Weathering the Weather Together

So I was in Ft. Worth this weekend for OnStage.

When I left on Thursday, in my flip flops - the only shoes I brought for the weekend, because - April in Texas, it was a typical April day - I had the AC on for the 3.5 hour drive, I had my murder podcasts playing, and was ready for a fun weekend with my friends.

And then the murders began.

And by murders, I mean temperatures.

I arrived at our beautiful little rental home (pictures and video below) and opened all the shades to let the sun in, cranked down the AC and waited for my friend Dana to arrive. I passed the time that I didn't spend sneezing (thanks, oak pollen) watercoloring a card you'll see on my blog tonight.

Dana arrived late that night, and shenanigans began forthwith. However, as Friday began, we felt dark forces approaching, and that evening, a storm blew in. Bringing with it.... COLD AIR. WHAT THE FLUFF.

When we woke up Saturday morning in what normal Texans call Southern Oklahoma, aka North Texas, we discovered that it was 38 freaking degrees. That is fanfreakingtastic in flip flops, let me tell you. Our event was in the basement of the event center, which was even colder. I drank soooo much coffee in an effort to ward off hypothermia. In Texas. In April. Shocking.

Thankfully, it was a room full of happy friends, which helps in any terroristic situation like rain or cold.

This card seemed fitting.

I made this a few months ago, while making the video you'll see below with the new Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors. This was very easy to quickly paint, and you'll see my process in the video below. Imagine a few central and south Texans trying to survive some Southern Oklahoma weather, and this stamp is basically a photo of us. Except with flip flops.

Fun in the Rain Stamp Set [ HA | SSS | ELH ] Fun in the Rain Frame Cuts Dies [ HA | SSS | ELH ] Hero Arts Oval Infinity Dies [ HA ] PD110 Liquid Watercolors Dandelion |... [ HA | ELH | SSS ] PD111 Liquid Watercolors Strawberry |... [ HA | ELH | SSS ] PD113 Liquid Watercolors Deep Ocean |... [ HA | ELH | SSS ] PD117 Liquid Watercolors ArtPrint... [ HA | ELH ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Stewart Superior Memories India Ink... [ AMZUS ] Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press... [ AMZUS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by... [ SUP ] Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by... [ SUP ] AF249 Unicorn Pigment Ink Pad | Hero... [ HA | SSS | ELH ] Hero Arts White Detail Embossing Powder [ HA | ELH | SSS | SBC ] Heat Tool (Us And Canada) by Stampin'... [ SUP ]

As promised, here is the video with the walkthrough on these watercolors, and this card.

Now here are some photos from this weekend - we had so much fun!

First, our adorable rental house. 

This absolutely immaculate house was so convenient to everything and so perfect for our weekend of fun. I love renting houses instead of hotels. This one got a five star review from me.

Next - my team members who attended the event - we got a group pic at the end of the day, except for Julie, who had to leave early. We had so much fun, and I got to meet some teamies for the first time.

And then here we are in the wild. This frozen shot of animated conversations at our FABULOUS team dinner cracks me up.

This next photo is a reference you'll need for the prank video below. After our team dinner, Dana went to the Daiso shop, while Katherine, Kellie and I went back to the rental house. Stampin' Up! had given us all this cute little lightbox, which Kellie had the brilliant idea of doing something dastardly with - scaring the pee out of Dana when she returned. She customized the lightbox with this message, and then we turned all the lights off and set about our prank. Please note that running around in a pitch-dark, unfamiliar house can be dangerous. Ask us how we know. So this is how she customized the sign. This was right across from the front door, so you'd see it immediately in the dark.

Well, unless you're Dana.

You might need to turn the video up to hear our whispers at the beginning.

Loveyameanitbutillstillscareyoubye.

Hip Hip Hooray!

I just got back from Stampin' Up!'s OnStage event in Shreveport.

I haven't driven through East Texas since I was a kid, and I forgot how beautiful it is. Tall, beautiful trees, mile after mile of peaceful farms and ranches, and 60 billion brand spanking new baby cows dotted across the Ireland-green grass.

I was particularly excited to drive through Carthage, where the movie Bernie was set. My all time favorite description of Texas is from this movie - and Carthage is forever immortalized here in this clip from the movie. Completely accurate. :)

I was lucky enough to have my team member Katherine with me, and on the 11 hours we spent in the car, we pretty much fixed all the world's problems, so you are welcome.

The event was awesome as usual, and of course we got the first look at the new catalog at CentreStage on Friday night, so if you heard oohs and aahs, it was coming from Shreveport.

It's fantastic. I was completely amazed at the extra coordination of some of the products - this is a trend that has been growing at Stampin' Up! and I love it. It stretches your crafty dollar. So for example, the bow in the Holly Berry Builder Punch also matches the bow in the Baby Bear set. Each catalog brings us more of these product mixes and I love it - it respects the investment that all of us have made in tools and supplies, and rewards it.

But my absolute favorite one of these coordinations is in this upcoming catalog. Remember this Home For Christmas DSP from the 2016 Holiday catalog? I LOVED the retro look of this paper and the beautiful way they were colored.

Well that style is back in the new catalog in a big way in my absolute favorite product suite - the Birthday Delivery suite. It's a stunning vintage, storybook stamp set in the style of Home For Christmas / Greeting Card Kids / Storybook Friends line of products. It's like a children's book come to life and it is BEAUTIFUL. It was one of the prizes at OnStage, but I didn't win it, so I have to wait for my pre-order to show you more.

But the coolest thing about this suite is that the dies that match the stamp set ALSO match the DSP - so you can cut out as many foxes, banners and other images as you want and they are perfectly colored and oh so cute.

So I'm breaking one of my own rules for the very first time, and posting a card that I did not design. I've never done this on my blog before, because I want you to get my work here, not someone else's. But our make & take was so cute, I just had to show you. Christina Nielsen - a concept artist at Stampin' Up! designed this card - it's her original work, not mine. And I love it so. This is the DSP cut with the dies - both the fox (which matches the stamp set) and the banner he's holding. Then we stamped the presents and the sentiment on the banner - thank God Katherine brought her MISTI. The suite also features new honeycomb balloons in Real Red, Daffodil Delight and Pool Party, and some baseball-style stitched ribbon, in addition to the stamps, dies and paper.

EEK I love him so, so much.

We all lined up at the Big Shots to cut them, and I didn't have tape, so my die cutting is a bit off, but you get the idea. I can't wait to cut 40 billion of these out.

One of the stamping demonstrations showed how to make "Golden Book" style cards with the yellow pattern in the DSP stack - it was adorable.

If you want to get your paws on this catalog, you can request one here if you do not already have a demonstrator. You won't be disappointed!

Now on to the important stuff - the people.

Here we are eating Papa John's by the valet stand because our hotel restaurant food was slow, cold, expensive, and served by grumpy people. We made the best of it and had fun.

This was our team dinner at a really nice steakhouse not far away. I'm not 100% sure our waiter thought we were sane people.

Frenchie modeled the ADORABLE apron we got at CentreStage - see the In Color straps? That's Lemon-Lime Twist - AMAZING new color. Hard to see here - but there's a rose on that white pocket - beautiful, graphic image from a new stamp set. Really cute apron.

Sharon is showing off her beautiful gift from Bev for promoting to Silver! Bev couldn't be with us, so she let me surprise her with it.

Caron was MILDLY excited about her prize patrol!

We have so much fun at these things. I look forward to them and wish they happened more than twice a year. There's not enough time in the world to hang out with my crafty tribe, and it was just glorious. We are all looking forward to seeing each other in November in Salt Lake - and then NEXT November in Orlando - we found out that the 30th Anniversary celebration is going to be where our conventions first began, and I could not be happier. :) I most definitely will have a retreat prior to the event.

If you want to be a part of this fun, join us here. I'd love to see you at my next team outing.

PS - the new catalog starts June 1. The retirement list is here.

 Once the retiring list is posted, as of today - all items are while supplies last. Shop here while the shopping is good!

Loveyameanitbye.

Memory Lane - Pencil Edition

I go through little art supply phases from time to time. I really don't have very many different "go-to" mediums - I love watercolor, and I love pencils - but I get into phases where I use one supply more than others, and recently, that's been watercolor.

But I tried the new Chameleon pencils at CHA and it was like a pencil virus took over my body - it's all I wanted to play with when I got home.

On the plane on the way back, I had fond memories of my first colored pencil "tutorial" (in the pre-YouTube days) - and that was this book. It's such a well-executed book, and he's such a great teacher. I still have it and I still look through it in rare analog moments.

I especially love pencils on rough, darker paper - so I thought I'd play with the little succulents from Oh So Succulent this week - it's the first chance I've had to use this set. You can buy the pencils I used in open stock (one at a time) - so I've linked both the set and the open stock individual colors below.

InLinkz.com

Succulents are an exception to my anti-green policy - maybe because they are a dustier, bluer green. Or maybe because they're just so darn cute!

In Austin, we have this AMAZING succulent garden center called East Austin Succulents. I'd heard about this place for years, but only just visited recently. If you want to see my photos of some of those amazing plants, check out my Facebook photo album here (you don't need a Facebook account to see this).

My favorite succulents are the ones called Living Stones. Strange, marvelous little things.

I made a partly sped-up video for you of the coloring process for this card - it's really quick and easy.

Three big pieces of news - registration for my June retreat is now open on this page! I have a limited number of spaces available, and that inventory is reflected in Paypal, so registration will not work when it's full. I allow past retreat attendees to register first, so more than half the spots are taken.

I'm also having a mini-retreat in November before OnStage Live! These also fill up fast, so register soon and I look forward to seeing you there!

If you're ready to start some Easter crafting, I have a new online class available, featuring the Easter Message stamp set - I have two versions with these images - a religious Easter class, and a general spring class.

In the random things department - I'm loving my subscription to the Mystery Experiences company! I can't tell you how much fun these are - I love all the little puzzles, the hints, the phone numbers to call - it feeds my Nancy Drew heart!

I also love the Jane Davenport collection at Michael's - gorgeous mixed media products - perfect if you love art journaling. Her washi tape is positively other-worldly.

I just got the Black & Decker cordless glue gun that I saw at CHA - SQUEE! I can't wait to try it out - it's a SERIOUS tool. There are few things I hate more than tiny, wobbly, corded glue guns, so I am stoked.

I found DOMESTIC ginger from Gilroy, California. Please note that the Ginger People products come from China, and nearly all imported ginger has a growth retardant sprayed on it - pretty sure that's not good for you. Maybe that's why I'm so short! :)

If you've never tried any Evolution Fresh juices - you must! My favorite is their coconut-pineapple water - I get mine at Whole Foods - it's in the cold section.

Also - if you're having trouble getting your Facebook Lives to be horizontal instead of vertical - and you use an Iphone, it's because of the "zoomed" - or as I call it - THE I CAN FINALLY SEE AND TYPE - setting. Take off zoomed, and your phone should then rotate for FB Live. Of course, you'll never be able to see or type anything on your phone anymore, but whatever. :)

Don't forget the awesome starter bundle deal during Sale-A-Bration - you get two extra stamp sets in the bundle, no strings attached - making it basically a half off sale - $200 worth of goodies for $99. You will have access to my FB group through at a minimum at the end of July, and will be able to choose one of my online classes for free! We have an awesome group of people and we have fun together. You would also be eligible for my team event in June.

Hope you have a great weekend - for some reason this week has felt really long, so I'm looking forward to the weekend and my class Saturday with my stamping buddies.

Loveyameanitbye.