Fun with Team S.T.I.C

I have to say that the Team S.T.I.C girls are such fun and are such an encouragement to me.  I love hearing their stories, getting to know them and being a part of their lives.  It is such an unexpected blessing and joy in my life.  Those of you who know me a while knew that I went kicking and fighting into this role of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and I was even more wary of having team members: girls who purchase the demonstrator starter kit from me.  I didn't feel that I could inspire or train anyone.  I was just trying to figure things out for myself.  Now that I have been led on this journey, I realize that my fears were unfounded.  My team girls are amazing!  They all have unique gifts and personalities that make our group interesting.  Never mind me inspiring them. They inspire me! 

I just came home from our team holiday party and I am so pumped.  I learned some new techniques, made some cards, we swapped and ate food.  It was so great.  Here's the card I made for the swap.  I wanted to keep it simple and I saw this card on a blog but it didn't have any embellishments.  No embellishments???!!!!  It is such a simple, eleganat card it didn't need much but I felt that some pearls and paper piercing would be perfect.

Here's one of the cards that one of the girls brought to show.  The winter wishes felt accents are so amazing!  This is the last month to buy them before they disappear with the holiday mini in January.

If you want a dose of inspiration, come on out and check out our team meeting next month!

midnight crafting

So, my strategy for preparing for this craft fair is to leave everything to the last minute.  Last year I was crafting way in advance (meaning I started probably a month before).  It made it feel like I was preparing for forever and then last year, there were not very many people that came.  With the unpredictability of volume at a vendor fair, I figured it probably made more sense to not waste time preparing too early because I could better use that time sleeping or preparing for workshops or hanging out with the family.  I conciously accepted and decided that I would prefer staying up all night the day before rather than dragging it out for months ahead of time.


So, here I am at midnight getting all ready.  Really, I'm not as behind as I thought I would be. (which is why I"m taking a break blogging) I've got everything set for the things I"m selling at the table.  What I"m working on now is these little presentations I'm supposed to give during the day.  The organizer asked if I would do a couple of little stage presentations throughout the day.  I said "no problem" because that's the part I feel most comfortable with.  I can demonstrate cute little stamping tricks anytime.  Here's a little gift idea I'm going to show: stamping on a glass ornament. 

Of course you need a cute little box to put the ornament in...

This is the beginning prototype for my gift box class on December 5th.  I'm sure the final design will be even better!  Sign up and make your own handstamped ornament and decorated box. 

Okay, back to work for me!  Hubby taunted that he had finished reading his report cards and was going to bed.  I think I'll be done soon and can get some shut eye myself!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Stampin' Up! has declared this week as the Worldwide Week of Workshops.  Demonstrators around the world will be doing workshops this week.  As it turns out, I actually do have quite a few workshops booked this week and I do think it's kind of cool that I'll be saying "hello" to my hostesses while other demonstrators will be saying: "bonjour" "g'day" "hola" etc. 
I enjoyed spending today making all different kinds of Christmas cards.  I always have to make a ton of different things and then look at them all and pick what I will show at a workshop or what I will do for my class.  I made 7 different things today.  I am loving a new set I bought (new to me, old to Stampin' Up!).  It's called Many Merry Messages.  It's got all different holiday sayings. Here's a sampling of a few of the cards I made today...

Here's a close up of the wreath from the winter wishes stitched felt accents in the holiday mini.  My husband thought I actually made it using pieces of felt.  Ha Ha!

I think it's hard for you to see but the designer series paper has glimmer red dots all over it.  It is the special paper from the holly berry dsp.  The glimmer gives it that extra bling.
Making and sending your own holiday cards is a blessing.  It's not too late to sign up for my Christmas card class: $35 for 12 cards.  Just let me know ASAP and I can have the paper prepared for you.