Lauren Ferguson | There are no mistakes in art, just opportunites to embellish. (tm)

Come join me at the Crafty Cafe!

The Diva of Glitter herself, The Crafty Chica aka Kathy Cano-Murillo asked me to participate in the Crafty Cafe.

I got an email from Kathy asking if I was going to be at the show. Well, even if I wasn't, I was now. I had no idea what I had signed up for, but I figured even if it involved nudity, I would do it if Kathy was doing it.

No, nothing that exciting. But it is even more fun!!

On Friday between 2.00pm and 3.00pm a group of Crafters will be reading excerpts from their blogs!

Here is the write up from the CHA website:

Crafty Storytellers: Inspiring, Comical & Entertaining Tales as told by full-time Craftaholics!

Sit down, relax and be ready to laugh as popular crafty bloggers share their stories about living life as a professional artist. From hilarious craftastrophes to family memories to the quest for the golden glue gun - they've lived it and are now sharing the details!

Immediately, I start to think which blog entries should I read. I thought about my etching on copper and the crazy process that started this madness. 

I thought about some of my entries that are specific to crafting. I did not realize that in the past almost two years, I have blogged more than my fair share and choosing would be hard.

So I started calling around and asking folks which two entries did they want me to read out loud and in public.

Well, apparently, I was a bit off. No one really cares about my crafting stuff.

One of my friends specifically said, "that stuff is B-O-R-I-N-G compared to the crazy that goes on in my house".

Nope, she wants me to read My Big Girl Moment in the Gym and I am all out of sorts today...

I have had a few requests for when Ziggy found his penis.

I need some help.

Tell me which ones you want me to read and based on the comments to this post, I will read those entries out loud.

My friends are going to tape it with my Flip camera and I promise to post it to the blog.

until we meet again,

CHA here I come!

Where did all the time go??

I really thought that I was going to have more time to get my life in order before CHA.

I just finished making all my samples for the Tattered Angels booth. I love them!

Yes, they did come out nice. Of course, you are going to have to touch them because the colors and texture can not be given any true justice without an up close and personal look and feel. So make sure that you get to the booth and check them out.

There are new stamps, colors and all kinds of good stuff coming and just when you thought that you could only spray this stuff.

until we meet again,

Just because I can

should always be followed by but it does not mean that I should.

Oh it has been a crazy four days.

I went to Scrapdoodles and Beach Scrapbooks this weekend. What a blast.  But I have to digress before I get there...

My mothering instincts took over and said let me take the kids for the weekend to see their cousins in Richmond. Chi-Chi had been on the cruise with them last year and she had a great time. All should could talk about was all the girly stuff that they did and how much she wanted to see them again.

She was 4 at the time so I promised that if I could make it happen I would.

Well, here it is 2 years later and I can make it happen. I promised.

So I packed up all the kids and my Mom and got in the car and off we drove into the sunset.

It took us 12 hours to get there with stopping for lunch and dinner and the bathroom.

I woke up early the next morning taught classes. Came back slept woke up early to get to Virginia Beach and taught there for 2 days. Turned around, drove back to Richmond and then drove home last night and got in at 4am.

Needless to say we are all glad to be home.

Ok, back to Scrapdoodles and Beach Scrapbooking...

Can I say WOW!!!

I do not have any LSS in my area. They have all gone out of business. Now, I do have 2 Archivers and a fabulous stamping store within a hour drive.

It was great. We had a blast and I cant wait to go back. We did it all and then some.

Classes went well and the ladies were wonderful.

I had the best home cooked meal when I was at Scrapdoodles. I just have to say oh, I would just go back for the food.

Cheryl made pan seared salmon, grilled aparagus salad with dried cranberries and a fabuolus lemon and EEOV dressing.

And we all know how much I love to eat.

Then at Beach Scrapbooks, I stayed with Kim and her family. She lives on a farm. She has 4 bunnies, 3 dogs, 2 cats and a horse.

Oh my I was in the coutry. I picked, no excuse me, harvested vegetables out of her garden. I pulled a zuccini the size of my arm!

I also got to see my good friend Tammy and her son Gabriel.

She was in my wedding and she knew me back when I had purple hair.

She is one of those friends that when you get on Oprah, you would put her in the front row with silver duck tape on her mouth.

So after all of the drving and great me time, I am glad to be home and getting ready for CHA.

until we meet again,

It was like old home weekend...

I had the best time at Scrapbook Expo.  I saw people that I have not seen since last year this time.

I got to demo at the Tattered Angels booth and that was fun. I love to demo more than I like to teach. And we all know that I love to teach. It is fun because I get to see everyone that I would normally miss being stuck in the classroom all day.

Oh I love everyone at Tattered Angels. Kyle, Jeff and Liz are a blessing to work with. I had a blast. We at dinner on Saturday at the Cheesecake Factory. It was fun and we laughed all night long.

Mandie came down for the weekend. Since she has been running the Rusty Pickle Race she has been crazy, so she came down and hung out with me. I got to meet Kim Garner and Kathie Davis from The Rusty Pickle Design Team.

It was like old home weekend...

So as we are packing up the booth, I look over at the dumpster and there are a group of people.

Curiosity killed the cat so why not me.

 I walk over and apparently Advantus decided to throw away all of the Heidi Swapp product that they had left. To make matters worse, they would throw the product in the dumpster then they opened up PINK and WHITE acrylic paint and poured it in between each dump of product.

Now, let me say this...

The reason why they squeezed the paint on the product is because they did not want the other vendors to be able to resell the product. I get that.

My question is why would that be your first gut reaction.

Why would you beleive that your product is so important to others that you would even contemplate destorying it so that no one else could ever benefit from it. And if someone is so in need why not give it away.

I can think of a dozen different reasons off of the top of my head as alternative to simply throwing it in the dumpster.

They could have given it away at the crop. They could have offered it to a local school. They could have given it to one of the local Boys and Girls Club. They could have given it to a Senior Center. They could have even called one of the three local agencies that would have come and packed up the booth and taken all of the product and donated it to any number of places like United Cerabal Palsy Foundation.

ANYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

So in my moral indignation I climbed into the dumpster with all of the paint and product and proceeded to pull all of it out and put it into boxes.

My hands were so full of paint that I had to wait for them to dry so that I could pull the paint off in chunks. My fingers were stuck together. I rubbed my hands over a garbage pail and watched paint fall off. I washed them and clogged up two sinks in the bathroom.

So after a great meal at the Cheesecake Factory, Kathie, Kim, Mandie and I stopped at a Walmart and purchased a plastic drop cloth and boxes and boxes or zip top bags.

We went back to Kim and Kathie's hotel room and began to take all of the packaging off of the product and bag it up.

It was a mess. There was so much paint everywhere. It took us more than four hours from just after midnight to almost 4 am.

Kathie's flight left at 8 am so she stayed up because she was so tired she thought that she would sleep through the alarm.

All I want to say to them is Thank You from the bottom of my heart!!!

You know they could have dropped me and those boxes off at my house and said that this is your fight and gone on about their merry way. 

Most of it was so full of paint that we just had to throw it out. The paint was so caked on that it took two people working together to put it in a bag.

Can you tell how pissed I am? I am not by any means close to being so morally righteous that I cannot see that this is just WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG.

So I have dropped some of it off at a place here in my town that can use it for art supplies and one of my tweeps Holly Berlin works with special needs kids.  So I am putting a box of foam stamps and some other stuff that they can use.

Let me say this and then I am going to crawl down off my soap box...

In an economy and time in human history where paying it forward is on the forefront of everyone's mind. People are losing their homes, families are struggling to put food on the table and jobs are hard to find.

All I can say is SHAME ON YOU ADVANTUS, SHAME ON YOU!!!

until we meet again,

Hanging out at Scrapbook Expo-Duluth

This is going to be a great weekend.

I 'm doing the Make and Take at the Tattered Angels booth this weekend.

It is a really large tag about 8.5 by 4 with two smaller tags that flip inside, a few staples and you are done.

Cute and simple.

So if you are bored and have nothing to do at the show in between classes come on over to the booth, hang out with me and spend some money.

until we meet again,

Gotta love it when a plan comes together...

It took me a week to finalize the Glimmer Mist De-Mistified class. I am so happy with it!

While I was in Knoxville, so many of the ladies are card makers and stampers, they felt kicked to the curb when the class was all layouts.

Now, I have sprayed and stamped myself to the bone. I have stayed up late and seen the sun come up. 

To all the card markers who want to kick up their heels and get inky with me come to the classes while I am running through Virginia.

To all the stampers come on and learn some stash friendly tips and tricks to working with Glimmer Mist.

You will learn much more than just how to spray the bottle. I have just sent some of the samples to the stores so that you can see them.

But for those who are still on the fence, enough of the sneak peaks take a look at what we will be doing.

 

My favorite is the last one with the flower.  Then my next is the the three flowers.

On the back of each you will have the instructions for each element.

I have left space for the mini-tags to have pictures added later. Or you can leave them as they are so that the technique is visible.

until we meet again,

Taking a step back to look forward

I taught the Glimmer Mist De-Mistified class for the first time in Knoxville. It was great. And the ladies loved it.  I realized that I needed to break it down. By the time we get to the middle of the class, techniques start to run together.

I forget that Glimmer Mist is new to so many people. I have been using it for three years. The basics are new, then to throw a little bit of me in the mix can make the class overwhelming. Having said that, I have spent this week revamping.

So with the suggestions from the ladies in Knoxville, we have an even better class.

Glimmer Mist De-Mistified

Everyone loves it! Now what do we do with it??? Are you ready to spray your heart out?  In this TECHNIQUE BASED class you will be making 10 5 ½ by 5 ½ tags with step by step instructions to reference on the back. Each tag is a beautiful mini layout. You will be able to refer back to your tags so that you can use the techniques over and over. You will learn how to color match Glimmer Mist to your favorite pattern papers. You will learn how to make your own background pages. We will use resist techniques in new and interesting ways. You will find a renewed love of your watercolor pencils, crayons, acrylic paint and stamps. We will be learning how to mask with traditional scrapbooking supplies.  We will also be using two mystery techniques. At the end of this TECHNIQUE BASED class you will leave looking to spray Glimmer Mist on anything that you can find.  Each participant will be able to customize page titles for your photos. 

So having said that, I am off and running to finish a wonderful piece for Altered Arts Magazine.

Stay sane and enjoy the Holiday weekend!

until we meet again,

Living below the Mason Dixon Line

Now y'all know that I am from NJ. I have moved to the South because I  can afford to have a nice big house and raise my kids.  The truth is that I still miss bagels, pizza and taylor ham.

When I got here, a few people spoke of the war of Northern Aggression. That's right you heard me some people are not over it yet. There are a number of lawns that are decorated with the black jockey holding a lantern.

But then you get an email like this from your good southern friends who remind you why you moved to the south in the first place. 

Thanks Amy!

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        FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Always bring the food.

        FRIENDS: Say yes that looks good on you...
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Say...what the hell are you wearing--get that off!

        FRIENDS: Will say 'hello'.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will give you a big hug and a kiss.

        FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Call your parents Mom and Dad

        FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Cry with you..

        FRIENDS: Will eat at your dinner table and leave.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will spend hours there, talking, laughing, and just
        being together.

        FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

        FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds' back-ends that left you.

        FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, 'I'm home!'

        FRIENDS: will visit you in jail
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: will spend the night in jail with you

        FRIENDS: will visit you in the hospital when you're sick
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: will cut your grass and clean your house then come
        spend the night with you in the hospital and cook for you when you come
        home

        FRIENDS: have you on speed dial
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: have your number memorized

        FRIENDS: Are for a while.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Are for life.

        FRIENDS: Might ignore this.
        SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will forward this to all their Southern Friends

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until we meet again,

What a crazy two weeks...

Can you say SUMMER!!!

Where do I start? I have had a crazy two weeks. Let me start in the middle.

OK, so I get on the road to go to Scrapbooks and More in Knoxville. When I get on the road, I have a routine. I have to stop get a Starbucks, gas and a cold drink from the gas station.

While the gas is pumping, I reach into my bag for my iPod to plug it up and guess what, it does not work. Now I just used it a few days ago while I was crafting.

I need to have my music when I drive. I listen to Steely Dan and Van Morrison and Earth, Wind and Fire while I drive. I have a plan. I have a set of songs that I have programed for the road.

I am in a panic why doesn't the iPod work. Apparently, I had left the heat gun running and zapped by iPod.

I should have known that it was going to be a bad ride right after that moment. But no, I kept the faith and kept moving.

Well three hours into the ride and about 30 miles outside of Knoxville, I hear this sound on the passenger side.

You got it, I had a flat tire. Well I get off at the next exit and pull into the McDonald's. I make a phone call and wait for my friend Melanie to call me.

She comes to get me, I pack up her car and off we go to teach class. After class, I call AAA and take the car to Wally World for a new tire.

Classes were fabulous and a good time was had by all.

As far as family goes, Ziggy quit the family again.

So my husband decided that if he quit, he had to leave and stripped him down naked and told him he could only leave with what he came into the world with.

Ziggy started to cry and I asked him what the problem was. He told me that he wanted to stay until he had a "better plan".

Chi-Chi wants school to start. She is tired of going to the pool. Yes, she is tired of the pool.

Mr. Du is ready to have "his own place" so that he does not have to clean up his room anymore.

Raising kids is a job and I have no time to do me. I must admit that I have been able to shower every day and that is a good thing.

I'm off to put music on my new iPod.

until we meet again,