Stamping Around OHIO!!!

In the Fall of 2009 I had the incredible pleasure to travel (with my best friend Bethie!) to southeast Pennsylvania and teach at the Stamping Around event held there! It was so much fun to get to take the classes offered by some of my stamping idols, and a privilege to lead a class, too! And ever since that event, I have nagged and nagged at Julie and Kim that a "Stamping Around Ohio" is needed, and they finally gave in to my pleas! Stamping Around Ohio is going to be held at Toyrifix June 17th and 18th, and I'm so excited I don't know how I'm going to wait that long! And the BEST part (well, several best parts!) is that my BFF Barbara Anders is coming from Virginia to teach a class, and Maria from Kitchen Sink Stamps is coming from California, too!!! I can't believe I'm going to get to meet them both in person! Bar and I have been online friends for years but have NEVER got to meet in person! Christina Fischer, who I got to meet a few years ago at Copic Certification is coming to teach, and Julie and Kim will be there, of course and I'll be so happy to see them again! I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait! For those that are not familiar, Toyrifix is in Smithville, Ohio in Wayne County and is pretty central to a wide area, so even if you're several hours away you should consider coming! (I drove 6+ hours to the one in PA! Actually, over 8 hours going if you take into consideration the detour we had to take because the interstate was closed!) We're an hour south of Cleveland, two hours north of Columbus, two hours west of Pittsburgh, four to five hours northwest of Indianapolis, and about three and a half hours southeast of Detroit. Believe me, it's well worth the trip! Stop by the Stamping Around website for more information! I hope you'll consider coming!!!

Just Rite Projects from Stamping Around Philly

Well, the much anticipated Stamping Around Philly weekend has come and gone! :( I can't believe how anxiously I looked forward to this, how far in the future it seemed to be, and Beth and I both lamented on the way home Saturday night that we couldn't believe it was over already! Now begins the task of convincing Julie and Kim that a Stamping Around Ohio needs to take place! Who's with me on that?

Beth and I had so much fun, despite getting re-routed 2 hours out of our way on Friday because the interstate was closed down for 11 miles! What should have been a 6 hour drive ended up taking 8 hours, and we arrived just in time for the first class on Friday night! Beth proved to be an awesome navigator with her iPhone as I did all the driving, and we talked and talked the whole time!

I was so proud to have JustRite Stampers sponsoring my class at the event! They generously donated all the stamps that were used in the class, and those were given away as door prizes when we were done! There were many ladies that were thrilled to win those stamps! Here is what everyone made for my class, using the new 'Tis the Season paper from Bo Bunny, and cardstock from Gina K Designs.

Everyone got to make one of these great little boxes to hold four tea light candles. The idea for this was inspired by a 3-D Tuesday project on Paper Craft Planet designed by Lori Tecler. We used the Merry Little Christmas stamp set from JustRite for this project.
And for this tent-topper style card, we used the Old Fashioned Christmas stamp set.
I was SO lucky to get to go to this event and meet some online, blogging friends, too! LeAnne Pugliese (in the center) and I have been friends for several years now, and I was so thrilled to get to meet her in person for the first time! She is gorgeous and petite and has the cutest clothes and the greatest smile! And Kristin Bueter was our Guest Designer on the Color Throwdown back in September, and ever since then she and I have become fast friends, so I was so excited that she was able to come to Stamping Around too and to get to meet her! She's even prettier in person with gorgeous style, and I know we could have stayed up all night gabbing and stamping if we'd had more energy! Kristin and LeAnne had a very sweet girl named Jackie who roomed with them, and I was happy to get to know her better, too!
Here's my friend Beth (on the left) stamping away on my project with Korin Sutherland, the owner of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps! Korin was such a sweetheart and we were so happy to have her there as she taught a bonus class on Friday night, too! I won a stamp set from her, and can't wait to get some use out of it. Ironically, Beth and I traveled all that way together but never once thought to have someone snap our picture together! LOL I guess because we see each other all the time, the notion didn't occur to us!
And here I am with Becky Oehlers! Becky and I were on the Kitchen Sink Stamps team together, and have one of those soul-sister connections! I knew we'd hit it off if we ever got the chance to meet, and I was right! She's amazingly funny, and energetic, and sweet (and gave me the most awesome back rub when I arrived on Friday night!) Her Papertrey Ink project was fabulous!
Here's everyone working hard with their JustRite stamps during my class!
And here is the group of all the teachers from the event, left to right... Korin Sutherland, me, Becky, Kim Schofield and Julie Masse (the Stamping Around founders and organizers), and in front is Charmaine Ikach and Kathi Rerek. Julie's class used some cute new stamps from Kitchen Sink (that I just had to buy to bring home!), Kathy did some fun projects from Bombshell Stamps, and Charmaine had us make an adorable box full of cards using stamps from Taylored Expressions.

Many thanks to Julie and Kim for all the hard work they put in to this event! It was so much fun, and I seriously want them to plan the next one in Ohio! (*subliminal message to Julie and Kim... Come to the Buckeye State... come to the Buckeye State... come to the Buckeye State!*)

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #5

Well, here I am on a Saturday getting to play along with the JUGS challenge with my sweet friend Kristin (who I'm going to meet next Friday at Stamping Around along with another of my wonderful friends, LeAnne!) The JUGS challenge for today is to create a holiday card that showcases a photo! After you create a card, link it on the JUGS blog to Mr. Linky. Then, send an email to the Just Us Girls email address (located in the left sidebar on the blog) with a link to your card and you will receive the digital stamp and sentiment set shown below, courtesy of Kristin! Yes, Kristin drew that fabulous lamp post and created the two sentiment verses as a special treat for everyone who plays the JUGS challenge today! (you can click on the photo for a close-up!)

Now why, you might ask, am I playing along today, too? I'm not a member of the JUGS team but I did end up getting to take part in the freebie you'll receive today if you play along! Awhile back, I sent Kristin a card and she went crazy over my handwriting. Now mind you, I see my handwriting everyday... it's just my writing, and has never seemed to be anything special to me. But she loved it, and wanted to use if for this set! So, you see that "Happy Holidays" in the set, and on my card below? Yep... that's my writing! :) So I hope you'll play along today so you can get this free digi set! I think it'd be pretty darn cool to see some cards out their in blogland with my writing on them!

Stop over at the JUGS blog to see what their super-talented designers came up with using this wonderful digi-stamp set, and go get busy creating!

I am off to my friend Beth's house today to get busy cutting cardstock for my class next week at Stamping Around in Allentown, Pennsylvania! Beth and I will be hitting the road next Friday morning for the event, and I am so excited to get to meet so many new people!

Have a great weekend!

Stamps: Happy Holidays digital stamp set

Cardstock: green, black (Bazzill), designer paper (Making Memories)

Inks: marker (Copic)

Accessories: Nestabilities tags (Spellbinders), ribbon (craft supply).

(photograph courtesy of Google images... photographer unknown)

Stamping Around Philly!

Hey everyone! If you're not doing anything the weekend of November 6th and 7th, and you live near the Philadelphia area, why not join me for a fun time of stamping at Stamping Around Philly? This event will actually be held at a beautiful bed and breakfast in the Lehigh Valley outside of Allentown. The weekend promises to be a ton of fun with 5 stamping classes being taught by some rockin' teacher including my former Kitchen Sink teammates Julie Masse and Becky Oehlers, the super-talented Charmaine Ikach, the fun-loving Kathi Rerek, and oh.... did I forget to mention? ME! I'll be teaching a class there too, and I'd love to see YOU there! Julie's class plans include using Kitchen Sink Stamps, Becky's class will be sponsored by Papertey Ink, Charmaine will be using fun stamps from Taylored Expressions, and the sponsor for Kathi's class is Bombshell Stamps. And my tentative plans are for a class using JustRite Stampers for some great holiday ideas!

I'm doubly-excited about this event because my wonderful stamping friend LeAnne Pugliese will be there and we're going to meet in real life for the first time after years of blogging, stamping and online chatting! Woo hoo! How many sleeps 'til then, LeAnne?

So, how about it? Come and join me at Stamping Around Philly!!! It promises to be a great time!