This is my Emily Jewell. She just turned 4 years old, and had the Pony Party of her dreams. She had about 17 of her closest friends over to our house to ride real ponies in our backyard. She's a fantastic kid - so happy and expressive! And yet I've been feeling like I haven't been there enough for her over the past year. Yes, I'm mostly a stay at home mom, but I've been gone about 2-3 nights per week for work, and she has missed having me tuck her in and read her stories at night. (Now that she has a twin bed, she loves for me to lay down and snuggle with her while we read. She's too cute!) I have absolutely loved, loved, LOVED working at Green Tangerines, but have made the tough decision that it's time to part ways so that I can do a little better job at merging the 2 things that I'm passionate about - my family and teaching Cricut classes.

So as of now, I am an independent Cricut Instructor. It's going to be a very exciting venture for me, and I'm thrilled at the many new and different ways that I can now be open to teaching. My friend Leslie calls it teaching in "3D" and I love it. No limitations, no box, no boundaries. Just the freedom to express, create, teach, learn, laugh and explore like never before. And since I'll be doing most of my work from home, I'll get to go tuck in my little sweetie pie way more often. Does it get any better than that???

Here's the official scoop on what I'll be doing. Between now and January, I will be teaching at a couple of different retreats. One is already full, but one still has some openings, and you can check it out here: http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=2955627&mpage=1

I am also available to teach at other retreats, events, or even do small group Cricut classes in people's homes. For instance, one of my favorite groups ever has requested that I come out to their area and teach a class to the 7 of them. What a blast that will be, and I'm open to doing the same for other groups of friends as well. I also just signed up as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator because I needed a reliable supplier with incredible papers. For me, a great design has to start with gorgeous papers, and I'm in love with theirs, so now we're in business. Plus they have great tools, but that's another story, LOL! Anyway, I'll also be hosting a couple of big Stampin' Up! workshops here in my current house, and I'll still throw in some fun Cricut elements too (how could I not?). Not sure of the dates of those workshops yet, so stay tuned, but I'll be working on some fun fall and Christmas designs for those events. Woohoo - my 2 favorite themes to play with!!

This coming January, my family and I are planning to move into a new home in the Whitney Ranch neighborhood in Rocklin. If all goes as we hope and pray, we will be blessed with a pretty sizable home, with plenty of space to hold a few classes each month. That will add yet another dimension, which I can hardly wait for. And to bring together all of the wonderful ladies who enjoy the same passion, I also hope to start a small Cricut Club group sometime in February 2009. This will be a monthly crop night to get to know each other better and have a blast together. Ok, and there might just be a ton of give-aways and make-n-takes too, and I might even organize some swap groups within the club so everyone can get to know each other even better and exchange ideas each time. Why not, right? If we're gonna do it at all, we'd might as well go ALL OUT!!!

So keep watching this blog and I'll try to do a better job of updating with new info. If you want more info on something, you can always either leave me a comment here with your own email address or contact me through the Cricut board. And I'll get a regular website set up in a month or two so it will be easier to contact me directly.

May the bug be with you!!!!