Blessed

Have you ever had an opportunity just fall in your lap that you truly feel God has sent to you? See, I've been trying to get my Stampin' Up business going as an actual business. I want to bring in some money...but I understand that it won't be a lot. But you know what??? Its hard to get a business going when you are basically pulling teeth to get people to host a workshop or place an order! Crafting isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. I understand. But its been H.A.R.D.

So Thursday night my upline (the person I signed up under) called me and asked if I could demo a workshop for her this weekend. At first I was confused. She started talking about how her husband had basically said she needed to spend more time at home (she also has a full-time teaching job, various other craft-related activities, and a rambunctious 5-year-old). So I thought she just wanted me to run the workshop or help her do it. NOPE! She actually wanted me to take over a 9-month hostess club!!!! I was completely gobsmacked. This will allow me to actually start a proper SU business! I seriously am so excited. We did the first club this morning, and the ladies are soooo wonderful. I think I'm really going to enjoy it. And I already have some great ideas for projects coming up over the next few months. YAY!

On top of that, I've decided to take a year-long Ali Edwards class called "One Little Word". Ali has been doing this for a few years. She takes one word and creates a scrapbook around that word. Her class will help the thousands of us who signed up (not kidding: in the gallery of the class there are already over 400 pictures and we're only one week into the class!!!) create a scrapbook about how our "word" affects our life. Some people chose words that reflect what they want to accomplish this year, ways they want to change the paths of their lives, or things they hope to see more of in their life this year. I honestly felt like the word chose me. I had seen Ali post about this class for a month or two, but suddenly this week, after reading a blog post from her, I was overcome with a phenomenal desire to create a scrapbook around the word "create". One of my goals this year was to be more creative, actually try to do SU, get into my "craft room (aka: guest room/dump area) and DO something in there. And after reading Ali's post I felt like my brain was exploding with the word "create, create, CREATE!". I knew I had to choose that word...or rather, that it had chosen me. So check out Ali's blog HERE, and the class is over at Big Picture Classes. Its sooo expensive at 3 bucks a month, or 36 bucks total. She posts monthly videos, gives printable handouts, and PNG/PDF files we can use throughout. She also will do quarterly live chats (already missed the one in January, dang it), and has a message board where you can ask her questions. Plus a gallery to post all of the lovely things we create. :) So I'm excited to get started. Kinda got sidetracked this week, my 6-year-old printer finally bit the dust in the middle of me printing the January handout for Ali's class. This poor printer has been moved around quite a bit and actually survived a rather unfortunate wet experience when the military movers left it outside in Houston during Hurricane Ike. I'm surprised it has lasted this long! So I've upgraded to a nice purty HP Photosmart C310, and my biggest excitement is that it can print in 5x7 as well as 4x6...my old one couldn't do that. :)

A friend of mine also asked what Project Life was. Please check out Becky Higgins' blog HERE, she explains it all. You can also check out her specific page for Project Life HERE. Its currently all sold out on Amazon, but should have a new supply at the end of the month. Works out perfectly for me, its my Valentine's gift from the hubby. He said I could get a massage or Project Life...I figure I'll enjoy the yearlong scrapbooking experience a heck of a lot more than an hour massage. :)