Is stamping your main hobby?

[jennmoore3]

Well, I just recently got into stamping. But my other hobbies are reading, my girls activities. We show the dogs in the fair. I also go to school... so, really my 2 things are reading and crafting.

[br3n]

stamping is my main hobby but i do a variety of other crafts also.cross stitch,crochet,tatting ,paper bead making,readingand general craft recycling projects.
br3n

[53queenbee]

It is easier to list what I don't do...reading (except for 2 authors). Everything else I do with gusto! Wait! I do not build models (like cars and stuff). Other than that I do it all.

I am right in the middle of doing a wedding for my daughter (invites, dresses(bridal gown, 3 bridesmaids, party dress and my dress + her negligees), tux alterations, jewelry making, thank you's, favors, flowers, cupcakes for 200 (four flavors with different decors), and 5 scrapbooks for the attendants and future MIL). I am not cooking (well, no the main course anyway) for this one but I did run a restaurant for years and love to cook for the masses.

Oh wait, I forgot the veil that took 180 hours of hand sewing!

[AuntKimi]

Right now I'm obsessed with making stained glass panels but I also do stamping and counted cross stitch.

Learning to crochet is on my bucket list.

[stitchinstampin]

Along with stamping I enjoy counted cross stitch and reading.

Lori

[Valli]

There are other hobbies???



I'm a reader (read lots about stamping), but honestly, that's more of an addiction. Get the shakes if I don't get my book-a-day fix and have to double up the next day...

[!Allison!]

Stamp all year, garden in spring , summer and fall. These hobbies keep me happy!

[Barbara Jay]

I have enjoyed a lot of different hobbies over the years, but my " main hobby" is what ever I am currently doing
Right now it is stamping.

I must say stamping is by far the most expensive hobby I have ever pursued!!
If fact I wonder if I truly had known the cost of the basic stuff if I would have ever gotten it to it.

[Julie in Indy]

I'm also a runner - love having nice (fresh!) shoes to run in, as well as good running clothes. I don't run as many races as I did when I was younger, but the entry fees do add up.

I love scrapbooking; though I haven't done a page in nearly a year. That has helped the budget a bit!

I just started taking piano lessons this summer - does that count as a hobby?

[sewflake]

Stamping and Scraping are my two main hobbies since they have many items that can be used for both then I don't feel my $ is being split between. Reading takes up the rest of my lesure time but between my mom and I we can make a little money go a long way when we trade books in books.
I have plenty of fabric for quilting from my BS days (before Stamping). With my style of quilting the fabric does not go out of style although sometime I wonder "What was I thinking" when I bought certain fabrics.

[crafty1021]

I really enjoy papercrafting but I also have other ways to spend my money. I love to quilt and I do pick up my cross stitch every so often! I also really like rug hooking and knitting. It's hard to make my money stretch across all my hobbies but I try!

[tigerlily55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valli

There are other hobbies???



I'm a reader (read lots about stamping), but honestly, that's more of an addiction. Get the shakes if I don't get my book-a-day fix and have to double up the next day...

What she said ...

[Valli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigerlily55

What she said ...

Hey, Martha! Glad to know I'm not the only one!

(I'd ask what you are reading today, but I better not hijack the thread!)

Valli

[mhcolemon]

I sometimes scrapbook but mostly make cards. I've cut back on my spending in the last year--my husband had cancer and hasn't worked since February--- I spend a lot on teaching supplies/'school c$%p' as he calls it! Both card making and school stuff could last the rest of my life if I didn't buy more..but it still doesn't compare with 37 years of his hunting, fishing, camping, etc! We all need our outlets, as I frequently tell him, lol.

[smriti]

Rubber stamping is the main (especially as far as money is involved); I'm also trying a hand at sewing but the expenses there don't count that much because I'm always sewing some clothing for either of us - so that's money we would've otherwise given to a big box store. I love to read too and there I spend $0 thanks to the county library; I'm a regular there. Fond of cooking too but like to cook with ingredients in the kitchen so no money spent there too. I've never been fond of clothes/shoes/etc. so I've no expenses there

I don't have a stamping budget but I'm a conscientous shopper

[tashabill]

Yes it is.

[minstrel]

I kind of have “seasons”, so to speak. Mostly stamping, but I also quilt, crochet, play keyboard and sing, have horses, I also have rheumatoid arthritis, so how I’m feeling can dictate what I’m able to do. Some days, I can’t even use a marker to color my images.

[lylacfey]

This was a fun thread to reopen. I read my response from the past. It hasn't changed much. I am still spending money on books, home decor and crafting. I have also gotten back into beauty products again.

[SophieLaFontaine]

Yeah! This thread was fun to reread! Like Lylacfey, I also read my response from the past! So much has changed in 11 years! I still stamp and make cards, but that is no longer my main hobby. But I use a LOT of stamping stuff in my current hobby (which is playing with miniatures, so I have made miniature cards, wall art for dollhouses, used cardstock to cover little cars, and scrapbook paper for wallpapers, etc.). But anytime I need a card (or my family needs a card) for something, I still make it. But it hasn't cost me significant amounts of money for a long time now, because I'm mostly using the tons and tons of stamp sets I already have. And paper is cheap now; I just bought a ream (250 sheets) of thin cardstock from Amazon for less than $9. It's not as good as Papertrey's or SU! but it'll do.

[RCAP99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by geogymnast82

My main "hobby" is genealogy research although I probably spend more money on stamping and scrapbooking. More of my time is spent doing on-line research but since I have two kids very active in activities, I can't go do research in the locations I need to.

Genealogy is my favorite hobby too. Stamping and scrapbooking is second. I spend a lot of money in subscriptions to Genealogy websites but I'm sure I spend more for stamps, dies, cardstock etc. So glad that we can do a lot of the research online now, but still need to make the trips to research what can't be found online. And even with the cost of the trips, I still think I spend more on stamping.

I also like to sew and garden.

Roxanne

[Soozie4Him]

I've been an SU demo (not a business demo - I'd love to break even!) since 2004, and I still love stamping and card making.

But I also LOVE reading.  I'm in an online book club, and I keep track of what I read on Goodreads.  I just had my first Stamp Camp since before Covid, and I was so busy preparing for that that I haven't finished a book in 3 weeks (normally I read 5-6 books a month).  Then I'll read one book after another for awhile, and I'll neglect my stamp room.  It's hard to balance them both!!  

[Mischelle1]

I'm not sure how many of you are REALLY into stamping, like me. I enjoy all things stamping. My favorites are wood mounted stamps. I won't ever remove the rubber off the block. To me, each is an art piece that I could make by just stamping it. I also enjoy learning about stamps, from the art work, history and the in and out of the production off stamps. HERO ARTS has a lovely informative video about the behind the scenes of the making of red rubber stamps. It's about 9 minutes. How many of you are doing the ("deep - dive") into stamps. Am I alone out here, clicking on the internet?

[lylacfey]

No you are not alone who enjoys the art history of stamping. I just received this week old issues of RubberStamp Madness & I have been enjoying reading the articles when they covered stamping as an art related field. This was when Rubber Stamp Madness was sold in with the art magazines & not the craft magazines.

I am old school and will always see stamping as an art related field and not the crafting field that is more relevant today. I do have a lot of respect that stamping is more craft related. Personally for me I love the art aspect over the craft related if that makes any sense. I do think they are both important and both relevant to future art history. I do enjoy the evolution of stamping to when it started in caveman days to now where we are stamping cavemen, lol

We did/do have one member who had a large art room full of thousands of mounted stamps. It is an amazing library of stamping history.

Mounted stamps- I have been stamping so long, since the 70's and early 80's that a wood mount stamp was a rarity. All my stamps came unmounted. I was a little girl back then. When I became a teenager I was in a stationery store and saw my first mounted stamp.

Still to this day I prefer to buy unmounted because you ready for this elitist stamping snobbery- I think the stamp is in it's pure art form. I know that is so funny, lol. You all know I am not a stamp snob. This girl just loves her unmounted. It reminds me of just everything warm and wonderful about art.

Do some of you remember the day when we had to buy our stamps unmounted and we had to buy our own wooden blocks to mount them? I know some of you would actually stamp on the block to make your own wood mounted stamp of that particular stamp.

I love the stories of all of you share about your exploits of going to the Inkadinkado store when it was in Boston. I am like a little kid at story time when you share stories of your adventures, lol.

[Mischelle1]

lylacfey, once again your sing my song! (maybe Don't Worry, Be Happy?). I started stamping in the mid 80's. I live way off the grid. I worked in a town that has 15,000 people and one stamp shop.
I didn't know you could purchase unmounted stamps. In fact we didn't have the internet until 8 years ago. We were so removed from the information highway, we just had a foot path that led us 20 miles to get to the info highway. LOL

I love your view of the stamping world as art. I'm looking forward to the day my studio is large enough to have my hubby to put up some trim on the wall so can place my large collection of stamps for me to view. Now, they sit in 30 bins. So sad. Bummer.

[cnsteele]

I never gave an answer, probably because when this thread was started I was out of the season of stamping, so I'll give one now.
There are so many things I enjoy that I don't have a main hobby. The hobbies ebb and flow, as my nature is to dive head-first in to something, spend obsessive amounts of time on it, then move on to something else, eventually circling back and repeating the cycle.
Reading, working jigsaw and crossword puzzles, running, volunteering with the elderly, and coaching cross country are all activities I love in addition to stamping/papercrafting. I've been toying with attempting to sew a quilt, but my sewing machine truly frustrates me (the thread and bobbin get tangled so much) so I've held back. Quilts are gorgeous and practical, though, so it seems fun to give it a try. Is it worth it to buy a new machine or figure out why mine tangles the thread so much? I don't know.

[harvestmoon]

Nicole, I have been sewing for years and the problem with your upper and lower threads getting tangled is usually a result of threading the machine incorrectly. It happens with any fabric...at any time. If it's a bigger problem, I recommend a Brother machine. I bought the 'Project Runway' model a couple of years ago for maybe $150 and it's really good.

[cnsteele]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harvestmoon

Nicole, I have been sewing for years and the problem with your upper and lower threads getting tangled is usually a result of threading the machine incorrectly. It happens with any fabric...at any time. If it's a bigger problem, I recommend a Brother machine. I bought the 'Project Runway' model a couple of years ago for maybe $150 and it's really good.

Ah-ha...thank you!! Threading the bobbin was always a step I wasn't sure I was doing properly so your advice makes sense. I'll give it another try!

[Mischelle1]

Nicole, I'm thinking your problem might be in your tension settings. You have one for the upper thread and one for the bobbin thread, (it's the tiny screw on the bobbin holder, if it's an older machine).. If the two aren't insync ( oh, not the boy-band). You may have the problem you described. I have screwed (pun intended) many a machine. I found out that for a few bucks, a sewing machine shop can fix it, righty tighty! (Just say'n )

[lylacfey]

Wait for a long time to get your machine out of shop. My friend recently sent hers in and it took five week to repair. The repair shops are so backed up & short staffed, bless them.
I love Brother machines too & Pfaff. If you have an older machine yes it's probably tension settings.
When that happened to me it was because I didn't wind the bobbin properly. I know who can do that? Right? Apparently me, lol. Once I got a separate bobbin winder perfect tension every time. One of my friends who is a professional sewist told me she had better thread tension after purchasing a bobbin winder.
Another tip about tangled thread make sure you are using the same type of thread that is on your bobbin and on your spool. I keep my spool & bobbin together so I won't make a mistake.

[Bohodiva]

Like many of you I have many crafts that I enjoy and cycle through: sewing, cardmaking/paper crafts, making jewelry, thirfted flipped home decor, and gardening.
My least favorite activities: cooking and cleaning. Both are done because I need to eat to live and I don't want to live in filth.

[Cook22]

I rang the man who serviced mine in my home about 18 years ago, and his wife was so unhelpful over the phone that I rang someone else much nearer to me, left it in last Wednesday and had a phone-call on Friday morning to say that it was ready. But I knew it wasn't major because I always clean and oil after every use, it was more that I hadn't used it hardly at all for over ten years until I started making Christmas gifts last year. After reading your post, I'm glad it was so quick - now I can bring my "card" machine back up to my attic and start using it on cards again, LOL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lylacfey

Wait for a long time to get your machine out of shop. My friend recently sent hers in and it took five week to repair. The repair shops are so backed up & short staffed, bless them.
I love Brother machines too & Pfaff. If you have an older machine yes it's probably tension settings.
When that happened to me it was because I didn't wind the bobbin properly. I know who can do that? Right? Apparently me, lol. Once I got a separate bobbin winder perfect tension every time. One of my friends who is a professional sewist told me she had better thread tension after purchasing a bobbin winder.
Another tip about tangled thread make sure you are using the same type of thread that is on your bobbin and on your spool. I keep my spool & bobbin together so I won't make a mistake.