I've come a loooonnng way, baby!

I am supposed to be cleaning my craft room today, for obvious reasons.  Reason #1.  The pile of scraps to the right of my paper trimmer is higher than the platform, and I have to bend my paper to get it in the trimmer.  Reason #2.  I am having trouble finding an area on the work table that is big enough to lay a 4 X 6" card flat, and get a good stamped image without the scraps on the table causing ridges.  Reason #3.  Need I go on??  And, that has nothing to do with the storage side of the room. 

So, I started cleaning on the storage side of the room, because I just could not clean off the table without anyplace to put the stuff away.  I added another shelf to my storage wall, and proceeded to organize on a higher level. 

When I got to a bin full of envelopes, many very old in bright neon colors and rustic rich tones, I found some of my old cards that I saved from the early Stampin' Up! days.  I wrote a blog entry earlier today about the card that I made that was just not up to par.  Well, talk about up to par!  I can't believe that I used to mail out cards like this.  Or, maybe I didn't which is why they are in a box.  I just had to share a few favorites with you. 

 

 

These two were from my sewing days.  Sewing, quiliting, rag dolls and rabbits were all the decorating rage at the time. 

 

I remember making these Halloween cards with my friend, Debby, who is my upline, and partner in all things Stampin' Up! today.  We got together for a day of stamping and made Halloween cards to give our daycare children.  What's with the black paper inside?  Oh, the punched out stars shown through.

 

It's hard to tell, but the scarecrow was on vellum paper cut with decorative scissors and layered over gold paper with autumn leaves stamped on it.  Fancy!

 

 

How about these two beauties done with the rainbow stamp pads?  I masked the middle with a post-it note, and stamped all around it.  Then added my big Thank you.  All done on glossy paper, no less :)

 

 

Here is another with a stamped background, and a crimped paper panel, and the little bird is raised up on an accordion folded piece of paper (before the days of dimensionals).

 

And, then there are my Christmas cards.  This was a cute little spongy mounted set, no wood here. Below is the inside.   Pretty simple.

 

Then I got a little fancier with the fancy punched corner slots and organza bow.  I still like this one.  I remember how excited I was to get the polar bear stamp set, because I live in the White Bear Lake area, and everything is about the white bear around here.

 

 

Don't know why it was Happy New Year cards this year.  Must have been too busy to make Christmas cards.  Funny thing is I have a stack of them, so maybe they never got sent out either. 

 

 

These last cards a pretty fancy.  That's because they were all workshop cards from classes that I hosted here in my house for my friends.  I remember making all of these cards at my workshops.  They are all really cute, and really nicely done.  It's no wonder we all bought the stamps and stuff to try to make lovely cards like this.  As you can tell, I have been stamping for many years with Stampin' Up!

 

This card with the lattice edge still had the instructions on how to do the card inside.  I should make one again one of these days.

 

I have to admit that I still have all of these stamp sets, and all the stamp pads, too.  I have the crimper, and the decorative scissors, the rainbow pads, and embossing powders, and glitter, the mulberry paper and so much more.  I love it all. 

Stampin' Up! is celebrating it's 25th year, and now I am a demonstrator.  I am going to my first convention this summer.  I enjoy stamping so much more than I ever would have believed, and I think it is because of all the inspirational people who are out there blogging and teaching and sharing what they love, too.

I am excited about the new catalog that will be released June 1 and all the new stamps and accessories that I want.  I am planning the projects that I will bring to convention to swap, and I was thinking that after all these years, Stampin' Up should have put out a call for cards made with your OLDEST STAMPS.  Wouldn't that be fun?  I think I could win that contest!

 

Well, I better get back to work.  Or is it time to make dinner yet?

 

Okay, I will share the before photo with you.  I hope to be able to share the after photos later this weekend. 

When I went to upload the photos I found this one, too, that I thought I'd show you.  My son was looking for some old shirts to wear to work during a remodel that they were doing.  He found this sweatshirt that he wore.  It's from Northern Reflections store that I worked at in 1995.  He found it in a bin of old clothes in the storeroom.  He said that several of the girls at work offered to buy it from him.  Evidently the trend right now is "old lady cat shirts", kind of like the ugly Christmas Sweater trend.  Who would have believed I would still have this, and my son would WEAR it!! What a guy.

 

 

Mary Alice