New Directions

No, I'm not talking about Glee.

I'm talking about a new direction in my life. My scrapping life to be specific. Well, and my working life.

For the past 7.5 years I've been a Stay at Home Mom. Before that I had an okay job for a decent company but it didn't inspire me, wasn't my passion and didn't pay enough to tempt me to put Marley into daycare. Greg and I wanted to give our kids the experience that we had of having a parent at home full time. As I had the least paying, least satisfying job, I took on that role. When Marley was joined by Paige and then Christine (LC as we call her on this blog) it just didn't make sense - both financially and for our family values - for me to return to work. Recent economic downturns and the steady increase in family expenses (soccer, swimming, dance, FOOD!) have started to put pressure on me to go back to work. I did not want to go back to where I worked before I had Marley. I wanted to utilize all that I'd learned at BCIT during my 5.5 year sojourn there. Then something different fell into my lap.

Stampin' Up!

My friend Sandra has been a demonstrator for years. I've often linked to her blog http://www.stamperontheshore.blogspot.com/ and I encourage you to check it out now as she has been showing off her Artisan Award submissions. She won the award this year which, in the world of Stampin' Up! is a big deal. Hundreds submit their suite of projects (layouts, cards and 3-D items) and only 10 win. Anyway, she emailed me about an opportunity to join the organization and I decided it was the right time.

The rest, as they say, is history!

So what does this mean for me? For my family? For my scrapbooking? I'm not sure yet to be honest. I've been with the company for 2 weeks now and am pretty excited about my prospects. I'm also freaking out a fair amount!! I've never thought of myself as a sales person so that is going to be a stretch for me! I love their products and the projects you can create from them, however, I also love other manufacturers out there and (since I have a room full of other product) have no immediate intention of getting rid of it. My plan at the moment is to still use whatever I love and show off my projects right here on my blog. I have a Stampin' Up! blog now (http://daydesigns.stampinup.net/) which is where I'll be posting strictly Stampin' Up! projects and news. I encourage you to head over there and check it out. It's still pretty rough but as I figure my way around it I'll tweak it and make it mine!

Right now, I'd like to leave you with a teaser. I am going to be giving away some BLOG CANDY here soon. Basically as soon as I can remember to photograph the prize!! So, become a follower so you don't miss out on the fun. And believe me, you don't want to miss this one. It's AWESOME!!!

Thanks. That's all for now. See you soon.