Hi!
Last night we had our annual December Dinner Out team gathering! Each year we always go out for a nice dinner as our 'meeting'. We do a regular themed swap of course and we have an optional secret stamper gift exchange. The basics of the meeting have been the same for gosh 13 years now - remember when we fit at one booth and I think there were only 3-4 of us! It's a great night, it's not often that us moms and women treat ourselves to one night with friends for a few hours ... just being social, eating out, no fuss, no mess... I don't think I will ever change this meeting idea up! I always enjoy it so we will see!
It was sad that not as many INKers were able to join us as usual but we had a great time with those that were able to be there! We had yummy food, a holiday beverage, maybe a bite or two of dessert even!
For the optional gift exchange, we switched things up when the economy got so tight to making the exchange gift be "Just 3 Cards" ... simple enough for everyone to participate, nothing too financial about it ... and it's just perfect with what we do best --- stamp, right! So the idea is that it needs to be hand stamped by you for someone else. 3 full cards and envelopes, packaged cute, that's basically the premise! They can be 3 different cards completely, 3 from the same set so a nice sampling, or 3 of the same card as a gift set... anyhow, just 3 of something new that weren't leftovers from a prior meeting swap, etc. We draw numbers to see who goes 1st, then 2nd, etc... and we play it white elephant style where they can be stolen and then the third owner is the keeper! It's always fun to see if we are just gonna be polite or if we are going to mix things up and start stealing this or that ...
Anyhow, here are the pictures from last night and the optional gift exchanges. I missed getting a picture of a couple of the packages --- WHICH by the way is almost more important than what's inside! Hello, I had to grab a quick grab and go from my shelf to package mine last night and let's just say mine was the last one on the table ... so remember gals, package it up cute is one lesson and the second lesson is that you can't always judge a book by its cover! hahahahahaahaa.
Oh, grab your coffee or soda, tea, water, martini or whatever cause this might get a bit long! Click on any picture to make them larger!
Cards by Diana ... which I received
I will have to take a picture later of the packaging (camera battery is dead right now)
Cards by Elizabeth which went home with Jan
Cards by Ellen which went home with Sheryl
Cards by Jan which went home with Diana
Well this is getting a bit long and I'm nervous about it saving, so I'm going to publish this part and then come back and do the rest!
Thanks for popping by and see you later too!
Rhonda
