Creative Blog Hop

My post this morning is a little different than usual.  My hugely talented friend Chris Pereira has totally blown me away by asking me to follow her on a Creative Blog Hop!  How fun is that?!

I've known Chris for awhile, both through various stamp camps and through my Front Range Stampers demo group.  She is always bright and happy (especially now that she's retired -- I'm SO JEALOUS) and full of wonderfully creative ideas!!!

Chris always keeps herself busy with Stampin' Up! activities, as well as other handcrafts and charitable projects.  Read more about what Chris is up to on her Creative Blog Hop post from last Monday:  http://mudmaven.blogspot.com/2014/11/creative-blog-hop.html

So . . . for the Creative Blog Hop, I've been asked to answer three questions:

1. What am I working on now?

What am I NOT working on?!  I've got craft sales scheduled for the first week and the first weekend in December, so I'm kicking it into high gear and working on so many things . . . of course, the ever-popular Curvy Keepsake Boxes -- lots of different designs out there and I'm making a bunch of them!!!  Lots of little candy stocking stuffers (the Peppermint Patties and Ghirardelli chocolates are always popular items).  Also, although not necessarily made with Stampin' Up! products (other than the star), I'm totally hooked on making these cute little totally low-ticket item Chocolate Kiss Angels.

I took this photo before it was completely finished . . . she also gets a little silver bow.

Thanksgiving week I'll be on vacation (yes, I have a full-time job), so will be finishing and packaging up lots and lots and lots of wonderful, fun, little Christmasy treasures.  People often tell me they love visiting my table at craft sales because I have so many cute little affordable items.

I'm a charter member of the Front Range Stampers demo group in the North Suburban Denver area.  This group was organized by my friend Jayne Fuller 7 years ago, and I'm hooked on the monthly swaps and make and takes.  Plus I've made so many friends over the years -- so many talented and creative people in this group who are always willing to share their ideas!

Up until this past year I had been offering several monthly classes in my craft room.  Unfortunately, family illnesses forced me to back off a little bit during 2014, but now that everyone is healthy again I'm looking forward to moving back into a regular class schedule in 2015.

During the past year, my friend Jayne Fuller and I have started doing a small stamp camp at the Scrapbook Shack in Louisville, CO.  Unfortunately, we are limited to doing this only 4 times a year -- once each quarter, so we recently started looking for another location where we can do a monthly camp.  I'm happy to say that we've now found a location in the Northeast part of metro Denver -- an area that has previously been kind of overlooked.  So I guess this is the big announcement that Jayne and I and 3 other demonstrators plan to start the Rose Hill Stamp Camp in Commerce City, CO, in January 2015.  We hope to make it as professional and appealing as the stamp camps in the other parts of town.  (P.S.  We also plan to continue the stamp camps in Louisville, so Rose Hill will fill in the gaps for the other 8 months of the year.)

Ok . . . non-Stampin' Up! stuff.  As I mentioned above, I work full-time.  I was a legal secretary and judicial secretary for about 32 years before I came to CenturyLink (then USWest) in January 2000.  I am currently employed as an administrative assistant.  Working with paper isn't nearly as fun as PLAYING with paper, but I do like to eat . . . and it's kind of nice to have a roof over my head to protect all my craft supplies . . . .

I have a beautiful 3-1/2 year old grandson who is the light of my life.  Ok, my husband of almost 36 years isn't too shabby either -- a wonderful, gentle, sweet man . . . except when he's driving me nuts!  I enjoy fly-fishing when time allows.  I love to try new recipes, so on Sundays we often dine on my   "experiments."  Sometimes the leftovers go into the freezer; sometimes they end up in the Monday morning trash pickup.  I dabble in all handcrafts -- sewing, needlework, polymer clay, and jewelry-making to name just a few.  Crochet is my first love and I try to crochet at least a little bit every day.  Since paper crafting has entered my life and more or less taken it over, I no longer have as much time as I would like for all these other fun things.

I'm counting the days (just under 950 as of today) until retirement.  I have lots of plans for spending the rest of my life doing all these wonderful things that I love so much!!!

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

As Chris mentioned in her entry, my work may not currently be that different from other demos; however, because I didn't have much contact with my upline during the first few years of my demonstratorship and really had no contact with other demonstrators, I didn't make the same designs as everyone else  and instead designed most of my own class projects.  (I'm proud to say I was "published" . . . one of my creations found its way to the Stampin' Up! site back in the days when they featured only 5 or 6 designs each day -- before Stampin' Connection came into being.)  I have to admit that this has changed somewhat over the years since I joined Front Range Stampers.  I'm not above CASEing other people's designs -- especially when I'm in kind of a time crunch to get class or stamp camp kits made.

3. How do I create what I do?

I am inspired by everything . . . catalogs, photos, things I see here and there that have nothing to do with paper crafts or card making.  I like the challenge of expressing these ideas with paper.  I also like trying new and non-traditional color combinations, as well as all kind of new techniques -- just because I can!!!

Ok . . . I've rambled on long enough!  Now it's time to introduce you to my inductee into this wonderful creative hall of fame:

Wanda Williams is a very talented artist and Stampin' Up! demonstrator who I've known for a number of years.  I first met Wanda when she was working in a law firm in my building.  I was totally inspired by her creativity when I saw her display in a craft sale sponsored by her company.  And she was so friendly and outgoing and willing to share her ideas and techniques!!!!

Wanda later moved to South Carolina for a number of years, moving back to Denver only a few months ago.  Through it all, she's been able to maintain her Stampin' Up! business (sometimes by borrowing stamps and supplies from friends since hers are still packed away in a pod . . .).   I'm honored to call Wanda my friend and Stampin' Up! colleague.

Please plan to visit Wanda's blog next Monday, November 24, 2014, to find out what she's been up to:  http://stampingwithwanda.blogspot.com.

Thanks for visiting my blog and "listening" to me ramble on . . . .

Cathy  ;D