She picked me up from the airport and we talked non-stop until she dropped me off at the Convention Center 24 hours later.  I haven’t seen her in probably 8 years but it was as though we’d left off yesterday.  Friends like that are precious gifts indeed.

When she dropped me off I hit the ground running:  first order of business was my convention bag and Make and Takes.  For the uninitiated, M&T is a Stampin’ Up! event tradition – projects and products for the demonstrators to make (and take home!)  I never seem to finish all of mine – too busy gabbing – but I did manage to finish one:

Sorry -not such a great photo from my phone!  I also snapped a shot of our special gift from Shelli – a fabric folio that could be used for anything from a junior legal pad to a Kindle – along with a fancy favor box full of white, milk and dark chocolate bark:

Our leadership tote bags are made from the same fabrics and we have gotten compliments as we have walked all over San Antonio – something tells me we’re going to see more of these cute fabrics

Last night was the Manager’s Reception – a fabulous performance by Chinese acrobats and a FREE NEW STAMP SET!!  Can’t show you a picture but just as soon as I get home I’ll get some ink to that new rubber and show you what I’ve made!  Those are the rules…

I did get a photo at Managers with Becky Evans, the #2 Rising Star last year and someone I look forward to seeing whenever I can.  She rescued me from meltdown at convention last year – long story, but trust me, she was a true friend:

This morning Kay and I were up early – first timers at leadership got a set of Polka Dot brads for finding other first timers and checking in together.  Our morning session was full of announcements including a DIAGONAL SCORE BOARD for the Simply Scored tool!  I wasn’t sure what I would need that for, but Pam Morgan quickly answered that question with a whole bunch of projects.  There was yet another NEW FREE STAMP SET – same rules, sorry my friends – and then an SAB give-away of One Big Sale-a-bration MDS plus loads of bling – good thing I filled with suitcase with stuff to give away here, because I’m gonna need that space to get all my goodies home!

After lunch – and at leadership, it’s sit-down – I went to my first session.  Carrie Cudney talked about Why Women Buy – and I learned plenty but we laughed plenty too.  The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to brief but really useful presentations from everything from Express Workshops to using Google Analytics!  Very very cool.

Now, if you’ve stayed with me this far I have a reward:  one of the things I love about a Stampin’ Up! event is seeing all the samples, and I’ve got a few of my favorites to share:

Look!  Little spools of  Bakers Twine!  So cute!

The color is off but you get the idea – a heart made from the Twitterpated buttons from the Occasions Mini.

I really love these little buttons, and that stitching is the perfect touch – but that new diagonal plate for Simply Scored would make those diagonal lines in a heartbeat!

Little flags made with our new Hatpin Embellishments from – yes – the Occasions Mini!

I loved the Vintage look of this Fancy Favor box…

This is brilliant – the Fancy Favor box turned into a gabled box-top!

Kay and I finished the evening at a RemARKable gathering – our upline Janet Wakeland invited 20 or 30 of her nearest and dearest demo friends to her room for pizza and swaps.  I’m surprised the management of the hotel (and I won’t name names but it’s a very nice hotel) didn’t throw us all out on our ears.  We were loud – and we were all sure the bed would crash down 2 or 3 floors when ALL of us piled on  for a group photo.  Don’t have one of those to show you, but here I am with Jan:

Leadership has been a great experience and there’s one more day ahead.  I’ll just close by saying if you are a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, this is something well worth striving for.

This is a super simple, quickie card for just about any occasion but it would be a snap if you needed a bunch of Valentines.  It’s a new Sale-a-bration set called Sprinkled Expressions and it’s available on January 24.  If you’re new to Sale-a-bration – or SAB – it’s the promotion we all wait for each year – even the demonstrators!  Spend $50, get free product.  That’s it.

I have a funny feeling Valentines Day is going to sneak up on me this year.  Matter of fact, I have a feeling I’m going to be running behind schedule a LOT.  I think I’d better start doing some long range planning.

Love this new mini!  This is the Bordering on Romance stamp set and it’s part of the Twitterpated Suite – there’s Designer Series paper and lots of other feminine things to coordinate.

I’m really excited about this trip as it’s my first Leadership conference; last year was Nashville and I couldn’t justify flying that far for 3 days!  I’m also going to see some good friends who live there – one is the first friend I made on Maui, and she is a LOT of fun!  We have lots of memories to share.  The second is my daughter’s bridesmaid and her family, and I’m looking forward to spending time with them and eating lots of good food.  Good times!

• Just My Type stamp set
• Basic Black Craft Ink
• Calypso Coral Classic Ink
• Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral and Basic Black card stock
• First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper
• Big Shot and Framelits Labels
• Black 1/8 inch taffeta Ribbon
• Where did that BRAD come from???

Ah, the priveledges of being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator…hat brad is one of the new Sale-a-bration offerings that will be available the 24th of January – and there’s much, much more!  You’ll notice I stamped the typewriter in craft ink – that’s because I wanted a good, solid, bold black image.  Black Staz-on would work the same way.

My grandfather used a typewriter much like this one – in fact, I have it.  It’s in a travel case, and  he used to take it with him on the train from Redwood City to San Francisco every morning and afternoon….the original laptop, if you will.  I have fond memories of sitting at the station in the afternoon with my grandmother, waiting for Gramps to arrive on the train.  He’d installed a special bell on the driver’s side of the car, and she could press a button with her foot and it would ring – ding, dong! – and he could find her in the crowded parking lot.

You may know that my family spent Christmas and New Year’s in Perth, Australia.  Our oldest daughter and her fiance live there, and so it was a little bit of tourism, a little bit of family celebration, and a whole lot of eating!  We spent a few days in Margaret River between Christmas and New Year’s where the wildlife was abundant.  Margaret River is best known for wineries, breweries, cheese, olive oil and chocolate manufacture – I think that’s the 5 basic food groups, isn’t it?  We were able to get quite close to kangaroos and a variety of birds:

These roos knew I was there but they didn’t much care.  They were often in the field just behind our little cottage, and we’d see them relaxing in the shade under the trees during the heat of the day.  We even saw a couple of different pairs “boxing” – I guess it’s a guy-roo thing. One morning I was the first one up and went into the kitchen to make coffee.  There was a mama and a joey less than 8 feet from the kitchen window – she looked me in the eye for nearly two minutes before hopping leisurely away.

Another afternoon I went for a walk through the preserve where our cottage was and encountered this mama:

I’ve gotta tell you, if I had to carry my kids around like this I would be a big fan of early independence.   She was about 8 feet from me, but she stayed a long time.   She must have felt my empathy.

The birds were amazing, and in the mornings I took my coffee on the covered lanai (I know, they probably don’t call it a lanai in Australia but that’s what it was.)  There was a little container of bird seed in our cottage at Bussels Bushland Cottages so that we could encourage visitors.  There were a couple of Port Lincoln Ringneck parrots that were regulars, and they were not at all shy:

Finally, what trip to Australia would be complete without the Kookaburra?  We heard them most often early and late in the day.  Carol’s fiance said they are territorial, and you could certainly believe that from the discussions they had regarding the trees.  Occupy Eucalyptus, if you ask me!

November was easy – I pulled out Gently Falling, the beautiful two-step leaf stamp set:

Gently Falling is from the Holiday Mini and you know what that means – you have until January 3rd and that’s not long!  Clear stamps are # 123804 and wood are #123802.

The last month of the year – December – echoed my Snow Globe card for 2011:

Love that sweet little Baby Jesus stamp from 25 and Counting…yes, another Holiday Mini stamp set!  (#123794 clear, #123792 wood).

There’s one more piece to the calendar – Tracy designed a cover too!

I pulled out Baroque Motifs and used my favorite color combination – blues and greens – in this case Pool Party, Lucky Limeade and Island Indigo.

Don’t forget that  this calendar template is available from Tracy over at Inky Doodles.  Hope you enjoyed 2012!

For the August calendar, I pulled out an old set that I keep for special occasions – Classic Pickups:

And to round out the quarter, I did September without stamps – instead, I made pennants with the Pennant Builder Punch:

I just love that Spice Cake Designer Series paper, and if you love it too you’d better hustle yourself off to my Online Store  and order # 124003 because it will turn into a pumpkin at the stroke of 11:50pm Mountain Standard Time on January 3, 2012!

April features the Young Vermillion single stamp:

May uses the one of the beautiful images from the hostess set Simply Soft:

And June is ready to start the day with Morning Cup:

Remember, the template for these calendar pages is the work of Tracy Harp at Inky Doodles!

January uses the Awash with Flowers stamp set

February uses the Ain’t Love Grand Hostess set

March uses Fabulous Florets, one of my personal favorites

These little calendars are just the right size to sit on a cute little easel in my kitchen.

• The Sounding Joy stamp set
• Soft Suede and Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink Pads
• Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler and Brushed Gold card stock
• Cherry Cobbler seam binding
• Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write marker
• Color Spritzer tool

I believe in Santa. I believe in his goodness and generosity, his sense of fairness and kindness. I believe there have been men – and women – whose lives defined his tradition, and I believe that there are men and women all over the world who continue his work every day.

However you celebrate in December, I wish you goodness and generosity, fairness and forgiveness. And if it pleases you, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.