Stampin’ Up! Quality Products for more than cards

Good Saturday to Everyone! I think ‘good‘ is relative. It is good that we have finally risen above freezing and some of the ice and snow has melted. It is not good that a very chilly, wet, wind is blowing, bringing a considerable amount of rain. This is not good for the potential of flooding. All that melt has to go somewhere, and if it melts too fast……!

Also, good that I am able to get out of bed and fend for myself. That is ALWAYS a blessing.

It is not good that another classmate has become a widow as of this morning, so, another Sympathy card will be forthcoming. It is good that I am able to make these simple expressions of caring.

It is also good that I can share with you the bags that I stamped for our donors. All I did was use our fantastic Stampin’ Up products, and another volunteer stuffed the bags…and took a couple pictures for me to share with you. Thanks Cari and Peggy!

The organization is a 501c3 called The Cornerstone Well, and was founded to help families in our county who are in financial crisis. Rather than just give them food, or clothing or whatever, ‘The Well’ vets the applicants, then if there is a definite need, ‘The Well’ pays for whatever is needed. If it is rent, we pay the landlord, if it is car repairs, we pay the car place. If it is utilities, we pay the utility. If their needs are not something with which we can help, we refer them to other sources. Our aim is to give them a hand up, not a handout.

We also teach classes in finance, budgeting, stretching your dollar (how to make your own laundry soap, cleaners, etc.) and hope to add cooking classes as soon as funds allow.

But, I digress. This post is about ways to use your Stampin’ Up! products that you might not have considered.

Based on the idea behind these bags for our sponsors, I am thinking that I will purchase plain bags next Christmas and stamp my own Gift Bags. This could be a party event…the more, the merrier! Can’t you just see 10 or more ladies having a ball stamping bags with our lovely Christmas stamps?? How festive!

Team member and friend Kristi uses her Stampin’ Up! products for a variety of things. She entertains a lot, so she makes party favors, place cards, table decor, invitations, and I-don’t-know-what-all, but they are lovely. Anyone can do this. Go here to see some of her projects.

The bags for our fundraiser sponsors were stamped with the “All Things Thanks” and “Bright Wishes” stamps, using the lovely Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin’ Pad. Since “Well” is part of the organization name, I thought the pretty wishing well in “Bright Wishes” was a perfect stamp to use.

It was SO easy to get every bag stamped precisely the same using the Stamparatus.

The primary color for our logo is purple, and what better purple than our own Gorgeous Grape!

So, two stamp sets, one stamp pad, the Stamparatus, and 24 gift bags were done in a jiffy.

Additionally, to highlight the great quality of Stampin’ Up!, our director had ordered a custom stamp and purple stamp pad for the pledge envelopes from our local office supply store,  and was very disappointed in the resulting stamped envelopes. I offered to do them for her, and brought home the stamp, pad and envelopes.

The problem was NOT the quality of the stamp, but the stamp pad itself. I stamped a sheet of copy paper using the pad she had purchased, and then with my own Stampin’ Up! Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin’ Pad. There was absolutely no comparison! She was amazed at the difference in the two products. Unfortunately, you will have to take my word for it, because I didn’t think to snap a picture of the comparison.

Bottom line…..if you want good quality, buy Stampin’ Up!

Thanks for stopping by. My next post will probably be……another sympathy card. I am doing WAY too many of these of late.