CRAFTDOC

I attended several Craft Days (or Crops as they are often called) in January and February and the last one was for an entire weekend.  What fun to be able to craft all day with friends and NOT have to cook or do dishes!

I have a whole bunch of projects to share with you in the coming days, including some UFOs that turned into ACTs.  (I turned UnFinished Objects to Actually Completed Tasks).

And I’ll also share with you at the end of this post how I was able to deduct the registration costs and mileage on my taxes and otherwise afford to attend all these fun events!

Since I am into acronyms today, first I’ll show you some VIPs – Very Important Pages.  These pages really touched my heart as I scrapbooked and journaled the photos from my last Stampin’ Up OnStage meeting.  My WHY for joining Stampin’ Up! 20 years ago, was to have access to the amazing products at a discount.  But my WHY for remaining a demonstrator after all these years is for the fun of traveling and being with the wonderful friends I have met through Stampin’ Up!

I love pocket pages for scrapbooking.  They are easy to put together and easy to rearrange.  The one downfall is that you have limited ability when it comes to arranging horizontal vs vertical photos.

Today’s Tips are a few ways to work around this one limitation.

1.  Intersperse some traditional full page spreads.
2.  Use Memories and More cards to add fillers and journaling to unused pockets.
3. Always take both vertical and horizontal photos at any important event.
4. Cropping is still your best friend with pocket pages.  I find that I can often crop a photo to 4×4 and make a 4×6 mini page using a Memories and More card.  Some photos can even be cropped to 3×4 or cut in half to fit 2 adjacent pockets.

All the Memories and More card packs also contain some fun stickers and overlays to embellish with.  And the Sweet Soiree pack that I used here is FREE during Sale-a-bration.

I promised to share with you how I was able to attend all these crops as a tax deduction.  Please refer to your accountant  (which I am not!) to confirm any information.  In the US, as long as you declare a profit for 3 out of each 5 years and keep records to show you are actively running a business, then you are able to count all expenses to said business as a tax deduction.  Otherwise, the IRS considers it a hobby and you are not able to claim any deductions.  I’m so fortunate that being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is both my hobby and my business!   I network with customers and potential customers at weekend crops and work on projects for my blog and classes.  I sometimes am asked to bring adhesives and retired product to cash&carry as well.   So I deduct both my registration fee and my mileage to and from the event.  In my early days as a demo I was unable to deduct all my expenses for the year  because I usually spent more than I made.  But still, even the deductions I was able to make did save money on our taxes.  And now that my business is more established, it is a real blessing to be able to deduct all my supplies and travels.  I even was able to contribute to a SEP IRA beginning a couple years ago.

If you are interested in making your hobby a business, or just want to be a happy shopper and enjoy the discount, consider joining my team.  I’d love to help you be a part of the Stampin’ Up! family during Sale-a-bration and our 30th anniversary year.

Happy crafting (and cropping),

Kim Wilson

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