Well, I took the plunge and signed on with my friend Brian King to be an Independent Stampin'Up! Demonstrator. I am SO not a big salesman, so this should be interesting. I am a big fan of SU! colors; all the cardstocks and inks and embellies coordinate beautifully, and the quality of it all is just amazing. They also gather a really wonderful group of people to them, so I am in good hands, I think!
I had actually signed up a couple of years ago, and I was just overwhelmed with this KIT of stuff and all the paperwork, and this demand of sales. I quietly let the whole thing fade away, a sad and miserable death. I have a better idea of what I'd like this to be, this time. I hope. I look forward to working under Brian's wing, especially. We crafty men have to stick together!
ANYWAY!
The box with all my goodies came, and I immediately busted it all out and got to creating something. I got the blossom punch, and the Mixed Bunch stamp set, along with some Baja Breeze and Pumpkin Pie inks. I was ready!! I decided to do a quick, CAS card.
I made this--
The paper is not SU!. It's My Mind's Eye, I think. Anyway, I stamped and punched the flowers, adhered them, stamped and trimmed out the sentiment (Wonderful Words, a past Hostess set, I think), did the layers, added some pearls, and viola! Cute, I guess, but, wop wop.....uneven spacing on the center flower. BOOOOO! I was kinda bored by it, too. So, moving the flower just wasn't going to cut it.
So, time for the big fix. I hate to toss something that is this complete, especially when I haven't done my famous trick of smearing ink across the front at the last possible second. This could be fixed, and I went to it!
I did this--
I went back to the stamp set and pulled out the smaller stamps. A few scraps of cardstock from the layering pieces (which I could've punched out before making the layering pieces, had I thought of it),some extra bling, and some felt flowers from Michael's, along with MANY Stampin' Dimensionals, and I was set. Hard to even FIND the center of this floral madness, much less find the fault of it all!!
And, let's face it, three simple flowers doesn't say "Amazing, Awesome and Talented" anywhere NEAR what a riot of blooms can do!
I am liking the idea of a Fix-it Friday feature. I sure make enough stuff I don't "love" that could benefit from some improvements!
Please think of me when you are looking for your Stampin'Up! products. I would love to help you get creative with this great stuff! I will be setting up a webpage that you can go to to place your orders just as soon as I can figure out how to do it. In the meantime you can email me, and I will hook you up!
Thanks for stopping by!
All Best, and Happy Weekend!
Richard
Congratulations on your new venture! I LOVE SU! cardstock!!! Your card is really cute... BOTH WAYS! I'm a fan of CAS, so I liked it the first time around, even! LOL!
ReplyDeleteRichard! This is such a fun card! Perfect color combination and your "Fix" was also amazing...added much more POW! to your card. Great job, friend!
ReplyDeleteI wish you much happiness and success with your Stampin' Up! endeavors! I was once a demo for them, but when they mentioned that I could no longer put items from other companies (or at least mention where I purchased them I think?) that turned me off and I let it fade away too. I miss the discount, but I'm getting by. ;)
I can't wait to see what else you do with SU! :) All the best!
OH EM GEE!
ReplyDeleteYou will probably your own best customer!
I order enough of the stuff that if my SU lady quit, pretty sure I'd have to sign up!
I thought the card was good BEFORE you fixed it.....then it was amazing!
Very pretty card,Congrad,and good luck with su,Have a good weekend...
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Richard! You will have a great time with the S.Up! folks! I think you need to start getting your speedo's ready for that cruise! Loved your card before you 'fixed' it, and love it even more with your 'fixes'! Can't wait to see what you do next Friday! On a side note - so glad that you introduced me to the Casadia! I had SUCH a good time doing my card for Wida last week! Have a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post, Richard! You made the right decision! We'll make sure of it. :)
ReplyDeleteI love your first card too - looks pretty just how it is! :) I do the same thing and always think I should add more. The saying is really cute. Congrats on signing up with Stampin Up, I bet you will have a great time with it! Thank you for all your nice comments on my blog. I always appreciate them so much. Have a good night, Richard!
ReplyDeleteDanielle
Hi Richard it is Donna from Morning Chat. CONGRATULATIONS. Now that you have a week under your belt how ya feel? LOL! I too am not a business woman I just do it for the creativity and companionship I get from other stampers, and of course the discount! Teeeheee. So my advice is HAVE FUN!!!!!! See you around!
ReplyDeleteRichard, congrats. Geez,and I thought you would end up on a design team somewhere. Well, guess SU won you over. Keep on posting those other cards on your blog here. I love to see variety. Well, I love the card both ways. I finally made it on a design team over at Great Impressions stamps( http://greatimpressionsstamps.blogspot.com/) for the month of March. Thanks for sharing and good luck.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on being a Demo and good luck! Your card was great the first try, but adding the little details amped it up a notch. The felt flowers are perfection! LOVE!!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, congrats on signing up with Stampin' Up! My friend just became a demonstrator a couple weeks ago, and it looks like they are FINALLY making clear stamps, albeit a limited number of them.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I think you are on to something with a Friday Fix-it Feature. Everyone loves a before and after right? I always find those so helpful. Seeing where other people got stuck and how they went about improving it gives you so many ideas yourself that you wouldn't get with just the "after" photo. This set of photos is a great example of that. Love the bounty of blooms on your last photo!