Stamping 101 - Crafting with the Ladies Part 2

So I told you I'd be back with details about the second crafty gathering I ran recently and here I am.  My other recent gathering was for my mother in law.  Through my years in the family, I have gotten her into stamping & card making.  She's always been very crafty, but I really got her hooked with stamping & card making.  It's a really fun thing we share (I got my sister in law into it too).  So holidays, birthdays, etc. are always lots of fun to see what cards each other has made.

Well, my mother in law shares her cards (and ours) with her friends as well.  And her garden club enjoyed them so much; they asked if I'd be willing to teach a beginners class for them.  I've taught stamping everywhere from my house, to craft stores, to community college classes; so I was more than happy to do it!  And boy are those beginning stampers/card makers so much fun to work with!  They get so excited with their creations and are always amazed with how much you can do!  Actually, that's the only hard part about teaching beginners these days.....there's so many different things you can show them; it's really hard to pick only a few to start with!!

Well, here's the card the ladies were working on for this class

My MIL picked this stamp set from Inky Antics last year at our local stamp show and decided this would be a great stamp set for the ladies to do since it was a garden club group that wanted to do the class.  They really enjoyed it and had a great time learning a little about stamping & card making.

Here's the ladies going to town with their new skills!

I had such a great time working with them!  And I think I may have even created a couple new enthusiasts!!  Hope you get the pleasure to share this wonderful craft with someone new too!

Until next time,

***Julie***

Convention Time! - StampScrapArtTour

This Saturday (& Sunday) was our local convention here in Western PA.  So let's open with a card from the convention.

Click photo for larger view

This really cute & fun lemonade card was a make-n-take by Art Tech Supplies.  While I was working on this, I "heard" that there's been lots of cards similar to this online in the last couple years (ok, I googled it when I got home & found that to be true).  But.... I gotta say, with the literally  thousands & thousands of cards out there on all the blogs, forums, and galleries - I had never seen it.  You're just never going to get to see everything out there.  So it was "new to me" and I thought it was such a great make & take - bright & fun, perfect for a summer convention.  And Art Tech did such a great job making their version quick & easy so lots of stampers could get to make it.  It was the only make & take I got to & I really enjoyed it!

For the last few years, StampScrapArtTour has been doing our conventions.  In my "general" (read driveable) area, there are three conventions - Adventures in Stamping - Cleveland/Akron, Stampaway - Cincinnati, and the StampScrapArtTour here in Western PA.  I've been to all three many times & while this one isn't quite as big as the other two; I'm really grateful that we even have one that close to us.  (This one is about an hour away from me).  For anyone that doesn't have a convention anywhere in their neck of the woods; I can just imagine how much you wish you'd have anything come your way!

And I have to say, even for a smaller convention; the StampScrapArtTour people do such a nice job.  I've also gone to their Make-n-take "class" they hold the night before the show in past years and it was also a lot of fun. The convention itself is done really well - nice atmosphere, good vendors, nice door prizes & raffles and most importantly - very friendly.  I don't know, it's a whole different atmosphere than one of the big conventions.  You can really take your time & get to look at everything with the smaller size.  Plus, no booths three & four people deep where you can barely even get a look at the products or get up close with the vendors.  I've been to conventions where it's like shopping on Black Friday - everybody's bumping into each other, trying to squeeze past each other (literally) just to to try to get to the next section of a booth and all the while trying to grab things as fast as they can before it's gone.  Nope, I've done that before.  But ok, I'll be fair, I was the first in line in the very early pre-dawn hours (no, I'm not kidding) for Stampaway at several of it's first years.  And I had tons of fun every time (& spent WAY too much money- lol)!  But I'll definitely take this type of show anytime now.  I've done the craziness before - lol; I've had that fun.  Now I really enjoy not fighting the huge crowds & being able to really get up close & personal with the vendors.  And I feel grateful that we're lucky enough to even have a convention so close to us & always hope they do well enough to come back the next year.  Big or small, conventions are so much fun & I had a great time.  Didn't win any prizes this time - Darn!  Maybe next year!! Well, remember.....

 Life isn't measured in moments of time, but in Timeless Moments

Hope you make the best of yours!

Until next time -

**Julie**

Don't Forget - Sparkle N Sprinkles July Blog Hop is coming up in just a few days!  Don't miss it!