It's Good News Friday!!!

It's true! I hardly know where to start!! Let's start with the kindess of my friends! Neelam, the brand new demonstrator in my group, dropped off a wonderful present at my house! Unfortunately, my computer was in its death throes so I'm just now posting a pic! This girl has a Kristina Werner like style which I love. Her compositions are very much like graphic design and she just has an eye for layout. She used rubons on this absolutely heavenly blue pail which has found a new home on my desk. The yummy cookies INSIDE the pail? Um, well.... :) The gorgeous card lets you see what I'm talking about. Gorgeous. Thanks Neelam!!! Sweet woman.

Then, three of my customers sent me cards this week. Vicki and Yvonne have been challenging each other lately to be creative and active stampers, and they have absolutely outdone themselves on these Zindorf inspired creations - LOOK AT THESE! Actually, has anyone seen Michelle Zindorf? I'm starting to get concerned that V & Y knocked her on the head and stole her cards, because I think their work in Z's style is incredible. I have not mastered that style at all, partly because of the patience it takes. Look closely at all the layers of color in these cards. I CANNOT believe they sent me these. You girls are amazing.

Then, probably my most active customer who is always making invitations or gifts or cards in large quantities, took the time out to send me this beautiful card! Judy always picks color combos and textures that really make her cards spectacular. On this card, I thought she stamped that big image on the background paper but it is actually part of the design. Then on the top, she used one of my all time favorite Stampin Up! sets. I'm not sure if the top panel with the words is hand watercolored or if it's background paper. It has these beautiful warm plum and peach and pink puddles of color that look like watercolor to me. Judy if you're out there, leave a comment with what you did since my photo does not do it justice. It's a gorgeous card.

Then, more good news - they called about my computer today. It was my processor, and they have replaced it! It's only $150, and my sis is going to pick it up tomorrow while I'm at the grudge match chili cookoff tomorrow. Hopefully I will have my photoshop back, my financial record, my Adobe Illustrator, all the things that make me who I am back!! YAY.

Okay, but there's still MORE good news!! Stampin' Up! is now accepting credit cards!!! Why is this great? #1 - demonstrators who wanted to take credit cards before this had to do it through a 3rd party, like PayPal, which meant we had to pay a percentage of the transaction to that vendor. Not a huge deal, but why should we pay someone else so they can give us our own money? Don't get me started on taxes again!! Stampin' Up! is actually paying all our transaction fees for us, so it is absolutely no cost to a demonstrator to take them, and it's much more convenient for our customers to be able to just give us a credit card at the time of the sale and not wait for a payment request. Some people didn't want to go to the trouble of setting up a PayPal account just to pay me, so that is wonderful!!! Reason # 54,987 million to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!!

Add to this list that I get to go to my two fave restaurants in the whole wide world this coming week - Flemings and Uchi, it's really truly summer now, with 90 degree days, so I can't wait to have long hot walks, LOST was fabulous last night and so was The Office and I have come up with a great storage solution for my Nestabilities!!!

Judie suggested a magnet in a CD case. I thought about that, but I really do have a very small studio, so shelf space is at a premium. Then last night, at 2 AM, I had a brief bout of insomnia, during which I pondered this, and remembered that I had a strip of magnet tape bought for a forgotten craft project past. I almost jumped up and implemented my idea right then, but I knew I would make too much noise. So I waited till I got home today. And look!!! Hanging on my door, sticking firmly to my previously unused and forgotten magnet tape - my nestabilities!! Now I need to make a few things with them since they're at my fingertips!

I couldn't bring myself to throw away my paint chips from the studio remodel, so I put one to good use today. The little owl I think is technically an "inchie" since I punched him out with my 1" circle punch. The ribbon was a freebie from Ellen Hutson. The cardstock is So Saffron, Bashful Blue and River Rock. Pretty sure they stole these for the paint chip! Perfectly matched!!

I'll be gone tomorrow but hopefully get to stamp on Sunday!

In the meantime, go check out my new buddy Kim's awesome new blog HERE. Turns out she's a neighbor of mine! She wanted to send a card to Nikki and that's how we started talking. She's also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator so hopefully there are lots of fun events in our future!

Hope you're having a good Friday!

*Edit - the owl is a Stampin' Up! image from ABC images. The "Hoo" is from Oliver and friends.*

ABC images is absolutely freaking adorable. I am crossing my fingers and toes that they don't retire it!!