Am I Too Late?
 

Hello, kind of new here. *waves*

I've been reading as many posts as possible and really enjoying it, but I've run across a few threads saying stamping/cardmaking is a dead or dying craft and that concerned me. I've just gotten into it and love it so much. Have I really missed the train? I hope not. The activity on this forum and the fact my Michael's has a HUGE stamping/papercrafts section are encouraging. Even if I have fallen in love with a dead or dying craft, I'll keep doing it because I love it so much. :)

No need to worry. It's not going anywhere.

I don't think it's dying...just evolving...as it does from time to time. I've been stamping for 25 years and love it as much today as I did back then. Welcome and Enjoy!

Ummm...NO....look at the gallery daily! It's sweet awesomeness! Individuals may be in different seasons of their lives and come and go but I think stamping and card making is here to stay, I'm betting long after I'm gone.

I think marketing wise yes it has reached the pinnacle and isn't the "popular craft" anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of product on the market and it has probably leveled off. A lot of people were collecting stash and are now shopping their stash as well. The craft of the moment seems to be jewelry making. I only wear earrings and bought the ones I wear daily so I didn't have to fuss with jewelry so that doesn't really float my boat!

If you card make because you enjoy it then welcome, there are plenty of us still here. AND there are plenty of bargains to be had from other crafters who have "moved on" ;) I have always loved stationery so I don't think I will be going anywhere any time soon.

If it makes you feel any better...I did not know that it was ever the "popular" craft!! I can tell you that I am the only one I know - in my circle - that makes cards. I have rec'd maybe 3 handmade cards in my adult life! You could look in my craft area and think I have 100 of my closest friends come over every weekend and use all of the stuff I have but the truth is, it's just lil ole me in there :) I say grab your bone folder and start folding cuz as long as there are friends and family and birthdays and holidays and soldiers and sick kids and...well...you get my drift :) wherever there are people, there will be cards :)

While you may be late to the party, you certainly haven't missed it - it's still in full swing! As others have said, it evolves and morphs and the "stars" come and go, but this site has been here a good, long time and doesn't show any signs of dying off. There are waaaaaay too many of us still coming here daily and lots and lots of beautiful things added to the galleries daily, as Joyce said, and lots of us enabling each other to find new things to buy (or just drool over). Yes, some of us get sidetracked from time to time (most of my stuff is packed because I'm moving soon, for example), but we still love the craft and do it when we can! Welcome and enjoy!

I have been stamping since I was 15 (number of years redacted) and every day there's more to buy, more to try, more to learn!

New stamp companies all the time too, stretching my budget :)

You're in good hands!

I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to this wonderful hobby but I'm not going anywhere!

Reason why those threads started is because the big box stores have drastically reduced their stamping/scraping inventory.

Best shopping for stamping is on the internet. Go with the small independent companies as their shipping is usually very affordable. Unlike the big name brand companies.

Styles and purchase strategies change constantly.

My advise to you is start slow. Find out what style you like BEFORE you go on a Big spending spree for stamps and supplies. I am sure I can speak for most of us here. Many mistakes have been made in choosing styles, colors of papers and ink and stamps.

You do not have to "keep up" with anybody. Let me tell you, there are lots of threads on "Spending" and "What do I do with all my stash" that will amaze you. I will just leave it at that.

I wish you tons of fun in your new hobby!!!

True true!! And, if I could be so bold as to ADD TO THAT statement...make sure you find out your style and that you can pull it off ;) For example, I love love love everything Tim Holtz but every time I try, I end up hating what I have done. I have learned to admire everything he does and be completely jealous of those who CAN pull it off and then I kick back and make my regular-sometimes clean-sometimes simple-sometimes glittery-sometimes good-sometimes bad cards- and be done with it :)

They told me sewing was dead too. I guess that's why I always had a full class when I taught beginners and the American Sewing Guild has grown exponentially over the last 10 years. :) Card making brings joy to others. How can that be a bad thing?

I too don't think it's going anywhere. But yeah, I also don't think it was ever the "popular" craft!! Compare SCS (totally awesome) with say, Ravelry, a kind of SCS for knitters and crocheters, and you'll see what I mean... My sister is on there and she'll tell me about it (she knits and crochets). And I'll tell her about SCS but the differences in size and scope are astounding!!

You can never be too late for something you enjoy doing. Having read all the comments have to agree 100% with what everyone else has said. Get stuck in and enjoy yourself, find your style and join the rest of us sharing and totally enjoying ourselves. The local shops may be cutting back on stock and mostly that would be because they are struggling to compete with internet shopping prices. Just do a search for any product for card making and see how many places are out there. Me I'm totally amazed by the number that do monthly releases, the temptation is a killer. But of course we must all suffer for our art :)

Here is a thread you might be interested in

http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...z-t454844.html

One look at Pinterest would tell you it's definitely still popular :)

I have been stamping for 20 years, I think it's now a lot more affordable. There is a better selection and the cheap shops carry things we can use on our cards. I think card making will never die, look at all of us that come on here daily. Once you get hooked, that's it's, you in.

I have also heard for 30 years that LPN's were dying out. I'm still here.

Here's the thing - for a while, scrapbooking was HUGE. Every craft company out there was trying to jump on the bandwagon with patterned paper and coordinating embellishments, and it wasn't just the big companies. Tons of smaller companies sprouted up as well. It just wasn't realistic to think that it could keep expanding. Then, more and more people switched to digital photos, and chose to scrapbook digitally as well, so they didn't need all that patterned paper with matching embellishments, and POOF! Now we're hearing about companies going out of business, but there were so many of them out there that it just wasn't sustainable.

I think that's the reason that the papercraft aisles at the big box stores are shrinking. Not so much that fewer people are making cards, because I don't think that's what was driving it anyway. It's that fewer people are scrapbooking with those supplies.

Just keep doing what you love. Back in the 70's, I remember making tons of macrame bracelets and necklaces. Then, no one was doing that anymore, and you couldn't give away your waxed linen and beads. Now, guess what I'm seeing on Pinterest? Macrame bracelets :) Everything goes in cycles.

Made me laugh when people were going on and on about paracord. Well, that is good old fashioned macrame!!! everything comes around again. :D

Well the love of dies is not waning and the die companies keep coming out with more new and beautiful dies.
Blessings.

GirlFriday- I love your screen name. Welcome to SCS.

I am the only one in my group of real life friends who stamps. I have been stamping since the 1970's. I was a kid then so you beautiful young girls don't you be aging me. :)

Stamping dates all the way back to Cleopatra. I don't think stamping is going anywhere it's just evolving.

I think a lot of people say it's dead because companies are not coming out with the plethora of stamps they use too. Not even a couple of years ago a lot of girls over here were saying enough. We were getting weekly releases from numerous stamping companies of the same style stamps. I mean I like owls but there is just so many owl stamps you want before you get burn out. I think a lot of people have stamping product burn out. I actually like this new evolved stamping. It fits my style better.

No worries about it being a dead hobby. Have fun stash shopping and finding your style.

I love macrame! I am so excited it's back in style. I have macrame plant holders in my home. Macrame craft books from the 1970's on my bookshelves.

I agree with most every one else, it is not going away, just changing.

Do you think there aren't as many stamp releases because of digital imaging? I would think that would have a huge impact on the industry.

I hadn't caught on that it was dying out!! I have tons of friends who stamp, but that's because I go to numerous card workshops, and have met stamping friends there. Out of my "normal" group of friends I have one who stamps.

I think so many of us have so much in the way of supplies we could could sustain ourselves for quite sometime even if most companies went under!! Haha!

Store bought cards still fill racks and Hallmark cards still have individual stores. I'll always have occasions to make cards for. I can't even get all the cards made that I want to. Card making seems to have outlasted scrapbooking.

Also, many companies seem to be very successful.....I know SU is and Papertry Ink, Simon Says Stamp, Amuse, Hero Arts, etc. all seem to be thriving.

I see paper crafting as alive and well! May card making live long and prosper!

I think if you scroll through the gallery on any given day and peruse some of the members' blogs you'll notice it's not dead or dying out to us!! So many new companies popping up all the time with wonderful products.

By all means, stamp and craft! Enjoy it to the fullest, no matter if it's a plentiful craft or one with sparse shelves and slim crafty pickins :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE to tell my daughters this: I've been scrapbooking since I was 15 - saving up little notes, ticket stubs, napkins, magazine pictures, newspaper cut out letters (think old ransom notes!) .. anything to 'create a memory' on paper to match my photographs. It tells a story. A story that after a lifetime, I will never remember! It's all there, recorded forever as it was, when it happened, making it real.

I started scrapbooking 30+ *coughs!* (A-hem!) years ago before it was as popular as it is now - long before I could buy anything anywhere, before stamping stores and QVC or card magazines, etc, and most certainly way before internet and social media!

So stamp away! It's a joy, a wonderful outlet, a blessing.

I'm humbled to share this craft with so many amazingly talented ladies and even now, I learn something new each and every day!

maybe, but, I also think of stamping as a process... the actually holding the tool in your hand and say coloring it direct to rubber with maybe some watercolor crayons and misting it and playing... you don't get that lets play feeling from your printer... so, its like apples and oranges.
it's nice that people who want print outs can get them but, if you want to have the tool in your hand and play that is not a feeling that duplicated from printing. so, I think its more of a they (stamp mfg.'s) are listening to the buyers and not trying to overwhelm people as much as a couple of years ago. there were a lot more people trying to have a slice of the market.

Macrame was awesome. I made many a hanging planter with my mom and my sister and those are happy memories :)

Makes sailors look like incompetent knotters! :)

IMHO stamping is a fundamental skill that will lead the adventurous spirit to many hours of paper crafting fun. My stamping led to...

treat bags that improved my gift wrapping
scrapbooking that led me to trace my family's genealogy
complex box making with tutorials
mixed media that led me to art items for home decor

and the best of all is ...
hosting classes that range from simple cards to complex projects that led to making several new friends

No, stamping is not going anywhere is just takes different twists and turns but it always seems to come back to the fundamentals of stamps, ink, and paper.

GirlFriday for people like us we know we've had a great day when out fingers are stained black, purple with a hint of green, 2 of our fingers are glued together, and we have a dimensional stuck to our butt. Long live stamping!:p:p

Don't forget the glitter dusted thru our hair, and stuck to our eyelashes :)

Totally agree with what has been said, card making evolves, it doesn't go anywhere! I think maybe the 'kit form' card making is dying out to a degree, everyone is being far more individual in what they do. But the wealth of stamps available, and continually coming along, show that this hobby is alive and thriving.So too with the vast amount of dies being released. Patterned papers are in decline, I agree, but partially because often the prints are not really a suitable scale for cards.

For me stamping is alive and well. What is not alive and well is stamp stores and stores that sell stamps. For those of us who like to walk into a building and pick a stamp up in our hand we are starting to be more and more out of luck. It makes me sad. I do all I can to support stamp stores but the number of stores that I have watched close is mind boggling. I have been a stamper and a card maker for a very long time and will continue to remain in the hobby. Anyone else miss the stores?

I'm lucky to have one still. She's been there for years, has tons of stamps, EF, dies, etc. the other half is a gift store, so I'm sure that helps.

I know it would be hard to see it close.

Our original 2 stamp stores and 1 scrapbook stores are surviving. What closed in this area was the large number of stores that opened during the glory days. The original stores already had a good solid customer base so they seem to be doing well.

Yes. But I think we can partially blame ourselves on the store closures. So many times I see posts looking for the absolute lowest online bargain, coupon codes, etc.


The small local brick and mortar stores have higher overhead and lower volume, they could not compete with the prices / infinite selection. So we lost the stores and with them, the classes and relationships and product knowledge they used to dispense.

I miss the stamp stores. Nothing beats holding a stamp and seeing the true size of the image. I've been stamping for over 20 years and whenever we went on vacation or I went with my husband to a seminar, I checked out all the rubber stamp stores nearby. No computer then, I would check out the yellow pages when we checked into a hotel and take a taxi to one or more and always came home with goodies or had them ship it to my home. The best part was that each store had it's own special selection of stamp companies and I found so many new to me companies and then I ordered their catelogues. It's harder to buy online because you're not really sure of the size.

I don't believe that it is dying at all. I think that it is constantly changing. The medium of art is always changing.

All crafts cycle around. Knitting, for instance has become very popular again over the last 10 years with the advent of all those luscious new wools and home spinning and alpaca farming, etc. I think it has a lot to do with the advances in technology and creativity, that provide new and better options for old crafts. Suddenly people are back doing ceramics because someone came up with the idea of opening ceramic party studios. Paper crafts are as popular as ever, just the internet made it easier to open shops online rather than brick and mortar. As with any targeted merchandise, paper supplies are not a huge seller to the general public so you won't find a lot of local stores. But crafting in 2014 is more robust than in 100 years, so don't worry you're behind the curve. Just enjoy.

Welcome to SCS! ((waving back)). What an amazing place this is. I'm new too.

It better not be. I am banking on it to help me make a few bucks in retirement years, which sadly is coming much faster than I want to admit.

Regardless...BILLIONS are still being made in the industry. So no, I dont think it's dying.

Card making is like...knitting. A lot of people dont knit anymore but they LOVE getting a handmade scarf. And while people might not make clothes as much...quilting is a massive hobby in the nation now-and has been around hundreds of years.

To our benefit there have been so many viruses attached to E-cards than I know a lot of people (Including me) wont open them-my DH's office has a ban on them period.

Most people I send cards to dont send to me. BUT...over the years they loved them, they express that to me, and they express friendship in their own way. (that was store bought-now they are even happier) I dont send to get. I send b/c it makes us both happy.

It is a great way to meet people...I dont think I have ever met a nasty card maker/crafter.

Hobbies dont have to be popular. They just have to make YOU happy. :)

Good advice about not rushing out to get tons of stuff. Start with basics like ink pads and some tools...surf a lot of stamp companies...there are definite "styles' out there..and see what resonates with you.

Look forward to seeing you around. :)