Good Weekend

It was nice to see some old friends from YHP thi spast weekend at the crop in East Northport. Great friend Michelle spent the entire day helping me man our booth. So nice to have someone to help and talk to all day.

Busy working on new classes and kits. Will keep everyone posted. The lastest is a 6"x12" book using Chatterbox's new line - Fabulous. Loving it!!! This one is one I finished last week - so much fun. It's a book for secrets or anything else. The lock even works. :)

COPIC Certified

It's official, Michelle and I are COPIC certified! We headed down to Camp Hill, PA this weekend for the certification course taught by Sally Lynn. For those of you who don't know Sally Lynn, she is quite theatrical. Always entertaining to take one of her classes. She filled us with a lot of info and had a chance to play around. Can't wait to place an order and get cracking on some great artwork and great classes. Will be sure to post some ideas and techniques but the masters are Sally Lynn and Marianne Walker. You are sure to get a real art class by visiting their blogs.

And right before heading down to PA, I ventured up to CT to teach two classes at the Lasting Memories retreat in Danbury. Always fun to catch up with Julie and Barb. They have the nicest customers. It had been a while coordinating schedules so glad I got to see everyone. Taught the metal embossing book - still one of my favorite techniques at the moment.

Honeymoon is over - literally

Can't wait to post some pictures from our Honeymoon. It was great! We had such an awesome time in Moorea and Bora Bora. Two weeks of heaven! Now it is back to work and reality but such is life. Good news is we didn't get sick of each other and are still happy as ever together!

The flights were long and traveling is never easy. Poor Dan and those long legs. We got pretty lucky on the flight back from Tahiti because the steward let us have the bulk head row. Thank goodness because the 8 hour flight to LAX would have been very tough for Dan who's legs were so pressed up against the seat in front of him.

Bora Bora has the most amazing water you have ever seen. Every shade of blue. Practically unreal. Moorea has some of the most magnificent views. It's a mountainous island covered in green. We took a tour that gave us views from the top. Amazing! And as we kept being reminded - if you have ever seen the movie - Mutany on the Bounty (either version) - both were filmed there. I haven't seen it so....

Will post some pictures soon once we get all settled and I have a chance to upload. But speaking of photos - thanks to Karen Russell - I think we will have some great memories. Just got through taking her online photography class. Stongly reccomend to anyone who wants to improve their skills or simply wants to learn what all the buttons on your DSLR do (like me). Great course! So much info that was broken down in an easy to understand maner. Can't say enough about it - really.

Lasting Memories Class

Seems like its been a little while since my last entry. Excited to be teaching at Lasting Memories Spring Retreat in Danbury, CT on March 14th. Scheduled to do two classes. One - the metal book as seen on Tim's blog using Ten Seconds Studio products. It is the cutest thing. I got special permission to do this class. Once you play with these tools and the metal - you are totally hooked. Leandra from Paper Artsy did a cool Taco Tuesday video. If you haven't watched the Taco Tuesday tutorials - they are another must. So funny and full of inspiration.

Anyway... back on track with upcoming classes. This is a picture of the other class - I am not the best at coming up with cleaver names so for the lack of ... whatever... This is the Accordion Book of Tags Class. It was a lot of fun to make - I should say build as the book is built from the bottom up with three accordion sections. Pretty cool. Uses Collage Press papers.

All of this just days after returning from Bora Bora! Leaving soon - can't wait!!!! We decided to postpone the honeymoon just a bit - now - could really use the vacation. Will be sure to post pictures when we get back

Design Team Submissions

I finally took the plunge and decided this is the year to get up some nerve and apply to a design team. I have never done so before because I always think - am I really that good? Always amazed by how many talented people there are out there. Could I really be one of them? Hubby said - "what do you have to lose? Do you want our kids thinking their mom was too scared to give something a try because she might not make it?" While we don't have kids yet, he was right. I put my pride aside and said - I am giving this a try. I saw Spellbinders posted that they are in the process of chosing new design team members... What better company to try and go out for their team? This is a picture of one of the projects I used for my entry. So - keep your fingers crossed. All I can do is hope.

CHA - Best time of the year!

If you ask me - it's better than Christmas - CHA time of year. Oh how wonderful!

Some of my favorties this year...
Basic Grey - I don't even like purple and for some reason I am so drawn to the Wisteria line. Porcelain is a close seconds. If I had kids yet, I would probably love the bold colors of Lime Ricky...

Spellbinder's - They just keep coming up with cool stuff. The die-cutting is just the beginning. Their dies emboss and stencil. Creates amazing effects. Also saw they are coming out with a new line (Impressabilities-tm) that embosses, debosses and allows for letterpressing. I wanted to have my wedding invitations letterpressed but it just wasn't in the budget. It is such a great look. Now being able to do it myself.... Yummy! Not to mention the red carrying bag - I am just not a pink fan - red. What better color for sophistication. I can tote it all around town!

Prima - loving the IOD collection - Flirty Little Secrets! they have come out with flocked papers, glitter, printed cardboard.... the embllishments are awesome and who can resist the flowers! and more flowers! and even more flowers! Sure to be something for everyone.

Heidi Swapp - there's been some chatter on the boards that people aren't liking. I am SO excited about this new line! The Invisibles collection seems like a huge breakthrough. According to what I have read... you can use any color medium to create your own work of art. The design element portion will resist the color. How coold is that? I can't wait!

Tim Holtz - well who can resist? No pun intended. I would like to know if there is one crafter out there who doesn't like Tim, his creativity or his products. Great new additions to an already amzing collection. This would include Ranger products (a pen for alcohol inks - way cool!!), Stampers Anonymous (12 new sets - if only I could aford all 12 but it will be hard to chose) and Ideaology line (can't decide it the fancy little stapler is the coolest thing, the ornate frames, the cute little pins and clips...) Very cool stuff.

Count down for new products!

For those of you bloggers tracking all things fantastic... be sure to check out...

Ten Seconds Studio - not only are the video clips hysterical but their products are amazing! Can't wait to get my hands on all of it.

Prima has amazing new products that are presently being unveiled daily on their website. As usual, they have so many new products. My favorite are the stiched mulberry papers and some of the new flowers are nothing short of gorgeous.

Spellbinders has been unveiling new dies daily through a blog contest of sorts. After much consideration and research - The Wizard will be the die-cutting machine I am going to use. Not only does it cut, but it embosses and can be used as a stencil. How cool is that? Not to mention this will go perfectly with my new metal obsession from Ten Seconds Studio.

I have seen a bunch more sneak peaks but will hold off commneting as I don't want to tease and since they haven't been released officially... Will keep you posted.