Hope you aren't too mad at me for not posting anything for so long! I have been wicked busy and loving every second of my life!
1) I found out that my Michael's store offers special classes for only $5, so I convinced my bestest buddy Robin, to go with me to the first one about 3 weeks ago and although we had only planned to stay for about 2 hours, we ended up staying till the store closed at 9 PM! We both worked on our SMASH books and I got 3 whole pages done! What a sense of accomplishment. In case you are not familiar with SMASH books, they are spiral bound and contain multi-colored pages in a variety of styles, that you get to decorate on or journal in or do whatever you want in! I use mine to try out art techniques, like mixed media she-girl art, or stamping, or acrylic painting or super quick memory-keeping of my ephemera. It's a little different than scrapbooking in that I don't often take the time to play with patterned papers and layout techniques. But I nonetheless, find a way to smash-in all those little pieces of ephemera from important events in my life! I love it as much as I love all my other paper crafting endeavors!
2) At that SMASH book event, I discovered that the store might not have an instructor for the 02/02 Scrap In, which was supposed to be a 6-hour scrapbooking crop. So the lights went on in my head and I got bold and decided to investigate the possibility of teaching at Michael's.
3) I contacted my Spotted Canary School people because I am already a Certified Scrapbook Instructor through them and found out that I would have to re-certify!!! Apparently, they've greatly enhanced their website for us instructors, since I became a CSI and I needed to get back in line with the program by completely re-doing all that certification work I did in August 2011! Well, while I was not to enthused about all that, I was pretty psyched about the new website and so, dutifully, I have embarked on my re-certification process! I'm about 1/3 done! I've also posted some of my work on the site and people have actually commented on it. These are projects that I have already blogged about here on my blog.
4) In the process of figuring out all the new aspects of the Spotted Canary School re-certification, I stumbled across the certification process that is exclusive for Michael's, called Paper-ED, and I took the required classes and I officially became a Certified Paper-Ed Instructor on Jan. 28, 2013!!!!
5) In the meantime, I got word from the SCS people that someone from the Joann's store was very interested in calling me, to interview to teach classes for them! Awesome!
6) Two days after I became CPEI, I got an email from Michael's headquarters congratulating me and asking if they could place me at the store of my choice. I jumped on that, while waiting to hear from Joann's and on Monday (02/04) this week, I went to my local store to meet the Store Manager. I took several samples of my work and tried my best to convey my love of crafting and my great desire to teach the masses. By the time I was done, an hour later, he'd asked me to review the classes that are available and to pick two that I would like to teach next month. He also is willing to give me two opportunities to demonstrate the classes this month in the store. I never did hear from Joann's!
7) Today, Friday, 02/08, I went to Michael's to further discuss the classes, and the store manager surprised me by telling me that he needed me to teach many more classes than just the 2 he'd originally offered. Yahoo! I will still only do 2 demos this month, and only 2 classes next month, but depending on how those go, I may be able to do one a week after that! How exciting!
The best part of all this, is that NONE of it impacts my first and primary job at church! I will still be doing all I do for church and for my kiddos, without any disruptions or interruptions! Isn't God good to me? He is providing a way for me to keep busy, doing stuff I love to do, in anticipation of my soon to be empty nest! I am so impressed with God's love and His faithfulness to me!
8) I just made plans last night, to fly to Arizona in April, to visit my brother, whom I haven't seen in 2 years, and my nephew and niece, whom I haven't seen in 10 years! I also get to go work at the Creating Keepsakes Convention that just happens to be taking place in Mesa, at the same time I am going to visit Carlos! How amazingly wonderful is that? Again, I get be a Teacher's Assistant and be around the happiest industry in the whole wide world! I may even take a class or two! But if not, I will be happy just working and getting to visit the Vendor Faire! And, of course, spending time with my family in one of the happiest states in all of USA!!!
Here is a pic of a Valentine's card I just finished for my daughter.
Outside:
I used a Basic Grey "Serendipity" card base and added mostly handmade embellishments. the Sunshine Kisses layered sticker is also from the BG Serendipity line. I used my Sizzix dies to make the butterfly, the scalloped envelop and the tag. The tag was cut on Teresa Collins Freestyle paper, and stamped with a Notes stamp from Basic Grey. I added lace to the scalloped envelop to make it even more frilly. The big heart was misted with some Tattered Angels and it beaded up beautifully to create a special design. The little hearts were hand cut out of Basic Grey Serendipity paper and backed with Bazzill cardstock.
Inside of card:
This is one sheet of paper from My Minds Eye "Follow Your Heart" paper. It is so, so, so gorgeous. I did not have to add a thing to the inside because the paper is so full of detail!
I'm going to send this card to my daughter for Valentine's next week!
Next up, I will be practicing some of my cardmaking techniques in preparation for my Public Demo next week! I will post more pics of those cards once they are done! I will also post my teaching schedule and details of the classes, once I get that figured out next week! Hope you can come out and visit me at Michael's, 800 Center Blvd., Newark, DE!
Back to work I go now!!!
Life is Good!
