I wanted to say Happy Anniversary! It's hard to believe that I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for 8 years now! Tonight, my heart is filled with gratitude. Boy, what a journey it's been!
Remembering back, I was a brand new mom. Home with a baby and wanting some adult conversation. I went to class after class and couldn't get enough!
My husband was to be best man in his best friend's wedding and I wanted to make a gift that would be more special than anything I could buy in a store. I opted to place a really large order with my demonstrator, when she said to me...
"Looking at your order here, you could save a lot of money just picking up the starter kit!" Back then you could customize your kit a little bit, but it had set supplies. Stampin' Up!, you've come a long way baby! Now, the $99 kit allows you to pick out $125 in goodies, you decide what you want ($150 through the end of March), and you get FREE SHIPPING. It is an even better deal than it was back then because of the way you can customize it.
Anyway, when I arrived home, I told my husband "I bought a kit... to be a demo, but don't worry. I just want the stuff." His vision seemed to be better than mine that day. He suggested that I make it a business, that day I thought he was NUTS... but that's EXACTLY what ended up happening. Not right away of course. I had met my first customers at a class up at AC Moore. I worked there teaching rubber stamping and they wanted me to sign up to be a demonstrator then! My second group came from a craft fair here in the town I live in and I quickly fell in love. Yes, I love the products, the way they match.. but what I REALLY loved was the people. Crafters who sit down, to make something, anything, for someone else are really special people in their own way and my life is forever changed because of every single one of them.
Over the years, I have been blessed over and over. I have dedicated my life to the service of others through stamping. I still don't consider myself to be a sales person, but I am in love!
So, how about some more about this card! No, it's not contraband, it's undefined! How fitting that this image came from something my daughter came up with. She has a crayola brand light table, and was messing around with a photo from a magazine and traced this image onto paper with a pencil. When I saw it, I was inspired to try and see what it would look like as a carved image.
So I grabbed my undefined kit, and flipped her pencil drawing over and transferred it to the carving rubber using the tool and carved it out. Here's what it looked like (with ink) after I was done playing.
How fitting that I can share her image today. Alexis has grown up with mom being a professional stamper! She "sells" it far better than I could ever... And she's so proud of her mom, and all of the things that I've been able to accomplish with her right by my side. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here when she gets out of school and do her homework with her, and cart her to dance class and juggle life as it comes. I can't believe she's already 9!
Tonight's card is one of encouragement. Some day, I'll fit into a dress that looks just like that. Since I joined Stampin' Up back in 2006, I've been able to lose about 70 pounds. I still have plenty of weight to lose, but it is truly a journey. When I saw this dress, I instantly thought that I'd like to pair it up with this sentiment to encourage my friends to go after their dreams, whatever they are! To those of you who have shared in my journey in any way, I'd like to just say thank you. Every single person has added to help me grow and I feel so blessed to be able to share what I love for a living, while being here for my daughter. Maybe you left me a comment, or played along back when we did sketches. Maybe you purchased something from me one time, or have been with me from the beginning. To all of you, I am so grateful!
Here's another peek of this beautiful card. I hope you're left inspired in some way to carve an image that means something special to you!
I grabbed a sketch from one of my favorite sketch site's Mojo Monday, and used it to construct my card.
Speaking of SPECIAL! If you happen to need any stamping supplies, Sale-A-Bration is almost over!! If you spend over 50.00 you get to pick a FREE Saleabration choice, AND I'm giving all online orders from now-March 31st a FREE 3 Class tutorial with over 18 projects with pictures and instructions! If you happen to want to become a demonstrator on my team, you'll get the directions that way too!
Cheers to you,
Selene Kempton
Stampin' Up! Creative Coach
Click here to shop in my online store!
Click here to join my team!
