Back Again

I had hoped to return from the Hampton show with tons of new thoughts and ideas. I did. I also returned with a horrible cold. I can't tell you the last time I felt so bad from a simple cold! Anyway, I am finally getting back into the swing of things.
Unfortunately, I had to cancel last Thursday's "10 in 10 class." For some reason, I thought people might object to my hacking and sneezing on the supplies before they used them. I apologize to the students who showed up to the store before they got their message about the canceled class. I rescheduled the class for Tuesday, November 27th from 6:30-8:30pm. I hope people will be able to attend that class instead!
Back to the Hampton show... I had a blast! The show was small, but I felt that many of the vendors had great demos to watch. On Friday night, my mom and I attended a MITI/dessert session. It was so much fun! Humm...stamping and desserts...does it get any better? Everyone received a goody bag just for attending, and about half of the attendees won a door prize. Unfortunately, my mom and I were losers on that front. For my mom's sake, it was probably just as well I didn't win and have to do my obnoxious victory dance.
For the MITI session, we made 4 projects, had dessert, and made 4 more. The projects were taught by the vendors, so it was a great opportunity to talk to them 1 on 1 and hear about their products. The only downside was that one vendor did the same exact project as last year. Boo!
On Saturday, we attended the actual show. The first 100 people that arrived got a key that had a chance to open a chest with a $100 gift certificate inside. Sigh...losers again. On a positive note, my ATC and pin submissions earned me some "spreadin' around" money for the show (insert obnoxious victory dance here).
Favorites of the show... I loved the Paula Best booth. I can't say enough good things about her fun images and gorgeous jewelry. I ended up with a "Be happy" necklace that is just fabulous. I also really enjoyed the Starving Artistamps booth. Their line of "Doodle Factory" images are weird, quirky, and totally me! I grabbed up their Halloween images immediately and had to get a few of their other weird characters. I also had to get one of their quick mosaic stamps. (Notice the use of the phrase "had to." I couldn't help myself...they had a great demo person). Watch for blog samples soon! I learned a lot at the Sticky Scrap booth. The owner used a lot of Art Impressions watercolor stamps for her booth MITI projects. She rotated the projects every hour and a half and charged $1 to make a card. I have to tell you, they were the cheapest (and most informative) mini classes I have ever taken!
Finally, I HAVE to mention the Impression Obsession booth. Now, I might be biased, but the booth looked great! It was so much fun to see the work of my fellow design team members up on display. I feel like I know them and their work from all the back and forth design team postings. I also got to see Mitra briefly and chat about some of the upcoming new images. I can't wait! I was a little jealous of her though. She was wearing her UVa crocs, and now I am going to have to have a pair. Just call me an envious fellow alum.
The card for today is a Halloween card I made during the Fri night MITI. The image is from Sticky Scrap. What impressed me about this card is that I liked it even though it was coated in glitter. I am just not a glitter person. I think it is because it always manages to find its way into my eye and stick to my contact. Painful! Plus, the stuff never goes away. I think I am still finding glitter from things I made in the 3rd grade. Anyway, we used Sticky Scrap's EZ-Tear Double Sided tape which held the glitter pretty darn well. We were also instructed to use the back of a spoon to really smash the glitter into the tape. I hadn't heard this tip before, and I think it made all the difference. After we "whacked" the loose glitter off the card, the remaining glitter seemed pretty permanent. I also liked the tape because it costs about 5 cents a foot. You can't beat that!
Well, this was a long post, but I had to make up for not posting all week.