Back to Business! ... and Dandelion Wishes

Happy Friday!!!!

Day 1 of the kids officially being on summer break ... and I'm up at 5:15 am *insert eye roll here*.

WHAT has be awake at stupid-o-clock when I can finally sleep in??  (which would be about 7:00 am in my world!) . NOTHING!  NOTHING has me awake! ... and by that I mean I have nothing on my plate ... and I don't know how to handle that!!  How messed up is THAT??  Seriously!  So I hit my "Earn The Trip To Greece" goal 2 weeks ago today.  Since then I have done virtually NOTHING stamping-wise.  Can you say "total and complete burn out"?  Wow.  I knew I was running on empty but it really was all I could do to pack up and deliver all the orders I had from my BOGO event.

Earning Greece taught me SO much.  It taught me WHAT to do but it also taught me what NOT to do.  Yes, I will aim for the next incentive trip (destination unknown) but I will do it very differently this time.  I will work smarter, not harder.  I won't sacrifice as much.  I won't let it be all-consuming.

So where do I go from here?  I take a few steps back.  I will spend the summer with the family.  I will help my parents get their house (my family home since I was 9) ready to sell.  I will stamp for fun and I will plan classes for the fall.  I will turn my focus to ME for the next 8 weeks as I figure out how to relax, how to sleep, how to meal plan and how to have a more balanced business.

I will only have 3 stamping events over the summer.  The last Monday of July and August I will be stamping at Second Cup, Hollick Kenyon and I will also be stamping with my lovely ladies at the Robinhood Association.  The summer goes by SO quickly there really isn't time for much more!  Heck, demonstrators can start ordering from the HOLIDAY catalogue starting in August!!  Yes, Christmas crafting will be upon us before we know it!

My PLAN is to create DOZENS of projects and blog more regularly.  At LEAST once a week.  Pop in regularly and hold me accountable!

Here is a QUICK and EASY project I made last week.  I need 25 Thank You cards for all those BOGO orders I received.  I LOVE how they turned out!

This was PERFECT ... as I wrote on the inside "Thank you for helping to make my wish come true".  I say again ... PERFECT!

I used the new Dandelion Wishes set for the image, stamped with Memento Black and Coastal Cabana (does anyone else start singing Copa Cabana whenever they use this colour???).  The sentiment is from another new set, Friendly Expressions. 

To get the "thanks" without the "for all you do" I simply used the ink pad to just ink the one word.  It was pretty easy not to get ink on the "for all you do" but occasionally I needed a bit more ink near the bottom of the "thanks" so I used my finger dauber to add a bit more.

I DID use my stamparatus on this project.  It was PERFECT for mass-producing!  I can't say enough good things about that tool!  SO much less waste of card stock.  You HAVE to have one!

Oh!  I guess I should mention - these are not full sized cards!  Once again I turned to my stash of Notecards & Envelopes to crack off 25 of these little cuties in under 2 hours!

I did try a few different colours on this card - Crushed Curry, Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron ... I liked the Coastal Cabana best (* ... and cue the song in my head).

For a touch of bling I added a medium rhinestone to the centre of the Dandelion and coloured it with my Bermuda Bay Blend marker.  Added just the right touch!

Speaking of blends .... if you've been on social media at ALL over the last 24 hours you will have heard the news ... the Blends in the 2018 catalogue are ALL now in stock and available for ordering!  Whoot!

I can't WAIT to order them all!!!  Now ... listen to me ... if YOU want to order all of the Blends THE best deal to do so is to GET THE STARTER KIT IN JULY!!!  Why?  In July the regular Starter Kit deal is even better!  Not ONLY do you get to pick out $165 worth of product, pay $135 flat, get a free Paper Pumpkin Kit, and be able to order anything else in the catalogue at a MINIMUM 20% discount ... but you ALSO get to pick a set of 10 of the new ink pads for FREE!  You can choose any of the color families or In Colour pads - a $92.50 value ... for FREE!

So let's do the math!  For $165 you can order 27 of the Blend markers.  You will only pay $135, not $187.11, which is what you would pay if you ordered them through me.  THAT'S A SAVINGS OF $52.11 RIGHT THERE!  PLUS you get a free Paper Pumpkin kit AND you get 10 ink pads!  Those ink pads would cost you $106.84 if you ordered them through me.  With the kit they are FREE! 

$293.95 or $135.00

Same products.

Which would YOU rather pay??  (and actually, you get the free Paper Pumpkin kit with the lower price option ... ANOTHER $28.30 saved!)

I know which I WOULD prefer.

Starting July 1 Canadians can head to www.tamarabertram.stampinup.net - click on "join the fun", then on "join now".  I would love to have you in my group of Trail Blazers!

OK!  I think that's a long enough post for one day!  Thank you for being patient with me as I try to figure out how to slow down a bit ... and have a SUPER stampy day!

<3


Tam