Stampin' Up Changes

A lot of you may already know about the announcement Stampin' Up made last week. It was a rather startling, though not entirely unexpected, announcement: SU! demos are no longer able to blog, twitter, email, or facebook in a promotional way for another company that sells competing products. I am saddened that many who do both SU! and design team work now have to make what is a very hard decision. There has been so much speculation floating around for the past few days, partly due to the fact that SU! was not perfectly clear as to what they meant and people panicked. I have heard some people say they would never buy from SU! again or wouldn't sign up now, though they had been thinking about it. The amount of misinformation that is floating out there, some of it sadly spread by some of our own demonstrators, has already damaged SU!'s reputation.

Stampin' Up has a offered a webinar on their site for us to understand the changes. They said that we can link to our friends blogs, we can link up to sites like Splitcoaststampers, Stampin' Addicts, and Craft Critique!; we can link anywhere that does NOT sell competitive products and have a shopping cart or Buy Now button on the site. We can even design for other companies, we just can't blog about it. We can't link up to places that actually sell on their site. When you post a project using other companies stamps, or supplies, there are particular rules that apply. SU! encourages it's demos not to be too specific about who the manufacturer is, what the price was, and where you bought it.

I am saddened that many SU demonstrators are now wrestling with a hard decision, especially the ones who design for other companies. Right now, I will be signing the contract and staying with SU. I love the product .... what can I say? I love the matching inks, card stock, ribbon, etc.! I am a little upset that this has happened. I feel like my blog should be MY blog and I should be allowed to say what I want to. Probably the only changes you will notice on here is I won't link to other stores where I teach classes or buy items. Other than that, things should stay the same.

I hope you will continue to support me and order SU items from me. If you want to know specifics about non-SU items that I post, please leave me a comment or e-mail me.

Holiday Mini Catalog

I'm thrilled to announce that the Holiday Mini Catalog 2009 is here! This mini isn't so mini — it's our largest mini catalog yet! New product lines, new stamp sets for the holidays, new Big Shot® Dies, new Décor Elements, new rub-ons, and 40 pages of project ideas. I think this is one of the best mini catalogs yet. But don't take my word for it — download your own copy today and tell me what you think.

   DOWNLOAD MINI HERE

Please note that some of the new products, like the Build-A-Bear Workshop® line of stamps, paper, and dies, are available now and some are being introduced now and will be available soon. The much-anticipated release of My Digital Studio will be on October 1st and the beautiful Simply Adorned Charms are coming soon! I'll be posting more details when they are available.

Hostess Rewards
This fall is a great time to include a Stampin' Up! workshop as part of your holiday shopping.  We have an extra gift to hostesses during September, October and November. With a workshop of only $250, you can choose any one item from the Holiday Mini Catalog for only $10 (except My Digital Studio and hostess stamp sets).   Contact me today to reserve your date for a fun evening of creativity with your friends — and no mall madness!

San Antonio at last

Ashley & I arrived in San Antonio (again) today. She had to at least sign in on post today. We drove around for 2 hours from the hospital to Fort Sam Houston back to the hospital & back to post trying to find the right place for her to sign in! The Army just doesn't make it easy!! Finally, we found out we had to go the Equestrian Center to the temporary building that was her command post!! She's signed up to take an introductory session Friday a.m. and then she will be following the Army scavenger hunt to get all checked in - which will probably take a couple of weeks! Then, she will get down to business being a doctor. We are staying at a Marriott and I can't wait to lay my head down on their fluffy pillows tonight. Tomorrow we plan to just chill out by the pool. After all, it will be 100 degrees tomorrow .... at least!!

Here's a yummy recipe for you:

Scrumptious Apple Dumpling Cake

INGREDIENTS
3 lbs. apples- peeled, cored and sliced
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Place sliced apples in layers at the bottom of the baking dish.
Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl. Stir in eggs and butter; then pack on top of the apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon (feel free to add more if desired).
Bake your cake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the topping is puffed and golden brown. Wait until cooled and cut into squares.

Hot Texas!

We're in Austin - arrived here Saturday night going straight to a downtown bar for Katrina's birthday party. It was at a great little dive near downtown Austin with a great outdoor courtyard. It was hot but really not too bad considering Austin has broken a record for heat this month .... over 69 straight days of 100 degree heat! Sunday we just hung out at Melinda's house resting up for our "ladies night." Ashley, Melinda, Katrina and I had dinner last night at The Four Seasons before heading to The Bass Hall (on UT campus) to see the musical, Wicked. It was really good! Ashley & Melinda both read the book and thought the musical was better. I had planned on reading the book when I returned home, but don't think so now.

Today we met a good friend, Heidi, for breakfast and ooh-ed and aah-ed over her new engagement ring! She will be getting married Memorial Day weekend, 2010! After breakfast, we hung out in Melinda's backyard pool and played with Zach. Jake was at school. We haven't been able to go swimming with Jake around since he has a cast on his broken arm and we figured it would be just too cruel to swim while he was watching!! He just started first grade.

Tomorrow, Ashley has to report in to work. So, we will be hitting the road in the a.m. heading back to San Antonio. I'll have a day or two there before boarding the plane on Thursday.

We brought the boys paper hats from Blue Bell and from Cafe Du Monde (New Orleans). Zack has really enjoyed his!! He looks so much like my grandson, Jayce!! Too bad they don't live closer since they're only 2 weeks apart. Zach's birthday is Sept. 6!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures I've downloaded to the laptop. This first one is at our favorite little piano bar in New Orleans - Lafittes. This is the oldest building used as a bar in the US. It's always a stop for us when we are in N.O.

I'm sucking down my hurricane in Pat O'Brian's. I only had one!! I've had experience with having more than that and did not want to repeat history!!

Me on Orange Beach/Gulf Shores .... using that towel to cover up - you don't want to see the full view!!

Finally .... Texas! Ashley & I stop at each state's welcome center and take a picture. We have pictures from welcome centers all over the US!!

We stopped off at College Station/Bryon to visit Scott. Here is a picture of sweet little Cassady - she slept all through dinner.

Texas ... finally!

So, we've made it to Texas!! We spent Wednesday night in Orange Beach (right next to Gulf Shores) with the rain moving us out on Thursday a.m earlier than we had hoped. That's ok .... there was an outlet mall nearby!! We spent a couple of hours there before heading on to New Orleans. We had a great time in N.O. ... sipping hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's and enjoying some great seafood at Mulate's. We topped the night off at the piano bar at Jean Lafitte's. This a.m. we enjoyed beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde ... oh so good! Then on the road again. We stopped in Baton Rouge for a cup of gumbo before hitting the Texas border. Traffic was a little heavy and we picked up quite a bunch of rain en route! That slowed us down so we were unable to meet Ashley's good friend in Houston before she reported for work (she's a ER doc in The Woodlands.) So, we headed on over to College Station/Bryon to Scott & Julie's home. Scott is an old high school buddy of my son's and is like a second son to me. I have not seen him since he got married 2 years ago and now they have a baby - Cassady. She is just a doll and so good at almost 5 months old! We had a good visit with them. It is just so good to see parents who are just so mellow with their kids and don't let having children change their life. They are just going with the flow being parents. Tomorrow, we will be headed to San Antonio and Austin. I will try to download some pictures in the next day or two while at my niece's home.

Family pics

Monday night, we met Marianne at Hickory Tavern.  Her back was acting up on Sunday so she was unable to come over.  She wanted to see Ashley before we left town.  These are the pictures of us I took at the restaurant.  Ashley got her hair cut on Saturday – 10 inches for Locks of Love!!

Monday Mailer – week of 8/24

This is the Monday Mailer I sent this week.  I just got the Medallion stamp and this is the first card I have made with it.  I also used a SU wheel (Whimsey) in the background.  The color is the new In Color Melon Mambo!

4 states down!

Well, we've made it as far as Gulf Shores, Alabama. We didn't get out of Mooresville until about 2:30 on Tuesday. Ashley had to pick her car up at the Chevy dealer, take it to have it weighed (empty and full) for the Army to reimburse her; then she wanted to take her grandmother for lunch before leaving town. We ended up driving about 10 hours yesterday (going through NC, SC, Georgia and Alabama) and stopping at Greenville, Alabama for the night around 11 pm. We got up early this a.m., ate breakfast and hit the road for the beach. We were about 2 hours from Gulf Shores and were laying on the beach by 2 pm!! So nice! I have only been to Gulf Shores once before - about 20 years ago. We brought the family here camping with my Texas sister and her family. We were here a week and I think the sun shined 1-2 days that whole week! Today was a beautiful sunny (hot) day! We hope to get up early in the morning and have a few hours on the beach before we hit the road again en route to New Orleans.

While driving through South Carolina, I wanted to stop and try to find the first house Sonny and I had bought when we first married. We were married in 1973 and lived in Greenville, SC. We bought a house in the fall of '73 in Taylors, SC. At that time, Taylors was merely a wide spot in the road! It has grown considerably since then. I was very proud of myself that I was able to find our house although it didn't look anything like the house we had lived in. As I was out on the street taking pictures, the lady who lived there came out to see who we were. When I explained the reason I was there, she invited us in and I got a tour of my old house! How nice! It turns out that they had a fire 3 years ago in the garage that destroyed the garage, kitchen and utility room. When they began to rebuild, the city made them lift the house up because of the creek that runs in the back. So, they added a nice front porch, screened in back porch and knocked down some walls within the house to redo the kitchen and bathrooms. (Plus, it was air conditioned! We only had 2 window units which my daughter thought was crazy!!) It was so much fun to take that little trip down memory lane. The sad part was that the house next door was not in very good shape. When we lived in our house, the sweetest older couple lived next door. They were a god-send to me when I had Ashley - acting just like our grandparents. They ended up being Ashley's god-parents and we were all sad when we moved away (when Ashley was only 2 months old.) They have since died and the family sold their home. Unfortunately, whoever is living there now does not keep the house up like he should.

Have a cow!

My daughter arrived safe and sound Sunday night and we enjoyed a yummy fish dinner (caught by my hubbie on Lake Norman) on Sunday with my family.  She has been telling us about her trip to Kenya and the safari and it has been very interesting.  The funniest thing to me was her visit to a neighboring village.  One of the medical school students she was working with (he has been in the US for about 10 years and is serving in our military having received his citizenship) took her and another colleague  to visit his family for the weekend.  She said they were treated like royalty and there were a bunch of kids there from all over the village mainly to see the white people!!   I asked her if she had been able to take them a gift or something for their hospitality.  After they left, the following week she asked what they could do to thank the family – her thoughts were to buy a goat for the family.  Dan told her his grandmother didn’t like goat so much, so she decided to buy her a cow!!  The next time Dan went to his village, he stopped at the market and purchased a cow …. a WHITE cow …. and took it home to his family.  He told Ashley that his family would be talking about that gift (and visit) for quite some time!!   Keep that in mind the next time you don’t know what to buy for someone!!