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Dee Gruenig
Posh Impressions
Hi all,
This is an important day for Dee Gruenig and Posh Impressions because it is an even bigger day for Cap'n Dawn Heath and S.S. Reflections. Dee would not mention any of the true things that I will list below. If you know her, you're aware she rarely mentions accomplishments and prefers to give credit to others. But I, the husband with the big mouth, will do so because Dee has been blessed many times over by people like Cap'n Dawn, and the happenings, some which have not been in print until now, should perhaps be told:
- Dee Gruenig was one of the first to get truly excited about rubber stamping. It happened in 1979.
- I think she was the very first stamper to license her designs to another company. That was Rubber Stampede about 1986.
- She taught some of the first scrapbook classes about 1985 when no one knew what archival and acid free was or meant. That was years before Creative Memories came along and truly worked their magic with scrapbooking.
- She was the first we knew about to color stamps directly on the rubber using markers instead of a stamp pad of black, purple or pink. The markers were from Marvy and the year was 1979 or 1980.
- Dee was the feature of the first video for stamping. Believe it or not it was made for Stampin' Up about the year they started eons ago. It also featured Shelli Gardner and LaVonne Crosby and was made in LaVonne's living room. Then Dee appeared as their featured speaker at each yearly convention held in the Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton for 9 straight years.
- She had the first hugely selling book, The Great Rubber Stamp Book, that sold about a half million copies. It was featured, not listed, in the Book of the Month Club twice, was sold in Costco twice as the center piece of a stamping kit and was the top selling book of Sterling's 400 titles. That was 1996.
- She was first to appear in fund raisers for the Jr. League, setting a sales record that lasted 9 years. That was about 1981.
- And Dee was the first to appear as a Celebrity Headliner on S.S. Reflections which was and is really an honor. That was 2 years ago! Dee is delighted that she did this because Cap'n Dawn Heath and her S.S. Reflections are a tremendous success story. S.S. Reflections began with just a yahoo group to get the word out and today can receive over 800,000 page requests a month! Dee didn't do anything. Dawn did it with hard work and her now 34 artists promoting everyone unselfishly as they built an on-line magazine that was and is fascinating to read.
Congratulations Cap'n Dawn to you and your team!
What's new for Posh and Dee now?
It's a new exciting path of providing designs, ideas and teaching the absolutely fabulous EZ Mount Stamp n' Stor unmounted stamping systems...both rubber and new clear, for Sunday International. Lots of new designs from Dee. Gary Barbee, President of Sunday, calls it a collaboration of inspired designs with an unsurpassed system. I agree.
EZ Mount is a wonderful way to stamp. We believe it is a large part of the future of stamping and we know that stamping needs something exciting and new on a horizon wide enough to include others. Posh and Sunday want their venture to benefit other companies. That is the way Dee thinks. Once when she was a featured speaker specifically brought to introduce rubber stamping to the Los Angeles Gift Show, she prepared a large poster showing Posh Impressions stamps and her style of stamping. But she also surprised many, including me, by making equally large posters for the 5 biggest companies at that time, companies such as Hero Arts, All Night Media, Rubber Stampede, Stampendous and one other I can't recall. And she used their stamps to make equally large posters that reflected their (not her) look and style. That is Dee, and that is the attitude Posh and Sunday want to bring to stamping. A bigger pie blesses everyone. A rising tide lifts all ships.
In this light, Dee will continue to design and promote wood mounted stamps for All Night Media, a big player that produces excellent wood mounted stamps. Sunday will have a big footprint and they are rapidly growing with the popular movement to unmounted. But there will always be those who want to have a fully ready-to-go stamp in their hand with a hard maple mount that just feels precisely right. ANM makes that kind of stamp.
I have certainly rattled on long enough. Just one more new thing to mention is Posh's new web site that goes up on line this very day to help celebrate S.S. Reflections' achievement. Please go to www.poshimpressions.com to see the other companies Dee is privileged to directly work with, companies that make exciting products such as the new Blending Blox gradated stamping pads. There are projects too, and be sure to peek at 3,600 member Club Posh. Then be absolutely sure to return here to this S.S. Reflections online magazine, to sail off to even more fascinating ports of call.
Thanks for the honor on your big day,
Warren Gruenig,
CEO, Posh Impressions
www.poshimpressions.com
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