Sharing

Hey all - today I am just sharing - no DT work - no sales pitch- just sharing.  I had the pleasure of going to a Meet & Greet party after the Creativation Show a few week ends ago.  Susan R Opel got the idea from a couple of stampers at last year's event, so she put together this totally fun party.  WOW! It was so fun!  Meeting fellow stampers, seeing the "greats" (Sheri Carrol, Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Warner to name a few) walking around and chatting, and even getting to chat with Heidi Cowl from Simon Says!  [I have to throw in that Heidi is so very nice.  No airs about her at all.  We talked for about 10-15 minutes!]  I had the pleasure of meeting a few stampers in person that I have been team members with for years.  It was so nice to actually meet them in person.

 Let's start with Ardyth Percy-Robb!  This girl is awesome!  Fabulous to meet her at last.

On to Kelly Griglione.  I recognized her right away!  Part was she is tall.  That really helped me to find her.  We had been teammates for a few years.  Her creativity always has me in awe.  She is as nice as her cards! ;)

 [Just ignore my fake smile.  The photographer took to long and I lost my real smile ;)]

I met Lydia about 5 years ago at my first CHA.  I went looking for her at that time as she had invited me to be a Dirty Girl over at SCS, and I wanted to thank her in person!  I was so honored to be chosen.

 She is so pleasant, and her accent is awesome.  It is just fun to hear her speak ;).

Lastly, I got to meet my fellow JUGhead, Angie Cimbalo!  That was just amazing - we felt like we had known each other for years!  That is the part I love about meeting stampers in person -- the commonality of stamping makes you instant friends!

Finally, I had to share a photo of the goodies we got at this party! WOW!  It was filled up!

It was hard to get a closer view as there was so much stuff!  You get the idea. The best? -- it was ALL FREE.  Gotta love those manufacturers, right?!

I hope I didn't lose you over this long post!   Thanks for sticking to the end :).  Have you ever met stampers in real life?  How was your experience?

---

---

Thanks for stopping by~

Goodies & Photos from CHA / Blog Candy Winner

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack and boy did I have a fabulous time in Chicago!!  My friend and fellow stamper Karen Knegten allowed me to stay in her beautiful house for 6 days!  From being picked up from the airport to being dropped off, we talked the entire time (except while sleeping!).  The week went so fast it is a blur! We went to CHA and had a wonderful time meeting other fellow stampers and of course buying stuff! Here are some photos:

Karen's front door with all that beautiful GREEN foliage

Her amazing view from her front of house of all that beautiful water

Not so pretty here -- I so do not like snow (I copied this from Karen's photos to show my DH)

Karen's DH was so nice to take us out for a little boat cruise around the lake - amazing houses!  Is this gorgeous or what??  {sigh} all that pretty water

and the lake view of Karen's gorgeous "beach cottage"

---

and  the friends from CHA:
My Dirty Dozen Leader and SCS Super Queen;  Lydia

Friends over dinner - (from left - Deb Felts, Debbie, Joy and from right - Karen, Lori, and me.

It was so fun to meet the real persons behind the avatars.  I felt I had been friends with all these ladies forever!
This isn't a friend but he sure is famous~ TIM HOLTZ.  How cool was that to walk up and he didn't have a crowd around him - [the advantage of being there the last 15minutes of the show!]

 Karen, TIM, and me

We never did get to see the entire room of CHA - they shut it down at 4:30pm (we thought it was going till 6:00pm :(. ) Fun stuff is coming -[ from what we saw anyway].  I didn't take photos of stuff except my shopping haul!

We entered CHA about 2:45pm (after shopping over at the Jewerly Show - about 21 stamp vendors in that area) and the FIRST place was running a 50% off sale on EVERYTHING (he didn't want to cart it home) -- can you believe all this fun stuff I got!!  Oh I was in heaven.  I adore great prices.  So, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed CHA and my visit with my friend Karen!!

---

---

I didn't forget about my Blog Candy.  I had DH pick a number and the lucky winner is..........

#4 Cheri!!!! 

I need your snail mail to send this to you!  Thanks to everyone for the kind comments on my first published card!  If I ever get time, hopefully this will happen again.... It really is cool to see your name and card in an official magazine! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing in my fun trip~~