What is new and exciting from CHA?

Lots! Too much to cover in one post I think. I spent 4 days looking at everything & doing make n takes. All that was after an adventurous trip down there.

My flight out of Toronto had 2 transfers. I should have paid more attention to what they were as the trip took much longer than it should have. My first stop was in Philadelphia which is on the east coast. Yup, the east coast, not the west coast where Anaheim is.

I arrived there just before 6PM and when I got off the plane I was advised that my connecting flight was now the following morning. Not thrilled but what can you do? Pay for the motel and suck it up. In the future I will make sure I do not pack my winter coat in my checked in luggage as once in my motel, I could go nowhere. I was up at 4AM the following morning to catch my shuttle bus at 5AM so that I could arrive before 6AM and get on my 7AM flight to Phoenix. Have I mentioned that I am not a great morning person?

From there I caught my last flight in to Orange County where my friend Ludmila was there to pick me up so that we could race back to the motel so that I could change, get fed and then race off to my class with Tim Holtz. It certainly was cutting it close.

In the class we made grunge paper flowers using die cuts from his new flower die from Sizzix. These were assembled in a small frame along with some of his new Ideology pieces.

If you haven't seen this die or any of his others, you must check out his blog. http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/ These are my MUST HAVES from the show along with his embossing folders and all of his new Distress Inks. Thank you Tim for not doing cute.

Participants all received a copy of his new book Compendium of Curiosities which I must say is the best technique book ever. It is like having his portion of Ranger U in book form but even better. If you like to play with ink and stamps and Ideology then this book should be on the top of your shopping list.

The rest of Saturday is a blur. I know that we went for dinner but I forget the name of the place. We were tucked in bed by 11PM which was still 2PM for me. Exhausted I set the alarm for 7AM on my cell phone. We wanted an early start to the day so that we could get up and dressed and fed and still have time to stop for a coffee. The thing is, my phone alarm was set for 7AM but for that other time zone. I was up, showered and dressed before I realized it was awfully dark for 7AM. Ludmila was in the shower when I broke the news that it was only a little after 4AM. LMAO! I was a stupid cow for all that day but she was pretty good about it all things considered. Needless to say we both went back to bed.

I am off to do some housework and maybe take a few pictures of my class project and other make n takes. Come back later for the other installments of my CHA experience.

January Class Layout

Guess what? We are stamping on our layout! This time we are stamping not only on paper but also on cork. Add a little Quickutz, a border punch and a staple or two for the years first layout. Bring you Revolution, Epic or BigShot if you have one, scissors and your basic tool kits. First class is the Sunday afternoon (Jan 10/10) at 1pm and the evening class is next Wednesday (Jan 13/10) at 6:30PM. Call the store to reserve your spot. 905-614-0085

Layout should be in the store late tonight.

and on the 3rd day of January 2010

Another post!

So I have been cleaning up my scraproom and I think it is far more manageable now. Still have too much stuff but progress is being made. I took time out yesterday to finish the January class layout so all I need to do now is put batteries in the camera and get the pics posted here. I am aiming for later today but first I am being diverted with an outing to meet up with a couple of friends for coffee. Last day of vacation before heading back to work tomorrow. Yes, no big lottery win so no goofing off and no maid, chef or personal secretary. Maybe next time.

Happy New Years Everyone!

So keeping up with my BLOG hasn't been high on my priority list. I keep thinking I am going to be better at keeping it up to date but so far that just hasn't happened. I have great intentions but I do get side tracked easily what with life and all. Now only if I could win the lottery, hire a maid, a chef and a personal secretary I would be all set. I may even get my class layouts done and posted in a timely fashion. LOL

Realistically, I am going to work on getting my class layouts up earlier, make it a priority. I have lots of ideas that if I can tear myself away from all the time wasters in my life (i.e. TV and FarmVille) I should have great classes to offer this year. In order to get these projects done I must first and foremost make my scraproom a more work friendly space. Yes, I must clean up my room and organize my stuff. I am not posting pictures of how it looks now, I am sure all of you know what an extremely cluttered room must look like. You may have one of these yourself. If not, imagine someone with too much stuff all crammed into a small room that was meant to be a bedroom not a warehouse for scrapbooking supplies. I am going to admit here but I am counting on you to not tell my husband John, I do have too much stuff. It is not that he isn't aware of the fact that I have too much stuff, he does have working eyes. It is just that I have not said those words out loud to him as I am afraid he would say "STOP bringing more stuff home, enough already!".

I do have too much stuff. It has now been said for all the world to read. Our collective secret. Now I am going to go and do something about it and maybe post a picture of the finished results. Of course that will depend on me remembering how that is done. Now, you go do something useful too. See you back here soon.