Whoa! I cannot believe I'm actually writing my BIO for the Splitcoast DIRTY DOZEN!!! This is SO surreal!

Well, this is how it happened for me...

So, here I was at CHA, and Jenn gave me a BIG hug. Now, if you know anything about Jenn Balcer, you know that she's super huggy, amazing, and cool, so I didn't think anything especially different about THIS hug, except that she sort of "hung on" a bit longer than normal. THEN she started to talk. She told me that she wanted me to be a Dirty Girl, and she asked me what I thought about that. Well, after giving it a long hard look (yeah, RIGHT!!), I immediately said YES!!! She told me to let her know when, in the next couple of months, I would like to start and to give her a call to let her know when.

Well, by this time, poor Jenn's hair is now probably all wet with my tears, and I'M now the one not letting her go from our "embrace", and in fact I've even added one of my LEGS in on the hug! (Weird, possibly, but true.) I can't imagine how we must have looked to people, but I SO didn't care! Talk about Cloud 9!!!

So, I after a nervous call to Jen, I was all set up for October - my new favorite month!

Now, here are a few deets about me...

I've been married for 10 years to my "high school sweetheart", named David, and we have a wonderful 5-year-old son, named Wyatt. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, but we spent the past 8 years in SW Florida. We loved it there, but for several reasons, we recently decided to move back up North. I'm an RN, and am now working as the School Nurse at the PK-12 Christian school that Wyatt is attending.

I have always had an appreciation for things handmade. I began quilting when we moved to Florida and I still love to do that. I started scrapping shortly after Wyatt was born, and wish I had time for more of that! Mostly, though, I stamp.

I started, like a lot of people, after attending a Stampin' Up! party at a friend's house in December of '05. I didn't want to go, and in fact, turned down an invite or two before submitting to my curiosity. I knew that it was a "craft" that I couldn't get into "only a little bit"! I'm not that type of girl who "dabbles", if you know what I mean!? So, anyway, I went... and then I was hooked.

I became a demonstrator, discovered Splitcoast, and began to "hone my craft". I started uploading my cards and scrapbook pages and I quickly found out that I loved the thrill of the instant gratification that making small pieces of art and posting them for all to see could give. I also loved the community that Splitcoast provides and the constant encouragement that one could receive here.

My next goals were to start a blog, join a design team, and get published in a magazine. I was lucky enough to be successful in each of these goals. The only one left was, what I thought and still kind of think of, as a "lofty goal". It was the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Jenn for that wonderful hug! I'm SO looking forward to this ride.