Wonderful Guests!

I was all ready to post a picture from our very special Saturday event with Marylinn Kelly and Lisa Hoffman, with a great cameo from Elaine Madrid when I saw that Suzanne was giving the info on the pennant event. So, I chilled. The pennant event is going to be great fun and I hope that lots of you will participate. I can't wait to see the pennants hanging. Those of you who know Suzanne know that Halloween is her favorite holiday, BY FAR. Last fall, she was my secret pal and I had a great time fashioning a "spooky" string of pennants for her. I had a great time collecting goodies for the project when we were visiting other stores during shop hop.

I LOVE shop hop! I have participated for the last two years. Armed with our itinerary of stores, Suzanne, Cynthia and I have visited many stores over the last two summers. The first year we found a Sunday where none of us were working at SYHO. Cynthia, also known as the organized one, carefully mapped out several stores that we would be able to visit in a day. We managed to get to 11 stores! Our poor debit cards...they were steaming at the end of the day. The first store that we visited was in Huntington Beach. It opened at 10:00 a.m. As I looked around as we all rushed the door, I realized that all of the customers who were there were SYHO family members: our staff and customers. The owner was very gracious and took our picture together.

Last year, Cyn, Suz and I were so lucky! We got to go to a trade show in Long Beach with some fabulous companies and then we got to do some ShopHopping! Again we had a great time. Each store had something a bit different. It may have been the same product, but with the unique vision that their artists brought to it. Sometimes it was product that we didn't carry, but could bring positive reviews to SYHO.

Discounted signups for Shop Hop are ending soon! Hop down or call the store and register now to get the discount.

Okay, back to Saturday! It is always, always, always a special day when Marylinn Kelly comes to SYHO. I had the honor of being a student in her very first class at SYHO way back when in the "little store" as we call in. It was on Bonita and Indian Hill. I had met Marylinn prior to class and seen some of her creations and was excited to learn from her. From the very beginning, Marylinn gave openly and generously from her heart. She inspired me with her mail art. Her envelopes are INCREDIBLE and to be cherished. Each piece of snail mail that she sends to Joan is decorated with her hand drawn creations, her stamps from Stampington, and/or her Rubber Moon creations.

Not just Marylinn but her friends!! I had never met Lisa Hoffman though I was familiar with her work. What a nice, nice lady! We had a great time. She was so generous with her thoughts and tips with journals and art. When I looked at the journals that she had brought with her, I felt a bit intimidated. Then I had an opportunity to talk to their creator. She is awesome. Lisa is funny, friendly and kind. She is a very fun lady that I hope to get to know better.

Elaine Madrid. Elaine was not one of our demonstration artists. She is a DIVA of stamp art. She just popped in for a visit because Marylinn and Lisa were visiting SYHO. Most of you know that I am a breast cancer survivor. Elaine is a bit behind me on the journey. She is still in active treatment. I have a mammogram upcoming. Unless you have had breast cancer, I don't think that you can understand just how stressful it can be to face a mammogram. Being around Elaine last Saturday was one of the best things that could have happened for me. She has such a positive attitude. We chatted about being "members of the club". (That is the breast cancer club; for the record, I don't want any of our customers, staff, supporters or anyone else to join the club. I wish I could control it. I can't.) More importantly, she is an incredible stamp artist. There is a link from our blog to hers. She has some really fun stamps.

Enough blathering for now.

Play It Forward.

Michele