Could Have Been A Whole Lot...

...worse! Or better, depends which way you look at it!  So, you know I went to CHA and then to Ellen's?  I may have mentioned it several hundred times!  Well, you have all been saying how you want to see the stash I got over there.  Sadly it wasn't as much as I would have liked - believe me, I could have done some serious damage to plastic in Michael's but... I was very well behaved and restrained.  I know! A first!  And... some of the stash was gifted... but first, let me tell you about last time I went to Ellen's - when I decided to over stuff my suitcase with Studio 490 stash and ten tonnes of Cheesy Chester Cheeto's.  Well, I got to the baggage drop and the nice lady said "Ma'am, this is very heavy!"  It was... like 29.8kg heavy!  So this time I decided to travel light and therefore reduce the excess baggage cost from £60 to zero.  And then I got some Cheeto's given to me from Candy and Yvonne... and some pressies... and then I decided that if I used my brain, I could use a roll-on trolley case jobby as my handluggage, therefore increasing the weight ratio for Cheesy Chester Cheeto hauling.  Which is what I did!  I usually travel light in the hand luggage dept because I have to be careful with the old war wound.  But everyone, I mean everyone, who I flew with had the roll-on trolley cases that were stuffed full and very obviously it was the only way to go.  So Jack went to Walmart and got a roll-on case for me for $12... which I then put some of my stashly goodies into... here it is... obviously I have posed some of the things for the piccie, some were in my case I hasten to add!

The Tissue Tape Roller jobby... $2.49 reduced in Michael's.. result!!

I was incredibly lucky at CHA - I was invited with Creative Expressions' Sue Wilson and Lysanne McCallion to a private demo with Ranger - so that meant we could watch Mackie from Vintag - WOW, I NEEEEEED those Patina's, my paint heroine Claudine Hellmuth - you should just sit and watch one of her Vids - she is awesome... I loves her... and then the luscious Dyan Reaveley, how sad is this? I have never seen Dyan demo or been to one of her classes... so I travel 6000 miles to see her rofl  Oh and some bloke called Tim *snort*  OMG, watching Tim demo-ing the brand spanking new Distress Paints... be still my fluttering heart... not only does Tim just have a really special way of demo-ing, those paints... ohlalalaaaa... I was positively drooling!  And then... the generous chaps at Ranger gave us a little goodie bag!  In it were two new Paints, two Patina's, two Dyan's brand new Ink Sprays and one of Claudine's new stencils... and two new Stains and a Ranger pinny that I gave to Ellen as a thank you for putting up with my snoring in the hotel room.   Then on the Tuesday morning we went to say goodbye to everyone and Tim was only doing a stamp signing!!! So, I nabbed this set of stamps... signed!!! How chuffing excited am I!!!

And the Wonder that is Wendy Vecchi gave me some fabby Blossom Bucket embellies AND her new Gold and Silver Embossing Pastes... which I LOVE and highly recommend to everyone... you needs them!!  And then... Mr Stampers Anonymous gave me a few sets of Wendy's new Art Parts, some stamps and some new Stencils For Art.  Seriously, those guys are so generous and I am over the moon that I can make some samples with them right away!

Plus Cheesy Chester Cheeto's and Dove chocolate for Grim went into the case... and the art I had made and been given, the GORGEOUS Blossom Bucket Studio 490 pen holder that Ellen bought me and the hilarious nodding head Chester Cheetah that Jack bought me... how cool is he!!! He is so going to be on Ferdy's dashboard!  And I got some ART given to me too... Ellen made the cool canvas - see her BLOG HERE for the post where she shows how she made it.  The loverly and ever so talented Anita Houston gave me some Texas Trash (ahem, eaten it!) and this gorgeous ATC... and Terry Quinn.. bless, I got to meet her at Ellen's playdate on Saturday and she gave me this beaut of an ATC.. she is a whizz with the Gelli Plate.  And finally, Patti Parrish - check out her blog - she made me the most beautiful pendant from glass... it is around my neck so I haven't got the photo of that yet.. you will see it... a very lot.. for I am refusing to remove it!!!

Clark Bars - Nomnomnomnomnom

Anyways... as well as getting a few embellies at Michael's, we had to go to Bath & Body Works for some smellies... I LOVE their Sweet Pea and Secret Wonderland goodies.  Now, whilst browsing said store, the shop girls came over and asked me to talk dirty to them!  Well, actually, they wanted to know a rude word in English... so I told them all about the word "chuff" and how I use it all the time in place of any kind of swear word... they were enamoured with said word!  And I made my purchases and pleaded with the God of the Overweight Suitcase to be kind.  Uh-oh!  When we got to the bag drop at Baltimore Airport the lady was putting the luggage tab onto the case and she said "Oh Ma'am, your case is too heavy, take something out"   YIKES!!! The cunningness of the plan had backfired!!!   So, alas, I had to jetison some Cheesy Chester Cheeto's :O(  I know! I only managed to bring back about 10 packets (albeit, some big and some ickle) so Ellen said she will box up the remaining ones and send them on!  Result!!!  So, there you have it.  I didn't buy much and was incredibly lucky to be gifted so much fabulousness... including my new Gelli Plate that was a Xmas pressie from Ellen... as you know I was playing with it the other day... and I Facebooked this photo but I shall share it with you here... it is ...erm... a smidge rude but, as God is my witness, this is how the paint went when I started to Brayer it... TRUE!  I also have Ellen, Patti and Connie as my witnesses too!  I think it looks a bit like a carrot and a couple of tomatoes... ahem... quite!  

Oh and I meant to show you this the other day... so I went up to my room the other night to get my phone... and I found JoeCat Vargo on the phone to his British Cousin AlfieCat... they were most definitely plotting something.... I can see World Domination in his eyes lol

 
As quick as you could blink, he went back to looking cute!!!

Right, I shall away... I have given up trying to get back into UK time.  Well, Grim is on nights and today when he gets home he has finished for the weekend so I figure that he will go to bed first thing in the morning and get up about mid-day... so I can do that too and then we can be nightowls together... so it is a late one for me tonight (I am writing this on Thursday night... if that makes sense... don't try to suss it out... it hurt my brain doing that lol)   Thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x