Breaking News! I’m getting rid of some of my stamping stuff! No more tools, limited punches, no more dies, no more Stampin’ Dimensionals, no more Big Shot Machine, oh wait…….April Fools! Can you imagine going back to the days when we didn’t have all of this fun stuff to play with in the stamping world? That’s what my project is based on today. My April Fools joke is going back in time to “un-innovation”. I found the idea by searching on the internet.
I started stamping way back in 1997 when I attended my very first workshop. I was hooked within the very first 5 minutes of the workshop. Did you know Stampin’ Up! started back in 1988? This is the Stampin’ Up! catalog that I would have received at this workshop in 1997:
My kids were still little at the time and I fell in love with the concept of stamping. Boy did I get addicted! I no longer have the very first stamp set and wished I would have kept it now. This is what the stamp set looked like that many years ago. I borrowed this photo that I found while searching for the set Krayola Kids:
I was into scrapbooking at the time and thought this made a great stamp set to use with my kids photo’s. I remember sitting down to stamp and of course didn’t have many products to play with. I wanted more! I needed more! I also remember losing sleep over this hobby of ours because I wanted to get into it so badly. I still have all of my catalogs since 1997 and it’s fun to see how Stampin’ Up! has evolved over the years. They sold other companies stamps for a few years and then started manufacturing their own a few years later.
So here’s a card I made today trying to depict what I would have created all of those years ago without all of the tools we have today and with only a few supplies at hand. We didn’t have a lot of money with my kids being so little so I remember purchasing the stamp set and maybe an ink pad and I used papers from my scrapbooking stash.
For today’s card I chose a lined image stamp set called Love Sparkles that is current to try to show you what I would have come up with using limited supplies and maybe I would have purchased black ink to start off?
This is a plain Jane. No embossing, no die-cuts and simple layers. I did use a Stampin’ Write Marker to add highlights because Stampin’ Up! did have markers way back then. I did notice that there were no Stampin’ Dimensionals at the time……..I could NOT live without our dimensionals!
I hope you enjoyed my post for April Fool’s Day and going down memory lane with me today! I thought I would just have some fun today. Enjoy your day and be careful of the pranks that may be coming your way tomorrow!
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Just made me step back and realize how simple is beautiful! Thanks for sharing! I started stamping in 2006! When my Grand-daughter (living with us) was 9 yrs. old! I was a heavy scrapbooker then! Now I am a heavy stamper! I need to get back to the scrapbooking too!
I remember when I first started stamping I knew there was thicker paper to use for cards but didn't know it was called cardstock! Sometimes I could get my hands on them and sometimes I couldn't. I used lots of interesting things for my cards back in the day–pinking sheers for a fancy edge, doilies, yard, shaped confetti, the mesh from onions and other veggies, shaped embellishments (like bling but in shapes, the party store had them for certain holidays I remember being so thrilled to find shamrock ones) and I save junk mail and other packing lot more to cut off interesting bits and use fancy paper on my cards.
I say that truly I think I was more creative back in the beginning because I would use whatever I had on hand and anything from anywhere could be put on a card mostly because that is all there was to have. I had limited stamps so I made them work the best I could. I had a small stamp of…. grunge we'll call it, sort of a texture thing. I would stamp it a zillion and one times in green for grass, brown for dirt, blue for water. I'd never do that now…. I'd hold out for a grass stamp or water stamp. I don't tend to piece scenes together like I used to.
Hallmark was the place to find rubber stamps. They had them of characters like Mary Engelbreit and Winnie the Pooh. Another card store had a rack of stamps where I brought a paw print so I could stamp it inside cards like I was a cat or something. Mostly I used stamps to decorate envelopes or jazz up boring cards. I was a huge card sender in the day and was always on the search for interesting and unique cards.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Oh, one last thing, I got Joe's grandmother into stamping. She passed away before die cut machines and dies became a thing. I always wonder how much she would have embraced them? I suspect a lot.
yard = yard
which I still use on cards often and have a ridiculously large stash of it. Remember when fibers were a thing??!!
jesus christ! I'm dangerous!
YARD – YARN YARN YARN!!!!!!!!!!
I think I'll reply again just because I can. neener neener neener
Okay, one more legit thing I want to say is I think one of the reasons I can purge my stuff easier than most is I remember being very creative with less. Not that I want to go back to the day of limited punches and tools, but less can be more. I don't have much time to play so having 50 different embellishments to choose from is too time consuming, especially when I tend to only use the same couple of things over and over. Yes, what I use changes from time to time but I still don't think I need 50 things to wade through each and every time.
One of the things (see, you just can't shut me up today) I've always liked about SU is that they are all inclusive. If you only ever bought SU you could be a happy camper. You have a great selection of cardstock, designer/specialty paper, coloring agents, stamps of all themes/styles, ribbons, embellishments, punches, tools, etc–and quality too. I also like that they change it up from time to time to stay fresh. I remember SU eyelets–ooh we all had to have them in every color. Well, that was fine then but how nice they moved on and now have enamel shapes (a very "in" product).
Okay, I'll shut up now but no guarantees that I'll stay away. It's only 10:30 and I'm stuck here until 5.
Princess Judy, you are so funny and so right. Along with Debbie you brought back so many memories. I first got interested in the late 90s but unlike you all, I wasn't creative at all. I think the biggest boost for me has been places like Pinterest. Early on, SU had that Showcase or whatever it was called on their demo site, and it helped a bit, but when Stampin Connection came along…WOW! I was finally exposed to the world of creativity. Thanks to you, Debbie, and all the others who have selflessly shared their ideas we can all feel like artists! Thank you so much.
Princess Judy, you are so funny and so right. Along with Debbie you brought back so many memories. I first got interested in the late 90s but unlike you all, I wasn't creative at all. I think the biggest boost for me has been places like Pinterest. Early on, SU had that Showcase or whatever it was called on their demo site, and it helped a bit, but when Stampin Connection came along…WOW! I was finally exposed to the world of creativity. Thanks to you, Debbie, and all the others who have selflessly shared their ideas we can all feel like artists! Thank you so much.