On the way back from PA on Friday, Mart and I were talking about the geese flying above us. He asked why do they fly in a formation? I remembered the Story of Geese that was shared with me early on in my teaching career and looked it up to share with him. Here is the story which gives us something to think about as we enter into a new year.

Geese Story

In the fall when you see Geese heading south for the winter flying along in the "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way.

It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. Quite similar to people who are part of a team and share a common direction get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are traveling on the trust of one another and lift each other up along the way.

Whenever a Goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock. If we have as much sense as a Goose, we will stay in formation and share information with those who are headed the same way that we are going.

When the lead Goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another Goose takes over. It pays to share leadership and take turns doing hard jobs.

The Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed. Words of support and inspiration help energize those on the front line, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue. It is important that our honking be encouraging. Otherwise it's just - well honking!

Finally, when a Goose gets sick or is wounded by a gunshot and falls out, two Geese fall out of the formation and follow the injured one down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group. When one of us is down, it's up to the others to stand by us in our time of trouble. If we have the sense of a Goose, we will stand by each other when things get rough. We will stay in formation with those headed where we want to go.

The next time you see a formation of Geese, remember their message that "IT IS INDEED A REWARD, A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE TO BE A CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF A TEAM"

This year, I spent time making handmade gifts for as many people as possible. My dear friend, Eileen, http://artsaveslives-paperqueen.blogspot.com/ taught me how to make these fun and quite easy pendants. These particular pieces are made from old game pieces that are available at www.naveljelly.com I loved making these and giving them as gifts. Each one was made to suit that special person for whom it was intended. I hope you enjoy them!

I love making cards and projects for Valentine's Day! Stampin' Up! has created a wonderful and brand new Valentine's Day Bundle.

Put some heart into your Valentines this year with the Love You Much Bundle. Containing all new products—a coordinating stamp set, Designer Series paper, and punch—the Love You Much Bundle has what you need to create the perfect Valentines, all at 20 percent off! Click here to check out this promotion and many more! (Click SHOP NOW at the upper right hand corner of that website to save!)

Today, we had a great time staying inside out of the Winter weather that was dumped onto New York City. It was a beautiful reason to stay inside and craft with friends. We stamped on baby onesies which is so easy to do and great for gift giving. We used Stampin' Up! Craft Inks and stamped onesies from www.dharmatrading.com SO much fun!
This is the front of Jennifer's onesie. Jennifer is a sweetheart and is new to the magical world of stamping. She quickly joined the Gotham City Stampers Stampin' Up! Team and is loving every inky second. This is the back. I love the little Peek-a-Boo on the tush of the onesie. SO adorable!

Jennifer's second onesie had cute little bugs on it! Love it!Complete with a big pink butterfly on the little one's bottom.

Michael stamped a very simple and clean looking onesie using a retiring Stampin' Up! Hostess Set. It is always SO much fun to see Michael. He and Marty are the "guys" of the meetup group! http://www.meetup.com/NYCStampersScrappers/

Anything Melissa makes is AWESOME! She used the Just Jawing set from Stampin' Up! to make this funky and edgy onesie. I always love anything that Melissa makes. As she would say...FABULOUS!

YOU ROCK on the rump! The baby that gets this is one lucky and very stylish baby!

Another of Melissa's creations! She brought this stamp set along and used fabric markers to color in the train. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!

This is Michael's second onesie. He used one of my favorite stamp sets for kids! Super cute!

We had a first big storm in New York City yesterday. It hasn't caused much of a problem. Mart had to deal with the super in the building next to us putting all of the sidewalk snow on his car. Not good. Other than that, we remained inside and did some fun things!
Mart dreads cold weather. He just about shrivels up at the thought of being cold. He suggested walking down to the river but soon wished he hadn't!
This is a posed picture of me. Mart said "look cold"...which wasn't hard considering I was FREEZING!
We love doing fun/silly things like this. The river is only a block from our apartment. We love walking there to look at the water and the bridge whenever we can.
This is the George Washington Bridge crossing the Hudson River from Upper Manhattan to New Jersey. We love our neighborhood because of the calm vibe and close proximity to the trains, buses and bridge.
Another picture of the bridge. I used to love seeing it when I would come to visit Marty every weekend in 2005-2006. I was living in PA while he was in the city. We did that for about a year until I was able to move here.
A beautiful picture of a snow-covered tree with the Hudson River and the GW Bridge in the background.
The snow is so pretty. Things seemed so much quieter and calm today.

Today's stamping event uses many brand new items that have only been released to Stampin' Up! Demonstrators. I had to much fun making these quick cards that can be made in a short amount of time when you need a card FAST!

Sunday was SO much fun! Stampin' Up! has this great kit http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=113052 that gives you all of the preprinted pages to make a 2009 calendar. Creative and some paper and the possibilities are endless. I have a ball creating these calendars with Heather and Jeannine this past Sunday.

Jeannine did a really fabulous calendar. It will be filled with pictures as the year goes on. It is a similiar with a trifold wallet in the way she put it together. I love all of the orange...her absolute fav color.

Jeannine is smiling ear to ear over this creation...she SHOULD be! It is great! I haven't seen Jeannine in quite some time. I have certainly missed her. Jeannine's creative spirit and energy is so wonderful. Glad to have her back at the Mecca!

Heather tried something new today! She distressed every page for a fresh vintage look! She carefully selected just the perfect stamps and technique to make each and every page very special. Heather is a fairly new stamper and is a new member of my downline. (Gotham City Stampers Demonstrator Team) She is a wonderful person and an amazing artist. I am honored to have met her and to have the opportunity to get to know her. She even gave me the honor of making ALL of her wedding invitations!