Randomly speaking

Summer CHA Pre-show party.

Wow....that was a whirlwind trip! I remembered this time to bring my camera with me....However I only managed to get pictures at the Creative Imaginations pre-show event.

This event was particularly dear to me  because it involved the launch of Bare Elements otherwise known as  "be." an idea i wanted to see come to fruition--- With a passionate team at Creative Imaginations that idea became a reality.

Be. girls Pow Wow.....LOve that Logo!!!!!!

Be Slammed....a sign of a successful party! it was sooo busy...I love these pre-show parties because they always give me a chance to catch up with some of my Favorite store owners and reps.

Scrappin in the Hills Gals----gonna be teaching there in the fall, stay tuned for some fun classes with the new Bare Elements line. Hope to see lots of you there!

Kathy, one of my fav reps selling her heart out!....sorta cool to watch her work.

How appropriate is Karen Russells sticker? This a is a great little make and take with the Melodee Chipboard book. So CUte!

Another Sneak Peek....

 

Something for the girls!

Here's a very small preview of my Soiree collection....designed with my teenage daughters in mind. I cannot believe i have two teenagers in the house.  I have tons of pictures of the girls getting ready to go out with their friends...getting ready for dances....talking on the phone (sometimes  they are talking on two phones at once!)

Paper Posie Class

I had my first Paper Posie bouquet class yesterday at Everafter in Carlsbad.  The ladies were such troopers assembling, die cutting folding, pinching, wrapping, beading...poofing....fiddling...and fixing their bouquets until they were perfect pieces of art! we used all AccuCut dies and only Creative imaginations papers (except Suzette who was immediately inspired to create some of her own luscious beauties with her own treasure trove of papers! the one directly above is hers....love the added tulle).

A photo speaks.... a thousand words

This is such a day in my life! Energy drinks....paint....sun! what more could i ask for?...more time for my deadlines perhaps?

A couple sneak peeks of CHA

A small little taste of whats to come at CHA...I am really excited about this summers show. I can't wait to go and see whats new...and connect with all of my industry friends....

More sneak peeks to come this weekend!

A few photos from Day 3

Sunday morning Jack and i had a few hours to kill before catching a plane to Curitiba, so he booked us a Jeep tour of the Tijuca Forest...There is quite a rich history behind that forest. I am not sure which was better the sights of Tijuca Forest or the stories from the tour guide...he was full of trivia and tidbits of info.

After we got back we still had an hour or so before we had to head off to the airport so we decided to take a walk along the beach...Jack was hoping to see some nice teeny tiny bikinis. So sunglasses on, off we went in search of the infamous rio booties.  Can you believe that on a crowed sunday afternoon....there was not one hot booty to be found! Instead a plethora of guys in speedos (who should have never been wearing them in the first place) not exactly what jack was looking for....Tee hee!

and a few more photos of the sights around town

day2 or so.

Saturday morning's class at

Criando Papelaria

Av. Ataulfo de Paiva, 1079

Leblon - Rio de Janeiro

22440-010

Was so much easier since i had some much needed sleep, and coffee (very strong coffee i might add, I think I drank a hundred little tiny cups of brazilian coffee, esspresso while i was there) The class was rather small, as the store did not have a class room per say-we made do and turned half of the store into our class room. Most of the women spoke english that morning which was nice because i was able to take that opportunity to learn a bit of portugese...

Criando Papelaria was quite a surprise-so much delicious product so tastefully displayed (not that you can tell by my photos-I didn't bring my rebel on this trip for safety reasons)Any how Anna makes the most beautiful leather albums and journals I have ever seen. I will have to take a picture of the journal she gave me an post it..

Anna Carolina the store owner and her lovely daughter are on the far left of the photo...I wish i could rememeber everyones names...Claudia is peeking her head over my shoulder-She drove Jack and I back to our hotel after class on Friday night and gave us a bit of city history and a bit of understanding about police coruption in brazil, then surprised me by taking class again on Saturday morning...

It's been so long.

  I returned from Brazil last Sunday, and really needed a chance to decompress...and savor all that i experienced. I needed a chance to embrace all the memories and life changing moments i had....I have returned home a new person, With renewed energy and motivation.

I will post a bit each day for the next several days about our time their. It was quite a whirlwind trip. Never a moment to rest...not more than 3-4 hours down time for nine days...

Thursday was the day--- First say sad goodbyes to my girls. make sure everything was in order...all the play dates are arranged, all the phone numbers are posted, and all the bags are checked, double checked and checked again....Done! out the door right on time. Thanks to Brenda for keeping me on track....she has a habit of keeping me in line.

Check in on time at LAX for a 1:45 flight to Miami---piece of cake!

My travel companion for this adventure was Jack co- owner of Creative Imaginations.  He was my bodyguard, my teaching assistant should anything go wrong (nothing ever did), and my luggage handler. It was rather nice to not have to lug my luggage at all during the trip (thanks Jack)  He jumped out of the car to get me cough drops when my voice was sure to give out...remembered what i wanted to bring back for my girls and picked it up for me while i was teaching....he made the trip that much smoother for me.

Jack had rented the entire second season of 24 ...a show i had never seen. And now i am HOOKED! Jack Bauers character is hot. My kind of guy! (thanks Jack, it was better than i expected) we didn't finish the whole series so now i have to rent that last few episodes so i can see how the season ends....The hours flew by while our eyes were glued to the screen...

When we landed in Miami Jack made a comment that he wished we could pick up our baggage and re-check it on to our flight to Rio, because he had a feeling they would lose his luggage.(never ever say things like that out loud....bad idea!)

We landed in Rio on Friday the 23 at around 11:15...only to discover Jack's luggage never made the connection in Miami. He was not such a happy guy, not to mention quite frustrated trying to converse with the airlines...who speak Portuguese not English. Poor guy....by 12:30we were at our hotel 2 blocks from the beach checking in with out Jacks luggage of course, exhausted from both the travel and lack of sleep in the preceding 24hrs. We had 30min. to freshen up before a cab was waiting down stairs to take us to the first store where I was teaching a 2:00 class----I was teaching within hours of landing in Rio with virtually no sleep, and feeling kinda wacky. Imagine trying to convert inches to centimeteres with no sleep...oooooh my!.... Patricia the owner was so gracious and we hit it off immediately... The following day after my morning class, Patricia and her husband took us on a mini tour of Rio...The Statue of Cristo Redentor was simply breathtaking....These silly tourists from Atalnta took this picture of Jack and i while laying on the ground so we could have the statue in photo with us...trying to show how big it is. The I returned the favor. I layed one the ground and snapped several photos of them...their camera was acting up so i was laying on the ground over and over...with people walking all around my head....what a true scrapbooker I am.