I sure will miss this city. I do believe it is my favorite. Their downtown is awesome. I love everything about it and the flower gardens they have throughout the city are just gorgeous. So I thought I would share a few photos I took while we were walking downtown yesterday. While you are looking at the photos I will be trying to figure out how to pack all this great stuff into my suitcase. It is basically goign to be like trying to stuff an elephant into a teacup. Wish me luck.

Cool piece of art.

Chicago Stock Exchange

Their dresses and hair are all made of paper… so cool.

The fountain. Kids were running all over this place having a blast.

The Bean, the artists on the right was creating a gorgeous painting of the bean and the skyline.

Fort Dearborn was right here.

This is part of a memorial to those that passed in the Fort Dearborn Massacre

I certainly never thought much about the time while walking downtown. I love it there.

This one is a day late but by the time we finished breaking down the booth and eating dinner it was late and I was pooped.

As you can see my day started out as usual at the make-n-take booth. People loved learning how to make medallion flowers. They loved it so much so that I taught 100 people how to make them. That is a lot of making and taking in 5  hours.

Right before the show started I went to another one of my favorite manufacturers… Crafty Secrets.  They have some adorable items coming out. You will notice several projects using my friend Vicki Chrisman’s 3D shadow box frame dies and they are super cute.

Their booth is filled with loads of vintage goodness.

Notice the 3D Shadow Box Frame above… I love the calendar added… so cute.

This kitchen display was adorable and much cuter in person, my photo does not do it justice. I loved it!

And more of Vicki’s 3D Shadown Box Frames. Are these adorable or what? I have two that I have got to play with soon.

Then during the day one of my workshop participants came with her finished “It’s All About The Dress” projects. I was so happy to see them and really appreciated her effort to carry these two framed pieces to the show so I could see. Thank you Deb.

Tomorrow I head home and can’t wait to see my family. This afternoon I went Downtown with Caroline and her family. I will share photos of that once I am home or if I get a second wind tonight I might make another post… but honestly that bed is looking pretty good right now.

Hugs to all and I’ll see all my CHA friends in CA in six months!

Today we created flower pins using Petaloo flowers that were misted with several different colors of Maya Mist. Then we accented the center of the flower with one of the new Bingo Markers. It was a fun day and once again I had a blast meeting everyone that came by to say hi.

Now how about a little Studio 490. I LOVE all the new items Wendy Vecchi is releasing. So I will just post all the eye candy and save all the WOW’s and OH MY GOODNESS, and I have to HAVE THIS for you… because honestly this is all I can think to say about her release. So enjoy.

And if I don’t get this stamp set I think I might just die….is this incredible or what? So there you have it… loads of wonderful new projects and products created and designed by Wendy. I love my super talented friend so much and am so happy for all of her success.

What a whirlwind of a day… One minute into the show I had a line waiting to create my make-n-take and 5 hours later all 78 were done. Then did some demos on how to make a really cute flower using our satin pleat trim. Tomorrow’s make-n-take will be creating a flower that has been misted with several different colors of Maya Mist… then the center will be one of the new bingo pieces. AND the giveaway is awesome… just saying. So stop by in the morning so you don’t miss out.

From 11:00 to 11:30 I will have a book signing at the R & M booth #2025. So if you would like one of my books make sure you get there first thing at 11:00 as I will need to leave right at 11:30 to head back to Maya Road to do more make-n-takes.

So now I have to show you one of my favorite manufacturers booth besides Maya Road of course… Jenni Bowlin. I love her products so much. She has some ADORABLE new release items.

When I saw these I broke out into a sweat and I am not kidding. HOW CUTE ARE THESE BUTTONS!!! The photo is blurry because I was so excited when she showed them to me.

Look at these new vellum butterflies…. swoooooooon! I love the pearl centers. So so pretty. You will see these in future projects for sure.

And now Jenni has self adhesive vintage style buttons that are perfect for any project.

And the colors of her new paint dabbers, ink pads and reinkers are fabulous… they match her entire product line. So so pretty. Okay there you have it … just a few of the wonerful items of Jenni’s that will be on the shelves of local scrapbook stores soon and hopefully one that is near you.

Thank you to everyone of you who came by to say hi and introduce yourself just to tell me how much you love my book, workshops, blog and tutorials. It is always so nice to meet you in person and I appreciate you taking the time to come find me.

Hugs and good night…

First let me say… yes, dreams do come true… check out what Maya Road now has…. GLITTER!!!! I have begged and begged and begged for Caroline to PLEASE make GLITTER well not only she and Deb make GLITTER I actuallly got to help pick the colors. All I am going to say is it is super awesome GLITTER and if you are a glitter lover like me you will LOVE this fine glitter.

So after I finished doing the happy dance we started adding all the design teams projects. Our team ROCKS… those of you attending will be so inspired aftering seeing what everyone has created.

And about 5 hours later we were done….

Love that I have a larger and taller Make-n-Take table (thanks Carolyn)… tomorrow’s project is going to be fun and the give away is awesome so get there early.

And check out this adorable display for all the Maya Mists… Jessica made all these flowers as well as several more displayed throughout the booth. Talk about cute! The instructions will be available on the Creative Corner soon.

So see ya tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. sharp at booth 1907.

Started my day playing with this little cutie Miss Olivia.

After breakfast we headed to the convention center to start putting the booth together. The blank area you see will soon be filled with lots of Maya Road goodness. 

This is Laura and Aubrey working on the walls. Once it gets past the second row I am vertically challenged.

Here is Laura and David with a little organized chaos going on. It is always such an accomplished feeling once we get the walls all set up.

Here is some serious organized chaos.  The ribbon wall is plain torture for me… thankfully, Caroline knows this and gives this task to someone else… Laura. I have no idea how she manages to complete this task. If it were up to me to get it done CHA would be over and you would hear crickets chirping in the showroom.

Tomorrow we have just a bit more product to put out and then the fun… we get to put up all the design team projects and from what I have been able to see so far OH MY GOSH are you all going to love what you see. The team really did an awesome job showcasing all the new products. I will share photos of the finished booth as well as some of the new products in projects the design team made so stay tuned.

So tomorrow I head for CHA in Chicago. It is a lot of work yet so fun as I get to work with some super fun people and see friends from all over the country. Maya Road has a wonderful release. Each release I think there is no way they can top this one yet they do and they did not disappoint with this one either. So many wonderful new products. To see their new items check out their catalog online here. This release I got to play with some of the new Maya Road Jeans Pocket Binder Canvas Binder. I will be teaching this album project at The Crafty Scrapper Saturday, August 14th at 10:30 a.m.

They also created this wonderful Pennant Canvas Album. I used lots of Maya Road Maya Mists on this project… actually every color you see except the black and white is Maya Mist. I will be teaching this project at The Crafty Scrapper Friday, August 13th at noon.

This new Sewing Machine Chipboard Album is super cute and has lots of different possibilities… I cannot wait to see what the other design team members did with this album. I created a plaque for my scraproom. Notice the new Lilac and Rose Medallion Flowers, William Alphabet and Decorative Scrolls.

Then I did something a little different with their new Canvas Classic Label Album.Lots of Mist used on this project too.

And finally I painted this canvas album (pretty sure I will not be painting diamonds again for a very long time) and accented the front and spine using Cream Organza Roses Ribbon. I have a feeling I am going to be hoarding lots of their new products.

So, if you are attending CHA please come by and see me at the Maya Road booth #1907. I will be there everyday doing make-n-takes. I will be out of their booth Wednesday from 11:00 – 11:30 doing a book signing in the R & M West Coast Enterprise Booth. They are booth #2025. Hope to see you there too!

Safe travels everyone.

I am home and just in time to turn around and head to CHA tomorrow morning. I had a wonderful time with my mom and dad driving up to see my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and my Grandfather. It was a lot of driving but so worth seeing everyone. Here is a quick recap of my last two weeks…

Visited my mom’s (Childers) side of the family in Buckhannon, WV. Had so much fun seeing everyone. Downtown Buckhannon has some adorable and super wonderful antique stores. They even have a scrapping/stamping store that I was so happy to be able to visit. I found lots of items to incorporate into projects for classes.

This is what you see as you look down the hill from my aunt and uncle’s house. This is the old homestead of my great great aunts and uncles. The house and small buildings are over 100 years old. I love looking inside the buildings and the house. We had lots of fun family picnics there when I was little. My grandmother cooked the best meal on the old wood burning stove.

And when you are out in the country you get to do fun things like learn how to shoot a revolver. The is me and my cousin Kathy a.k.a. Lonestar and Lefty. Yes we did hit the target and more than once. So much fun.

My Aunt and Uncle don’t live far from the Sago Mine. So we went over to see the memorial they have for the miners that did not survive. It is a really pretty memorial. I loved how the made the two end pieces look like coal carts.  They have a bench honoring Randal McCloy Jr. the only survivor.

Here is my Uncle Ed (mom’s brother), Mom and Aunt Wilda (mom’s sister). Uncle Ed used to flip his top eyelids inside out and have me look for the headless horseman  on the dirt roads at night… he was such a tease when I was growing up… always fun when he was around.

After staying in WV for 4 days we headed over to Sanford, Maine to see my dad’s father. Grampa fell a few days before we got there and was so beat up. But he still has his sense of humor.

It was certainly a no make up day while visiting him… the temps were so hot. I could not believe it. A few days it felt as though I was back in Texas. While dad cared for Grampa during the day. Mom and I would leave for a few hours and head out on an adventure. We laughed so hard each day we cried. When we got back we always had something funny to tell dad and gramps during our shift. I tell ya mom and I can keep you entertained for hours.

We picked some of the best blueberries I have ever eaten. They were so big, juicy and sweet. After we picked these we headed home and put them on pound cake. Dad and Gramps liked that days adventure quite well.

While looking for antique stores of which we found many. We stumbled onto this old meeting house. Spinney is my maiden name so of course we had to stop and take a photo. This was someplace in the Acton, Maine area… way out in the boonies.

We also got to go to Long Sands and Short Sands. Mom and I bought some salt water taffy sat on a rock and ate it, listened to the waves roll in, smelled the salty air, listened to the seagulls, watched people swimming in the water (and thinking they were crazy cause that water is so cold) and pretty much decided life was pretty darn good at this very moment.

The old Nubble Light house is one of Mom’s favorites so I drove her over to see it and take a few photos. It is really pretty and the rocks around it are huge and gorgeous.

One day we headed over to Kennebunkport to see the beach. It was a gorgeous day. We walked around a bit then headed over to get something to eat.

It was another no make up day due to the heat and Mom was making me laugh. Who knows what it was about. We laughed so much everyday we can’t even remember all the things we laughed about. We ate the best fried clams at this place. It is called Bartley’s Dockside Restaurant. I highly recommend you order these if you are ever in the area.

So after driving from Texas through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland,Pennsylvania,  New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine I am so glad tomorrow I am flying to Chicago. I don’t think I could take another car trip so soon. I will post my CHA projects later this afternoon. I think a nap is in my very near future.

Since I am about to head out on a two week road trip with my Mom and Dad to visit family I thought I would discount my “Home Sweet Home” online workshop to $9.95. If you are registered in my Tips, Techniques and Tutorials online workshop you will be given free access to this online workshop. The project created is a wonderful way to document what makes your home a  “Home Sweet Home”. The technique taught is fun to do and can be added to lots of different projects.

Enjoy!

I created this banner nearly a year ago for last years CHA-S. I love it so much that I thought I would share with you a tutorial on how to recreate it. I love the combination of the pale pink paint and vintage sheet music as well as the German glass glitter, crepe paper, Platinum Stickles and trims. I guess it is safe to say I love it all.

Supplies Needed: Maya Road Mixed Scallop Triangle Banner Album, Maya Road Philadelphia Uppercase Alphabet, Maya Road Silver Metallic Mist, Vintage Sheet Music, Platinum Stickles, Pink Crepe Paper, 5mm Self Adhesive Pearls, Fine Silver German Glass Glitter, White Tulle, Brown and White Baker’s Twine, White Seam Binding, Embroidery Floss (color does not matter) ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink – Creamy Brown, Glossy Accents

Tools Used: Paintbrush, Scallop Scissors (Fiskars Cloud), Pinking Shears, Sewing Needle, Glue Stick, Craft Knife, Craft Mat, Sanding Block, Scissors, Martha Stewart Punch (looks like a seal), Sewing Machine (Optional)

Instructions:

• Paint the scallops as shown above as well as the back of all 4 scallop pages, let dry.

• Cover the 4 triangle pages using vintage sheet music, using a craft knife cut out the holes at the top of the banner page, sand the edges of each page using a sanding block
• Accent the edges of each page using creamy brown ink.
• Accent the edges of each page using Platinum Stickles, let dry.

• Mist each letter using metallic silver mist, apply glossy accents onto each letter then add fine silver German glass glitter on top, tap off excess, let dry.

• Create two crepe paper flowers, trim each flower using pinking shears, trim one flower so it is smaller than the other.
• Attach the smaller crepe paper flower on top of the second as shown above.
• Using a Martha Stewart punch, punch a circle out of vintage sheet music, accent the edges using Platinum Stickles, let dry then attach to the center of the crepe paper flower. You will need to repeat these steps 4 times – one flower for each banner page.

• Using scallop scissors cut three strips the length of the top portion of the triangle banner page.
• Ink the edges of the scallop strips using creamy brown ink.
• Using a sewing machine stitch a zig zag strip across the top of the stacked paper strips.
• Accent the scallops on the second layer using 5mm cream colored self adhesive pearls

• Cut tulle, twine and seam binding to create a hanger for each end of the banner and to attach the scallop banner pages together.

• Attach the sheet music triangle banner pages to all 4 scallop pages, attach layered scallop strips to the top of each triangle banner page, attach the crepe paper flowers to the center of each triangle banner page, attach one glittered letter to the center of each crepe paper flower.
• Accent the point of each triangle banner using a medium sized cream colored self adhesive pearl.

And if you are wondering just who Lola is well…. wonder no more. My daughter and son-in-law love their little Lola.