Back From Leadership

I am back from Leadership, and I am exhausted! My return flight landed in Colorado Springs yesterday at approximately 11:30 a.m., I stopped to get lunch on the drive home, and the rest of the day, I was in recuperation mode. I napped all afternoon. My husband and I flew to Orland together last Monday and spent a day in Epcot. I had never been before. It was fun, but I was a little disappointed in the fact that it appeared to be mostly restaurants and gift shops. But, we did get to see some of the other attractions like Mission Space, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin’. We were going to do the design a car thing at Test Track, but it began experiencing technical difficulties as soon as we got into line and it ended up being a longer wait so we skipped that one.

Hubby left Orland on Wednesday morning as my stampin’ friends began to arrive. Leadership was a whirlwind of activities with many new announcements mostly relating to Stampin’ Up!’s renovation of their compensation plan and events schedule since it is quickly becoming a global company with demonstrators all over the world.

I left Orlando exhausted, excited about all the new changes, and loaded down with a lot of free product from Prize Patrol and give a ways. I am anxious to get into my stamp room.

Today I am posting the card I made for our team swap along with a gift cardholder I made for my roommates. A word about the card: the sentiment is done in Early Espresso Embossing Powder. I used this color because the Soft Sued ink the rest of the card is done in didn’t appear dark enough. It is stamped on white vellum. Before I stamped the fern design behind the sentiment, I stamped off once. I also stamped off once before stamping on the Crushed Curry circle. Another thing you might want to know is I used Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper and ribbon from the Best Year Ever Accessory Pack which are both in the Sale-a-bration Catalog. You get 1 item FREE from this catalog for every $50.00 you purchase. The gift cardholder was cased from one I saw elsewhere, but can’t remember who I should give credit to. Sorry. The hearts are embossed on vellum using the Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Hope you like both.

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Butterfly Basics Wood Stamp Set

$47.95

Butterfly Basics Clear Stamp Set

$35.95

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set

$23.95

Soft Suede 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Crushed Curry 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper

$0.00

Vellum 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.50

Soft Suede Classic Stampin’ Pad

$5.95

Versamark Pad

$7.50

Early Espresso Stampin’ Emboss Powder

Decorative Label Punch

$16.95

Elegant Butterfly Punch

$15.95

Tea Lace Paper Doilies

$2.95

Best Year Ever Accessory Pack

Groovy Love Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$24.95

Groovy Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$17.95

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$8.50

Real Red 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Vellum 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad

$5.95

Tea Lace Paper Doilies

$2.95

Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies

$39.95

Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$7.95

Texture Boutique Machine

$29.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

The Bagger Chronicles; Part 2

Well, since our last visit it seems nothing much new has happened. I continue to bag groceries at our local commissary and am soon about to begin substitute teaching for one of our local districts. We will see which one I give up first.

The amount of pettiness that goes on among the ranks of commissary baggers and workers is perplexing. The frequency with which my coworkers will run to “report” a minor indiscretion one might make while bagging groceries confounds me daily! After all, how many “indiscretions” might one make? And what “indiscretion” might be a reportable offense? One would be surprised! It seems I am always getting into “trouble” for one thing or another. One day it might be for actually thinking and using my brain. Another, it might be for simply following the rules by rote. Here is an example.

Baggers wait in line until signaled to the cash registers to bag a customer’s groceries. The signal usually comes in the form of a black or orange flag…it is very high tech. The bagger waiting for a customer at an open check out flags an orange flag for the next bagger in line to come and help. When the lead bagger takes the customer’s groceries to his/her car, the assistant bagger becomes the lead bagger for the next customer, and in turn flags either orange or black for his/her assistant. Yesterday, as I was waiting to be flagged, a cashier opened a checkout lane and I thought (that was my mistake) “She is going to need a bagger.” Just as I thought this and began to head toward that cashier, another bagger flagged me. Instead of going to the bagger that flagged me, I went to the newly opened checkout lane and sent the bagger behind me to the person that flagged. Immediately another bagger who shall remain nameless (mainly because I don’t know what her name is) got her panties in a bunch. You would think I had committed one of the seven deadly sins! “What’s the difference?” I asked her. “Either way works!” You would think. However, I learned that baggers can’t be choosers! Ba Dum-(b)! 🙂

Here’s a birthday card I created using the Balloon Bash stamp set in the Occasions Catalog and ribbon from Best Year Ever Accessory Pack in Sale-a-bration.