The one, er the two, the onlies, Em and Nicky

Okay, I promised pics and here they are. May I introduce you to Emily, The Bella, and Nicky, The Designerbella. Individually they are awesome, collectively they are a powerhouse.

The first to arrive at Cherished Scrapbooks was Nicky. I guess she knew me right away because I was a "new face" at the store. Nicky walked right over to me and said, "Barb?", I said yes and she gave me a big hug. Oh what a welcome. I just knew that this was going to be a fabulous couple of hours. Shortly after, Nicky's phone rang and it was Emily wanting to know who wanted tea or coffee. After the orders were placed, I just followed Nicky around the store intensely watching to see if I could discover the secret of how to choose papers! I finally decided to just buy what Nicky buys, no secret, just easy. I'll bet my bottom dollar (almost there) that our creations have no similarities whatsoever, other than the main image will be a Bella image.

It wasn't long before this tall, dark-, long-haired, stunningly beautiful woman walked into the store. I recognized Em immediately because of her curly hair. Oh yeah, and the Tim Horton's coffee cups she was sporting, too! She just grinned from ear-to-ear and after the precious passel of goodies was deposited on the table, I got the biggest hug ever. What a delight. I was speechless and tongue-tied all at the same time. I had so many things I wanted to say and I truly felt like I was in the presence of royalty. I said, "I think I should ask for your autograph". Em's response to that was a rolling of those huge dark eyes accompanied by a long sigh and, "Oh, puleeze, I change dirty diapers all day long.". I knew then and there that this lady was wonderful. There are absolutely no pretenses with Emily. She is who she is and that's it. We chatted about so many things I can barely remember. What I do know is that whenever I'm in Toronto, visiting Cherished Scrapbooks and meeting these two terrific women again will be high on my agenda for sure.

Emily told me how she started selling her stamps in this very store, but can you believe I didn't ask her how long she's been doing this. She told us her son was home with a fever, we talked about the importance of reading to our children, she showed me the card she made using her new scalloped edge stamp (just ordered one, Emily), and we looked at some stamps that would be appropriate for weddings (I ordered those as well). And, as is always the case, there was some woman-talk that will not be repeated here but will remain a fond memory to me, but it was hilarious, I can tell you.

We sat around chatting like old friends and that is truly how they made me feel. There was also another lady there, Anne Parretta. She has at least one card, possibly two, being published in The Rubber Stamper coming out soon. So look for her cards. Anne is a teacher of teachers and is highly committed to reading to youngsters. I believe her daughter is getting married soon, as is my son, so we had plenty in common. Anne is well known to Nicky and Em so conversation just flowed without any problems at all.

I finally had to leave to go back to Guelph around 3 p.m. May I just say right here that, with the exception of just looking at my beautiful grandsons, this was THE BEST few hours of my entire week. It was something I did just for me and I left there feeling like I was walking on a cloud. Just ask my kids. When I got back to Guelph, I talked non-stop about my afternoon. I pulled up The Stamping Bella site and made them all look at the stamps and telling them, "I met the lady who designs the stamps and the lady who creates the cards with these stamps!". I'm sure my kids were happy for me, but I'm sure they were also glad when I finally said I had to go to bed and get some sleep.

Well, that was my meeting with Em and Nicky. I can't wait until the next one!

Editor's Note: My DH just saw this and asked me to put in this addendum: Where it says "I'll bet my bottom dollar", it should read, "I'll bet my DH's bottom dollar". Man, I'm glad he has a sense of humour.