well i'm home for just an itty-bitty reprieve before i head out tomorrow morning for ScrapBowl to teach and learn and get excited about scrapbooking all over again! can't wait to hear stacy julian's inspiring keynote address and hopefully see margie and kristina and shimelle and emily and donna in action! :D i've shipped 11 huge boxes off to the convention center full of kit goodies and have to finish up the rest of what i've got here at home to 'suitcase' over with me.
i would be remiss if i didn't give a hearty THANK YOU!!!!! to FONTWERKS and FISKARS/HEIDI GRACE DESIGNS for sponsoring my classes, as well as BAMPOP! for an adorable class giveaway and AUTUMN LEAVES for working with me to procure all i needed to round out my class kits....these are all going to be AMAZING!! teaching doesn't happen all that often for me, so when it does, i have the horrid habit of going all out to make it an unforgettable experience for all....from kit to completion. i hope. yikes, i hope!!!
Ashlie and Marirosa have just been the GREATEST to work with, and i can't wait for all the amazing festivities they have in store! :D
For those of you who haven't seen my album i'm doing yet, it's called:
"Message in a Matryoshka"
and it is a fun minialbum that draws on all the loveable qualities of a traditional russian nesting doll...aka babushka....aka matryoshka....
and my second class that goes right in line with my love for repurposing things and being 'green', called:
"Fits To A Tee"
the idea behind this one being a chance to finally DO something with all those old teeshirts you have saved and crammed in the back of the dresser or up in the attic somewhere for reasons yet unknown to posterity....now we get to mount them on canvas and make a special mini book telling their story! i'm so excited about this concept....
and finally, class number three....last but not least! the one with all the felting FUN!:
"Because I FELT Like It!"
it is really just and excuse to play with felt for me....but actually is a place where you will learn the needle felting technique to alter, personalize, and create you own adorable felted pieces to use as embellishments on your paper projects...we do the felting and include allllll the paper stuff you'll need to make 2 cute layouts and a gift card, too...not to mention a beautiful red heart wool pendant. :) totally stoked!
so
working backwards.....
cha was so wonderful; loved meeting up with all the designers at Autumn Leaves and the creative geniuses at Creativity Inc again....they totally feel like family now! so thankful i got to go this show and have been feeling better health-wise. :) it was also so so cool to reconnect with the store owners as they came in to make orders...love recognizing faces and catching up on shows past for a few moments, hearing how their stores are doing and how much they love this crazy awesome thing called scrapbooking!! i also had the pleasure of meeting Heather Bailey, who has a new line of scrapbooking products out with Autumn Leaves! very cool stuff! :) and the adorable Mindy Terasawa, who also has the totally cute (what else?!) CuteWorld collection out, too! and a fun new thing from AL....all the acrylic stamps have been rebranded under the Stampology name, now, with more new fun additions! It is pretty cool.
okay. so. a share of the few, few photos i managed to get the half day i remembered to bring my dang camera!
i think i scared the crap out of JJ (mr. bampop, himself...not the replica....) hahaha
he was probably thinking "who is this crazy person, and why does she say she is my
wife's friend? hmmmm....... this doesn't seem right....." it's okay. i am just weird
like that, JJ. it's all good. now just build me the fiberglass replica of your rainbow and
convert it into a slide for me and my kids, and i will love you guys FOREVER. ;)
okay. and i admit i totally took this from Donna's blog,
so take a trip on over there so we can justify this theivery....
;D lol. she was so awesome....first thing i noticed was this
RAD purse she had with Men's Ties tied together for the purse
strap! i kid you not. it was AWESOME. my kinda girl. ;)
wow. my nose looks so flatteringly HONKING BIG in that nice overhead lighting at the convention center......hahaha. oh, well. thanks, ancestors and dna. it's all good.
oh, i am SUCH the little theif today! this is from my dear friend Sande's blog...
hop on over there, too; she has some great finds and yarns to spin about cha, too! :) (love you, sande!!!)
but you have to admit i look pretty tough, left hook to the intruding boxer, and all.... ;) (that's one of the posters for a cool new paper line at Basic Grey) they had such beautiful stuff this release....the woman in the sultry line and the ice cream cones icon in the kids line had me at hello.... :)
scenic route. hello?????! how do you BE so consistently AWESOME?! sarah, layle and the whole team just amaze and astound me; i have such respect and mucho love for those girls! the colors in the new lines, the freaking RAD chipboard albums with GRAPH PAPER covered pages....HELLO?! :D melted my heart. and GREAT stamps. especially the little heart one with dots round it that i always cut out of my SR valentine paper, ha! yay :D
okay. and i love, LOOOOOOVED the new Sassafras stuff....Hayley is such a sweet person and so, so kind! always look forward to their new ideas and icons. the woodgrain deer/fawn.....be still my heart:
i told them i was going to just embroidery stitch some lines around all the icons and then just frame the whole dang thing! :) reminds me a teeny little bit of my 
Woodland Digital Kit at 2Peas right here: LINK
and that is so awesome to me! :) their new "Sunshine Lollipop" line is also delectable....and the new idea of one shaped edge on the papers is SO cool! can't wait to play with those new papers and embellies! :D
the new patterns, frames, and trees stamps from Fontwerks are a MUST have, along with all the new papers and rub-ons.....such classic goodness there! Yay for Kah-Mei and all the success she is achieving with her company; she just amazes me! :D
oh, and don't even get me started on the adorable tree chipboard shapes at Maya Road. instant love.
hmmmm.....lets see. what else did i get to stop by? (i should mention that it is really rare indeed that i get a chance to browse the beautiful booths....we are so busy order taking and the like. so i am so thankful i get a few chances here and there! though it is, of course, NEVER enough.... ;) )
OH!!!!!
My Official Favorite New Line of the Whole Show Award
(there is no prize, it just sounds so much more official to say it with caps like that.....lol)
goes to.....................................
Love, Elsie ----Forrest----
this new line is just SO me! :D i mean, there were lots of really cute trees and stuff many places, but, as i told elsiecakes, the acorn won me over. that was it. as soon as i saw the hand drawn wood grain paper and the little acorn? forget it. game over! :D love you, elsie!
and i can't forget to mention all the awesome goodies at Fiskars! Heidi Grace, Cloud 9, and now Li'l Davis in the Fiskars family....there were so many fun new lines and cool new tools!!! (if any of you got pictures, will you link me to them?! i'd love it!) here are a few samples i got to do with some of the new Heidi Grace:
and some new li'l davis
okay......i am nearing the longest post in the universe....all on the day i need to get my kits ready to G.O. GO! so i'm off.....leave me a few words if you want to....i'll check back in from VA! :) have a great weekend...and if you're a Scrapbowl-er.....i'll see you SOON!!!
xoxo
tia :0)
