A History Lesson

I am not posting a specific card, technique, project or helpful hint today. Instead, I am going to share a little bit about why I am so dedicated to Kit-N-Kaboodles and Creativity Boutique~~the sponsors of this blog.

A few years back, I met some crazy scrapbookers at a crop we found online. My friend Kelcey and I decided to jump in and attend, not knowing anyone there. We had a blast, and were invited to join their larger circle of friends, and put us on their e-mail list. This was a defining moment in my life, when I became part of something truly amazing. In our little corner of the world of scrapbooking, it is amazing how a group of total strangers can share so much in common. Each crop I attended, I became acquainted with a few more people, and my circle of friends grew, and grew. During conversations, sharing of photos, layouts, coffee,quiet moments, and outrageous fits of silliness strangers became fast friends and confidantes.
One of the first people I met at these crops was Gerianne Duke ( no, I can only spell her name correctly when abbreviated to GA). She was a young woman starting out a kit club. Up until I met her, I refused to buy kits and did little online shopping. After talking to her for an afternoon, I decided to buy in to her club, for 6 months, pretty much out of guilt that "she was one of the group" and I figured I would enroll in the name of friendship....
Over the next few years, Gerianne and I have shared many conversations, some quite intense and others where we practically peed ourselves laughing (like the one we had involving deer this weekend--yes, deer at a scrapbook day!). My subscription to the club has not lapsed, and I am awed at the creativity and growth that emerges with each release. Behind all the creativity, I have gotten to know Gerianne as a caring, loving daughter, wife, friend and most importantly mom. Almost always by her side is Sonia (Sophia to some of us). She had done very little scrapbooking and papercrafting when we met, but has been showing great promise and improvement with each project I see from her. Sonia has lots of talent, is a hard worker, and is married to this guy Mark, who I finally met yesterday (yes, he does exist and is a nice guy--although he always brings his own can of coke to the restaurants!). During the time that I have known GA and Sonia, KNK has grown, and grown, and grown and branched out amazingly. The design teams rock, there is a happy group of friends on the message board, and they have expanded to a store called Creativity Boutique
On the message board, friendships have formed with women in a similar way that was done with the gals in person. We share our lives, happiness, sorrows, life events, and more...many of us have never met, and might not in person. Does this make our friendships less valuable??? Heck no!!!
This weekend, Kelcey and I traveled almost 4 hours to help GA and Sonia with a fundraiser for the school GA's son attends. We have thought about going since she started these crops, but just didn't get ourselves over due to "life getting in the way". GA and Sonia put on a great crop--and Linda, you will be proud of your protege, she has learned much from you. ( I am sure she has had more mentors, and has learned much from them all). Unless there is some horrible tragedy in my life, I can't imagine not helping KNK and Creativity Boutique out at any of their fundraisers. In these trying financial times, many people will not/ can not afford to help others. KNK/Creativity Boutique seem to be well loved in their area for their charitable contributions to the school (and other schools want them to do fundraisers now too). GA and Sonia have giant hearts and treat others with respect, courtesy, fairness and professionalism that is not always found these days. Hats off to Gerianne and Sonia...and I foresee a long and happy future for their businesses and those who are associated with them.

***In these rough times, I feel I need to post this disclaimer that I truly do not wish to offend anyone who has been involved in the growth, success, past, future of these businesses or blog or from the other groups that we hang with. We know that friendships can be fragile, and feelings hurt easily. I could write a book about each of the women I have bonded with but that won't be done here on this blog. *****