Thursday, September 15, 2011

Anniversary!

It's our Anniversary!  We have spent six full years working together to inspire readers all over the world and we have loved every minute.  A few months ago, as I was doing some archiving, I counted up the number of published pretties in our storage.  At that point, we had published more than 10,000 gorgeous scrappy creations.

10,000.

What an honor it is to be able to share our love of scrapbooking with others who share in the excitement that comes from snapping the perfect shot or finding an alphabet you adore or buying your daughter a shirt that perfectly matches the hue of a paper you have been hoarding.  We love our job!

We know that it is because of all of you that we have the pleasure of our magazine work.  It is all of you that submit, that share, that read, and that enjoy our issues that make it possible for us to do what we do!

So we have a present.  A great big scrappy present.



Inside is more than $100 worth of scrappy goodness.  I cannot show you it all yet since the final items are on the way to us this week (brand new Summer CHA releases!).  I can share that it includes pretties from Pink Paislee, Theresa Collins, Webster's Pages, Simple Stories, Jillibean Soup, American Crafts--to name just a few.

How do you win?  The luck of the randomizer.  How do you enter?  So glad you asked.  You may have up to five entries:

1.  Leave us a comment.
2.  Join as a follower and leave us another comment telling us so (if you are already a follower, tell us that. it counts!)
3.  Blog about us and comment with the link.
4.  Join our facebook followers--and comment about it. (if you are already a follower, post on our wall and then come back and comment about it).
5.  Tweet or facebook about our Anniversary and comment about it.

There you go!  5 chances to be richer in scrappy goodies.  We will stop counting new comments at midnight Sunday, Central time.  We will announce the winner on Monday!

Thank you for being a part of our magazine!  We appreciate you! 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Proactive

On the first day of my new job as a program developer, my boss said "proactive" was the one thing he most desired in this role.  He really did not seem to care what I accomplished as long as something got done.  He described the many different programs that were in my portfolio and the areas that could be included.  Let's see if I can make sense of this.

It is my job to develop, coordinate, and manage programs for the college.  My main area is high school--anything from testing to summer school, but nothing vocational.  I also have anything related to computers--but only if it does not help train you for work as those classes belong to the workforce division.  And I get music--as long as it is not for credit since the regular music department handles those.  Music scared me the most since anyone who knows me understands that I am tone deaf and can barely play my ipod.  Next, I have anything that works directly with all of the credit areas on campus.  I also am to contribute to "big events" like guest speakers or performing arts shows.  And then there is the usual "maintain records and do anything else the boss asks" statement tossed in there.

Proactive, boss says.  Pick an area and go to it.  Wow.

I would definitely describe myself as active.  I have never shrunk away from life and get bored if I am doing the same thing over and over.  In high school, one of my first jobs was assembly line work for a florist.  Pick up a corsage, stick in ribbon, set it back on conveyor belt.  Let me tell you that conveyor belt work is NOT as much fun as Lucy and Ethel made it seem.  One weekend was enough to refocus my energy on getting a college scholarship.

I like to be busy.  For many years, my motto was "the more you do, the more you can do", so this proactive directive did not phase me.  Still, I had to wonder if my definition of proactive would match the one in my boss' head.

Six weeks later . . . I am so in love with my job.  I love having so many different avenues to pursue.  I have not been bored a single second.  And I have used every bit of knowledge from past jobs to be successful.  All of my high school teaching and administration work comes in really handy to create programs for the schools.  My work as a college prof for the last 8 years makes understanding the needs of the students easier and means I already know most of the "important" people on campus. 

My scrapping experience has REALLY come in handy.  Little did I know that learning design, developing my eye, and mastering photoshop would be so important.  My flyers and presentations are not the usual Office template variety.  And because I understand the feeling of receiving a hand made card, I started sending out thank you cards from my stash after each initial meeting with a new person.

This touch has made such a difference.  People are very happy to answer the phone when I call to set up follow up meetings and have been lovely about thanking me for brightening their day with a card.  Because many of the people are in and out of each other's offices, I have not been batch making them, but creating unique cards for each.  Right now, I need 8-10 each weekend which is much more cards than I usually whip out.  Especially since I have layout mojo going right now.

Here are a few from this weekend.  I was feeling a bit floral--perverse since the leaves are falling and the flowers fading.


Restoration was probably my all time fave Craft Paper line (so far!) which is saying something since they have always been a fave manu of mine.  I paired their goodies with some bold Thickers and a Pink Paislee bling brad.


A little more Crate with some October Afternoon minis.  I am loving these and using them like mad--they are just a smidge bigger than others and line up nicely.


More October Afternoon letters paired this time with a Pink Paislee die cut and some Theresa Collins bling.  I also used my goto scallop punch--definitely a super purchase.

I am so very grateful for my new job that I am having an easy time making card after card to express my thanks.  It is just marvelous to head into my office knowing that I can tackle a variety of challenges daily.
designed with love by beautiful dawn designs