Since I had so much fun meeting and getting to know people at CHA I thought I would share a little about myself while working on projects for my first book deadline. Which by the way let me just state now… it is so hard not sharing my techniques and projects!

So here is little unknown fact about me…

When I was in the 3rd grade. I won first place in a State Fair art contest. During my last visit to see my Mom and Dad, Mom pulled out my winning art piece. She has been saving this since 1973!

I remember making this like it was yesterday. Mrs. McDonald had each of her students randomly paint 7 areas on a white sheet of paper using watercolor paint. She then had us create a picture from our watercolor designs. Well… I instantly thought flowers so I got busy with my crayons drawing flowers, stems and leaves and filling in the background. I drew my vase on a piece of construction paper, cut it out and glued it on…. Bam I was done, never thinking a thing about my project. Well a few days later Mrs. McDonald had me come up to her desk and asked if she could enter my piece in the State Fair art contest. I remember thinking if I had known this in advance I might would have thought this out a bit more… not much has changed there just ask Caroline. I am always, always, always second guessing my work. I reluctantly told her yes and well to my surprise I won first place.

I’m sure Mrs. McDonald has passed on as she retired from teaching the very next year but she still lives in my thoughts. She was such a wonderful teacher and all who had her as a teacher were blessed.

Wendy Vecchi!!!

Lets see a little over a year ago I saw her work online in the 2Peas gallery, snagged her up and got her on the design team for Maya Road and what was she doing at CHA-S? Debuting her own stamp line through Stampers Anonymous called Studio 490!!!

I am so over the moon excited for her I can hardly stand it. Wendy’s stamps are large cling mounted stamps (I think there are 24 all together) and she has a really cool clear album to store them in when not in use. Oh and not only was she debuting her own stamp line, she was also doing demos for Ranger using Perfect Pearls which now I have got to start using cause they are so cool. I just needed a little jump start to get me going. Seriously they are COOL! I think I am going to have to beg her to let me come and visit for a creative weekend. I’m sure Rick can handle two crazy creative gals for one weekend.

Oh and I love how the catalog shows finished projects using Wendy’s Studio 490 stamp sets. So I had to share…. check these out. For those of us who are beginner stampers this is a wonderful jump start for ideas.

Yep my friend… I am so happy for you. Congrats. You so deserve all the wonderful things coming your way.

I have been such a bad blogger… I admit it. CHA kicked my booty while I was there and once I got home. But it was so fun getting to see old friends and make new ones during the make n takes in the Maya Road booth. Which if you weren’t there and don’t know… it was INSANE I tell ya. Fun but insane. Everyone loved using the new Maya Mists so much that we scrapped our day 3 make n take and did an improv Maya Mists make n take.

I must admit I am pretty stuck on the new Maya Mists as well. The coverage of these mists is incredible and the fun part is they have 8 colors (black, brown, blue, green, red, orange, pink and purple) that gives off a matte finish and 3 metallics (gold, silver and copper) that have the best shimmer. So if you want to add some sparkle you can lightly add the gold, silver or copper on top of the matte colors or completely cover the chipboard in a solid shimmer you have either option. Super cool. I could talk and talk and talk about this new product.

Actually I think I will talk some more about these… and tell you how we did our make n takes at CHA. We used the Maya Road Sheer Die Cut Sheets cut in 1/4’s and some Maya Road Chipboard Sets as masks. We used pages from several of the many Maya Road Chipboard Coaster Albums, placed one of the cut sheer sheet templates on top of the chipboard page, sprayed the Maya Mist Orange on top (hold about 6″ from the page for best overall coverage),  removed the Sheer Die Cut Sheet and sprayed the Maya Mist Metallic Gold on top of the masked chipboard page. It is beautiful.

(this photo was taken before adding the black outlines and white sharpie poster paint to the sheer blossom. My finished version image is lost in space.)

Then we added some embossed polka dots using the snap setting on a crop a dile to some Sheer Blossoms inked them using Ranger’s Alcohol Inks, added a Maya Road Button and some Trinkets Ribbon for the hanger and that was it… super easy and super fun. These would make really fun make n takes in your store to demo the products. Once the Maya Mists are compeletly dry you can then outline the designs on the chipboard using  the Inkssentials White Opaque Pen by Ranger (my absolute most favorite white pen ever) and a black pen. To fill in your embossed polka dots on your Sheer Blossom you can use a White Sharpie Poster Paint Pen and then accent it using some Crystal or Diamond Stickles.

In a few days I will post a make n take using a page from a Maya Road Chipboard Coaster with some pieces from a Maya Road Chipboard Set as a mask. Then I plan on posting some about me posts. While at CHA I realized most don’t really know the non-scrapper me so I thought it would be fun to do a few posts about some of my other hobbies and such.

Wishing you all a great day.

My projects are packed and the last load of laundry is out of the dryer so now all I need to do is pack. I thought before I left I would share one last post showcasing more new Maya Road products. I made this little ornament from a few pages from their new Butterfly Coaster album… notice that adorable embossed cover.

And…. look at this wonderful new product… Maya Road now carries acrylic albums. This one is their new Square Scallop album. It measures 4″ square and has 6 pages. These are great to interchange with their Square Scallop Chipboard Album.

and that cute little chubby cheeked redhead turned into this beautiful teenager.

I wish I could show you photos of my oldest daughter but hmmm, she doesn’t let me take photos of her… I know she reads my blog so maybe I can shame her into a few snapshots when I get back from CHA. Love you Terri.

this is my favorite Maya Road binder. Well I say this now but I’m sure Caroline and Deb will come up with another design I love even more. But for now… this one is my favorite. I love the shape so much. The pages from this album are what I used to create the base for my “Welcome to our nest” wall hanging.

I tell ya Caroline and Deb outdid themselves. Don’t forget to check out Maya Road’s company blog for lots of sneak peeks. There are some fabulous projects from the design team showcasing many of the new release items.  Make sure you leave a comment too because you want to have a chance at winning some of this great new stuff.