Tropical Chic Get Well Soon

Image | | Rhonda Kleiman

I made several cards for a class I held last week that featured the Tropical Escape and Petal Promenade designer series papers.  Three of the four cards also featured fun folds.  The group I did the class for asked to use sentiments for get well, sympathy, inspirational so I had a variety of stamp sets from the current catalog that they were able to choose from.  I will be holding the class again this Saturday, August 25.  Full details are posted on my calendar of events.  This is the first of several posts to follow.

The first card uses a diagonal fold.  I’ve been seeing a number of cards lately that use this fold so wanted to give it a try.  I got the measurements and the belly band idea from Dawn Griffith in one of her recent blog posts.   I used the Tropical Chic designer paper and chose to only work with different shades of green with the thought that it is common to send plants as a get well gift, so this perfectly evoked the image of a plant.  The group also thought it also fit in the category of a masculine card and indeed one of the women in the group was going to send it to a male relative that is currently in the hospital. It uses the get well greeting from the Healing Hugs stamp set.

 

The card base is Shaded Spruce and the designer paper is attached to Granny Apple Green cardstock.  The belly band and greeting use Soft Sea Foam. The greeting was cut with one of the circles from the Layering Circles Framelits sets and is attached to a Shaded Spruce circle cut from the Stitched Shapes Framelits.

The inside sentiment was stamped in Soft Sea Foam and one of the leaf stamps from the Tropical Chic set was stamped in Granny Apple Green.

 

Cutting measurements:

  • 1 sheet of Shaded Spruce cardstock – vertical score at 4 1/4″ and horizontal score at 5 1/2″, cut on the diagonal – makes two cards
  • 2 pieces of Granny Apple Green cardstock cut at 4″ x 5 1/4″, cut on the diagonal – makes two cards
  • 2 pieces of designer series paper cut at 3 3/4″ x 5″, cut on the diagonal – be
    careful when working with directional patterned papers!
  • 1 piece of Soft Sea Foam cut at 1″ x 10″
  • 1 piece of Whisper White cardstock cut at 4″ x 5 1/4″ for inside of card

This was a fun and easy to put together card and is a great way to showcase many of Stampin’ Up!’s great designer papers!

The current Bonus Days promotion is running through August 31.  For every $50 you spend during the month you will get a $5 coupon sent to you by email that can be redeemed when you place orders from September 1-30th. There is no limit to the number of coupons you can earn per order or throughout the duration of the promotion.

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Paper Pumpkin Promotion Ends Tomorrow

| Rhonda Kleiman

This is a reminder that the Paper Pumpkin Blooming Summer Savings promotion for new subscribers to save 50% off the August kit ends tomorrow, August 10th.  If you’ve been thinking of giving Paper Pumpkin a try, you have one more day to get in on this deal.

Subscribe Here

Here are the details:

  • This promotion is only open to you if you have not previously subscribed to Paper Pumpkin.
  • Use code BLOOM0818 to receive the 50% discount.
  • Be sure to select me as your demonstrator when completing your subscription order.
  • This promotion is for month-to-month subscriptions.  Discount cannot be applied to prepaid codes.
  • The 50% discount only applies to the first month of your subscription.  After that the price for each month returns to the regular price of $19.95.
  • The subscription continues each month until you decide to cancel.
  • Kit will arrive at your door around the 20th of each month.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Tropical Escape Suite

| Rhonda Kleiman

The minute I laid eyes on the Tropical Escape Suite in the new annual catalog I knew I had to have these products.  The beautiful tropical images and the gorgeous color combination of the designer papers kept calling out to me every time I turned to pages 120-121!  I can’t get enough of Granny Apple Green, one of the recently introduced new colors – it definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite colors!

Here are the thank you cards I sent to customers who placed orders with me in June and July.  Rather than making the standard 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ size card I used Stampin’ Up’s Whisper White note cards.  For some reason, I never think to use them so I will remember the next time I need to write notes because the size worked out perfectly!

Here are two more cards I made with the product suite.  I used my trusty “go-to” layout for this first card because I love how it showcases not only the designer paper, but some of the larger stamped images as well.

I used Shaded Spruce for the card base and cut a piece of dsp at 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ and glued them together.  Then I cut a piece of Granny Apple Green cardstock at 3 3/4″ x 3 1/2″ and a piece of dsp at 3 5/8″ x 3 3/8″ and glued them together.  I tied a piece of the Granny Apple Green 1/2″ textured weave ribbon to this piece.  I was surprised at how soft this ribbon is to work with – it is quite lovely! Last, I cut a 2 3/4″ square of Whisper White cardstock and stamped one of the leaf images from the Tropical Chic stamp set with the Shaded Spruce ink and the thank you with Granny Apple Green ink, using the Stamparatus to position the images perfectly.  I mounted it on a 2 5/8″ square of Blushing Bride cardstock.  I added three glitter enamel dots for a bit of bling.  I stamped the same leaf image on the bottom left side of the inside of the card using the Granny Apple Green ink.

The next card uses Basic Black cardstock cut at 4 1/4″ x 11″ and is folded in half for a portrait card layout.  I cut a piece of dsp at 4″ x 5 1/4″ and glued it to the base.  Next I cut a piece of Granny Apple Green cardstock at 3 1/4″ x 5″.  I cut a 3″ square of Basic Black cardstock,  die cut it with the leafy square die from the Tropical Thinlits dies, trimmed the square down to 2 3/4″ and mounted it onto a 3″ square of Whisper White cardstock. I positioned this piece onto the Granny Apple Green strip  so that I could place four flowers, 2 each at the top and bottom of the square piece.  I stamped the floral image four times onto Whisper White cardstock using Flirty Flamingo ink, die cut them and glued them down.  I stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the card and used the Stamparatus for perfect placement.  I cut a strip of contrasting black and white dsp at 5 1/4″ x 1″ and glued it onto the left side of the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

August Promotions

| Rhonda Kleiman

The start of August brings two new promotions from Stampin’ Up!

The Bonus Days promotion was so successful last year that it is back again.  For every $50 you spend during the month of August, you will get a $5 coupon sent to you by email that can be redeemed when you place orders from September 1-30th, 2018. Remember to keep the email messages you receive from Stampin’ Up! that include the coupon codes.  You will need to enter those codes when you place your orders in September. Here are more details:

  • An email address is required for you to participate.
  • If you earn multiple codes from a single order you will receive one email with multiple codes.
  • If you earn multiple codes from multiple orders you will receive separate emails for each code earned.
  • There is no limit to the number of coupons you can earn per order or throughout the duration of the promotion.
  • There is no limit to the number of coupon codes you can use during the redemption period.
  • Coupons may not be used with Starter Kits or Paper Pumpkin subscriptions.

 

The second promotion is the Color Your Season bundle.  It includes the Blended Seasons stamp set and the Stitched Seasons set of coordinating framelits dies and will be available while supplies last during the month of August.  A set of watercolor pencils in 10 new colors is also available but is not part of the bundle.  The new colors include Balmy Blue, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Garden Green, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy.  These pencils may be available in a future publication.

Here are some beautiful samples of cards created by Stampin’ Up! that showcase these products.

Shop here to purchase any of these products.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Celebrating 11 Years With Stampin’ Up!

| Rhonda Kleiman

Yesterday,  July 23, 2018, marks my 11th anniversary as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator!  It was 14 years ago that I was introduced to Stampin’ Up! by my former upline, Kathy O’Dell.  As chance would have it, we sat down next to one another at an all-day seminar presented by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce.  After giving our elevator speeches we started chatting and that is when Kathy, who is a banker, told me that she had a side business as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.  This got my attention because I was very interested in learning more about rubber stamping and had taken a few classes at local shops and big box craft stores.  I had never heard of Stampin’ Up! so Kathy asked if I would consider hosting a workshop and the rest is history!  I saved the two cards we made that evening and thought you’d enjoy taking a trip down memory lane with me!

As you can see, this was way before we had the Big Shot, coordinating dies and the sophisticated designer papers we take for granted now, but at the time, I thought these cards were so cool! 

I continued taking classes offered by Kathy and Janet Wakeland, who is now my upline, and slowly started building up my stash.  After many “asks” by Kathy to consider becoming a demonstrator, I decided to give it a try.  I was a hobby demonstrator for a number of years but did manage to get a few customers along the way, and even though it was a huge commitment of my time and money, I really enjoyed working with the products and teaching classes so decided to stick with it.  In these 11 years I have faced some personal challenges along the way and sometimes Stampin’ Up! has had to take a back seat, but I love that my needed creative outlet is still always there, and a funny thing happened – I kept acquiring new customers even when I wasn’t trying!  I went from an intense full-time job to starting a consulting business working out of my home a few years ago and am now able to devote much more of my time and energy to eventually making this a full-time business.  I still get excited with the introduction of every new catalog and I have wonderful customers who feel the same way!

As I continue to build my business I would love to have you as a part of my team.  You might want to consider taking advantage of the fabulous promotion going on right now through July 31st.  Purchase the starter kit by picking $125 worth of product for just $99 and you can pick a collection of 10 ink pads, valued at $67.50 for FREE!  Choose from any of the color families.

The Select Designer Series Paper Promotion, Buy 3,  Get 1 Free runs through July 31st so there is still time for you to stock up on some of your favorite papers from the new annual catalog.

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paper Pumpkin-New Subscribers Save 50% Off August Kit

| Rhonda Kleiman

Stampin’ Up! is offering Blooming Summer Savings from July 11-August 10 for first-time subscribers to Paper Pumpkin by offering 50% off their first kit.  Creativity is delivered to your door each month with projects that are quick, easy and fun to put together.  Each kit includes an exclusive stamp set, ink spot, card stock, paper and embellishments.  All you need to add is your favorite adhesive. 

At least six times a year you will receive an all card kit with 8 or more cards and sometimes the kit will also include cards plus gift bags, banners, treat bags or boxes.  Other times the kits will be home decor, giftables or just treat packaging projects.

If you’ve been thinking of giving Paper Pumpkin a try, now is the perfect time!

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Here are all the details:

  • This promotion is only open to you if you have not previously subscribed to Paper Pumpkin.
  • Use code BLOOM0818 by August 10th to receive the 50% discount.
  • Be sure to select me as your demonstrator when completing your subscription order.
  • This promotion is for month-to-month subscriptions.  Discount cannot be applied to prepaid codes.
  • The 50% discount only applies to the first month of your subscription.  After that the price for each month returns to the regular price of $19.95.
  • The subscription continues each month until you decide to cancel.
  • Kit will arrive at your door around the 20th of each month.

If you have any questions about the promotion please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Beautiful You Meets Painted Harvest

| Rhonda Kleiman

My friend Melinda recently asked me to make a special birthday card for her sister, who was diagnosed with breast cancer early last year and is now in remission and doing well.  She gave me a list of things she wanted me to incorporate into the design of the card: it needed to have an uplifting message, her sister loves sunflowers, loves to dance, loves the color pink (which of course is also the color of the breast cancer ribbon), wanted to have the ribbon somewhere on the card and it also needed a birthday greeting. Oh, by the way, she wanted the card size to be 5″ x 7″ rather than our standard 4 1/4″ x   5 1/2 ” sized card, which meant more space to fill up. I didn’t have a clue how this mishmash would end up looking in the final product but I was really pleased with how it turned out and within a minute of texting Melinda a photo of the card, she called me to say how excited she was, it was exactly what she was looking for and that she knew her sister would love it!

Initially, I met with Melinda and showed her a selection of stamp sets with both images and greetings and when she saw the Beautiful You set, with the image of the dancing woman and the inspirational words, that was the clincher.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to incorporate the sunflower theme until I remembered that the Painted Harvest stamp set includes sunflowers.  I pulled out whatever paper I had left from the Painted Autumn designer paper set from the 2017 Holiday Catalog and had enough of the big sunflower print left to use on the card.   I went with Blushing Bride and So Saffron as my color selections but still wasn’t quite sure how they would work with the designer paper until it all came together. 

 

I started by stamping the image of the woman with Memento Ink on Whisper White cardstock and used an aquapainter to watercolor the image.  To tie the image in with the designer paper, which has a Soft Sky background, I did a watercolor wash around the image of the woman using Soft Sky ink, now retired, and the aquapainter.   I used one of the larger circles from the Layering Circles Framelits set to die cut the image and also die cut a piece of Blushing Bride cardstock using the largest scallop circle in the set and attached the pieces together. I used my Blushing Bride and Black Stampin’ Write Markers to color the greeting and used smaller sized framelits to die cut the greeting and Blushing Bride scallop circle and attached them together.  For the background, I cut a piece of So Saffron cardstock at 4 3/4″ by 6 3/4″ and did two-step stamping with So Saffron and Daffodil Delight ink all over the paper and for the centers of the sunflowers I used Soft Suede ink and stamped off before stamping onto the cardstsock.  I cut a piece of the designer paper at 1 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ and attached it to the background.  I cut a piece of retired Blushing Bride ribbon and tied a bow towards the top of the card, attached both circle pieces and attached the background piece to the Blushing Bride card front. 

 

For the inside greeting, I cut a piece of So Saffron cardstock at 4 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ and a piece of Whisper White cardstock at 4 1/2″ by 6 1/2″ for the greeting and attached them together. I chose three of the greetings from the Beautiful You stamp set and used the Stamparatus to position the words in a staggered design, stamping with Blushing Bride ink.  I added a band of the designer paper to the bottom.  I used a retired breast cancer ribbon single stamp we had years ago to do tone-on-tone stamping with Blushing Bride ink on the back of the card as a way to incorporate the ribbon. The birthday party for Melinda’s sister took place this past Saturday evening and I anxiously awaited feedback from her.  Here is what she wrote me: “I wanted to let you know that my sister loved the card.  It actually made her cry.” Her sister is planning to post a picture to her Facebook page.  “That is how much she loves it.”

Every once in a while, my Stampin’ Up! upline, Janet Wakeland, poses the question, “What is your why?”  meaning why do you do what you do?  In this world of canned email greeting cards and tweets, I believe that people crave more personalized messages.  For me, as much as I love our products, making cards and teaching classes, ultimately, it is about bringing joy to someone in the form of a beautiful card that someone took the time to lovingly put together!

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!