Well, you'll never believe it!

As my dear friend and professor, Dr. Marsha Ellis-Smith, would say, "Well, slap me naked and hide my clothes!" :D Why? Let me tell you the story. :D

Saturday was the Chattanooga Regional Stampin' Up! Demonstrators Convention; it was a one-day seminar for demos and their guests; we get to stamp, learn some fun things, get fun prizes, and meet with other demos from the region.

As most of you know, I was gone most of this week; because of that, I wanted to get my swaps done for the group I'm online with (I know I've mentioned SUDSOL before; it stands for STAMPIN' UP! DEMONSTRATORS SHARING ONLINE.) before we left for our trip. I did one design, and got 20 cards almost done before I realized: I'd designed it with a stamp set that was retired, and I'd not pulled it out of my collection! AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, back to the drawing board. And the above is what I came up with. (It's pretty ME, right? Christmas and both heat and Big Shot embossing? :D)

So, back to Regional. There's a basket where you can put your swap cards; they post them for everyone to see, and I'm not sure what else they do with them.

Except pick a winner for design.

The person who was choosing couldn't choose just one. She chose two.

AND I WAS ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so danged excited! Ladies (and gentlemen!), you can now tell everyone that YOUR Stampin' Up! demonstrator is an award-winning designer. Yup, got a prize and everything.

I still am in shock, but can't wipe the smile off my face. :) It was a total fluke that I put a card front in the basket. I did another design for general swapping, and swapped them all out before I could put one into the basket. There are so many people at Regionals, and this was my second-choice design - I expected NOTHING. :D

So. I'm gonna go work on what I want for my Christmas cards, because that's what I'm going to use my prize for. How incredibly blessed am I?!?!??!?!

Have a WONDERFUL day! And be SURE to make the time to STAMP SOMETHING!!!!