Way to Go Wednesday

In my ever striving attempt to organize my life, I have decided to add some weekly features. So far you may have noticed I have Jacksonbelle Tuesdays when I post my challenge card for the JBE Design Team. Today I decided to share some back patting for family and friends (both blogging and local) on accomplishments they have achieved over the week. Now if you note, I stated that I was "striving" to organize my life. I certainly have not even come close to meeting my goal, so if by some chance my scattered brain forgets to show someone the love, please do not take it personal! Just chalk it up to the fact Rachel has probably covered the living room with 10lbs of flour (again), my Girl Scout troop has a big event coming up, Mary Elizabeth just can't "get" something we are learning in homeschool and one of the gerbils has escaped!

This week has been a most awesome week for Good News:

My blogging friend Cheryl of Engineered Expressions returned from a family vacation in Jamaica to find out she had been invited to join The Paper Elements Design team AND found out that after submitting 6 of her scrapbooking layouts for publication to Scrapbooking.com magazine, they had accepted ALL 6 which will appear in their July publication! Please stop buy Cheryl's blog and check out all of her fabulous scrapbook layouts (and photos of her adorable little girl.) You will be so pleased that you did! A sideline about Cheryl- she can whip out incredible 12 x 12 layouts in the time it takes me to make a card!

Fellow Design Team members from Jacksonbelle Embellishments have a fruitful couple of weeks. Both Erin and Maren received news that they would have projects published in the October edition of Cards and Amber was invited to be the newest member of the fabulous Verve Visual Design Team! A great big Wahoo to all of you ladies!

Finally, I would like to introduce everyone to one of my BFF, Dianne. While Dianne does scrapbooking and stamping, her true passion lies in painting. She is a certified One Stroke instructor and taught at our local Michael's until they did away with that program (boo)! Dianne does not consider herself creative. She says that One Stroke is simply a technique and that she only "copies" things. Well, excuse me Dianne, but I must say "PooPoo" to that 'cause in actuality Dianne completely ROCKS! During the frustrating time that Michael's was on the fence about the One Stroke program and all the instructors only had rumors to go on, Dianne was dealing with another problem. Her hands started becoming numb at times and at other times very painful. She went through many months of going from one type of specialist to another without any answers. Finally, on her second nerve conduction test, she was diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome, has since had surgery and is doing wonderfully! During this frustrating time, Dianne became involved in a forum for Jansen Art Studio and began taking an on-line class called Traditions. She was a bit slow to get started with her lessons but let me tell you, over the past couple of weeks she has really stuck to it and I am so very proud of her. Please give yourself a treat and check out her blog to see what this talented gal has done while "learning" a new painting style!

I wish for all those mentioned above to accept a warm hug and "pat-on-the-back" from me! It's ALWAYs A Stampin' Good Time! Take care!