Sunday, March 16, 2014

Convention Update and Snippets

I stole this photo of us happy card making fools from my friend's Facebook page.  We were wrapping up the make and take party at the end of the convention.  I am in the lower left corner, next to my is my pal Joan.  Above me is my friend Lora, whose photo this is and next to her is our buddy Lin, who won the big deal ultimate grand prize giveaway.  Peeking out in the back is Mechele from the Stamp Doctor. She's a great lady and you should buy lots of stuff from her so she can afford to come back to town.
I didn't take pictures of my haul yet (believe me, it's quiet extensive) but here is a photo of a hot trend from the convention.  I know glittering on acetate is old school but they've added in a new twist.  First off, throw away that Staz On pad that never works anyway. Stamp On It sells images pre-printed onto acetate for you.  No longer do you have to mess with "glitter glue" that may or may not dry clear as promised; now they use clear stuff like crystal lacquer, diamond glaze, etc. Its a stunning effect.  The background paper is pearlized so it looks extra stunning when embossed in a folder.  The company I sell, A Muse Studio sells lots of different colors of pearlized paper called Shimmer Couture.  You should buy lots from my so I can afford to have the the Stamp Doctor come back to town.

Dies from all sorts of manufacturers such as Spellbinders, Cheery Lynn, Marianne, etc. continue to be hot, hot, hot (and the reason we'll be eating ketchup soup for the rest of the month).  There were lots of samples of the fabulous things you can do with your dies including glittering them, stacking them up and pairing them with other dies.

An interesting note about the convention was the people I know there and what we bought.  You see that top photo?  Every single one of us in the photo (minus Mechele) bought a stamp of Arizona from B&J's Art Stamps. We had a good laugh as we all pulled out that stamp to show each other.  Everyone one of us bought the stamp flip flop card die from Mechele, along with the matching borders, pop up piece, and coordinating stamps.  Amongst the 4 of us, there were several other duplicates.  Several other friends I ran into showed off their purchases--which were also in my bag. Not only do we share a love of paper crafting, but we tend to have the same tastes in products!
Before this post gets any longer, here is my snippet card that I am bringing to Pixie's Snippet Playground. She is always after us to use up those bits and pieces, waste not, want not and all. I made this iris folding card the other day using a pattern lovingly sent to me from across the pond by Hettie. For the snippets I've used up a bunch of strips of a paper. I've been hoarding the background cloud paper as well because it has been retired and I'm afraid to use it all up, which is silly as it fun and should be shared.

Thanks for sticking by this looooong post with lots of links!

The Fine Print: By the way, I thought it funny that glittering was such a hot thing at the convention because I had begrudgingly pulled out my box filled with jars of loose glitter to make the Merry Monday card I showed yesterday.  That's one thing I didn't need to buy!  There was also a booth that had iris folding and 3D paper tole crafts that made my heart go pitter patter.  That's one way I differ from my friends, but I did try hard to get them to buy the paper tole sheets because they punch out now--no fussy cutting needed!

18 comments:

Words and Pictures said...

Sounds like you had an amazing time... will pop back to follow up on all those enticing links! Lovely snippets too...
Alison x

MaryH said...

Oh WTG on your Iris folding green balloon. Now this is GREEN! Love it! Enjoyed reading about your adventures, and I even knew some of the folks you named (bought some of that very stuff from Stamp On It!) Also purchased from Stamp Dr. (got some of her dies...all of the above is still NBUS!). I can see you had lots of fun, in great company. So happy for you. I did my bit to bring these folks out to AZ so you could have fun too! No thanks necessary though! TFS & Hugs. Saw your balloon in the playground, BTW.

Patricia said...

Looks and sounds as though you had a wonderful time.
Glad you got lots of goodies. Over this side of the pond we will probably never see any of those great new things.
Never mind I will be over your side in October so I can have a look then.
Have a great week ahead and enjoy playing
Hugs

Patricia xx

Bonnie said...

Iris folding makes an awesome balloon and it totally belongs on this cloud paper! I'm glad you shared!

Irish Cherokee said...

Being with friends and having a great time is awesome. Great job on the balloon. Iris folding is on of my DW's favorite techniques.

Carol L said...

TFS the photo and all those great cards! It looks like you all had a great time together! Yay!

scrappymo! said...

The iris folding on your hot air balloon looks fab...how perfect on this fun cloud paper too!!!

Will go back and have a peek at your links after I am over the trip lag from the trip home from Mum's!

Di said...

Oh what a fun time you had Judy! That's a great photo of you too.

LOVE your card, iris folding is fun and this is SO effective as a balloon. Great background paper too, I can see why you hoarded it.

How funny you should mention acetate already stamped - in November Mrs A and I went to a craft show and both pounced on sheets of the stuff. Sigh, still languishing here waiting to be used.

Gosh, you do have some lovely goodies over the Pond - a lot of which we'll probably never see here :( I guess there are some products we have that are UK based - crafters are a funny lot. We seem to long for stuff that's out of reach!

Hugs

Di
xx

cotnob said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful time with your friends, it must be lovely to get together.
I love your card, your iris folding looks fabulous - I've never tried it, it looks a bit complicated for me!
Pauline
x

Karen Petitt said...

Sounds like you had a great time and I will keep my eyes open to see your new stash - I am that nosy lol!
I remember stamping on acetate with Staz On and glittering it - the glittering it as the thing I never liked because it did and still does get everywhere lol!
A really beautiful card Judy, I love the use of snippets and this is gorgeous xx

Sarn said...

WOW THANKS for sharing your convention news and your goodies PJ . . . ugh - glittering and gluing on acetate . . . do NOT remind me about those days! What a mess I got into! I'm not going there again! You can't make me!

Hugs, Sarn xxx

Darnell said...

Long and awesome post it was, PJ! Thanks for all the information and the photo of the gang is just too fun!! Your snippets card with iris folding made me say out loud, "Shut UP!!!" Hugs, Darnell

Mary Anne / MA54K said...

Nothing is wrong with a lengthy post when it is full of inspiration! Love that Iris Fold! Glad I popped by.

Mrs A. said...

I so love your green iris papered balloon. I'm the same as Di as not touched the acetate we bought yet but should as one shhet is of butterflies. How remiss of me!.
Hugs Mrs A.

Debs Willis said...

sounds like you had a lot of fun, and the balloon card is cure, but I love the butterfly effect :-)
Hugs, Debs x

fairy thoughts said...

Sounds like you had a great time ... but you know what I imagine you have a good time whatever you do. the butterflies look fab too, stamping on acetate can be a real pain so this sounds like a brilliant idea
janet

Cathy said...

Wow, your balloon looks fantastic! Brilliant technique, sounds like you had a lot of fun :) Cathy x

Jessi Fogan said...

How cool that you got to hang out with Mechele!! I love her, she is just so fun & sweet :) And SCORE - that balloon is incredible!