What a day!! But I'm in DALLAS!! Yeehaw!

Traveling, the hurry up and wait game frustrates me, to say the least. The long lines and grumpy people at 5:30 in the morning make me want to not make eye contact. I was one of them . . . no time for coffee yet as I waited, first to check my bag and then the TSA Security line. Yes, I did in fact have a naked scan, perhaps they can forward it to my doctor for my next xray. ha ha

One trick I have when that stressed out, annoying line gets to me is to smile at those standing near me and make nice comments. Not, “these lines are awful!” or “why aren’t there more employees checking us in?” No, instead I find it helpful to ask where others are flying or just simply, what about those Giants? I met several nice people that way this morning. I love to hear about where others are going and their adventures they are embarking upon.

Necessary!

 

My adventure, in case you didn’t know . . . awaits me in Dallas, Texas. What am I doing there? Oh yeah, baby! Stamping and scrapbooking and perusing that brand new catalog await my arrival. Oh my! Thursday cannot come fast enough. What new things will there be? New albums for my finished scrapbook pages? New colors to expand my color palette? Or maybe, and this is my favorite, more doo dads. I wouldn’t even mind a new Cricut cartridge. It’s a BIG surprise similar to waiting for Santa Claus. Maybe I’ll find Jeanette, the owner of the company, and she’ll share a catalog before anyone else.

Okay, I can dream, right?

My flight was uneventful, the most exciting thing that happened? I was horrified when the woman in front of me told her two toddler aged children that the mean flight attendants were making them throw out their juice. Oh, and the two people who attempted to fly on to Dallas so the count was off and the flight attendants had to check everyone's address and be sure we were on the manifest. I bet those 2 people were embarrassed to have been singled out like that. Seriously though, this plan is destined for Dallas! If you aren't going to Dallas, get off the plane. LOL

I'm now at the hotel Hilton Anatole which is a 4 or 5 star, truly beautiful. My next blog will be pictures of the hotel. You want to know, right? LOL

Stay tuned!

Is it time to leave? Is it time? Huh, huh, huh.

My suitcase includes all the normal things you'd expect from someone going to a convention:

Camera
Sweater for those cold conference halls
Casual Business Attire that's comfy to stamp in
P.J.s for getting relaxed while I'm perusing the new catalog
Snacks to get me through those long nights of dreaming about all the new products I must have. Must.

Ready to go!!!

Then there's the paper cutter and the adhesives, the blocks, inks, and hole punches. A corner rounder to make a pretty scallop or round the square edges of a photo . . . it's all in there too, right there with my toothbrush.

Makes me wonder what the TSA authorities will think when they inevitably scan, screen, and search my luggage. It also makes me wonder when across the nation thousands of women have packed exactly the same thing. <hee hee> Wish I could be there to see them talking in the break room about all the weird travelers. :-)

Did I mention I'm excited. I board my plane in just a few short hours. I hope I sleep tonight because . . . you know, I'm excited!

Get your boots on, girls, we're hitting the town in stamping style!

Dallas here we come!!!

It's almost here . . . Convention 2012 and I'm SO excited! My bag is packed and ready by the door and my flight, at an early 6:15 a.m., will not bother me in the least, because I'm on my way to the event of the year!


Every summer, Close To My Heart sponsors a Corporate event in a new venue, aimed at exciting, enticing, and driving their Consultants wild with excitement. This year we are descending upon an unsuspecting Dallas hotel. There's nothing like a few thousand stampers and scrapbookers, all sporting matching Close To My Heart attire and wheeling in every imaginable scrapbooking and stamping tool known to the current market, to frighten the local populace. It's like an invasion and remember if it doesn't move it's gonna get stamped and if it does move, you hold it and I'll stamp it!


Convention is the place to be to get a jump start on the new stamps soon to be released to our market, including new lines of fun paper, doo dads, and gadgets galore. Thursday morning every Conventioneer will receive a hot new catalog and lots of time to browse, dream, play, and create with the new things. Ohhhhhh, did I mention I'm pretty excited?


This is my 16th Convention and it just gets better and better. Stay tuned to this blog and find out what's new and exciting. I will also be positing my adventures and fun times, so don't miss out.


Yeehaw! Dallas, here I come!!!!

If you stamp a fish . . . watercolor him!

Watercoloring is my favorite coloring medium, it's true! It's also true when I stamped fish from Under the Sea C1500, I grabbed my Blending Pen 3174 (p. 132 of the catalog) and the coordinating stamp pads and happily colored to my heart's content.

How do you do it, you say? It's so simple, really, I promise.

First, with your chosen stamp pad, lid closed, firmly squeeze, as shown here.

Next, open the stamp pad and presto, notice the ink in the white part of the lid. Plenty of watercolor for you to color your fishies!








With the blending pen, pick up some of the ink (Lagoon shown here) and begin coloring. To achieve a darker inked look of the waves, I used the ink immediately. To create shading, I used scratch paper to remove some of the ink from the marker.

To change colors, simply use the same scratch paper and color until no ink shows. This also uses up the clear fluid, so sometimes it is helpful to have several blending pens for different colors for a project or if doing more than one card. The pens are only $3.95 so buy several!

 My finished fishy card, made using Footloose paper X7151B and Seaside Wooden Shapes Z1693.

Best Fishes to you!!!!

Dress up your patterned paper with a stamp or two!

Pemberly, one of CTMH's newest lines of paper, is by far my favorite so far. The blues and soft yellows colors are balanced perfectly and the flower set that coordinates with it has dozens of tiny words. You can easily spell out just about any saying on the front or inside of your own card or scrapbook page.

My stamp sale last week featured a make and take, pictured here:

The card itself was a breeze to assemble and created an elegant look for that special someone's birthday. Or change the words from the Card Word Puzzle C1494 and make it a Just Because card or Happy Anniversary . . .

One of the special techniques we covered at Saturday's event was the stamping directly on the patterned paper to create your own special look. Here we stamped the rose from the Card Word Puzzle stamp set in black ink directly onto the soft yellow paper from the kit. No need to color the flowers in, it adds just the right amount of pizzazz to your artwork just as it is.

And then to accessorize! I chose the Bouquet Assortment Z1694, page 128 of the new catalog to add a bit of flair to my card. These self stick beauties can be used stand alone as I did on this card, or added to the center of flowers. Very easy and very pretty.

Hope you are having fun with your accessories. Remember that adding some fun to your card can be as easy as a stamp on the paper or a little accessory to your finished product.

Have fun!

The new card KIT!

That's right! For those of us who love to make cards and can't resist a good card kit, you will want to play with this new addition to the Close To My Heart line of products. Located on page 123 of the Spring/Summer catalog, this kit has everything you need to make 10 3D type cards.

For just $19.95 your kit includes adorable stickers, decorative chipboard, cards AND matching envelopes, the little cups to hold your treats and ideas for assembling the cards. It really was super fun to make although, here are a few tips to make the process go a little better for you.

When attaching the self adhesive little cup, fill with candy, remove the sticker back and line it up with the envelope closed and then set it down on the paper.

When applying the chipboard use a strong glue like Liquid Glass to make it stick.

This is what the card looks like open. You will have extra stickers, so you could potentially add more decoration to the inside as well.

This is your finished card. Isn't it so pretty? I would love to receive this from a friend. Easy and fun to assemble, this card kit is a blast!

See page 123 of the new catalog.

One Stamp Set, Three Looks

One of the best things I love about stamping? Making 3D items! I recently made this little box with a group of friends in Colorado. It was so darn easy to make and can be used for so many things! I'm keeping cards I've made so I can easily find a card if I need one. It can also be used to store important trinkets and memorabilia. It's up to you.


The box is available in the most recent catalog (we have a new Spring/Summer one now) and is SO affordable! Located on p. 131 this white chipboard box is one of many chipboard 3D items that can be decorated as your heart desires. This particular item is less than $5 and includes a magnetic closure so it stays closed and keeps your memories (or greeting cards) safe.


To start decorating choose your adhesive (make sure it's permanent). I have used my Tombow permanent tape runner, but the really cool adhesive (not sold by CTMH) is called "Yes Paste" and makes adhering paper to the chipboard easy and wrinkle free. Just apply a layer to the back of your paper (edge to edge). Then run your finger around the edge to keep them all down and flush with the box. We also used a sponge and Olive ink to sponge the box so it would no longer be white, but Olive to match the Sonoma paper.

I hope you have as much as I do decorating these fun items. Whether you give one as a gift or are selfish like me, and keep it for yourself, it's easy, fun, and beautiful!