Well….did everyone feel the SHAKE of the HAPPY DANCE going from Coast to Coast yesterday? Yep, my upline and friend Mary Fish became a MILLION DOLLAR achiever with Stampin’ Up! I think that we all can agree that this is an amazing milestone! I am so proud of her and the community that she has grown, the PALS are all “proud as peacocks” for this special time!

I get asked often, how did I pick Mary to be my upline when I live in Maryland and she lives in Arizona…well you know me, I love stories so grab a cup of coffee and let me tell you. I was like most of you….following many blogs trying to be a sponge and take it all in…learn, get ideas etc….and I stumbled onto Mary’s Blog and fell in love with her clean and simple style.

I was at the time trying to figure out “what my style was” and just having fun with this wonderful paper crafting FUN we all do and I decided to email her and ask her about the starter kit. I had been involved with Direct Sales for many years and knew the ins and outs of what to expect.

I will never forget, I was at a horse show holding a horse and my phone rang – it was Mary. I was over the top excited and quickly we hit it off. We had many things in common but one thing that we talked a bunch about was our girls, they are the same age and basically the same in their passion to learn and grow!

I clearly told Mary, when I get back to the hotel….I am going to sign up….and then place one BIG order and then go “bye-bye” – I had no intentions of doing this for anyone else but myself. That was 4+ years ago. I did not tell a soul, not even John for a while ( he is a such a keeper, he would have said – “If it makes you happy  -go for it”)

In the fall of that year,  Stampin’ Up! opened up the Leadership Convention to any demonstrator. I mentioned it to John and he said – GO…you will have fun. Now let’s put this in prospective…I did not know a soul…not a soul – I went into the PALS Chat and took another leap of faith and said yes to room with someone that I have never met.

She was from Wisconsin and I thought – what the heck, I have never met someone from Wisconsin. John drove me to the airport and off I went “pulling up my big girl pants” and went to Florida. I found my way to the hotel…met my “roomie” and took a DIVE into a FUN TIME!

Naturally I knew what Mary looked like….but she had no clue who I was – (remember, I was in it for the big purchase and ready to leave)…..and I admit I was super nervous as I was truly the FISH OUT OF WATER. Everyone was so gracious to me and made me feel welcomed. I had one person ask me if I was swapping and I thought….WHAT THE HECK IS SWAPPING (I told you I was really in it for me and my discount) but I quickly learned what a swap was and I would never not have a hugs stash of cards to swap with!

I have known that Mary was close to hitting this magical number of a million….and I instantly had a card in my head to make for her! I wish that you could see if in person as it is so hard to get a good picture with gold but trust me, it is a classic and I know she will love it!

I think that we all know….this below bundle has made such an impact. There are so many different great idea out there…and when I saw that FISH – I immediately knew that I was going to make her a super simple clean and simple card with it for her and the Gold Heat Embossing….PERFECT!

The below stamp set I adore as the font is so fun. There are some fun sayings ~ I think that it is overlooked often but take a moment and read the fun sentiments and the one I chose, YAY, YOU! is PERFEcT for Miss Mary!

Here is a quick look at the card….IT just does not get any easier than this one. Remember, less is best many times and the clean, crisp white and gold are a perfect combo! (I also love the scoring ) 🙂

If you have a chance, pop over to Mary’s blog and leave her some love. I am so happy that I decided to become a Pal, that I decided to “tinker around” and learn to blog…learn to figure out my style and most important have a solid group of cyber team members, friends and demonstrators from all over!

There will be a sea of PALS in Atlanta at the beginning of November and I can hardly wait to meet so many that I have had a relationship via the internet. There are PALS coming from all over and with this fabulous milestone with Mary, I am sure that the PALS will be showering her with a HUGE HAPPY DANCE!

See you tomorrow…thanks for listening ~ I love what I do…I feel blessed to be a part of the PALS and you know what….I’m glad I stuck around….I adore you all!