Stampfest Part Two

I've finally recovered from my trip to Florida and back.  Working in the Just For Fun booth was as much fun as ever.  This is Shayla who visits me every year for the Friday Night Make & Take Party as well as both days for the make & takes in the JFF booth.  Seriously, she's been coming for about 6 years now and this time, she warned me she's in training to replace me!  Can you see that blue in her hair?  There were 3 gals with that very shade of blue in their hair although all of them swear they started out with a different shade, and no, they didn't know one another.

This is Shayla with her Mom and Grandmother.  Not sure where her Aunt Paula is, but trust me, these 4 gals can cover a convention, repeatedly, for 2 days, and every time they pass by, they're still smiling, always taking a minute to stop and chat, and shop!  Great customers and great friends. 

See what I mean about the blue hair?   Not sure if this is a FL thing or not, but I haven't seen it here in NC.

Leslie and Carolyn look pretty happy, don't they?  A couple of brave souls who played in class with me and survived to visit the booth afterward.  Real troopers!

This is Karen who comes to play each year, and every year I tell her she has a twin in Apex NC who was a nurse in my doctor's office.  Wish I knew how to contact Cindy to show her this photo.

Pardon the blurred passerby, but I wanted you to see that smile.  Standing in line for a chance to make a card isn't the most fun you'll ever have at a rubber stamp convention, but these ladies are real troopers.

This is Danielle who told me about a great find on sheet music books, so fingers are crossed that she's really going to send me a box through the mail.

Tracy took my card making class and came by the booth on Saturday to tell me how much she'd enjoyed the class.  But more importantly, she brought along 2 of the cards she'd made, telling me she'd stayed up until 2 am putting her own spin on the technique.  I was busy with the make & takes but now I wish I'd taken a photo of her cards while I was snapping this one of her jewelry which matched her outfit so beautifully.

Now don't they look happy?  Wish I'd taken a good photo of the seahorse cards they were making all day on Sunday.  Unfortunately my one attempt was too blurry to show.

Wish you could've been there to play with us.  Truly.  You'd have been smiling too, playing with all those markers, making a nice card or two and resting your weary self before bouncing up to do a bit more shopping.

I was smiling on Saturday morning, but I was totally sleep deprived.  I'd taught a class on Friday from 12-2 followed by a second class from 3-5, and then without lunch or dinner I was back downstairs at 6:30 to lead a table for the make & take party.  Trust me, I didn't look any better on Sunday morning since Bonnie & I went to Buffalo Wild Wings after midnight for my very late supper.  And if anyone tells you their mild sauce is mild, run fast and far, because it's not true!    Makes my eyes water even now, just thinking about it.

See Leslie and Carolyn down at the end of the table?  This was during my card making class with 20 brave souls who swore they enjoyed the class and the techniques.

There's Danielle at the end of the table and Tracy 2 seats from the end.  That intense blue must be her signature color.

If you're a stamper you'll understand that sometimes you just have to stand up.

See what I mean?  Wish I'd taken photos in my other 2 classes, but alas, I was running around, setting out supplies, too busy with way too much ink on my hands to grab a camera. 

Thanks to all who came to play.  Hope you had as much fun as me!

Stampfest with Just For Fun Rubber Stamps

There's one great thing about visiting Orlando at the end of June each year, and that's all the great friends you get to play with over the course of 4 days. 

My roommate this year was Bonnie, sitting right below me on the right, and what a funny little bird she turned out to be.  Sure hope she's my roomie next year!

Don't you just love this card?  This was our make & take project at the Friday Night Party where about 120 brave souls raced from room to room, table to table, in an attempt to complete all the projects while still leaving time for divine cakes served out in the covered courtyard area.

Here's that very same card but with a totally different color palette, one I think I actually prefer.  Of course I had to bring this stamp home with me.

This tree and flower were my favorites at the Just For Fun booth.  They had other sample cards on display in the booth, but the colors on this one stole my heart.  Brought these home too.

 

 

 

This new Stamptangle apple was available in 2 sizes; I chose the smaller of the 2.  You know you love it as much as I do; admit it!

Another new image, also available in 2 sizes, and again I went with the smaller of the two.  Love the sample card made by Sandy where she layered the pumpkin.  Have to try that myself.

This one is a favorite from last year.  I bought it to stamp in black over one of my background creations, but don't you love it with all that detailed color?

How much do you love this card above?  The image was repeated to create that background.  Yes, I got one of these too.

I didn't get any of the chicken stamps, but just check out the difference it makes in the one with the zebra stripes when you add different colors.  Amazing.

Aren't all these samples fabulous?  Debby and Rick have a great team of worker bees creating these and hundreds more which are displayed beautifully in their booth.  If you're coming to the Winston Salem NC show on July 19th, bring your camera!  You're always welcome to take photos for inspiration.  Just as I've done with all these and more.

And this is Jackie, the Queen who designed all these Stamptangle images.  What a creative mind!


I'll be back with more photos from my classes and the gals who came by the booth on Saturday & Sunday for my make & take cards.  So many lovely people made me forget about the humidity and heat and those thunderstorms outside while we stayed inside to play.

Before the Heat Chases Me Inside

Note to self...think about the reflection in the front door when taking photos.  But these are my new urns, courtesy of the antique store on Salem Street.  Mind you they've already been moved around a bit, but still...quite pleased with these.

This photo was taken as I stepped out the door onto our second floor deck.  Those 2 crepe myrtle trees were purchased a couple of years ago at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Use Center for just $3 each.  Can you believe it?  And now they reach beyond the deck, offering us privacy while shading the patio below.  But I actually wanted you to notice my asparagus fern, which pretty much blends right in to the background.

Like my two little lanterns?  They hold suspended tea light candles, and when lit at night, the holes create patterns of light that's just very subdued yet striking.

All these lovely plants were purchased at the farmers market a few weeks back.  Just love the mix of colors, textures & heights.

Another fern, plus more potted plants.  The large one in the corner was from the market, but the 2 smaller ones were planted my me, with plants purchased at the Apex Wal-Mart, if you can believe it.

And the pot on the left with all the broken pottery affixed to the terra cotta was done by me and the hubby a few years ago.  We have tons of broken crockery in the basement and need to do more.

And yes, I need to put the cushions back on the furniture when taking photos of the back deck.  Duly noted.

Shopping and Building Class Kits

 

Sunday afternoon we stopped at the local antique shop where I proceeded to spend lots of cash.  It all began with this very old ledger, dating to the early 1900's. 

The spine was horribly worn, with pages barely attached, but of course since I plan to tear them out for collage classes, it really didn't matter to me.  I worked my way to the front of that glorious old store to inquire about a price and he asked what I was willing to pay.  I said I'd love to get it for $15.  His eyebrows raised and he said he was thinking $50, so I knew he'd be keeping it for a very long time.

But he came back after all and countered with $20 cash and it was SOLD immediately.

Now take a look at that new purchase (on the left) and my flea market purchase from 2 weeks ago in the center.  Asking price for this one on a late Sunday afternoon was $35 but I paid $18, again quick cash changing hands before anyone changed their mind. 

Not sure if you can see the difference in penmanship or not between the two, but the oversized journal makes me yearn for a chance to repeat elementary school, spending a bit more time on my cursive.

My other purchases at the antique store were 2 very tall urns for my front porch and a grinding wheel, old and dirty, marked down to $35 from $50, but we got it for $30.  No idea where we'll put it, but when was the last time you saw one?  For me, the answer was never.

Will have to take a photo of the urns for you.  You'll be impressed too.  Didn't even haggle on those.  However we were on that tiny Mercedes with the retractable top, which of course filled the trunk.  So the top went back up, one urn, the wheel and the ledger went into the trunk, and then I climbed in and they squeezed the urn down between my feet for me to share space with for the 3 block drive home. 

It was 15 minutes past closing time but he was so pleased that he made $100 cash, he said to call ahead next time and he'd put cones out to block the parking spot at his front door for us!  We were very fortunate that (a) it was available on Sunday, and that (b) I wasn't the one who had to do the parallel parking to squeeze into it.

I found these 3 ledgers back in April at an antique festival and I'm thinking these will become altered books, leaving them as is since the bindings are good, but altering the pages.

Again, admiring that penmanship.  It speaks to me.  Can you hear it?

That same festival is where I buy my stamps and the above photo shows bundles of stamps from India, plus packets of butterfly stamps I knew I could use for collage kits.

What I didn't expect to find was this gold mine...a box filled with hundreds...probably thousands of foreign stamps.  The collector had died and a friend of the widow was asked if he could sell them.  He wanted $50 for the entire box and I got it for $40.  We were both thrilled!

They've been sorted by country and while part of me likes to pull them out and admire them while I can still see those noted, I'm itching to dump them altogether in my container of foreign stamps.  Something about this sorted packaging is preventing me from actually using them, and let's face it, I'm a stamp collector of rubber stamps! 

Do you see these 2 bamboo bowls of keys I found that day?  They were a steal!  2 bags of keys for $5 per bag!!  This is unheard of for keys.  Most places want anywhere from $2 to $8 per key, especially for skeleton keys. 

Just look at these babies!  Teeny little keys in all shapes.  Makes my heart sing every time I see them.  And it's worth the dirty hands to dump them out and plunder through them. 

On a closing note, I should've looked at last year's blog post and I'd have discovered the birthday boy was only 82 this year.  We began serving cake with the 83 cut off first!

Mind you, I couldn't have even a bite but everyone raved about how wonderful it was, making me miss it even more.

The last piece of birthday cake with buttercream icing that I tasted was tiny tot's cake with the very blue icing in February.  Had I known it was going to be my last, I'd have ordered an entire cake just for myself.  We'll chat about this celiac business another day.