Friends are Great!

I met Melissa a few months ago when she contacted Stampin' Up! to find a demonstrator in Cumming. She'd moved here from FL in February and was missing the fellowship of stamping and needing someone to enjoy it with. The website directed her to me, and we've become friends through this wonderful craft!

I had some free time today (love retail scheduling!), and so I asked Melissa if she'd like to come over and stamp. She came, and she brought an adorable set that I hadn't worked with or even remembered is in the Fall-Winter Collection: Dotted Autumn. What a cool set!

Melissa remembered that there's a cute placecard in the catalog that illustrates how to use the set (another wonderful feature of SU!'s catalog) and she wanted to make it. So we just copied it and added our own little flair by popping the leaves up on dimensionals. I'm conducting a workshop next Friday, and I asked Melissa if we could make enough so that I could have one to set at the places of each guest. Without hesitating, she agreed, and has loaned me the set for the week! What a friend, and now I have something truly autumnal for this workshop, due Melissa's kindness and generosity.

On a sad note, one of my friends had a death in the family recently, which I just found out about yesterday. Sympathy cards are challenging to me, but I wanted to make sure my friend and her husband knew that I cared about their loss. I started with Bordering Blue card stock because it was muted. I used SU!'s Color Wheel to tell me which colors would coordinate with it, and this was the result.

The sentiment is from a retired Simply Sent set that says: Some people strengthen others just by being the kind of people they are. The woman who died struggled with cancer for 6 years, yet I thought that this saying probably typified how she was--inspiring others by her courage.

One last thing: I started my Stampin' Up! business about a year ago, hoping to share my love of stamping with others, and encourage women to invest in nurturing themselves and their relationships. I have been blown away by the wonderful women God has brought into my life as a result. Women I know now that I wasn't in relationship with a year ago, both in this area and across the country via the internet. Thanks to all of you for all you've done to support me in this past year. I'm so grateful to have you in my life!