Whew!!!

Well, I am glad to say I have been stampin' my butt off....(if only that could be literal!)....anyway...I had tried to post about my INKredible weekend of the 11th & 12th, but unfortunately I could not...so here is what I have been doing...On the 11th, I attended a Stampin' and Scrappin' University that was hosted by my "really up there" upline...and we made a book with 24 techniques...from simple to crazy fun! WOW!! I LOVE that stuff....I cannot wait to share! Some of the things I already have... I have been stamping for at least 4 years and was totally hooked at the first moment, like many of you were...and I love learning and doing simple things I already know because it brings you back down to earth....sometimes I get carried away with doing something so complicated and beautiful that I am exhausted , and sometimes simple is good too.

Anywho...after a 9 to 5 day, completely happy, I traversed to my downline's house for her first pre-sale party, and it was awesome...she is soooooo artistic...we made 5 cards that I loved....I need to upload some of those photos both here and on my Splitcoast Stampers gallery....then at 11-ish or so, I headed home to PA.

The very next day on the 12th, was my annual get together with my stampin' buddies/sisters, and we worked on our Christmas cards...plus we had show and tell as I showed my book of 24 techniques and the 5 cards I did at Yulia's house the night before. We have been a group for those 4 years, and usually we stamp into the wee hours of the night, but we all had to work (sorry for the 4 letter word!) on Monday....ick!....but we drink, eat, stamp all day long....it is wonderful....

Then, THIS weekend, after a crazy Saturday of trying to put my bookmarks back into the computer after my DIL (daughter in law) erased them ALL on Friday evening (HOW could she do that? She only needed to look at ONE site....)...Anyway, I needed my therapy so I stamped...and got ready for an awesome class on Sunday night...I LOVE sharing SU! with people, and I get such a kick when they are delighted with what they can make...I demoed a cute vest card where I used SU! 2 sided decorative paper, and punches...and then we made a simple card with one background and then a 3X3 explosion card....I had everyone make two of the sheets for the inside so they could glue in the one we decorated and then they could use the other as a template to recreate the card...since they all ordered the stuff needed to recreate at home...wooo hooo!!! So a great party with some new friends - and met some other really cool peeps who like stampin'! GOTTA LOVE IT!!!

So....that's why I say, "WHEW!"

The Start of Something Good...

As I have been inspired to create a blog by those I have seen, which all have been awesome, and by the recommendation of my SU! upline mentors, I have decided to take on this challenge for myself....not that I need another one, mind you, but since I have decided that my middle name must be "chaos", I thought I would just take the plunge and go for it. I had wanted to try this for a while, but I wanted something special for a title and it wasn't coming....but this morning I must have had enough coffee (is there ever enough?) and I came up with my newest handle, ran it by my soul sister girlfriend Kathy, got her instant approval, and decided ok, now's the time....so here goes.....

This blog is dedicated to all of my crafting gigs, and especially to my new Stampin' Up! business. Most people don't really understand how much all of this actually means to me, as crafting was something my mother and I always did together, ever since I was a very little girl....and we can no longer do that....In my opinion, she would have loved making cards and scrapbooks with me, and she certainly would have put any of my creations to shame as she was truly a crafting artist....but these days I am lucky if she even remembers who I am, let alone be with it enough to craft with me. So share with me the gift of crafting and a love of creation that I have inherited from my beautiful mother, and know that everything I do is actually a little piece of her. 'Nuff said. Onwards sista!