where do I begin...

to tell you all about Holiday Hideaway?

I remember leaving there last year & telling Tim that he couldn't possibly out do himself the next time...
let me say...

I was TOTALLY wrong.

It was really an absolutely ink-redible weekend.

I felt very @ HOME...
I LOVED seeing my friends...
I LOVED the gifts...a MILLION of them...
I LOVED Mario's food...
I LOVED our projects...really LOVED them...
I LOVED the SHOPPING...

It's like an art family...just a really special group.

The only room for improvement would be to control the weather...30 degrees????? SNOW??? GEEZ!
I like 80 better...maybe we could do HH in July???

And speaking of ink...
here's what the new distress pads look like...

ha!!!
They're so new the labels aren't even ready yet...
We got them HOT OFF THE PRESS...

As for actual colors, I can't say until Ranger gives us the OK...

But I will say, I LOVED them all...
they are the perfect compliment for the 24 we have...
and these are colors we have NEEDED for a VERY long time...

I think I discovered a new favorite or 3...
I kept reaching for the same 2 colors over & over...

They're all ready, except the labels...
they'll ship right after CHA...
so the wait won't be horrible...

THANKS AGAIN to Alain for the extra effort he made to get them to tim for us to play with...

We got a TON of stuff...
I can't even begin to list them all...

Our final gift was the Big Shot express...
each person got one...

Thank YOU Ellison/SIZZIX!!!!!!!!!!
And best of all...
they gave each of us a new TIM DIE...
from his new line, called Alterations...

Can you imagine???
That baby got shipped along with 50 pounds of other gifts...
The boxes are scheduled to arrive on Friday.

It will be like Christmas all over again...
when I dig in...

One other HUGE surprise was this Ott light...
I didn't realized that I NEEDED one...
but now that I tried it...
I DID!!!
I LOVE IT...

We got more products from Ranger,
the I-top brad maker (COOL) from imaginesce...
cool stuff from...
Jenni Bowlin
Cosmo cricket
Hero Arts
Basic Grey
graphic45
a cool trimmer from Fiskars
Melissa Frances
Advantus
MARTHA STEWART...
a GIANT tote bag FULL of every glue Arts product...
it is HUGE!
NEW STAMPS FROM STAMPERS ANONYMOUS!!!
NEW RUBBER........makes me so happy!

There's a ton more...but my little brain can't think of them...
more when the boxes arrive.

Another highlight...

when we went to tim's, we got to see his new idea-ology stuff...OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL his dies for his NEW die cutting machine...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

his new book...OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't sleep that night.....dreaming of the possibilities...

I'll share my projects later...

some I shipped...

some need more finishing touches.

And in other breaking news...

MY NEW STAMPS ARE HERE!!!

YIPPEE!!!!!!!

I made my first project (for the new book) yesterday.

I'm pleased!

I also came home to a box of new MAYA ROAD CHA products...

Let me just say...WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's FATE that one of my stamp sets is perfectly coordinated with one of their new releases.

They didn't say what they had planned & I didn't share my stamp set with them...

it's amazing that they will work together so very well!

OK...
now there are 2 million things to get done here before CHA...

I spoke with Bonnie from Ranger yesterday...
I got a BRAND NEW RANGER product in the mail...

now I get to make some samples...
I think you'll LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas party tonight...

SHOPPING all day tomorrow...

Happy Holidays...

make art!

wendy

Hello from sunny warm Arizona...

well...WARM, if you consider 30 warm.
There is actually ON THE GROUND STICKING snow...
yuck...

I got here just fine...no weather delays...YIPPEE!

I met up with my friends from St. Louis (from For Keeps Sake) on Wednesday & Debby Schuh for a little marathon shopping in the Phoenix area...just a little...

Then...

We spent yesterday...

SHOPPING
in the adorable town of Prescott. What a FUN place.

Was I a cheap date??
KIND OF.....it could have been worse...
but wait...
we still have more time to SHOP before this event is over.

I found a few Christmas gifts...YIPPEE!

I helped Nancy & Sue find the PERFECT gifts for their hubbies...PERFECT finds!

The kind where you just get the feeling...
You know that it's the PERFECT gifts...
You can't look for them...they just have to be FOUND...

and...
what else???
OH...
NEW SHOES??? YOU BET!!!
With flowers?? YOU BET!
BLACK? YOU BET...
That's me...predictable!

Then we came back to the hotel for the official 5pm start of Holiday Hideaway.
FINALLY...it seems like I waited a year...
Oh wait...WE DID!!!

Mario & Michele had a yummy spread for us...
gotta eat to have energy to create.

We had time to visit & reconnect which was REALLY FUN!!!!!!!!

Then we had a challenge...our table lost...boohoo...but it was so fun.
Our table of 6 consists of my St. Louis friends, Timi, Nancy N, Nancy W & Sue & Michelle Cutts...
PERFECT for lots of fun & laughs...

Next we did a mini project (memory frame/capsule pin)...
got some of Michele's YUMMY treats as a bedtime snack...
Tim thinks of EVERY detail...I kid you NOT!

visited more with friends & then hit the sack...

I CAN NOT WAIT to get started today....

I snuck down to the lobby to post (in my nightie)...
scarry for sure...
so I better head up & hit the shower...

Have a great weekend and remember...
make ART!...I WILL!
wendy
ps...back when I can...with updates, but no photos...
THANKS so much for checking in!

Stamps and shoes...

But first... a "THANK GOD" for hubbies & heat tools!

We had a major storm last night. First freezing rain...followed by 3 inches of snow...then more freezing rain. This is NOT good when combined with a satellite dish...

Poor Rick had to get a ladder (which did not break the ice...even with his weight!) and use my heat tool to de-ice the dish so that we could get back in this century & have internet access. How did we ever live without the net???

Winter in Illinois sucks...but I think I've said that before...@ least I made it to Arizona & back...phew................

ENOUGH...On to fun stuff...

One of my MOST favorite gifts from Holiday Hideaway were these stamps...


It might be hard to tell...but these are all MINI'S!!!
OMG!! They are soooooooooooo cool. THANKS Ted & Michelle!
I LOVE these guys...

And check this out...



EXCLUSIVE to Holiday Hideaway...YIPPEE!

If you missed it in yesterday's charm photo...Michelle's charm was a real mini stamp. It's adorable.

NEXT...

We shopped in the cute town of Prescott and it's hard to believe...

BUT...

these guys were there waiting for me.



I'm not sure how this happened...but they now reside in my closet. This time the flowers are on top.

That's it for today. Now that we are back online...I'll go look & see if I can find some Holiday Hideaway photos to steal.

Until then...enjoy your weekend and...

Make ART!
wendy

Next...the charms...

The first evening @ Holiday Hideaway, we swapped charms. The only requirement was to make them just one inch...

Here they are...all layed out. We were given a bracelet...but I think I'll attach mine to some sort of book instead.



Closeup of some...

Another closeup...

I presented mine in this envelope...

Here's the charm I made for everyone, using my favorite metal flowers from Maya Road.

Think about this...on the last evening I got to see tim's 12 tags...IN PERSON. Get it???

I need to go now & ...

Make ART!

wendy

There are no words to describe...

Holiday Hideaway.

I looked in the dictionary...nothing can express how awesome the weekend was.

I'm not even sure where to start...

BUT... I liked...

The attention to detail...LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
Tim is AMAZING!!! But...I already knew that before going...

The YUMMY food...Thanks Mario & Michele...GREAT job!!!

The classes...you'll see my MOST favorite below...

The surprises...just when I thought it couldn't get any better...
IT DID.

The group attending was just soooooooo much fun.
My table mates...Mr & Mrs Stampers Anonymous, Keychain, Kim & Pearl...THE BEST!

My travel mates...the St. Louis 6. Thanks for including me on the church bus...That was fun!

Prescott...what a cool cute town.

The SHOPPING! But that's a story for another day...

Jerome...another story for another day...more shopping...

There's more...but I'll show my favorite class..

When we entered the room, we had a table FULL of these vintage things...



There were HUGE pans of...



And more... (Don't be impressed. I didn't take the photos...I stole them from Sue. THANKS SUE!)




And here's what I made...I am in love with this guy!



Isn't he cute?




I can't wait to make another.

Each turned out different & oh so cool. I'll post more photos just as soon as I find some to steal.

Now...time to get back to the studio to...

MAKE ART!

wendy

I didn't get invited to the inaugural galas...

but...

I don't care!

This invitation looks like it will be much more fun...

and I can wear jeans!


Now that December is FINALLY here...I'm extra excited to be attending tim's event in Arizona. Believe me...I'm counting the days...

I'll leave December 10th to meet my friends from St. Louis @ the airport in Phoenix. 6 friends...
all from the cool store.. FOR KEEPSAKES. I LOVE that place!!

They attended last year & this year I'm thrilled to join them. They had me drooling with the details of the last HH.

So...on Wednesday the 10th...we'll shop in Phoenix... OH DARN... Then we head north (I think) to the hotel in Prescott.

On Thursday we'll shop (again...YIPPEE!) in Prescott until 5pm...then HOLIDAY HIDEAWAY starts. A HUGE YIPPEE!!!

We are each making 42 charms. Thursday evening we have a meet & greet & then we'll swap charms. That sounds like a fun way to begin the event. After that...it's all surprises. We know nothing about the rest of the weekend. HH continues thru Saturday evening. Let me just say that the suspense is KILLING me...I was thinking about it before bed & I was still awake @ 1am... classes with tim for 2 full days???
I get to be the student?? COOL!!

Like I said...

Much better than the inaugural balls.

I know about half of the folks who are attending...so it will be great fun to visit with them again & also to make some new arty friends. Mr & Mrs Stampers Anonymous will be there! It's their first time too. I'm sure Ted will be very entertaining... No doubt about that...If you've seen him @ shows...you know I'm right.

Mario is in charge of the good eats. I've heard nothing but RAVE reviews about his expertise. Just what I need...my jeans are already tight!

I was planning to show my charms here...but I think I'll keep them a surprise for the group. I'll show them when I get back...and even include a tutorial...

They're PLAN B...

Plan A didn't meet quality control standards & HAD to be trashed.

Really...NOT GOOD.

Then on Sunday...MORE shopping in Jerome. I understand this is an awesome place. Hello...Santa...I'm thinking of a new watch...maybe...

On Monday the 15th .......back home...

So to recap...

Day 1...Shop
Day 2...Shop & ART
Day 3...ART
Day 4...ART
Day 5...Shop...

See why I'm excited...it's PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WILL take my camera...and I hope that someone there reminds me to actually USE it.

I'm afraid I'll forget...

I loose my mind when I...

MAKE ART!
wendy
ps...the snow has finally stopped. We got 7 inches...they predicted only 2. What happened??

And with the bad weather we had no internet..the satellite couldn't pick up the signal.
NO internet...ALL DAY...
NO EMAIL...ALL DAY...How did we ever survive?
Life in the country........grrrr....