Welcome To My Stamping Blog

From my earliest childhood memories I have always enjoyed arts and crafts and even when I was working full time in the finance field I used my free time to pursue my art interests. I've always embraced the idea and pursuit of lifetime learning. My mantra is to learn something new every day and be grateful for the opportunity.
A few years back I retired from my professional career and pursued a degree in Textiles, specifically weaving. I enjoyed learning all about the medium and designing and creating my own work. I developed a healthy appreciation, though limited experience for sewing and related tasks. When immersed in learning and creating textiles and fiber materials to use, I discovered something about myself that I had not picked up on beforehand. The design aspect and development process was really where I thrived regardless of the artistic medium. As I thought about my previous pursuits in pottery, stained glass, oil and acrylic painting and the process involved it finally made sense to me.
So you may ask, okay Tony, that's interesting, but why Stampin Up! ? For a few years I contemplated making cards because I was mostly unhappy with the choices available to me in the traditional card shops. As often happens, other things distracted me so it wasn't until this past year that I took the plunge. I knew that my cousin was with Stampin Up! for a long time, but it didn't really click with me as something I would enjoy. I was curious, so I contacted her and asked about it. I started out subscribing to Paper Pumpkin because it's so convenient and includes everything. I was hooked, and when I got Stampin Up! catalogs, I quickly found lots of things that I "needed". She talked to me about the option of demo or hobbyist demo and the discount. The starter kit is a no-brainer...gotta do it! Though I am truly an introvert and need a lot of down time to recover, I am blessed with the gift of gab, especially when I am passionate about something.
So I hope you've enjoyed learning a little about me and I hope you'll enjoy looking through my website. Please contact me with any questions. If you think you would like to join my team, I'd love to talk to you about it.
Happy Stamping and God Bless!
Tony
The Gentlemen Crafters Design Team - April Inspiration Blog Hop!
Welcome fellow stampers and friends~
Each month I have the pleasure of participating in The Gentlemen's Crafters Design Team Blog Hop! It is an International team of Stampin Up! male demonstrators and each month we get to share one of our creations across the World.
As a demonstrator, I am able to preorder / purchase certain NEW products that will be featured in our new annual catalog. I am very excited that I received my order in the mail the other day, just in time to create something using some of the new products to share with you today!
I cannot show you any photos of the actual catalog yet, but I am very excited about the Photopolymer stamp set Hand-Penned Petals and Penned Flowers Dies . When I placed my order I just couldn't wait to get it because I really enjoy the many options for cards and projects possible with this one. Let your imagination soar! I've only played with it for a few hours, but long enough to create something to share with you in my blog entry. There are just so many different ways to use this set, I played with vellum for a bit too, but decided not to use it on this card.

Each month I have the pleasure of participating in The Gentlemen's Crafters Design Team Blog Hop! It is an International team of Stampin Up! male demonstrators and each month we get to share one of our creations across the World.
As a demonstrator, I am able to preorder / purchase certain NEW products that will be featured in our new annual catalog. I am very excited that I received my order in the mail the other day, just in time to create something using some of the new products to share with you today!
I cannot show you any photos of the actual catalog yet, but I am very excited about the Photopolymer stamp set Hand-Penned Petals and Penned Flowers Dies . When I placed my order I just couldn't wait to get it because I really enjoy the many options for cards and projects possible with this one. Let your imagination soar! I've only played with it for a few hours, but long enough to create something to share with you in my blog entry. There are just so many different ways to use this set, I played with vellum for a bit too, but decided not to use it on this card.
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The Gentlemen Crafters Design Team - March Inspiration Blog Hop!
Welcome fellow stampers and friends~
It is my pleasure to participate in The Gentlemen Crafters Design Team March Inspiration Blog Hop! Each month we have the opportunity to share one of our project ideas and I hope that you will be inspired to create one of your own.
Here in coastal North Carolina, Winter is quickly giving way to Spring, as flower bulbs are starting to emerge, and some early blooming trees are starting to give color. With Spring in mind, I decided to play with watercolor a bit and create layers of color in ink and cardstock. For this month's project, I used the Dragonfly Garden Cling Stamp set(154411), featured in our January-June 2021 Mini Catalog.

It is my pleasure to participate in The Gentlemen Crafters Design Team March Inspiration Blog Hop! Each month we have the opportunity to share one of our project ideas and I hope that you will be inspired to create one of your own.
Here in coastal North Carolina, Winter is quickly giving way to Spring, as flower bulbs are starting to emerge, and some early blooming trees are starting to give color. With Spring in mind, I decided to play with watercolor a bit and create layers of color in ink and cardstock. For this month's project, I used the Dragonfly Garden Cling Stamp set(154411), featured in our January-June 2021 Mini Catalog.
The Gentleman Crafters Design Team - February Blog Hop!
Welcome fellow Stampers and friends~
As a member of The Gentleman Crafters Design Team, I look forward to sharing a new project with you each month and hoping it will inspire you to try something new.
I heard the groundhog, Puxatawney Phil, up in Pennsylvania, USA, saw his shadow a few weeks back and has returned to his bed for a few more weeks of Winter! Here in Eastern North Carolina, USA we've not had any snow, and that's perfectly fine with me, but it has been much colder than I prefer. So, I am choosing to think of warmer places, with tropical weather and where flamingos live. For my blog post this month I created a card using the Friendly Flamingo stamp set and Flamingo dies. You will find both of these sets in our Mini Catalog, Jan-Jun 2021.

As a member of The Gentleman Crafters Design Team, I look forward to sharing a new project with you each month and hoping it will inspire you to try something new.
I heard the groundhog, Puxatawney Phil, up in Pennsylvania, USA, saw his shadow a few weeks back and has returned to his bed for a few more weeks of Winter! Here in Eastern North Carolina, USA we've not had any snow, and that's perfectly fine with me, but it has been much colder than I prefer. So, I am choosing to think of warmer places, with tropical weather and where flamingos live. For my blog post this month I created a card using the Friendly Flamingo stamp set and Flamingo dies. You will find both of these sets in our Mini Catalog, Jan-Jun 2021.
The Gentleman Crafters Design Group - January 2021 Blog Hop!
Welcome fellow Stampers and friends~
Wow, time is moving along, and it's already a New Year -- 2021! As a member of The Gentleman Crafters Design Team, I look forward to sharing a new project with you each month and hoping it will inspire you to try something new.
I decided to play around with the Curvy Dies, featured in our Jan-Jun 2021 mini catalog and I came up with what (I think) is a cute card for lots of different ocassions. For this card I am only using one of the dies, it's the one with the row of holes across it. It reminds me of rolling hills across a horizon, and I thought it might be fun to try layering them with different patterns and textures.
Before joining Stampin'Up! , I was a weaver, textile artist/designer. I am naturally drawn to the many patterns and textures in our Designer Series Papers (DSP). So I decided to feature the Boho Indigo DSP in this project.