Tuesday 31 January 2012

Show Floor day 2

Busy day placing orders... thought I would just share some of the nice works I found around the show today... enjoy!!
xC
Recognize this?  done by Linda Baldock!!






Monday 30 January 2012

CHA Day 1 of the Show Floor...

Wow, crazy busy, and feeling really tired already.... Have caught up with so many people, it's fantastic... you just don't realize how many people you get to know well after 9 years....

It was great to catch up with Adam from Prima, he always makes me laugh... I have caught up with Sharon from Prima as well, (you all remember Sharon who came a taught for us last year)..... then I went over to Graphic 45 and caught up with Denise, Charee and Aimee.... Next off to My Minds Eye to catch up with Sean... And Bill they all asked where you were!!!

Shows been good so far... only a couple of hours left for the first day...Some great new products.... off to Ranger next I think.... better get back to it...

Till next time

xC
Anna teaching class last night!!

Anna teaching Prima class
More pics later....

Sunday 29 January 2012

Wow!!

Yesterday was so busy, didn't get a chance to blog... was just so tired in my hotel room that I couldn't keep my eyes open...

It was all just work yesterday, started at 7.30am didn't finish till about 9.40pm.... very long day, but got to preveiw quite a lot of products....

Tomorrow is the first official day of the show.... so then the mad rush begins...

Have already placed a few orders... so we are off and running....

took a wonderful class today with Aleene's the glue company.... good old fashioned techniques that you will soon be seeing in classes when I get home... I think you're going to love them as much as I did...

Very excited about a class I am doing out at the Prima warehouse tonight with Anna Dabrowksa  so excited, just can't wait...

till next time

xC

Friday 27 January 2012

Busy Busy....

What a busy day......

Retailer education day with Tim Holtz and Ranger Products, then some product previews of the new Sizzix, Hero Arts, Stampers Annoymous and Tim Holtz products...

The cool thing was I got to play with the new Distress Markers, and got to see first hand what all the hype was about...  they are nice to use and have great strong colour...

Also got to see all the new Ice Stickle colours (and was the lucky winner of a complete set of all 24 Ice Stickles colours) ....

It was also great that I got to catch up with my Ranger U buddies, Sue from New York and Lori from Canada... .. Linda Cain unfortunately isn't here this time...  had a great dinner and loads of laughs catching up...

Marbling with Picket Fence Stain

Distress Markers
Water colouring with Distress Markers
fun with Distress Stains
Till next time

xC

Off to work I go....

A very long day of classes and first glimpse at new product releases today!!!

busy busy day.... will try and put up pics tonight...

xC

Tuesday 24 January 2012

USA, Day Five

What a great day today was...Despite being rained on and getting quite wet, it was just awesome....
If you are ever in California, Cambria should be on your must see list....
The amazing Hearst Castle has to be seen to be fully appreciated, just unbelievable...








Neptunes pool

this is one of the guest cottages


the roman pool complete with gold leaf inlay!

and then only a few miles up the road in a beach cove in San Simeon you will find hundreds of Elephant Seals, come in to breed/birth......such an awesome spectacle...
they almost look like rocks of in the distance...





this seal pup was born only a few hours before we got there

the seals were just amazing...
till next time
xC

Monday 23 January 2012

USA, Day four

Can't believe it's been four days already.... time really does fly...

Still getting over the jet lag, finding it difficult to sleep at night...

Today, we went to the Art and Craft market along the waterfront at Santa Barbara, lots of very talented people with their work.... everything from photographs, oil paintings, charcoal drawings to hemp bracelets, and some amazing creations from metal and glass...

I am now the proud owner of a couple of glass hair clips (yes I did say glass!) they really are pretty cool...
I also found an amazing glass bangle, I have tried to get pics of them to share, they were difficult to capture being glass...
glass hair clips

my beautiful glass bangle
We also checked out the beachfront at Santa Barbara and the pier....
Sterns Wharf

Lynnea on the pier at Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara


In the afternoon we went further north to Cambria and guess what I found on the way..... Naturally, I had to pay a visit... Oh! and I was very restrained!!...

till next time

xC

Sunday 22 January 2012

USA, Day 2 & 3

Well, I was so tired last night I fell asleep instead of posting.....oops...

Santa Monica Pier
Yesterday, I had an awesome day with Lynnea, we strolled along the beach at Santa Monica heading for Venice beach....


we never quite made it all the way, but had a great day out, and then in the early evening headed further up the coast to Santa Barbara...


Santa Barbara is a quaint little place, with loads of history.... today we visited the historic courthouse and viewed the amazing murals, and awesome lookout over all of Santa Barbara from the tower.
One of the Murals in the Courthouse

the mosaic stairway

inside the courthouse - the gallery walkway

Part of the View over Santa Barbara from the tower



Next we visited El Presidio, interesting but not as great as the courthouse.

Lynnea































Then we went and visited the Santa Barbara Old Mission, which has been there since the late 1700's.... just awesome to see, and it is still used to this day as a Catholic church, a Retreat, and plays a significant role in most of Santa Barbara's major community events.... all types of famous people have visited the mission, from Babe Ruth to the Queen!!


check out these succulents!!







just a few of the awesome pics from the Mission












Finally we also saw the partial sunset over the Santa Barbara beach tonight....the low cloud cover prevented the viewing of the full effect of the setting sun....
















Tomorrow we head further north....


Till next Time

xC