Leaving...

...on a jet plane! Of course, I know when I'll be back again. I am heading to the center of the Known Stamping Universe...Salt Lake City, first thing Tuesday morning. And by "first thing", I truly mean it. My wonderful friend and downline member, Tamzin, is having her equally wonderful hubby, Allan, drive us to Bergstrom at 5 a.m. so that I can calm down before our 7:10 flight out. Since I believe in full disclosure here I had to confess to Tamzin that I am a nervous flier.

I believe that I have a genetic mutation, inherited from my father, that makes it impossible for me to be fully comfortable on a plane. It stems from a number of factors, which are, in no particular order:

1. I like control. I like to know that at any given point in time, I am, or am capable of becoming, fully in control of my surroundings and actions. I do not get this feeling on a plane, particularly when a peach-fuzz faced pilot gets on board and is given the "knuckle bump" to the surfer dude sitting in the bulkhead seat. I want to ask, "Does your mom know you are here?", but I refrain and just silently pray that when death surely comes it will be quick and painless.

2. I see danger. Not like everyday folks see it. One of the drawbacks in having worked a long time in EMS is the fact that you see a lot of unbelievable things. People have a funny way of taking everyday objects and somehow seriously hurting themselves with them, and paramedics get to see it all (and hear the stories) firsts hand. So if I get to sit back and ruminate too long on the fact that I am in a glorified Coke can with wings on it, hurtling at 600 miles per hour and an altitude around 30,000 feet, my mind starts doing the statistics on the fact that if the flight attendant hands me my tasty bloody mary as we hit a little patch of turbulence, there is a strong possibility that the piece of celery in it will shoot up my nose and straight into my brain and I will no longer be me. It could happen. Don't judge me.

3. Ever see Apollo 13? One little part goes bad, and three very intelligent astronauts had to use all of their skill, plus the skill of a Mission Control that was jammed packed with physicists, just to make it back to Earth in one piece. How confident am I that the chick with purple hair at Lockheed-Martin was paying attention the day she soldered that wing into place?

4. I know that deep down, in the depths of my soul, the Twilight Zone writer who thought up that whole, "There's a man on the wing of the plane" bit had some kind of super-secret insider information that there is some weirdo flying cousin of the Yeti that can land on the wing and if not for an observant flier, such as myself, will bring the whole thing crashing to the ground.

So, to keep my mind off of the fact that I do not like to fly, I decided to do some more work on my swaps instead. You want a look? Just remember, if my little jet does not make it to Salt Lake City, Center of the Known Stamping Universe, that these were my last two really cute cards, and I left them here for you to enjoy.

I have churned out 100 of the "Artistic Etchings" one, and am finishing up around 50 of the "Friends Never Fade" card before Tuesday. I think my big plan is to leave all the adhering for the time in the air, so that my mind is busy doing something very mundane and Tamzin doesn't have to feed me Valium like a momma bird giving her babies a worm. Pray for Tamzin, she might need it!

I will be posting updates and as many pictures as I can from Convention starting on Tuesday night. I hope that you will follow along, and feel free to ask questions in the comments section. After I make my first run through Memento Mall (which T. and I are referring to as "Diagon Alley") there might be some prizes to try for here, so stay tuned and tell your friends to come check out my little blog as well.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend and is looking forward to a fun-filled week. Until next time...Happy Stamping!

Kim

Nothing like...

...watercoloring to relax you when you need it. Lately, I've needed it. And nothing like a friend linking to your blog to make you realize, "I had better put a card up on my blog today". Thanks for the jump-start, Lydia! (You really need to click on her's because she is addressing a matter of utmost seriousness today. Seriously. OK, not life-and-death serious, but concerning nonetheless.)

I always lament the fact that I don't have enough good "manly" sets for cards for the hubby and father-in-law. This year, I pulled out my favorite stand-by, "For Father", and "Seaside" to make these cards:

On the first one I stamped the toolbox image from "For Father" using Black Staz-On then colored in with my Watercolor Wonder Pencils. One day, when I am old and gray and have nothing left, I intend to hide my pencils under my little-old-lady bathrobe and take them with me wherever I go. That is how much I care for them. They are well-used, and I find that I never seem to have to overthink what I am doing when I pull them out of the box. If you haven't tried them yet, you need to, and I promise that you will begin a life-long love of coloring with pencils, too.

I blended out everything with my Aquapainter and then roughed the edges up a little before I put it all together.

This card got multiple, many colored seashells stamped on it, then I stamped the starfish using Timber Brown Staz-On onto Creamy Caramel cardstock. I painted in some Ruby Red ink using the Aquapainter, which really helped to give the little starfish a personality! I like to think that all starfish are like Peach on "Finding Nemo", giving play-by-play insight to the other fish in their world, whether it is in the sea or an aquarium.

Forgive me, but as far as movies go, if it says "Pixar" or "Disney" on it there is a very good chance I have seen it 5 or 6 hundred times by now. That is what having a kiddo will do to you. What's that you say? "Finding Nemo" came out way before my kid was born? And you know for a fact that I bought it before I ever expected to have her? Well, that is just my business and you can't prove anything, anyway.

So, let me know what you think of the cards, and, if you are so inclined and need a couple of Father's Day Cards and want to spend a little fun time over at my house, shoot me an email and we'll schedule a time that you can make these up. Check out my SU website under "Events" for my full class schedule. (Even though this official class date has passed, I can still do one-on-ones as my schedule allows.)

I hope that you have a fun-filled, watercoloring day! Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

It's the End...

...of the Stampin' UP! year, as we know it. I know that I am super-excited for a couple of reasons.


First of all, I get to see what is retiring from the current catalog (you can too, just click here). Secondly, I get to plan a ton of fun classes this month (check out my events page).


But finally, more important than any of those things, I know that very soon I will get a chance to hold a fresh-off-the-presses, brand new catalog in my hands. I have to admit something to you all, because I know that you do not judge me. That new catalog? It won't look new for long. I will attack it with the tenacity of a mongoose going after a cobra, sticky tabs in one hand and a Starbucks in the other, marking page after page with my special color coded system until I will collapse in a heap on my floor, mumbling about designer series paper and new stamps.


It won't be pretty, but it will be fun!

In the meantime, I have been preparing for a Stampin' Up! Opportunity Night at my house tomorrow evening. If you would like to come to hear about the ways that Stampin' Up! can fit into your life, be it as a way to buy great products before everyone else and at a discount, or to help supplement your income, I would love to have you come out to visit. Just comment if you would like to attend and I will make sure that there is a gift bag waiting for you.

I hope everyone has a great day, and until next time...Happy Stamping!

Kim

Has it been...

...three months since I last posted? That can't be right, can it? Well, I guess it can, and is, since I got all tied up with Little Miss starting school and me packing my schedule with as many classes as I could teach.

However, there are certain times when a girl has to take a break. A well-deserved respite to go see someone who has helped change her, even mold her into a better version of, I believe, the already pretty decent person that she was before. Now, I know you are saying, "But Kim, who could you even begin to mean? Who could make you better than you are?" The answer is as clear as this:

Seriously, if you have not allowed yourself to be swept into the world of Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman, then you need to stop what you are doing this very minute and go visit her blog. OK, maybe you can just finish reading my quick little post and then go visit her. Because I can tell you, once you get into "From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" it won't matter if I don't post for another three months, because you will be hanging on her every keystroke.

I first heard about PW from another friend/blogger whom I stalked...err...have had a respect for...for quite sometime. When I started reading Ree's blog I just fell in love. Her thoughts on the world around her and her place in it let you know that she is pretty down to earth. That trait is what makes you love her even once you figure out that she shoots amazing photos, homeschools her four adorable and equally amazing kids, writes like a modern day Erma Bombeck, and cooks food that would make Paula Deen envious. Oh, and did I mention that the cherry on top is that she is gorgeous to boot?

So, back to my little mini-break from laundry, stamping, and general housewifery. Ree and her family, complete with husband, mom, all the kiddos, and her sister and brother-in-law, came to Book People in Austin tonight for her to sign copies of her new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. As soon as I knew she was going to be in town I knew that I had to be there to meet her for a couple of minutes and get her to sign my copy of the cookbook before I manage to get butter on every page. Trust me, my friends, if you are cooking her recipes there is a high probability that you will get butter on the pages, and that can be a very good thing.

I arrived with Little Miss in tow around 6 p.m. Luckily for me, Lydia had set up camp and was holding a piece of floor for the two of us. After getting my child settled in with a huge candy cane and a piece of paper to draw on we had a chance to chat about all of the goodness that is in the cookbook and get caught up with a little bit of gossip that we had not had the opportunity to discuss. We noticed the lucky bearers of the red bracelets in line to get a pre-talk chance to meet PW and started deciding how long our own wait would be. And, as we expected, as we waited and got to know our floor mates the room on the second floor of that book store began to fill up. Seriously. There were a lot of folks crammed into that space, and I began thinking of fire codes and how well were the load bearing walls of this building actually constructed. It is the medic in me. You see a fun evening with laughter and a chance to meet someone who wrote a book, I see a potential Charleton Heston film-like disaster in the making.

All of a sudden, I look up and see Marlboro Man in the flesh, surrounded by the kids. By the way, if by some miracle you are actually reading this Ree: You. Did. Good. I always thought you were just kind of teasing us with the Wrangler and chaps pictures, but now I must say, "Bravo!" He was even kind enough to sign cookbooks himself for all of the crowds waiting downstairs while you were busy with the lines of people upstairs. Even the kids were giving out autographs. And for every nay-sayer in the world who thinks that kids who are homeschooled lack socialization skills, all I can say is "Pbbbttt!" These children could be a walking advertisement for the merits of teaching your own.

Anyway, on to my meeting with PW. I made her a little stack of notecards with a cowboy kid on the front holding the reins of his stick horse. It wasn't until my 5-year old daughter pointed out to me that I failed to watercolor his little face that I realized he looked like one of the Twilight characters decided to go play on the ranch. Sorry about that one, Ree. I am sure that if you let the kids color his face in he will look a little healthier! She was amazingly gracious about the gift, and the fact that I was pretty much stammering to find the right thing to say to her. I am quite sure that I embarrassed myself as I was thinking, "OMG, OMG, OMG....it is Ree right here!". She signed the books, posed nicely for the above photo, and then it was time to move on to pick up a super-cute t-shirt and bundle up the kiddo for the drive home.

So, I have to say a heartfelt, "Thank you" to the Pioneer Woman. Thank you for the time that you take every day to include us in your life. Thank you for all the great prizes that you give away (I know one day I am going to win one!). Thank you for the pictures, the gorgeous pictures that make me believe that one day I will get a big-girl camera and take pictures like you do. Thank you for showing us your family with mud on them, your sink full of dishes, and all the parts of you that make you real. Thank you for being as nice in person as you are on your blog. It was a real treat meeting you, and I hope that you see all the success that you could ever want, and all the blessings that your heart wishes for.

And, thank you to all my friends who stick with me even when I don't post for three months! You are an amazing, eclectic group of women who have filled my life with joy and I love each and every one of you!

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Stamps

Hi everyone out there in stamp-a-rama land! I am happy to say that I have returned safely home from convention and think that I have (finally) unpacked the last of my stuff and am ready to tell y'all some of the fun details about my week in Salt Lake City. I have to say that I missed each of you, and wished beyond all hope that I could have taken a laptop out there so I could have given you up to the minute reporting, but what I lack in timeliness I will have to make up for in details. So buckle up, buttercup! This is a fun tale of some of my western adventures.

Before I get started on the juicy stuff, can I just say one thing? If you are sitting next to me on an airplane, please understand that there are a few givens, and here they are in no particular order:

1. I like the window seat. I like to sit just behind the wing so that I can make sure that the pilot and crew are doing their job, that the flaps and ailerons are functioning correctly and that everyone is working in top form. No, I don't know how to fly an airplane, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express one time and if I feel there is an emergency about to happen you better believe I will figure it out PDQ. Also, I watched too much Twilight Zone as a kid and I just know that one day there will be a man on the wing of the plane.

2. Since I am planted firmly next to the window making sure that we stay airborne, that means that if you choose to be my seatmate you are going to be between me and the aisle. If you pretend to be asleep and I have to go to the lavaratory, this means that you are either going to have to "wake up", or I am going to lap dance my way over you. You don't want that. Seriously.

3. I don't want to talk to you. I am busy already talking to God, trying to make sure that the airplane stays in the air for the alloted duration of the flight. Don't think that your small talk about what you plan to do or the best place to eat matters to me. I am a nervous flier, and I am convinced that the sincerity and duration of my prayers help keep our plane where we all want it to be. Do you really want to be the person that interrupts that? I think not.

OK, now that those little ground rules for flying with me are out of the way, let's talk about the Sisterhood!
This is a picture of our Mother land, the Stampin' UP! headquarters in Riverton. I was able to take a tour there Wednesday before convention got into full swing. I have decided that if we ever leave Austin, we are moving here and I am taking a job, although they probably would not let me work in the shipping area, unless they don't mind me drooling on demo orders and trying to sneak stamps out every single day. Next year I think I am going to hide out in demo support until they close up and then just run around singing, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Yes, it is that good.

Here is the main stage area. I can't do it justice. Imagine a ginormously huge convention area that is full of 3000+ stampers. And guess what? They have SWAPS! Tons and tons of stamping goodness that makes me think, "You know, I think I can make 1,000 swaps next year instead of just 100." There is so much stamping goodness that you can just suck it up by osmosis. And believe me, I tried!



Here is the proof of that:
















The first picture is me at Lydia's U-blue blogger's meeting. Lydia is on the left of the picture, next is Linda Hanson (OMG!) who has probably forgotten more about stamping than I could ever hope to learn, and then me with a smile so big I am surprised Linda even allowed me near her. Not that I gave her much of a choice on that one.

The picture on the right is me and Jan Tink. If you haven't ever seen her blog, just click on her name and go there now. I'll wait...

You're back? Already? Or have you been gone for a week and a half and now you're back? I understand, I truly, truly do. I had a plan in place for meeting Jan which my upline, Meg, was party to. Basically it was understood that I was in full stalker mode throughout the duration of convention, and that when I spotted Jan I would throw my camera at Meg, who was to turn it on and get it in focus as I tackled, er, approached Jan and grabbed her against her will asked her nicely if I could have a picture with her. Meg made me promise not to lick Jan's cheek, lest I get to meet the Salt Lake City police department, and in the end I think I did restrain myself very well. And if you are one of the people I shoved aside like an SEC linebacker in order to get to Jan during lunch on Saturday, I apologize. I really am a nice person, and I'll send you a get well card soon. I hear stitches are very stylish this year!

Finally, a shot (one of many I took) of the Temple in SLC. The grounds were stunning, and if you are a fan of history and architecture I really recommend spending some time walking around and take one of the tours there. It is worth your time! Thanks for stopping in, and I will be posting more pictures from Salt Lake as well as some cards in the next few days. Until next time, Happy Stamping! Kim