Happy Stampiversary! Happy 1st Day of Spring!

I received a lovely card in the mail last week from Stampin' Up! Home Office.

Things have been so busy lately, that I didn't realize that my Stampin' Up! Anniversary is almost here.  

It's a little misleading as I was a demo before I went into hospital in 2008, but part way through that year in hospital someone had told me I could apply for a hardship exception because I was laid up in hospital for an inordinate amount of time.  We did so.   

At the time I couldn't use most of the left side of my body and my left hand was more like a club than a stamping implement.  I had my work set out for me.  I didn't realize that the hardship exception would expire. 

I was back at home and working on getting back on my feet when I realized I hadn't received the new catalog and I'd called.  When we figured out what happened I was dissapointed but realized that I wasn't in a position to get down to my craftroom anyhow.  I decided to leave it for a bit while I got my world in order.. 

I re-joined during Sale-a-Bration in 2010 and have never looked back.  

I have met so many wonderful people through my paper crafting hobby turned business, and have made some fabulous friends that I wouldn't trade for anything in this world. 

We all have good and bad days, and life upheavals.  For me, paper crafting and music are like medicine.  Your enthusiasm fires me up.  I am forever grateful for the creative contacts and friends that I have made over the years and look forward to many more years of colouring your world. 

Friends and new stamping family members are like icing on the cake.  I am blessed. 

I thought I'd kick off this week and the first day of Spring with a virtual hug and my heartfelt thanks for your part in this journey.  I can't imagine it would be the same without each and every one of you. 

Happy Monday! Happy Spring! 

Hope to see your smile around my tables very soon! 

Bad Crafters and stacking up the blog posts..

Do you ever get to feeling like you're a bad crafter?  

I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, but I've been a very bad crafter lately.  Blogging doesn't seem to be my forte either. 

I start out with the best of intentions, of course, but then life gets busy and well you know..?

I call it demos dilemma quite often.  If I've got a class planned, or a swap upcoming then I know I "have" to be in there and doing my thing.  Somehow when it's just little ol' me I look around and see things that need to be sorted, jobs I should be doing, and other guilty to-do lists that I can't help but feeling need to be done before I get to play.  Meat and potatoes before dessert, right?

Sometimes it goes the other way, however,  I'll put together a bunch of things and sometimes I even take photos with the plan of posting to my pages or blog, and then they just sit. Sometimes I forget about them til I scroll back in my phone looking for one thing or another and then it hits me -- OOPS.  

I have made more of an effort to get crafting these past couple of weeks,  the re-org has taken some real leaps and bounds.  I've starting culling more items to purge, sold my paper cart and reclaimed some space.  Baby steps.. baby steps.  

I actually packed a selection of items the other night and took them upstairs with me to watch TV with hubby.  This is one of my favourite ways to challenge myself.  Since I don't want to make a dozen trips up and down the stairs, I am limited to only what I bought up in the bin, bag or tote with me.  Sometimes that's a punch or two, sometimes the big shot, other times it's just a single embossing folder for the Big Shot.  I've done just my markers, or just pencil crayons or a small selection of ink pads.  It forces you to be creative because you can't just go grab something else out of the arsenal to play with.  

I posted a bunch of card fronts to my Facebook page the other day.  I'd stamped a number of images from a retired stamp set that I've had for years and sadly never used.  I spent hours colouring them with my new watercolour pencils.  I stlil have to mount them and embellish them to turn them into cards but before I get there I'm thinking I'd like to do some highlights with my aquapainters. 

I'll post some photos of the completed projects soon. :) 

In the meantime, I'm SO looking forward to Sunday class/club this week.  If you can't find me before then I'll be the one in the corner surrounded by paper and ink giggling like a crazy person.  I've coined the phrase "Forced down-time" these past couple of weeks.  We're certainly due for a slow-down. 

Hope to see your smile at my craft table very soon! 

Happy Thursday everybody!