Happy Anniversary to Me!

Fifteen years ago, I was introduced to Stampin’ Up! through monthly card making events in Kerrville. I have been making cards since 1984, but the rubber stamps we used then were individual and poorly matched. I didn’t really have a source for the card stock or ink outside craft stores until those Stamp Camps in Kerrville. Suddenly, I was hooked. Not just because everything in a stamp set matched scale and style, but by the immense color coordination between ink, paper, and embellishments.

When my Demonstrator moved to Tucson, I joined Stampin’ Up! to keep the monthly card making going. I was a TERRIBLE Demonstrator! I didn’t know how to design, and I regularly had stamps and ink that needed to be at two tables at the same time. Very poor planning, terrible set up, but we all had so much fun!

Eventually, my Upline trained me in all that, and how to advertise, and my offerings climbed to 8 classes per month.

We moved from Kerrville to Pflugerville, and then moved into Sun City a few years after that. My little stamping studio changed drastically each move, and in 2020, when we moved again, I created everything in my setup from scratch.

• My “studio” contains a mobile Kitchen Island from IKEA, and a set of kitchen cabinetry
• The stamping Nook is at the end of the kitchen meant to be the home desk area
• Stamp-n-Storage built custom paper storage for my kitchen cabinets
• Inks and punches are all organized at my finger tips thanks again to Stamp-n-Storage
• Even my drawers have been organized to combine household bill paying and my stamping tools!

I absolutely love where I work! Why did I take so long to figure out that Less Is More? A place for everything, and everything in its place.

The card making styles changed drastically over the years. I CASE’d many demonstrators around the world to learn layouts and folds, but have finally settled down to my roots of SIP (stamps, ink, paper). I have fallen back in love with making Clean and Simple cards because my desire to send out lots of encouragement through cards and letters takes time.

Card sending has been my love since 1970! Hallmark made a lot of money from me back then. Once I started making cards, Hallmark and I have had an on again, off again relationship depending on my profession, going to college, and the many, many moves around the country.

TIME TO CELEBRATE!

• Fifteen percent of sales this month will be donated to Kerr County Animal Welfare Society
• All Customers placing orders with me this month will earn gifts
• All customers shopping with me this month will be entered into an end of month drawing
• Orders placed through me have FREE SHIPPING on October 13th – stay tuned to learn how to place those orders by text, email, and phone

If you follow me on Instagram, or have subscribed to the newsletter, you have probably seen that I am celebrating my anniversary with a trip to Minden, LA to stay at the now-famous Villas At Spanish Court. Minden was featured on HGTV as the very best Kickstart episode, but for two years before that, Sara and I had been communicating about my getting to be one of the builders helping to restore The Villas. Long Covid kicked those plans to the curb, but this year I am able to leave the house and I have a HUGE desire to relive my days of living in my Tiny House* in Stillwater, OK.

*(Yes, in 1980 I was working at Oklahoma State University as an Administrative Assistant at the HPER Department taking my own trips backpacking through the Ozarks,, and learning to snow ski in Colorado. I lived in a tiny yellow house with white trim and walked to work. I was recovering from a divorce just like Sara was recovering from her divorce moving to Minden and restoring her sweet little bungalow.)

Raise your hand if you can’t imagine me backpacking and camping in a tent!