What an amazing journey it has been the last ten years with Stampin' Up! It all started with a rubber stamp. My friend Diane came home from a Stampin' Up! workshop and was raving about all the amazing products she saw. With that one phone call, the excitement and the lure of the rubber stamp came calling. We then decided to co-host a workshop and from there the craft collection was started and has continued growing.... Here is my very first catalog that all the fun started with!
A year later after lots of shopping, I joined Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator and have enjoyed every minute of it! I have meet so many Inkredible ladies who have now become life long friends. And every time I shared my love of stamps, customers have become friends.
Here is my first Stampin' Up! convention at Orlando. Here we are at downtown Disney dressing up like princesses. Remember the thrill of going to convention and seeing the catalog for the first time. Feel the Magic was theme. What an eye opener to be in a room with so many people who as crazy as me for Stampin' Up!
Here is a photo of one of my first displays that I put together for open house. Yes, all my classes and open houses were in my apartment. My first stamping studio was in my walk in closet!
Here is my sister-in-law and sister stamping in my kitchen.
Here are me and the girls hosting a Stamp Camp. I was so excited to see how much people enjoyed stamping and creating. The thrill of someone holding a stamp for the first time never gets old.
Many moons ago, we submitted projects to the Stampin' Up! home office on for monthly contests in the hope of winning stamps and the thrill of seeing your work on the Stampin' Up! website, company publications and display boards. Every morning we would sign on and see what cards were chosen for Stamper's Showcase. Here is my first card that appeared on Stamper's Showcase back in April 2004. What a thrill to see one of your cards being recognized.
Here is the first card I got to see published in a publication, it was in the Stampin' Up! company publication. It was in May 2005
The bug to have my work recognized didn't stop there in 2008, I got brave and submitted to Paper Crafts magazine and to my delight my Cherish card was published in May. A few month's later, I got the pleasure of winning the World Contest Making Contest sponsored by Paper Crafts winning the Hello/Thinking of You catalog.
One of the most amazing experiences was being interviewed my Stampin' Up! staff as a Special Guest Artist in the Stampin' Up! publication!
One of my favorite things is going to Stampin' Up! regional events. Wish we still had these events!! They were so much fun. A one day event where you learn stamping and business ideas, meet new and visit with friends. The smaller venues made visiting with Shelli the CEO one of the highlights.
Here I am back in 2006 with Shelli, the CEO and our amazing leader of the Inkredible group, Tina Rosenkrans!
Here are some photos of me and friends at Regionals.
Through the years, here are me and my convention roomies!
The fun part of Stampin' Up! events is seeing my Inkredible family. My uplines and sidelines! Here are some group shots at Convention of my stamping sisters.
In 2011, I joined the Stamping Royalty Design Team and I got to meet some of my fellow design team designers at this past Convention. So happy to meet these talented and amazing women in person.
Stampin' Up! opened the door for me to volunteer and be a part of the Little Falls Junior Woman's Club. We were the little engine that could and volunteered our time and energy in helping the three surrounding communities. Here we are at a Halloween event.
I even got to be on the Martha show and be a guest blogger in 2011! Here is me and my friend Colleen along with fellow bloggers on the set of Martha!
Here is another fun regional event called Dream Night. Fellow demonstrator Dawn Rapsas won a dream night where Shelli came to her event. Well Dawn made it a fun event and invited a few hundred demos to join in the event. Here is a picture from the night.
But the best part of Stampin' Up! is the friendships I have made with new friends. Being able to share all the fun of crafting with my old and new friends.
Here is a fun picture of me and best friends all wearing our Scrapbook Princess shirt. We couldn't have planned it better with all three of us wearing the same shirt the same day!
Hope you enjoyed my Stampin' Up! 10 year anniversary post. I have had so much fun going through my photos and seeing all the great memories I have made through out the years. So many things have changed in the last ten years. Trends have come and gone. Remember our paper crimpers and eyelets. When I first started I was afraid of creating with designer series paper and now I can't imagine life without it. One thing that has been a staple through out the years has been Whisper White cardstock and Stampin' Dimensionals. I don't think there has been an order without those two items! One thing I have learned is to learn to trust Stampin' Up! They have been and continue to be on trend and always bringing us the amazing products we all want and sometimes don't realize we want until we get the latest catalog and can't live without them now.
As we say at our Regional events....
I LOVE STAMPIN' UP!
Thank you Stampin' Up! for all my amazing memories!
