Punched Envelope

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Don't Underestimate The Power Of Your Choice!

Ahhhh...back in Denver.  It is really nice to be home.  This last week my trip was part business and part pleasure, so being away definitely had its perks too!  I flew to Connecticut to do some work and then drove to see my cousin in Southbury, CT.  My cousin Brenda is who got me involved in Stampin' Up! and it is always amazingly fun to get to hang out with her in person!!!!  And yes, we did spend some time in her craft room...more of that in a moment.  But back to today's lesson.  I flew home yesterday and we found ourselves sitting on the tarmac at the Hartford Airport after already experiencing a delay in the terminal.  The reason behind the delay?  Weather in Chicago (thunderstorms have a particular affinity for the Windy City this time of year).  What originally was to be a leisurely layover in Chicago started to turn into a bit of a tight connection.  Once we finally took off, it looked like we would make the connection...until we landed at O'Hare.  Instead of heading to a gate, we ended up being sent to a "parking lot" - the place they stick planes where there are no empty gates.  The minutes began to tick away and the man next to me began to get very antsy.  Turns out he was also trying to make the connecting flight to Denver.  I had already made a conscious choice in my mind that I was going to go with the flow.  A choice that whatever happened, it was out of my control and I was just going to go with it and continue to enjoy reading the book I had brought with me on the trip.  The man next to me had obviously made a different choice.  I could feel his blood pressure rising as the minutes ticked away!  He even called the airline as we were sitting there to see what they could do (no surprise...they could do nothing).  It was such a contrast - me in my happy little book world; him in his stressed out, blood pressure rising cage.  When we did finally get parked at a gate I ran right behind him through the terminal to see if we could still manage to catch our plane...it was 8:13 pm and our plane was departing at 8:15 pm.  When we got to the gate, guess what???  The plane had just started boarding!  Since so many flights had been delayed, they decided to board a bit late and then actually held the plane even longer so that other incoming passengers could make the flight since it was the last flight to Denver last night (Yeah United!!!!  A+ for caring for your customers).  So, once I am reminded not to underestimate the power of your choice in the moment.  You can choose to throw a tantrum, or you can choose to cozy up with a book and enjoy the ride.  The choice is yours...as is the impact.

Now, back to the visit with Brenda!  She decided to invite the ladies from her scrapbooking club over to meet me and to play in the craft room!  Totally fun!!!!  We ended up watching a video I had created on how to emboss and cut with framelits and then we played with the new In Colors and a few new stamp sets.  I also had a lot of fun exploring Brenda's craft space and came across an envelope that had been punched and stamped.  I decided to take the idea and share it with you!  I used the 1 1/4" circle punch to take a bite out of the envelope flap and then stamped the space with an image from Established Elegance using Always Artichoke ink.  Why hadn't I ever thought to do this before????  Now none of my envelopes will be safe! :)