I GOT TO SCRAP!!

I know this sounds a little odd coming from someone who is SUPPOSED to be scrapping, but believe it or not, I don't have too much time to scrap lately. But I did get to go to a crop, Scrapbook Generation's Scrap-A-Palooza over the weekend, and it was a BLAST! Nikki and I went together as we saw an opportunity to get some samples done for the upcoming CHA show in Orlando. [roll eyes] Ahem, well, Nikki managed to get most of her haunted house made from her Halloween papers, Boo-tiful (was that not the cutest thing you ever laid eyes on? Oh yeah, you've not seen it, but trust me...), while I worked on a Christmas Advent calender made from her Christmas papers (you are going to LOVE, LoVe, lOvE those papers!). I got all wiggly with the Glimmer Mists on my canvas, so we'll see if that was a product of clear thinking, or of chocolate overload from the awesome chocolate fountains they had going at the crop. If there was any more justification going on regarding my chocolate intake, I would have had to right and left aligned the tables! All the food was flat stick! (that is your new Australian slang word of the week, someone in Australia told Nikki her papers were "flat stick" and we're hoping that was a complement...) Those ladies at Scrapbook Generation know how to do a crop! Well, aside from the part where a spider chased me in the parking lot trying to hitch a ride on my foot. There was some small amount of screaming that happened. Technically, it was after the crop was over, so I'll let the spider slide. :-| I saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones, and that is why I like a good crop. Of course I do have to say it was a privilege to see Nikki all excited about people buying her papers. Scrapbook Generation is carrying both her My Sweet Cherry Pie and Victoria's Street papers and embellies, along with their usual broad range of everything scrapbooking.

This week has been a real whirlwind of orders from all over the world. We were billing, packing and shipping all day today, which is a minor miracle because we're still inputing financials into the system and realized we couldn't officially generate invoices until we officially received the products into the system! Details, details. But, as they say, we got'er done.

Because Willie-B is our mascot, we have this "Bee" thing going, so now we have the Graphic Bee, and today I was told I was the Wiki Bee. Everyone keeps asking me what I do for Nikki and I never know how to answer that, as it encompasses so many things. Like graphic and prepress work (nothing like 20 years of experience in the printing and graphic arts industries to come in handy for a company that designs paper for a product), technical support for our Macs, PC's and network, marketing and advertising, implementing our business processes, event management, packaging, sourcing, and general moral support as needed. (lol) So today, when Nikki was trying to explain what I do for NSS to Lexy, she referred to me as the Wiki Bee, which really kind of fits. I know a lot of occasionally useful information, as over the last 20+ years (put away your calculator, that's not nice...) I've worked in print, publishing, graphic arts, web, instructional design, training, tech support and business management areas primarily in the graphic arts industries and software/hardware training industries. I currently own and run a consulting and training business, and in the past I've started up several new businesses and then sold them. I'm almost dangerous in accounting, but I try to stay out of that and let the DH handle it since that is his profession. Heaven forbid if he would try to design a brochure, that would be like me trying to reconcile a balance sheet! :-) Actually, the hubby is adept at using Photoshop and Illustrator and I feel like a proud momma about that! At least the DH has the books covered for Nikki.

So another day is done and we're looking forward to what kind of challenges tomorrow will bring us. Keep the faith! God knows what we need before we even know that we need it! ~Vicki