Socially Scrappy Saturday

Welcome to another edition of Socially Scrappy Saturday.

Today I am playing with a fun September 2025 sketch from over at the Creative Scrapbooker Magazine over on Facebook. 

I’ve chosen to create using my Peaceful Garden suite which I am showcasing at an upcoming crop in Dorchester paired with the Snowflake Kisses dies, Alphabet A La Mode dies and 2025-2027 other In Colour Flat Pearls.

Very happy with the end results of my 12x12 layout for an All Is Calm layout to showcase some winter photos of the family.

My pocket page to house some journaling and 3 more photos.

If you’re within driving distance of Dorchester ON grab some crafty friends and come on out this weekend to shop the annual retired stamp sale. 20 plus tables to shop of new and gently used stamps, dies, DSP and more! Goodies all looking for a new home to get inky in! 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Squeal - got the new catty giddiness

Ok folks who is old enough to remember the Sears Holiday Toy catalog getting delivered??

Well I am no longer a wee I  am still a child at heart so that’s how I feel when my favorite clean eating foodie  company drops their new catalog - it’s like CHRISTMAS all over again seeing what’s NEW to try out ..... only now I can screen shot my wishlist vs having to circle them with a big red marker ⭕️ !!  🤣

Feel free to have a look at their fabulous new products. I am exited about the new salad meal kits and for my Vegan family/friends - DIY MAYO no eggs needed!  And for my new fridge just I might have to check out the new space saver storage containers 😍 

Seriously take a peek and if you want to order and don’t yet have your own “spicy crack dealer” aka Epicure consultant please consider supporting  my lovely friend Lisa! 

You can order direct from the link here and have it shipped right to  your front door. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

Also here is the link to the full digital catalogue for your viewing pleasure.  

Bon Appetite

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Why I 💕 Direct Sales

I know that direct sales business get a lot of flack in the media but I just want to share this small glimpse into why I LOVE supporting my direct sales peeps and why I love being part of the direct sales community … because of little moments like this that show the true collaboration and support that IME represent the majority of the industry and how they have the backs of each other! I love how we can work together and pool resources so we can all thrive! 

This is a little warm fuzzy from a fellow GelSister in a Flyer/meme request community for distributors. Where those of us whose strengths lie in the creating digital content help out those whose strengths might be in making tutorials videos or showcasing nail art or what not that they share with us -  but the key is that these are independent business owners or what some in society would call “competitors” who all come together and SHARE because when we help one another rise we know we can all rise together! 

It took me a commercial break each on the show we were watching as a family to whip these up for my fellow gel sister! Plus I find creating relaxing and it’s a great support for my anxiety to use the creative side of my brain cause than the anxiety side can’t be up to being fixated on stupid stuff! 

IME Direct sales opportunities allow for people to work from home, set their own hours, to balance bringing in an income to support the household with the full time role of parenting and household maintenance! They allow people to CHOOSE how hard they want to work their business depending in their own needs, to work their business as a side hustle hobby or to strive to reach goals and rank up and to grow a team or not. IME they  also can provide an amazing opportunity to help people overcome fears, to push past their comfort and flourish in new ways! A good direct sales company offers lots of training and support to its members to help them not only build the business but to GROW as a human being! I personally belong to 4 different direct sales models and ALL of them offering this “sense of community and support” where they invest in building their teams up from the INSIDE out - that focus on when you are whole in mind, body and spirit than you can radiate that to those you want to help and serve in your business! An investment in the workforce that I honestly haven’t seen in my other career settings at least not as successfully. 

So for every one “Karen” out there who the media makes fun of for being pushy or aggressive and not taking NO for an answer in her selling approach pleas know that there are 100s of others who are just wanting to share what they love and help others, while earning an income and balancing work and life in a way that works for them that a “outside the home” gig just can’t offer! And for every crappy companies that doesn’t do anything to support its seller and basically preys in them to make quotas and that’s the end of it please know there are LOTS of other companies out there who truly do invest in their teams to ensure that they thrive in all areas of their lives! 

Be As Bold as Your GelMoment! 

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

*post contains affiliate links

Supporting your local small businesses is more important than ever!

Love this message!

 

 

We all know that Covid has been so hard on everyone but those on the bottom of the pyramid of our culture - the small guy the front line work and the small independent local businesses have been hit SO hard because they do not have the huge profit buffers that the wealthy and large chain stores do to suddenly adapt to the changes Covid has brought! 

 

I am one of those who suddenly found their small early learning business as well as my side hustles closed due to Covid restrictions and unexpectedly without an income and unfortunately with no 'financial buffer zone' of savings because there is no profit n the early learning sector and the years prior had been lean due to changes in my field making it harder to be fully enrolled despite the demand FOR childcare services the 'rules' make it hard to meet that demand! 

Supporting small local business is a passion of mine - now do not get me wrong it is not that I want to send the message that having dreams to grow ones business 'BIG is wrong or that business franchises/chains or large corporations are inherently known for putting profits above customer service. I shop franchise/chains/big business too it is just that when it comes to certain goods and services where I have a choice to support one or the other I prefer to kind of personalized customer service that tends to come with the 'small family owned' type businesses! 

 

Supporting your local small businesses each and every day need not cost a penny .... positive word of mouth and referring those in your life who MAY or ARE looking to shop for something or find a local service is the next BEST thing .... reality is that when you take two seconds to write a positive review, when you follow them on social media, authentically engage in a post by commenting, liking or sharing things that speak to you from their business pages than you become their volunteer marketing team and you save them from having to spend huge amounts of money that are often not in the budget of small business just to 'sponsor/boost' posts on social media to get that same reach!

 

It costs you nothing but a click of your mouse but it benefits them greatly - like we say in early childhood education 'sharing is caring!

 

What can you do TODAY to support a local small business? ?Tell us about YOUR favorite local small business in the comments! 

 

Margaret

Live. Laugh. Love

Be Totallyawake4-life