I {heart} Amy Tangerine!

On the eve of my last day as an attorney and just a week before our big cross country move in 2011, I emailed Amy Tan (of Amy Tangerine).  I was directionless, scared, and yearning for advice and guidance.  I wrote: 

"I'm one of your amazingly loyal fans and here I am asking for any bit of advice or encouragement you might have.  I'm a big firm lawyer but today is actually my very last day of work.  My husband is in the Navy and is getting relocated to the east coast.  After our daughter was born (2.5 months premature) and while I was on maternity leave, I found a lot of peace in scrapbooking.  It has quickly become as passion and I have the hope to be able to turn that into some sort of career/business.  The entrepreneurial spirit is certainly ingrained in my family and I've known the value of hard work from day one.  I think I have to tools (or the ability to find the tools) to succeed.  I just don't have ANY idea on where to start.  Do you have any tidbits of advice?"

And can you believe it, but she actually responded.  She guided me to The Purpose of Your Life which helped in her career transition, she encouraged me to start a blog and to continuously create , and she advised me to become a part an active voice in the scrapbooking community.

While that advice in and of itself was hugely welcome, I was most touched by the fact that she took the time to respond to my plea for mentoring, advice and support.  I have hung on tightly to her words and with the continued mentoring by other awesome women in the industry, I now have the confidence to continue crafting.

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure and honor of finally meeting Amy Tan in real life!!!  She was teaching a class at the Mapunapuna Ben Franklin.  I was so giddy and I thought I was going to hyperventilate.  I get so star struck.  But Amy was the epitome of calm and kindness and I had the most amazing time.

Here is Amy talking to everyone at the beginning of the class.  She is so tiny even with the baby bump!

A packed class with super excited crafters!

This is the mini album that we are going to make using some new products from Amy's Yes, Please Collection by American Crafts! 

Here are some photos of my work space.  I obviously had my Xyron Mega Runner on hand to adhere everything together.  :)

And here are some of those posed shots.  Okay...me and AMY!!!!!!  SHUT UP!!!  I think I'm still hyperventilating.  :)

I also got to finally meet Joscelyne Cutchen (Owner of Bossy Joscie Crafty Flair, 2012 Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Winner, fellow Navy wife and all around super awesome crafter).

And here I am with Nicole and Jessica, my crafting friends/ milspouses/ preschool mommys.  I love these ladies so much and am SO GLAD that Jessica organized everything so that we could attend the class!!!! 

If you want to see more pictures of the class, check out this blog post by Joscie.  She took some fantastic photos.

As always, mahalo for stopping by!!!