WE TURNED A DREAM INTO REALITY

It took over a year to plan.  

In total, we traveled 20,350 miles (32,558km) to make it happen! 

On October 18, 2014, six card hobby blogging BABES met in real life! BABES stands for Benevolent Association of Beloved Esteemed Stampers....and here we are:

Meeting for the first time!

From left to right (seated) is Anita from France, me (Geri) from Manitoba, Canada, & Ardyth from Ontario, Canada. Standing left to right are Kim and Darnell, both from California, USA, and Bev from Wisconsin, USA.  We're not sure where the muscle man in the background is from!

Here are just a few pics of our fun adventure! There will be more once my camera makes its way home! I forgot the dang thing on the counter at the lake house! THANKFULLY Bev and Anita noticed it and rescued it for me. 

             
      Crafting in pj's - great!                Snowflake" - the resident Albino squirrel with pink eyes!


              

Is she (or perhaps he) not the sweetest thing ever? 

                   

                  

'Some' of our supplies....nice & tidy on Day 1....Day 7 did NOT look like this!

Yes...2 pairs of reading glasses!

  
Ardyth, Kim & Anita enjoying a sunny, crafty afternoon.



Anita, Darnell, Ardyth & Kim




Anita, Bev, Kim and Ardyth checking out some on-line craft stores.



Darnell & Anita, relaxing and snapping some beautiful scenery pictures!



Early morning crafting!


I've edited my post to copy & paste this MAGNIFICENT picture from Kim's blog! Not only is she an incredibly talented card artist, but the girl takes a mean photo! Thanks Kim!


Another fabulous picture 'borrrowed' from Kim's blog!

The week flew by so fast!  We talked, we laughed, we sang, we drank copious amounts of coffee, we went out for dinner every night (hey....it`s a holiday), we snacked, we toured, and we crafted. My return trip totaled 2771 kilometers/1731 miles which translates to approximately 28 hours of highway driving...but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Six women - complete strangers in real life, best friends in blog land....and now friends forever!

We turned a dream into reality! 

The Card Concept Challenge #22

This week we have a theme for you to try! You must use the theme and create your card in one of the styles of the designers. 

Welcome back to another fun challenge! This inspiration photo is all about fall!  The colors, the barn board wagon, the bittersweet berries, dried leaves and twigs. I found inspiration in the fabulous stained glass window tucked behind the lovely pumpkin display.

This delightful pumpkin is a silhouette cut file that seems to mimic the pieces of glass in the stained glass window.   If you look closely you can see the 'shadow' that I created by cutting & off-set layering a darker colored pumpkin behind the top layer. A very nice effect in real life. 

My apologies for the quality of the photo! I am currently camera-less until such time as my 'forgotten but found' camera arrives back in Manitoba from my recent crafting adventure in Prior Lake, Minnesota with five amazing ladies. You can read all about our adventure in this post.

We have been enjoying fabulous responses to our challenges at CCC! Thanks so much for sharing your creations with us! We truly appreciate your enthusiasm and support :)

Happy crafting!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY!

Our very kind, very sweet, and very, VERY talented friend Shirley is celebrating her birthday today! I'm thrilled to be a part of what will likely be one of the biggest b-day celebrations blog land has seen!  

Shirley is known far & wide for her amazing cards which often feature her paint splatting/splooching/smooshing techniques as well as 'hand doodled' images & lines that would leave Picasso drooling with envy!

But wait - it doesn't stop there! Shirley is also designing stamps! You can find her stamp sets here.

A "Shirley card" wouldn't be a "Shirley card" without a doodle or two! I've gotta say that I was stepping waaaaaay outside of my 'straight line' kind of world with the 'doodling'.....and found it fun and rather liberating! Thanks Shirley!

Our sweet, talented friend Maria is hosting the party, so head on over to join the birthday festivities!

Celebrating Shirley's birthday card making event with a few pals was double fun!

Do you think a few of us may have had a taste or two of the wine in honor of the birthday girl?  Maaaaaaybe......

A big thank you to Darnell for providing me with a picture of my card and to Anita & Bev who rescued my camera from the kitchen counter, whilst I drove home oblivious to the fact that I had forgotten said camera!

Fusion Card Challenge - October 9th

HOME  

... where your story begins. 

How appropriate for a young couple starting a life together in their new home!

Danny's niece/Godchild Samantha ("Sammy Jo Jean Jumping Bean" as she is affectionately called) is an amazing young woman.  She is kind, caring, considerate, smart, pretty as ever and an absolute delight to be around. Sammy has had one incredible year....graduated with a teaching degree, got engaged to an amazing young man, had a wedding social and a shower, bought a house and have a December 27th wedding planned!

This card was another quick & easy project thanks to my Silhouette using....are you ready for this....patterned paper! For those that don't know me - I really struggle with patterned paper, so seldom use it! The letters are cut from side one, the heart  from side two (3 layers popped up with dimensional tape).

I haven't played in a challenge for what seems like forever, so I did a quick tour of my favorite sights and found this awesome FUSION sketch. 

I've chosen to use just the sketch, however, I suspect that my card might be one of those "almost/sort of fits card" so....Fusion ladies...If I have strayed too far from the sketch, please disregard my entry.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting!

THE CARD CONCEPT CHALLENGE #20

Don't you just LOVE the colors and all the fun stuff in this latest CCC challenge? Honestly, my poor old brain was spinning so fast I darn near toppled off my chair!  

Needless to say, it took me a fair bit of time to decide which direction to go with my card. I finally chose to focus on a 'less busy' version of the black & white checkered table cloth (hence the simple hand drawn lines) as well as the vibrant orange from the color palette.

The bold sentiment and the sweet wee pumpkin are Silhouette files, each sporting three layers to create some nice depth & dimension.

That's it! Easy peasy and relatively quick to assemble, especially if you have striped paper on hand (which I did not!).

We would love to have you join us for this challenge and look forward to seeing what part of the photo will inspire you!

Happy crafting!