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

Did Someone Say...

...jet lag?  Huh? Did they?  Cos my poor old bod surely heard it and has decided to take a trip to Sleepyville via SoDogTiredICouldSnoozleAllDay!  *they may be made up names!*   Anyways... guess what?  I am awake!  Not sure for how long but I am making the most of it.  So I tried the hot soak in the bath and relaxations thingy last night, didn't work, I was pinging off the walls until about 3am.  So this morning the cunning plan was to get up early (ish) when Grim came home from work at 7am and to stay awake ALLLLLLLL day long and then go to bed reasonable time tonight.  HA!  Fat chance of that!  Grim came home, woke me as I had requested, I grumbled at him and went back to sleep til about 8.30am.  Then I got up, had coffee and breakfast and lounged on the sofa, being a bit dozey.  And then Grim went to bed himself (he still on nights *boooohoooo*) and I decided to catch up on Enders - I had about 38 to watch - ok, I had 7 to watch - which I did... until I fell asleep and slept right through the end of one, right through the stuff after it and right until about 20 mins ago!  Whooops!  Anyways, I no likey this jet lag malarkey one bit!   So, I thought seeing as I promised a post, here is a post!  I am sharing my favest pics from my trip along with some that I took whilst at Ellen's when we went to visit The Queen....  each pic will have a caption :O))

 

How cool is this?  A bus stop outside the hotel!!!  Just for us!!!

And a few pics of my fave girlies - who all made CHA such a blast...

Me and Ellen... check out my necklace, tis actually Ellen's necklace, it is GORGEOUS *didn't snaffle it away though lol*

The Ranger Gals - L-R: Linda, Yvonne, Me, Candy & Cheryl

Gals on Film - Ellen, Anita, Me & Candy on THE red carpet steps

Candy, Me & Ellen, first morning, suffering from earache from all the dolphin squealing I was doing

The genius that is Wendy Vecchi - I know - you seen it already but....

 

 

So!  On Day 1 we were all waiting up in the Convention Center, waiting on CHA opening... whilst waiting guess who we bumped into?  Only Gentleman Jim, the WONDER that is Jim Hankins... I mean, really, you seen his art? No?  HERE is his blog, take a cuppa with you, you will be some time.  Anyways, some little divvy from Wellingborough decided that she would pull a funny face behind Jim & Candy who were having their photo taken... little did she realise that it would show up, I thought, I really did think, that I was behind Jim so I wouldn't show... sorry Jim and Candy for mucking your photo up, lesson learnt, I shalln't be photo-bombing anymore rofl  And the gorgeous red head behind Candy?  The one and only Linda Ledbetter... she is a doll!

Hels always knew how to spoil a beautiful photo!

 And then wow, I bumped into the one and only Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door... that was mega exciting because I have just joined her 2013 DT - and she is Australian, I love Australians cos they have the best accent (and it is the land of the Cherry Ripe too!)  Rachel is so lovely and she brought me some gorgeous goodies to play with...

Rachel from Darkroom Door.. I could listen to her talk all day long.

And then I saw Tim and Mario and like a thorn between two roses, we posed for the camera!

 

And finally... Ellen made *ahem* me queue for 371 hours to get our charac carach charcarac, ahem, sketches done... I reckon I look ever so evil - like I am sitting on Ellen's shoulder whispering dirty jokes in her ear... as if I would do that.... *snort*

So.  Once we had got back to Ellen's we just had to go and visit Queen Patti from The Queen's Ink.  This is one of my fave shops, it is chocccccc full of goodies and the artwork on display is totes-amazebobs... here's Ellen with one of her gorgeous Dylusions tags:

Whilst we were there we bumped into Ellen's dear friend Connie - she is adorable, I love her to bits..and her eyes, I say it all the time but... she has the most beautiful soulful eyes... so I decided that a photo must be taken... and just to fool about a bit, a daft photo too... please don't ask how I managed to cross just the one eye... it makes me hurt just to think about it rofl

Here are Ellen and Connie - forever friends...

And then I nabbed a photo opportunity with Queen Patti... and of course, we had to have a mad one too...

And lunch at The Ram's Head... ooohlalalaaaaa... their onion rings are the stuff of legends, along with the delish chipotle sauce... nomnomnomnomnom...

So, that's all for today... I shall be back at 5am tomorrow with a tag that I made during a real life I Challenge Thee Recipe Crafting Do... and Ellen is blogging hers at midnight her time (5am here...)   I shall close by saying a big big thank you to everyone who made my trip so wonderful and memorable... to Candy for being the big sister I always wanted, to Cheryl for making it happen, to Anita for that wonderful trip and the side splitting laughs, to Ellen & Jack for being incredibly kind and putting up with me for all that time... and finally to my Grim for being such an amazing husband and letting me go and do my thing in America, he is a one in a million!   Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

P.S... Alfie is now talking to me, think he still lurves his Mummy

Hurray For Hollywood... & Good Morning Baltimore!

...or, as I would say it... hurrah and thrice for Hollywood!  Day 4 of CHA dawned bright and early and saw us going to say our goodbyes to all the lovely peeps we had met over the weekend... and... how's about this... I got... a signed set of Tim stamps! Signed by Tim of course lol  I cannot wait to play with them, which might just happen later today as we have an inky afternoon and evening planned.  Anyways.  Once we had said our goodbyes to the convention, we set off on a rather exciting expedition to LA.  HOOOGE thanks to Anita who organised and arranged our excursion, seriously, this is one of the most amazing things I have ever done... our driver, Trevor, was a veritable mine of information and knew all the best places to take us.  Here are just a few of the photo's that I took:

Check this one out..... our first glimpse of the Hollywood sign... 

And of course, no trip would be complete without the company of our Freckles.  He is still a smidge sad because he is missing Pinky, I think he was a tad smitten you know ;O))

Our first stop was at the Dolby Theater (note American spelling, cos, you know, it is American) It used to be the Kodak Theater and when Kodak went bust a few years ago, Dolby took it over.  It is where the Oscars are held you know!

And here are we girlies, all posing because we are on the actual stairs that actual stars walk on to get to the Oscars!  We were all supposed to be looking up but ...erm... I got neckache and decided to spoil it rofl

Next we went to the Walk of Fame.  The actual Walk of Fame!  I did a few dolphin like squeals... I can't describe just how exciting it was to be standing there, on that street, with all those iconic stars in the pavement (sidewalk)

But imagine this, the dolphin squealing reached a crescendo when we turned a corner and saw this...

Yep, Mann's Chinese Theater... WOW... and thrice WOW!

And look at some of the handprints... these are just a couple of the famous names... Bette Davis, the star of my favourite film,  Now, Voyager and Cary Grant, star of many a woman's dreams :O))

And Ellen and I  recreated a very famous pose... how cool is that!!!

Another shot of the Hollywood sign...

And after a quick pitstop for lunch, we returned to the car to find this little fella tucking into my stash of Cheeto's!  Mmm, guilty look on his face!

Next we drove up into Beverley Hills and stopped outside none other than the Playboy mansion - we didn't linger too long because old Hugh might have spotted us and tried to keep us all there (ahem...)  After driving through Bel Air and seeing the home of Gene Simmonds from Kiss... and spotting him driving past us, and seeing the home where Michael Jackson passed away... and Janet Jackson's modest 42 bedroom palace (ok, slight exagerations there but it is mahooosive)... we ventured on to Santa Monica Pier.

Where the funniest thing in the world happened.  So, Candy says "I gonna buy you all a Churro... "  So, what is a Churro?  It is a long crispy donut stick with cinnamon and sugar coating... oohlalaaaa...nomnomnom.  That is the noise I made just before saying "Oh you dirty b******d"... when we were pooped on by humungous seagulls. Apparently, they too like Churro's!  I got lucky and only got the poop on my hand and shoulder, poor Anita with her beautiful long locks got it all in her hair!  Dirty little scavengers they are!  Mind you, it was so funny we were holding each other up cos we were laughing so hard... Here I am with my Churro... I know, it is ever so slighly rude but....

And oh boy was it cold and windy... you can see in this pic how chilly it was, Candy and Anita look frozen!  The blue skies more than made up for the cold  though, it is hard to be grumpy when the skies are this blue...

As we were walking along the pier we were browsing in some of the little shops along the way when I found these... especially for our Kaz who loves her moustaches... how cool are these sunglasses!

One thing I love about America is their patrotism.  To see their flag flying makes me smile, I think we Brits should take a leaf our of their book and fly our flag more... instead of just when England are playing footy or there's a Jubilee going on!

Then it was time to say goodbye to California and to my beautiful CHA Sisters.  I had the best experience at CHA but without a shadow of a doubt, those girls made it perfect.  So a hooooooge, big, mahoosive, ginormous thank you to Ellen, Candy, Anita, Linda, Cheryl, Yvonne and Susan for making the weekend so fun filled and for making me laugh so much I couldn't breathe.  Here's Anita and me, acting the goat as usual... 

So, Wednesday saw us all flying off to our various destinations and I hopped on a couple of planes to get to Baltimore - it was a shame that Ellen and I couldn't get on the same flight but we made it, eventually.  When I got to the airport, Ellen's hubby Jack was waiting for me... with this sign (and he hand drew this too... clever!)  I fair pee'd my pants when I saw it... something tells me that my addiction to Cheesy Chester Cheeto's isn't a secret...

Anyways... yesterday we went off to Five Guys for the best burger in the world (really, truly, THE best!) and then we went and did a little *ahem* browsing in Michael's, AC Moore and Bath & Body Works where I subjected the poor sales assistants to some proper Yorkshire charm - well they did ask me to tell them some rude words that we Brits used so the venerable word "chuff" had to be used right?  Today we are off to see Queen Patti at The Queen's Ink - a smidge more browsing *ahem* and then lunchingtons at The Rams Head where they do the most amazing Chipotle chicken (yes, tis all about the stash and the food!) I best get a wiggle on... I am in full on lazy-mode at the moment lol   Thanks for looking... have a good day!  I Skyped Grim earlier and he showed me the snow!  Wow, you all have snow... I am hoping it is still there when I get back on Tuesday - I need to build a snowman lol   TTFN!

Hels x

CHA - The Great Adventure - Day 3

...corrrrrr, I was planning to blog earlier but I got distracted with a little trip to LA and Hollywood (more of that tomorrow) but better late than never shall be the motto!  I am gonna jump right in with the pics and then add a few captions - it is gone midnight and we have to be up and ready for the airport shuttle at 5.40am for our flights back to Baltimore... and I still have the rest of my packing to do (you should see how many bags of Cheeto's I have!)  Anyways... enough waffles.... and here's the pics:

As promised, the view from our hotel room window... mountains... with snow... and palm trees blowing in the rather chilly wind... gorgeous though

 

The amazing eclectic array of treasure on the Idea-ology booth

 


And here are some names you will recognise - our Kaz and Kate's art for the Ranger designers challenge...

Kaz, Kate and Gentleman Jim's work

And some really cool steampunk stuff on the Graphic 45 booth

We headed out to Morton's Steakhouse on Monday evening - a last evening reunion with my Ranger sisters... and Yvonne brought her little travel companion Pinky along with her.  Well, Freckles wasted NO time at all chatting her up and moving in for a snog.... he is smitten...

And he is a fast mover... cheeky little rascal...

Imagine how cute the babies would be though... pink and leopard spots... am I too young to be a Nanna?

Anyways... Tuesday was the last day of the show so after a quick nip around the Ranger and Stampers Anonymous booth, we headed out for the day on a fabulous tour of LA and Beverly Hills and Bel Air... stopping off in Santa Monica... I shall share those pics tomorrow though... There are a lot!   I am heading off to get 40 winks now... Ellen's on a different flight to me and has two layovers on her way back to Baltimore... I am lucky, I only have the one in Atlanta... I am getting about on this trip!  Also, I have got the croakiest voice and the sorest throat... I think it is an excess of hilarity and yakking combined with not drinking enough and this glorious California air which is completely damp free.   CHA was an amazing event and I hope that I will be able to come again one day... thank you all for your lovely comments and sorry I haven't be able to reply to you all individually... I am hoping to catch up Sunday Stamper entries on Thursday!  Thanks for looking... have a good day y'all (went a smidge American then lol)  TTFN

Hels x