The best part of what I do…

I could tell you that I love Stampin Up! because it allows me to call my crafting ‘work’, or because I love to share my love for crafting with like minded people, or even because I get a fantastic discount on the quality products but that wouldn’t be the truth. I love what I do because of the friends I have made.

I’m sharing this with you because of what happened on day one of Onstage Live before the event even started. For you to understand why this brings me to tears when I talk about it, I have to take you back to 3rd September 2014.

I had been a Stampin Up! Demo for just a month when I received an email saying someone had joined my team. I remember thinking, Haha! They sent this email to the wrong person. I was just a hobby demonstrator. I only joined to get the discount! But, nope this crazy lady had signed up with me!

I sent her an email welcoming her to my (non existent) team and after a few emails found out she lived right near me and had just moved to Australia from Canada. She had also been a demonstrator in Canada. We decided to meet at a local coffee shop and I can be 100% honest and say I don’t know what I expected but, this chick was not it! I sat down and put a Stampin Up! Catalogue on the table and over comes Rhonda with her short black hair carrying a corset handbag and I’m sure she was wearing a scarf with skulls on it. We chatted for a couple of hours and then she came over to my house to show me a wreath she had made and to check out my craft space.

Over the next few weeks we messaged each other a bit. Her husband worked 2 weeks on/2 weeks off in Western Queensland so when he was out at work we saw each other most days. After a few months we became inseparable. We just clicked. We talked about anything and everything, we crafted, shopped, drank coffee until it was an acceptable time to drink wine and laughed until we cried, maybe even cried until we laughed. It was the easiest and most rewarding friendship I have ever known.

In September 2015 I received a phone call from Rhonda at about 6.30am. She was crying. Her husband had lost his job and they were being sent back to Canada. Within 6 weeks they were gone. Of course we promised to talk and FaceTime which we still do when our schedules align and we still message each other just like we live around the corner from each other.

When Onstage Live was announced in Brisbane it was definitely bittersweet. Of course I was always going to go but Rhonda and I both know she would have been right there with me if she was still living here. I promised her I would get photos with Stampin Up! CEO Sara Douglas and call her and keep her up to date with what I could, when I could. So when I saw Sara Douglas posing for pics with people I bravely joined the queue. When I got to her I briefly explained to her about Rhonda and what had happened then I asked her if she would record a quick message on my phone that I could send to Rhonda. Sara then asked me what time it was in Canada and told me I should FaceTime her. I did exactly that and Rhonda answered on the first ring. I said hello and let her know that I had someone who wanted to say hi and then put Sara on. Well, Rhonda lost it! The three of us briefly chatted for a few minutes. Sara was such a great sport chatting to her as if she knew both of us. I am so grateful that she helped me surprise her!

Rhonda will kill me for posting this picture but this was the only one I got of us face timing with Sara Douglas.

So, in a completely roundabout way, that is why I love what I do. For me it is so much more than just about the stamps, inks and paper. It is the friendships with the ladies that come along to my classes, the ladies on my Team (yep! I have a team now), the people in the Stampin Up! Community that are just so willing to accept you and provide their time and wisdom and it is my very special friend Rhonda (who I will go and visit the day I win the lottery!). Since joining Stampin Up! my life has become a whole lot richer because of all of these people.