Monday 14 March 2011

i won the lottery!!!!

exactly how does one verbalize one of the best weekends in my life?!

when Pat called and told me that they were taking me to the retailers' convention here in town i was thrilled. i thought, wow, that will be so cool!! i heard it was good and now i get to go and see it myself. i'm so lucky!

she kept talking. i will never forget the shock of the next information. i mean, i was still accepting the fact that i would be going to the convention. i think my brain just shut itself off. or maybe my screaming was louder than my thoughts?!

"Tim Holtz is coming this year.....you will be taking some classes from him...."

yes. that is all i heard.

i think my heart also stopped. or beat faster? can it do both?

and this is all my family has heard me talk about lately. even my friends have listened to me giggle in excitement. poor those who don't scrapbook and had no clue over my joy!

not since my wedding has a day gone so slowly and very quickly at the same time. i was freakin' nervous as we walked into the room and caught a glimpse of him being surrounded by other adoring fans. i do believe my heart skipped a beat.

if i was this thrilled, you have to imagine yourselves in Jan's shoes. one of her projects was chosen by the convention planner to be a part of Tim's booth. {you HAVE to check out her post and photos about it} it is beautiful. the best part was that Tim thought so too!! he insisted that he meet the designer of it. i do not know how Jan stayed so calm and collected during that initial meeting. how do you handle listening to Tim Holtz say..."this is awesome....i love it..." she accepted his compliments with total class.

it was the conversation about the project Jan created with the configuration boxes that i will forever remember. we chatted about crafting and other related items. asking about where he gets his inspiration. he showed us some of his new products. {allow me to interrupt this thought process to say this: i have loved his previous releases. but this next one is even more incredible!!!} he ripped off a section of his new "Kraft Glassine Paper". then we stood close as he crumpled it and passed it around. at that point i let out my first "AAAAAHHHHHH" of the weekend. it isn't a sigh. it isn't a scream. it is a "ohmygoodnessthatissoamazing" kind of expression.

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while the booth was still quiet we took some pictures.

then we asked him to come out for supper. i know! right?! we were elated when he didn't turn us down right away.

and that, my friends, is how my weekend began.

i was on cloud nine for the next few days. let me tell you that the view is pretty awesome up there. it is a very happy place!

we took some classes from Jan and Joanne from BoBunny and Little Yellow Bicycle. Lori from Little Yellow Bicycle is the sweetest! her project was fun and amazing.

then we all went home and tried to sleep.

back the next day to learn that we were indeed cool enough for Tim to join us for supper that night. we got to be in his class for the first workshop with Ranger. let me just say that it is one of my most favourite things in life to follow a tutorial he has made on his blog. or watch one of his videos. {just ask my kids. we also sing along to the intro to the videos. it doesn't have words. but we make the same sounds as the music. then we laugh like crazy!} it was crazy awesome to go through the live version of the tutorial, but also have the supplies to create the tag.

then it got crazy! i don't remember now which product he was talking about...but he says, "it is so awesome it will make you sing 'AAAAAHHHHHH...'" Pat, Jan and i were laughing. it was the same sound i made when i saw the Kraft Glassine paper in his booth the night before!!!

we had some time later to take in the booths and the make and takes. we had fun playing with the new sewing took from We Are Memory Keepers. we took in the prettiness at Graphic45. then we hung out with Margie and created an adorable pennant flag.

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she is so adorable. it was like chatting with an old friend. i really hope to meet up with her again. she and Tim managed to "discover" HomeSense while they were up here and did some shopping. pretty much all of her dishes on her booth table were purchased her first day in town. they were at the very same store i shop at...can you imagine if i had been in the store that day....go down one aisle and bump into the trio?!!

Pat had been tortured by teasing from Jan and i about her flowers. we joked that she made one in every class. when a spot opened up at the Cosmo Cricket booth to make a flower using the new Glubers....of course we pushed Pat into the seat. as we giggled over our cleverness....Julie and Lindsay got out of their chairs and insisted that we sit down on them. the rest is just pure craziness. at that same time another person came in and wanted to make a video with them and they forgot about us! since we were gluber-less and had no idea what we were doing, we just did the best we could. we were nearly done and were trying to figure out the next step when Julie noticed we were using the large Glubers. the "unauthorized" ones. ha! i ended up with a second "authorized" gluber to make my flower look better. my 'double-gluber' flower. Julie and Lindsay are every bit as funny in real life as they are on the internet. i don't know how we managed to not pee our pants, we were laughing so hard! and the glubers....they DO make fabric/ribbon flower making much easier. i can't wait until they make it to our shelves!

then we went out for supper.

and chatted about scrapbooking, life and traveling with Tim, Mario, Margie, Frannie and Mona. i think Tim and Margie would have had a better impression of Edmonton if they stayed even one extra day to go shopping with Jan and Pat at their favourite antique stores. i have no doubt that the four of them together in an antique mall spells excitement and fun. Tim and Margie gave me traveling tips for my upcoming Hawaii holiday. {not that i expect them to read my lil' blog, but i know myself and my family are grateful for their advice. and our holiday will be better because of it.} i want to adopt Mona. she is so funny! she made a point to tell Tim - in front of all of us - that he is the same type of person when she first met him years and years and years ago as he is today. a very neat compliment.

then we went to Urban Scrapbook.

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the store will never be the same. Margie and Tim shopped! it was so fun to see that they enjoyed the store and actually looked at stuff. we tell Pat and Lori how great the store is all the time. but it was awesome to hear the "entourage" agree with us!!

by the end of the day i was soooo exhausted, but was too excited to sleep. my body couldn't move anymore, and mind was still flying at lightning speed.

i'm glad that i was not the only one feeling that way. ha! everyone was moving slowly on Sunday. we started out with a Graphic 45 class. it was nothing short of amazing. Diane Shultz is a very talented woman. you MUST click on this link to read about her. it also explains the meaning behind the name of the company. her youngest daughter, Aimee, was her assistant in the booth this weekend. they both commented that they were unsure how they would ever choose their new design team. {they listed the finalists last week on their blog.} Aimee and Diane commented that they wished they could choose all of them.

we also chatted with Kathie from Fancy Pants. she and Margie both used to work at Making Memories together. it was very cool to see the camaraderie among the exhibitors. they are certain of their product and don't allow it to interfere with friends. it really is amazing. i think it was that aspect that moved scrapbooking up just one more notch for me!

i also got to play with the springtime line from Echo Park. great new colours.

i think i am in love with the new Sizzix Eclips machine. it has what i love about my cricut. but better. i commented that i will wait until  my cricut dies...and the exhibitor says, "just sell it on ebay and move up now!" i'll do some checking into their actual designs and then decide. as for the cartridges....they are cheaper than the cricut.

our final class was with Tim again.

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you know the photos he has on his blog tutorials? he uses the same kind of thing in his classes.

the fun part is that every slideshow starts out with this countdown....just like all of his videos!

i made a very rookie mistake on my first tag. Tim walked by just as i was in the middle of it. embarrassed much, Roxy?! it all worked out okay in the end, and turned out to be a mistake that was fixable. one day i'll share that technique in a class and tell you where i messed up.

i also made another mistake later on. i didn't realize it until much later. it too was fixable. {most mistakes in art are anyways!}

i snapped this photo after my mistake....realizing that most likely Tim knew i had just made my second mistake!

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i have no idea what he said. but he was holding MY sample and talking about alcohol ink colours. an excited and tired brain is not a good combination.

now i am home. returning to earth after an extended vacation on Cloud Nine.

reflecting on the new techniques and tips i learned. loving the samples i came home with. enjoying the memories of a weekend well-lived. inspired to put together my own creations to enjoy.

even if you didn't read my long verbal post, you will have had some great photos to enjoy!

you may be interested to know.....that all my photos were taken with my iPhone4......the only photos i did not take were the 2 group shots with Tim.  not bad. for a camera phone.

2 comments:

  1. That is going to a weekend that will be very hard to top. It sounds like you had an amazing time!!!!! Lucky girl!

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha! I totally agree. Another one of those times when I wish I had the power to slow down time! :)

    ReplyDelete

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