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So I'm back from Creativation with all kinds of ideas, and more than a few stories for you. Stay tuned after the card for those.
But today is my third guest post for Concord & 9th this month. I love them. Their booth at Creativation was a thing of beauty and represented their new ink and cardstock line - YAY!! It's gorgeous, and the ink names are so cute.
The Tagalongs stamp set and the Tall Type Tagalongs Dies were part of the new release, and even though there are season-appropriate dies in there - it's an all year set - I decided to showcase one of the dies that's fall themed. The dies are all double-cut, so they are PERRRRRRFECT for shaker cards, and the pumpkin was so cute I couldn't move past it! I cut it twice - once into my white card panel, and once out of orange cardstock to inlay. I used these awesome, skinny shaker strips to create the shaker section and to edge the white card panel. I filled the pumpkin with Ombre Sunshine sequins and added them to the card front as well. The sentiment is from the supremely adorable matching stamp set, and the banner is too, stamped in Wild Dandelion to match.
All of these dies make the cutest shakers, and what's nice is they are small, so you don't have to use up all your sequins on one card! Winning! Now I have a 2020 fall card ready to go.
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Ready for storytime from Creativation?
First, everyone there got the flu pretty much. One friend didn't even make it to day one, poor thing. Two trips to the urgent care later she got a positive test. Boo. And of course, she had had the flu shot, as had several others who now have the flu. It's a lottery.
Except me. And I 100% credit this to my now two year old habit of wearing masks on planes. I started with the scarf / hood thing my friend Mel got me, three or so years ago. I would just hold it over my face on the plane. Prior to this I got sick literally EVERY time I flew. Then, I went with the masks you can get at hospitals and doctors office - just the blue and white paper masks.
The side bonus of these was that people didn't know if I was contagious or if I was keeping their gross germs off me, so if there was only one seat empty on the plane, it virtually guaranteed that it would be next to me.
But those didn't fit great and it seemed sort of wasteful, so after seeing a story about Naomi Campbell's flight routine, which is EXACTLY mine - she dons gloves, wipes down the seats, tray, seatbelt and armrests (she then puts a blanket over it - gold star) and puts on a mask. She is my spirit animal - she says "I do not care what people think of me - it's my health." I would add that it's my health and the health of my loved ones and people I come in contact with. I think it's extremely irresponsible to travel while ill, but I'm in the minority. My flight home sounded like a TB ward. I read up on reusable masks but never really found one I liked, until I read a post in a food allergy group about this amazing mask. An airborne peanut allergy sufferer had posted about them, and I was intrigued. On their website it says "Highly efficient filtering masks help protect the mask wearer from particles .254 microns and smaller."
Nice. I don't want anyone else's microns up my noseholes, KWIM? So I bought two of them. The bonus is that they are in ADORABLE patterns! You measure a few things before picking your size.
I put the mask on when we line up to board, and I don't take it off until I'm in my destination airport. Never a cold. It works, y'all. And look - kitties! The one I wore to Phoenix was the geometric pattern, shown on the header of their shop here, but it appears to be sold out now. I also bought this kitty one. :)
So anyway - I don't care if strangers on a plane think I'm weird - I don't have the flu. And that's after being in a room with thousands of people (many of whom had the flu) for a week - the difference is - no small quantity of recirculated, flu-ridden air and tons of uncleaned non-porous virus-filled surfaces. Your chances at a trade show are much lower than on an airplane of contracting an airborne illness.
Second - I have a bone to pick with car manufacturers who thought those "keyless" (insert dramatic air quotes here with an eyeroll here) push button start cars were a good idea. First of all, I'm still lugging around a ginormous remote - so what the fluffy is the point? Do they think I get THAT excited pushing a button? I do not. And, since it means you have no idea where the damned thing is because it doesn't start the car, the following true story happens.
On the last day of the show, I had to valet my car after visiting Waffle Flower in Mesa. PS I love Nina - such an amazing person. I got to have breakfast with her and her husband and I wish I could have stayed all day - they are both just a joy to be around. But I needed to valet my rental car with the stupid keyless key afterwards so I could get a dolly out of the back and head back to the show. So I get out, and get my ticket and start walking towards the convention center across the street. At which point, the valet starts chasing me, in my car, because I still had the keyless key clipped onto my belt loop! He was so close to the car shutting down from being too far from the key. Insanity.
Not key related, another fun car adventure happened when I UN-valeted it to go to the airport. Because I'd paired my phone to it for Google Maps, when the valet pulled up, my MURDER PODCAST WAS BLARING. I'm sure he was glad to see me go!
There were all kinds of fun things at the show that you can see in my public Facebook album here, along with the real attraction - the people!
And a huge congratulations to the human version of a glass of champagne - Heidi Crowl, the owner of Simon Says Stamp, who won the AFCI Online Retailer of the Year award. An amazing human, a pillar of our industry, and a bubbly and sweet, kind, generous person with the hugest heart. She makes our crafty world better every day. Send her a note through the website or a card - she's a self-made woman who has my complete admiration.
Loveyameanitbye.
