It's Been A While

Good Morning,
Yes, it's been a while, and I won't make any excuses, 'cause it'll probably bore you. It's just life happening anyhow.
So, I went to the CKC Convention held here in Phoenix in my area for the first time. I went on a Friday and gee, was it crowded. I can only imagine what Saturday must have been like. It was a good day for vendors and that's important. I think CKC will return here for sure.
I dropped quite a bit onto my Amex card and then regretted some of it, so I called them and asked if I could work out a payment arrangement just on the portion spent that day. I remembered reading something about that years ago...that it was a one-time arrangement. Yippie, they said YES! I will have to call them when I get the bill.
So, most of the stuff is put away now, but Stacy of Wizard/Nestabilities fame was there and I got to shake her hand. Don't know why I didn't try to get a pic. Anywho, she had me put my name down on a list for locals to try out new products. (Wizard is located only 15 miles away from me.) I squealed with delight and I hope I got all my info down correctly I was soooo tickled and nervous! Needless to say, I then proceeded to spend $90 on Nesties and a set of Spica pens and 2 Copics. BTW, she said she personally knows of 20 SU demos who dropped because of the new IDA.
In addition to that little fun-time, I bought 2 wood-mounted stamps from a company I never heard of called Heartfeld Creations. Then on to some small vendors for bling and ribbon. Then to the Close To My Heart booth which I planned on doing. There I met the lovely Amy, currently of No. Car., soon to be in Seattle...hubby's in the Mil....where I announced that I wanted to be a consultant for them before she had so much as shown more than 2 or 3 items. I'd already made up my mind a week before. My only question was...did I have until Mar. '10 to put in my quarterly order if I signed up then and there. The answer was yes...so they work similarly to SU. I mentioned SU and my no longer being a demo and she was sweet & kind about that referring to them "as the other company". It's nice she didn't want to malign them, which is more than I can say for myself. We mentioned the new IDA and she does not see any like it coming down the pike for CTMH.
So, I will briefly elaborate on why I chose CTMH. (1) Good quality clear stamps in neat packaging, (2) Prices not all over the place...there are 4 basic price catagories and the pretty much stick to 'em, (3) you don't get thrown out if you miss a quarterly requirement, instead your discount gets cut, but you actually remain a consultant for life as long as you buy something now & then, (4) Commissioni is slightly more than SU's and S&H is a bit less than 'the other co.', (5)I like the layout/design of the catty (put out 3x per year) a bit more than you know whose...of course, I know that could change.
So, we'll see what happens. As with SU, I will most likely be relegated to hobby status and that's perfectly okay by me.
And so my card hasn't got anything from either company. It does have a Stampendous flower and a Studio "G" $ stamp sentiment in white. The EK success punch 'punches' it up a bit. I colored the flower with Gamsol. I'm calling this card a clean & simple one.
So, enjoy your Sunday. I'm planning on stamping all day to make World Stamping Day extend a bit.
Hugs & Blessings,
Erica (who is committed to blogging every day this week).