Stampin' with Eva: History and Inspiration

When I started cardmaking well over 20+ years ago I didn't give it a second thought to inform myself about the interesting history of rubber, rubberstamps, or greeting cards. The only place I went for inspiration was the Stampin' Up! catalog because back then, I purchased one from my local demonstrator. Inside those wonderful catalogs were beautiful photos of cards that I could make or CASE (copy and share everything) if I purchased the needed products. No wonder for a long time Stampin' Up! called it "The Idea Book."

Sitting here in front of my computer screen this morning, I decided to go down a little rabbit hole and see what I could find on the internet that would cover some of the history of greeting cards, the tools we use to make them, and places we find and share our cardmaking ideas.

Here's what I've found:

1) A short time line of the History of Greeting Cards

https://www.greetingcard.org/industry-resources/history/

2) A very interesting article about the History of Stamping

https://www.scrapbook.com/articles/the-history-of-stamping

3) Next, I looked up when the "famous" greeting card companies here in America began. American Greetings was first in 1906, followed by Hallmark in 1910. Both of these companies are still in business today. A good product lasts a long time!

4) Of course, none of us would be where we are today without computers. So if you've wondered what all the abbreviations mean - ftp, html, url - here's a short explanation - do go thru all 10 short webpages at the link below. I think it is pretty interesting (but I love history!)

https://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_01.phtml

Microsoft was formed in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Apple was formed in 1976 by Steve Jobs. Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Computers have turned how we do things upside down. Mostly for the better, but sometimes they can be very frustrating to use.

5) A decade or so later, here comes Stampin' Up! in 1988. Read about their history here

https://www.stampinup.com/company/our-story

6) What I find interesting is Stampin' Up! existed before all these other companies.

Amazon 1994, Ebay 1995, Google 1998, Splitcoast Stampers 2002 (the first website especially for stampers to share their card designs), Facebook 2004, You Tube 2005, Etsy 2005, Pinterest and Instagram 2010, and Tik Tok 2016.

That's pretty cool in my opinion.

7) Most of us today can't live without our smartphones. I bet many of you think that the first smartphone was from Apple, but read the info at the link below and you'll be surprised. I was!

Smartphone History

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So this little dive into history brings us to today. We have the knowledge of the world at our fingertips. We can create artwork, send digital ecards, do our finances, and shopping all from the comfort of our smartphones no matter where we are in the world. Back in 1962, AT&T coined this phrase "Let your fingers do the walking" to encourage their customers to use the Yellow Pages section in a paper phone book to find businesses and what they offered in your surrounding community. Now our fingers do the walking across our smartphone screens to find whatever we want around the WORLD! Amazing! Many people can't live without this modern convenience. Neither can I.

Some of us slightly older folks (me!) who were growing up prior to computers and smartphones, still like the ability to make things with our hands. That's why making your own greeting cards, scrapbooks, gift items, and home decor items are still such big business today. We did Do It Yourself when DIY wasn't cool!

Going back to my beginning paragraph idea, Stampin' Up! still puts out an annual catalog and two mini catalogs each year, stocked with beautiful card images and the products for sale to make them with. I give the catalogs away free to my customers so they can be inspired and hopefully purchase something.

Thanks to Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and other websites, you can post your finished card projects to share with the world. You can also see other designer's great ideas to adapt for your own cardmaking projects. You may have some favorite companies or card artists that you follow, or You Tube Channels you subscribe to. The creativity and possibilities are limitless!

You might even be one of those people that just sit down and start moving paper, shapes or greetings around until inspiration hits and an amazing project comes to life.

No matter how you approach your cardmaking or papercrafting projects, just be grateful for all that has come before to help us make the awesome projects we do in today's world!