Month: November 2016

This was my very first On Stage event. I attended the event in Kansas City. It was great fun! I hope I can attend at least one On Stage next year as well. Kansas City was a drive a way, I had a friend to room with, and my sales were good enough that I did not have to pay for the registration fee out of pocket. All huge factors in making it possible to go!

Making it even more fun was being selected to be a Display Board Stamper. I’ve done a little recon work as it didn’t seem quite right that other demos could share pictures of the display boards after 2 pm CST today and I could not share my samples after all my hard work. I can share them as long as I also share pictures on Stampin’ Connection, so I will be working on sharing those with you over the next few days! Woo hoo!

In addition to being a display stamper – I found out that I achieved Annual Sales Level 1. I had no idea that there was such a thing! But, I got a pretty ribbon for it and got to stand to be recognized for it as well. I hope I can do it again over the next 12 months as it was the extra flex points that I earned from it that paid for my On Stage registration. Usually, my flex points are spent on things like free catalogs for you – but this time I could do both! It was also hard work – I hope I have the stamina to keep it up! haha!

The lanyard was from my roommate and friend, Brenda Myers. She lives Southeast of me, so I drove to her and picked her up on the way down (I let her drive from her place. haha!) The red leather book is supposed to be a passport cover (incentive to earn a trip out of the country). We had a package of 3 pens, our name tags and ribbons. Some demos had ribbon swag down to their belly buttons! We also got a planner which I shared on my Facebook page (some of these photos are there as well.)

Look at all the bags! Here is a close up:

The tables were all pretty and set up with secret supplies! I like how they used the Star Framelits and Punch to create the table confetti.

Stampin’ Up! was very generous and let us divide up the supplies afterwards. Even with 5 of us at our table we got lots of extra bounty!

My little bit of photo fun sharing the new catalog that we really can’t share yet! I have a similar one with my prize patrol winnings! Well – stay tuned – as I will be able to share my display stamper projects with you and my fellow Kansas City On Stage Display Stampers and I are collaborating to bring you a Pinterest Board! How fun is that?

The cherry on top – my hubby did not get a migraine while I was gone and he enjoyed his visit with our son (who came and stayed with him so I could attend, I just didn’t feel like I could leave him alone as he can’t take himself to urgent care and we have no family or close friends here).

Sometimes, life just makes the day-to-day hard. Don’t you agree? Because of this, I don’t always get a blog post done every day. I had every intention of getting one done yesterday. But life got in the way.

My husband gets migraines really bad. The kind where you have to lay perfectly still in order to not have the pain ricocheting around your head instead of just being in one place. For awhile we had a good maintenance program in place with an awesome physical therapist and acupuncturist. Then we moved and we have not been able to find such a good support system to help manage them. They have slowly increased in frequency and we are back to visiting urgent care regularly. That’s where I spent my morning yesterday as it was day 2 of the MONSTER.

Usher in a new friend, whom I don’t get to see too often. She’s a pastors wife and they pastor two churches, both about 40 minutes away from here. They live here in Le Mars, in the middle. So they are quite busy and she’s often in Sioux City or Spencer every other day. However, we had finally found a day that we could connect for lunch, and it was yesterday. In the morning I fretted that I may not be able to keep our date but we got home from urgent care in plenty of time. Our lunch date turned into an all afternoon adventure of stopping at some fun little shops in our area. My two favorites: 4 Speckled Hens, and Against the Grain Antiques. The latter was a grain bin converted into an antique shop.

My escape from the stresses of this life is my faith, prayer, friends, family, and stamping. However, as much as I felt like I needed to get my stamping work done, I have to confess, I really needed the fun day away from watching my husband suffer. It drains my energy. I’m glad my new friend was sensitive to this and asked me along for the ride.

Today, I am preparing to leave for On Stage in the morning. My son and grandson’s are coming tomorrow evening to spend the weekend with Jim so he is not alone during this migraine cycle he is in. He will need a driver for urgent care (hopefully, not needed) as he cannot drive after getting a shot. I am thankful that they can come. I am really looking forward to being away from the day-to-day and sharing the time with a stamping friend, sharing the excitement of a new catalog, and sharing all of my projects on the display boards. I wish I could be a little mouse and see all the reactions of the many stampers looking at my samples! (And, then again, maybe I don’t! Haha!)

Maybe, if I am lucky. I can get a handful of swaps done to swap. That would be nice. But I won’t stress over it.

Hopefully, I will get back to blogging next week. Stick with me! I do have some goodies to share! Thanks so much – and may all your troubles be stamped away! Your stampin’ friend, always.