Some CHA Pix!!

Like last year, I had such a blast at CHA. Met up with some "older" and some brand new friends. I truly love so many of these girls!! Didn't get as many pix as I would have liked, but here are some good ones, and they're in no particular order... (Sorry for the lack of links - too many for me to do this morning, but I'll try to add them in later.)

From left to right - this is Amy Rohl, Leigh O'Brien, Brianna Smith (Kim's daughter), Alma de la Rosa, and Carole Burrage. We were eating at Tommy Bahamas for dinner. This is just a small part of the whole crew.

This is the PTI booth, with Heather Nichols and Debbie Olson discussing a make & take.This is Shannon Erskine and her mom (e3stamper and n5stamper) with me, posing for a pic. Both were so sweet - I'm so glad Shannon said "hi!"; it was good to meet them both.

Me, Joanne Basile, and Julie Masse posing after dinner. (Jo - I love ya, and will owe ya forever!) ;)

This is Kim showing Jody Morrow some love in the cab. :) On the left is Kathy Daume.

Some MFT girls in the booth on Friday morning - Kim van der Sanden (Boss Lady), Deb Anton (MFT jewelry designer), me, and Christy Beckwith (our illustrator).

A larger group of us on Friday - Jennifer Buck, Sherry Campbell, Jimmi Mayo, me, Maren Benedict (SO sweet!), Carole Burage (doesn't she look JUST like her picture online?? ;)), Joanne Basile, and Christina Fisher (HILARIOUS - LOVED her!!).

And lastly, the Lizzie Anne girls! SO glad to have finally met them!! Tricia is on the left and Meridith is on the right.

CHA Recap, Part 3

So, I still have nothing stampy to show you, but I DO still have plenty of CHA pix! :)

This is Ali Edwards, THE name in scrapbooking. It was very cool to meet her and hope that just a little bit of her talent rubbed off on me! :)


This is one of Joanne and I with THE Miss Debbie Olson. She is the nicest and most down to earth person ever. She was also so patient with all of our Copic questions when she was demo-ing in the Copic booth.

This is Heidi Swapp. She makes the most awesome paper crafting products. It was so cool to meet her and learn that she currently lives in China! It was great to chat her up!

This is Lisa Strahl, and boy was it nice to meet her, as well! She is so uber talented and just seemed like a really cool chick!

And lastly, this is the wonderful Ellen Hutson. She was so totally nice, as well. Just what you would expect from her blog!





Well, that's about it for this installment. I'm hoping that I'll get something done today during naptime. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :)

Now I'm off for a MOMS Club brunch. TTYS!

xox,
k

Losing Sleep

This has been me for the past week! LOL This is Sophia, in Bunny Slippers. This set will be released, from Paper Pretties, on the 1st at 8pm! Isn't she adorable!

I picked up this paper this past weekend at Stampology, while I was in Chicago. It's from American Crafts. I really love the colors. I especially love them because they match these felt flowers that I had to have from SU! and keep forgetting to use. I paired them up with some Bazzill brads.

The MI (main image - have to check if that's in the StampSpeak list...) was colored with Copics. The teddy bear's head is popped up - not sure if you can tell from the pic, but you can always click on it to make sure that I'm not fibbing to you. ;) I'm usually a pretty lazy stamper, and don't think about doing this, but I'm really liking the dimension that it gives, so you're sure to see more of it in the future! LOL

Make sure you mark your calendar for Aug. 1st at 8pm, because the Prettie girls will be Stamping in Our Jammies, in the Paper Pretties forum! There will be loads of challenges and fun to be had.

Also, don't forget that it's your last chance to sign up for the SOTMC and get Howdy Girlfriend before it's released.

And lastly, Paper Pretties will be doing the Cutie Pie Contest again, so here's all of the deets that you'll need to know to play along with that...

How would you like to be Paper Pretties Cutie Pie? I thought you would!! All you have to do is make a card using your Paper Pretties stamps and send it to Christie at christie@paperpretties.net, and she will chose a winner from the entries. Besides getting to call yourself a Cutie Pie, you will also get all the stamps from this release for free!! You have until July 31st at 8pmCST to get your entries in!! Good luck!!


And now, I'll leave you with a CHA pic or two...

This is me with Sharon Johnson (notimetostamp) and Michelle. Miss Sharon was the sweetest down-to-earth person ever, and it was a pleasure to meet her.






This is another sweet duo - Lindsey Botkin (jacksonbelle)(Jacksonbelle Embellisments) and Michelle Boyer. I've been on DTs with both of these super talented girls, and it was so nice to meet them IRL.

This is another cool line-up of me :), Trudee Sauer, Laura, Michelle, and Susan Roberts (Rainy). (FYI, don't try to compliment someone when Carole's around. It'll turn around to bite you in the butt! ;))

Well, that's about it! I'm trying to get a quilt done, or at least into the next phase, so I might not have a TON of cards to show you for a few days, but I've still got loads of CHA pix, so stay tuned...

xox,
Kirsten

CHA Recap, Part 1

Okay, so I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, waiting for my take on CHA. Well, to tell you the truth, I'm overwhelmed with it! I have SO many pix, and met SO many people that I don't know where to start. It has the potential of turning into a mini series, like the Thornberries, or something! LOL

So, I figure that I'll start off with the highlights, and then throw in a pic or two in subsequent posts. I spent all morning editing my photos with the people I met, but I still have to go through all of my product photos! LOL

Here is one of my favorite pix (THANKS, Carole! ;)), because it shows all of my favorite girls that I was primarily hanging out with. There ARE a couple missing (Christy Beckwith, Amber Hillman (bambi64), and Kim's awesome friend, Jamie), but I'm sure that I've got them on my memory card somewhere! I was a bit comprehensive with the pictures - I'm sure you could find SOMEONE to verify that!? LOL

I love all of these chicks! We literally never stopped laughing! We all immediately hit it off, and I can't wait till the next time we get together! I think I was happiest to meet them.Top row from left: Cammie, Alma (TCP), Laura (Lov'n Life n Vegas), Deb (beadn & stampn), Michelle (flaxychick), Kim (the fabulous MFT bosslady); Bottom row: Joanne (basilefamily), Carole (TruCarMa), and Me.

This is me and one of my stamping idols, Nichole Heady (PTI), at a very bad angle. She so sweet, I'm so glad that I got the chance to meet and talk with her, even if I DO have several chins in this picture!

This is Cath Edvalson and Kim Kesti at the Paper Crafts booth. Both are so super nice!

This is none other than Tim Holtz. I'm not very big on distressing myself (as evidenced by my previous post), but darned if I was going to come home from CHA without a Tim Holtz picture! LOL

It was pretty funny how I got it. My first pic was one of him amongst his throng of admiring women, doing a cool project with his Ranger products. Next, I thought, "Hmm, maybe I could have someone take a pic of me standing behind him, so that we were both in the picture!?" So I did. Very funny picture. Then, Laura decided to do the same thing, but she got closer and even put her hand on his shoulder for the splitest second! Well, not to be outdone, I started to tip toe back to up to him, when he figured that he'd better address this situation or we were liable to never leave him alone to finish his demo! He nicely took my camera from me and took THIS pic. (There's more to this picture, but for now, I'll leave it at that. Joanne, you SOOO owe me... ;)) Finally, we ALL got in a pic! He was very gracious to humor us with all of our giggling starstruck-ness.

This is Laura, Michelle, and I with Eric from Cosmo Cricket. We were harassing about eliminating the 8x8 paper packs from his latest 3 lines, and attempting to talk him into changing his mind. We also found out that his first and last name is an anagram for Cosmo Cricket. He was so nice, and even had pity on us to give out some new paper packs for coming back on Sunday! Wohoo! So, you'll be seeing the new Mr. Campy and Jack's World from me very soon! :)

This is the very sweet duo of Gina K and Melanie Muenchinger. We ended up having a meal or two with them, and they couldn't be nicer!

This is another complete sweetie, Jenn Balcer, who gives the bestest hugs ever! I was SO happy to meet her at the SCS Cupcake Reception.

And lastly for today, this is Emily, from Stamping Bella. We had the opportunity to spend a good bit of time with her and Nicky, and it was so much fun!

We all really did have so much fun! We even had the chance to do a little shopping at a local stamping store in Chicago, Stampology. Those guys were awesome and even treated us to some authentic Chicago deep dish pizza and drinks! Oh, and we did a little shopping there, too! ;)

Wow, I think that this is all of the pix and links that this post can handle! I'll be back tomorrow with more superstars and maybe some products, too! LOL

Check back soon for more deets! I've got to do some cleaning around the house. :( Back to reality! LOL

xox, Kirsten