It’s a Jungle Out There Kids!

Yesterday was Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day! This is a great day because there are a lot of adorable, fresh faces at the office, and the kiddos are learning about the real world of work. I always enjoyed bringing my kids to the office to help them understand what it is I really do in my day job. I do “policy”. This is really hard for people, even adults, to grasp what I really do. It’s not like being a pilot, or a police officer, or a waitress.  It isn’t implicitly understood what my function or output is. But I think what I do is very interesting and fun and important. Coming to the office gave the kids context for what my job is, and helped them appreciate how and where I spent my days.

Of course my kids are grown now, so I miss binging them in for the day. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy when my colleagues children come to the office. In fact I was very excited to learn that a colleague was bringing her two young boys to a meeting early in the morning. To make sure they had a productive day, I made them padfolios and business cards to help them get through the rest of the day.

These are super simple to replicate. I used a 8” x 10 1/4” piece of cardstock scored at 5” and 5 1/4”. I glued that to a small note pad to make the cover. Then I made a 5 1/2” x 4 1/4” Night of Navy mat. I stamped and used watercolor pencils and a blender pen to color the Animal Outing* stamp set  images on a 5 1/4” x 4” whisper white base.

I used a 5” x 5” square retired DSP and the envelope punch board to make the inside pocket that held the printed business cards. Assembly was quick and easy. Coupled with some crayons and the boys made it through at least one meeting taking “notes”.

*The Animal Outing stamp set is in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog, and available starting in June. Sign up for my mailing list if you would like a new catalog when it’s available.

On Stage!

I’ve just come home from one of my favorite weekends of the year, On Stage!

On Stage is a twice a year creative refuel from Stampin’ Up! It is chock full of fun, crafting, and creative inspiration. Of course we do some business related work as well, but fun is the main event.


This past weekend, I got an exclusive early look at the new 2018-2019 Stampin’ Up! Catalog (Want one? Request one here). I got to try out some of the beautiful and innovative new paper crafting products headed our way. And I get to pre-order some of those products and will get to play with them for weeks before anyone else.

I met new friends and reconnected with long time friends. I learned new techniques and have a notebook full of ideas to share with you.

And I got spoiled. Seriously. Spoiled, with a capital S! So many treats and freebies. I can’t decide which are my favorites.

So stay tuned.  I’m going to be sharing so much of the On Stage awesomeness over the next few weeks, and months. And I’m planning to run out of ideas by the fall, just in time for the next On Stage (which BTW is the big 30th anniversary party for Stampin’ Up!).

Does attending On Stage sound like fun? Why don’t you join me in November? Contact me for all the details.