About Me

Eleven years ago I left behind my career as a Registered Dietitian to become a stay at home mom.  While I felt that this was the right decision for our family, and I was grateful for the opportunity to be home with our son, as time went by I found myself getting increasingly restless. As I watched my friends climb the "corporate ladder", I found myself longing for something to call my own.  My whole life was my family and I felt like I was losing myself.  

Now one of the things I should mention before I go on, is that I have always considered myself  creatively inept.  I realize this seems odd for someone who’s business is "creativity" , but for my whole life, up until I became a mom, I had not been involved in doing crafts of any kind, nor were crafts considered to be a priority. 

I’m the daughter of immigrants (my dad is Hungarian, and my mother Mexican), and their philosophy was that education is essential for getting ahead in life.  As I seemed to have a knack for academics and did well in school, I was encouraged to further my education.  And I did. I completed my Bachelor’s Degree in Nutritional Sciences, and then my Master’s degree in Community Nutrition.  The funny thing is that although I was proud of my accomplishments, I had this secret longing to be crafty.  One of my sister-in-laws is very crafty and creative, and every time I heard someone praise her for it, secretly, I also wanted to be known as "crafty". 

I finally took the plunge and started scrapbooking.  It was love at first crop! I would absolutely GLOW with pleasure when friends and family would oooh and ahhhh over my pages and say "you’re so creative…I could never do that!".  But, I also never believed them. I thought they were humoring me.  I didn’t think I was creative.  After all, much of the time I was following layouts or ideas from other scrappers and from idea books. At that time, scrapping in this part of Canada was fairly new, so there weren’t that many places to shop or crop.  I used to drive twice a week, 40 minutes each way to crop at a home-based scrapping studio.  Once she closed down, I started travelling over an hour to crop at a wonderful store in Kitchener called the Scrapping Bug. 

It was through a friend I met at the store that I was invited to my very first Stampin’ Up! workshop. I always joke with my upline (Sarah Safar), that I didn’t pay attention to a single thing she said during the workshop.  In fact, I only stamped one of the projects she provided. I was too mesmerized by Stampin’ Up!’s beautiful Idea Book and Catalogue, and the many gorgeous card samples she had brought.  Two days later, I signed up to be a demonstrator!  

That was over five years ago, and I’ve never looked back.  Stampin’ Up! has been a real blessing in my life. I have the professional challenge of being self-employed and building a thriving business.  I get to meet many wonderful people on a daily basis. I get a great discount on all my stamping and scrapbooking supplies.  I’ve had the opportunity of taking my family on a wonderful cruise compliments of Stampin’ Up!, &  most importantly, I have the flexibility to plan my workshops and classes around my family’s schedule. It truly is my dream job!

As to my "creativity issues",  as time has gone by, I’ve slowly realized that creativity isn’t something that you either have or don’t have.  I truly believe that God has blessed each one of us with creativity – some just have it in greater measure than others.  Mine is a seed that has been slowly growing.  In nurturing my creativity and taking the time to do something I love, I notice that I am a better wife, a better mother, a better friend – a better person over all. 

Don’t let busyness keep you from doing something for yourself!  As you look at my artwork, you’ll see that most of what I stamp is fairly simple. My aim is to create quick, easy yet beautiful projects that ANYONE can re-create.  I get my inspiration from Stampin’ Up!’s Idea Book and Catalogue, demonstrator magazine & their website, from other magazines and idea books, but most of all from other talented stampers.  Sometimes I come up with my own designs, other times I’ll get inspiration from, slightly modify or outright CASE (stamping term for copying) other people’s projects that I have fallen in love with.  Does it really matter if the original project idea is your own or someone else’s?  My answer is NO. Let go of your fears of not being "crafty enough" or "creative enough" and simply take joy in creating. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my journey.  Please feel free to share your own stories or simply leave a comment.  If you feel that Stampin’ Up! may be your dream job too, then please be sure to take some time and look at the Demonstrator Opportunity page, and of course always feel free to email me  at andrea@sunnystampin.com or phone me (519) 267-8267 and I’d be happy to talk to you more.