp isle in front of the EP not knowing what I was looking at nor what to do with it. After wondering through the isles for 15 minutes or so a woman who looked like she knew what she was doing came into the stamping isle; being the intreverted person that I am --NOT-- I asked her about EP, how to use it etc. We talked for a few minutes about stamping when she told me that she was having a SU stamping party in a few days and invited me to come. She told me her name and gave me directions to her house and the time the party started. So there I was in the middle of a stamping party with complete strangers and having a great time and learning that the world of stamping has endless possibilities. Luckily my first order was just under $100 but, that night I booked a party and within a month I had singed up to be a demo-- of course only to support my habbit . Four years later I am still supporting my habit and happily overflowing with stamps.
I've been stamping for years, and fancied myself pretty knowledgable (heh, heh) about it. I would go into craft stores, and buy the all night media stamps etc... and I had the emossing powder, the rainbow pads, everything. But I had never made a single crafty thing with them. I just owned them and maybe played on a piece of scratch paper. Then, about 5 years ago my sister in law invited me to a SU! party that she was invited to (I didn't go, heck, I knew all there was to know!) and I looked through the catalog, ordered a few things to be polite. I'm thinking, how stupid all these stamp pad colors and paper. I can go to the stamp store and buy pads and paper for way cheaper! So, still, I did nothing with my stamps. But then, my SIL had her own party and I did go. And I saw how cool the projects were and how easy it was to make a decent looking card with little effort, and I realized that the SU! ink pads really aren't more expensive than others, and the rest is history. I finally decided that if I was going to buy so much, I might as well get some benefit out of it, so I signed up to demonstrate in March. Now, I appreciate the excellent quality of the SU! products!
I belong to a twins club and one of the women who I had been preggers with (her girls are 3 weeks older than mine) had signed up as a Demo about a year ago (maybe more - time flys for me).
So she was having an Open House to have people come by and see what Stampin' Up is all about - so I was interested but I already had Scrapbooking as a nice little money-sucking hobby...I figured I would go and look and that would be it...
NOPE - got sucked in....My first purchase was some letter stamps and a black stamp pad - figured these would be perfect for my scrapbooks....
Then I decided to have a party and expose some other friends to my new found addiction - a $450 party and many free stamp sets later...I am so totally hooked - I badgered my co-worker into having a party and she ended up with a $700+ party!!! Although I have had some restraint due to finances so I try to buy stamp sets that have many uses, but the more I stamp the more I want...Luckly my hubby is starting to see that I actually use the stuff I have and has stopped nagging me as much. Although I did send him the picture of Betsy(??? right person) stamping room with all her stamps with the caption "i could have more stamps"
In order not to make myself look that bad and that addicted I have gotten quite a few of my scrapbooking buddies hooked on stamping - there are 7 of us that all work together and we are doing a card swap amoungst ourselves next month...in addition, between my demo and another person in our twins club(who I believe has more stuff then our demo) we have managed to get a few other twin mommies hooked as well.
My demo (who comes to this site - Hi Patti) is holding a Stamp club that I am going to be in for the next 6 months - I figure I can feed my addiction one month at a time...must show restraint when the new calaloge comes out.
__________________ Jenni -Happy SU Demo - MY GALLERY & MY CHAOTIC LIFE One kid makes you a Parent - Two makes you a Referee
I received an invitation to a Stampin' Up party in January 2003. The note also stated that it was "Sellabration" time and if I spent $50 I could earn free stamp sets. I had been scrapbooking for several years but had never tried stampin. I thought "WHATEVER", I could never spend $50 on stamps!! Funny to think about that now!
A woman here at work who is into Stampin' Up! made a card for another woman here at work. I was immediately hooked! That was in March, 2004. 2 weeks after I saw the card, I had my first Stampin' Up! party where I was the hostess. Now I'm presently in my first whole month as an SU! demo - who would have thought??? 3 months later, I have about 15 SU! stamp sets, 50 non-SU! assorted single stamps and an whole ROOM devoted to stamping!! My DH was complaining to my Dad that all this stamping stuff was driving him crazy. My Dad said, "Well, at least you know where she is and it keeps her out of trouble." And my DH's response was, "Yeah, but will she visit me when I'm in the nut house?". I told him, "Maybe not, but I'll send you a really nice CARD!!!" hahahaha!!! ~Pam
My mom and I were invited to an SU party several years ago that ended up being a THO workshop. It's pressure being related to my mom - she's totally creative and everything she does turns out so great, no matter what the project. I'm the opposite even though everyone we know automatically assumes I'm just like her! At the workshop, I was absolutely amazed at what we made - I just couldn't believe that I could make something that turned out so wonderful! And I realized with stamping, it's pretty much instant gratification (unlike other crafts I tried and failed miserably at) and I loved that!
I kept in contact with the demo and mentioned one day about a year ago at her garage sale that I had just bought a house and when I got more settled in, it'd be fun to have a party. I forgot about it, but like a good demo, she didn't! After that party, she called and asked if I might like to think about being a demo myself since my orders alone could fulfill the quarterly requirement. 2 months ago I signed up!
My DH was complaining to my Dad that all this stamping stuff was driving him crazy. My Dad said, "Well, at least you know where she is and it keeps her out of trouble." And my DH's response was, "Yeah, but will she visit me when I'm in the nut house?". I told him, "Maybe not, but I'll send you a really nice CARD!!!" hahahaha!!! ~Pam
After my daughter was born in late 2001, I wanted to start scrapbooking. I was not too thrilled about stickers, esp the alphabet ones. My DH's cousin sent birthday invites throughout the year for her boys and they were always stamped. They were much cuter than store bought ones. In Sept 2002 I started planning my daughter's 1st birthday party. I decided I wanted to make the invites. The theme was flowers and cute bugs. Luckily WalMart had some cute stamps that matched the other stuff we had so I didn't have to buy the stamps from Michaels. I was convinced though that the stamps at Michaels were way over priced and decided I had to find something cheaper. I had a lot of fun planning them out and making them. My Dh's cousin, who made all the cute invites, was also a SU! demo but she never aproached me about anything. In Dec I went to a crop at her sisters house and found out that she was no longer a demo. They both were using all kinds of cute things from SU! though. I was totally jelouse!
Early 2003 I went to a home show in Sacramento and there was a group of SU! demos. I saw all the wonderful samples and LOVED them! I went to the SU! web site that night and looked around a bit and then looked for a demo closer to my area. I found my upline, Karen, on there. She was the only one listed with a web site, so I went there to check it out. I emailed her and told her I was interested in seeing a catalog and possibly becoming a demo (to get the discount). She emailed back and asked if I wanted to have a workshop and I told her no because I did not have the room in my house. She sent me a Stampin' Memories catalog and info about becoming a demo. I signed up at the end of Feb one Saturday 2 weeks after contacting her. I still had NEVER stamped with SU! stuff!! After signing up I went home and found out I was preggo with #2 who was born Last Oct.
With that news and having to find a new house to move to I have had a VERY slow start! I finally had my first workshop last Oct (after moving into our house in Sept.), a week before my son was born! I had another WS during SAB for my aunt. I have gotten my sister and my aunt hooked and my mom and g'ma are getting there. I have been able to keep my minimums that way. I am looking to expand my customer base now and am wanting to start some clubs and do technique classes. I am not too sure about doing workshops still, I prefer to not have to leave my home for stuff.....too much stuff to lug around plus I am nursing my son.
I am having a great time with all of this and am SOOOO glad that I found this wonderful web site! I have gotten so many ideas from here! I have my first open house on June 27th! Thanks so much!
A friend of mine that I met online at a bulletin board for April 99 babies is a SU demo. She talked a little about her "addiction" and I decided last November that I was going to make my own Christmas cards last year. I went to Michaels and JoAnns and got some stuff then experimented a little. It was pretty fun so I started buying more and more. Then I went to a 10-10-10 stamp camp at my friend's during SAB and got 2 free stamp sets. . .then I thought about going ahead and becoming a demo because at this point, 5 months into my new "hobby" I was easily spending at least $100/month. I joined under her in May so I'm a brand new demo at this point :-) but I haven't bought a card to give out since before Christmas.
Right now, it's definitely to support my hobby but at some point I will have an open house and some workshops. I'm pretty shy and not real pushy and don't know who to ask. I know that people do ask coworkers but since I'm the "boss" I feel like it would be inappropriate to ask people I supervise to come (it may feel like pressure to them).
One of the moms at my son's preschool got a catalog from me and wants to order some things so I do need to follow up with her and see how it's going. She said that she'd have a party after I had one so she could see what it was all about. I'm kind of nervous to do one on my own since I'm still new to it so I think I'm going to see if I can take her to my upline's next party and go from there.
__________________ Kathy
Proud Mama to Mason 4/3/99, Miles 5/25/02, and Maya 8/26/04
Got started 30 years ago. My husband and I decided to make our own wedding invitations. He carved them out of a linoleum block and I did the printing. I've made my own Christmas cards for years using potato stamps, contact paper and stickers, angel stamps, whatever. Many years, a fun family project. After fighting the lure of those lovely rubber stamps for years, I gave in about 4 years ago and began buying. And have recently been seriously considering becoming a SU demo. Just checking into the right upline. Been lurking here for months but couldn't resist this topic.
I got started when a friend of mine invited me to a workshop. I thought it might be fun to make baby announcements when our second child arrived. I wasn't pregnant at the time, but that was beside the point. I bought three foam backed sets because they were cheaper and I didn't know if I would use them that often. :lol: Then my mother in law had a party and I bought more supplies. I toyed with the idea of becoming a demonstrator for quite some time, but whenever I brought it up t dh he told me I wouldn't have the time. Then one glorious day he mentioned that he would like to start a side business, I was VERY supportive. A few months later I told him that I had decideed to sign up. Again he asked when I would have the time. This time I had him. I asked him when he had time for his. Finally he had no come back and I happily called the demonstrator I'd been buying from for years and signed up.
Location: Take off, eh? - to the great white north
Posts: 16,802
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Christine P:
12-step solution: "NEVER BE MORE THAN TWELVE STEPS FROM A RUBBER STAMP" someone elses saying, but hey, IT WORKS!!
Got started: I was asked to bring my daughter to a friend's WS so her daughter wouldn't be bored. HA! Did I fall for that one!! :? After the M&T I was hooked. Actually, I had never seen a demo or anything before, and did NOT want to SB with all that paper stuff. Stamping is right up my alley, getting my hands colourful while being creative. It's as good as playing with playdough, finger painting and the works!!!! :P
I was invited to a workshop in Oct 2002. I kept thinking rubber stamps, like paid and passed due, how much fun could that be. :? but I went for my friend and planned on buying a courtesy purchase only. Well six months later I signed up for my starter kit and I've been stampin since
What got you started?
I briefly lost interest in stamping when I started scrapbooking, (never thought about combining the two!) It wasn't until we lived in Chicago that another friend showed me scrapping and stamping together, and I have been with it ever since! I work in an elementary school and love making holiday things for all my friends and co-workers! My husband is in the Army and spends A LOT of time away from home 
