where have i been? seriously, where do i even begin??? where has june gone? and whatever happened to the june technique challenge? unfortunately it will have to wait until july, but fear not, i have something GREAT planned in it’s place. it will roll out on my blog this monday and last all week, so please be sure to check back…you won’t want to miss a SINGLE day…here’s a little recap of where i’ve been and what i’ve been up to:
Scrapbooks, Etc. – i taught at this store during memorial day weekend right after returning from the alaska cruise for the second year in a row. i think this store seriously like the costco of scrapbook stores – it’s huge, has tons of product, and if you don’t buy it right away, something new will be in it’s place next time. sound familiar? anyways, it’s wonderful, lots of fun students, and marti, heidi, doug, and the crew are great! (yep, that’s bazzill’s store)
Scrapbooks Central – the following weekend i was off to teach at scrapbook central. this was the winning store for ranger’s "designer road trip" contest where stores can "win" a visit from me simply by purchasing product from ranger. it was a great store filled to the brim with all things tim holtz including ranger, ranger, ranger, and…my NEW idea-ology line! that’s right, this place had tons of stuff – pretty much the first time i’ve seen it in a store. very exciting! michelle and all of my new florida friends were so nice, helpful, and just fun to hang out with. i got to see so many familiar faces from my students and of course got to meet lots of new ones. we had a meet & greet night where the store designed "gettin’ grungy with tim holtz" t-shirts, they were so cool. check out andrea’s site for pictures from the weekend – a fun time was had by all…
CKU-Houston – that’s right, the fun didn’t stop there. we flew home for a day and then headed back out to CKU-Houston. the trip started well meeting up with friends Ali Edwards and Paolo for dinner. Unfortunately that night Mario (who was my assistant for the weekend of teaching) got very sick. Actually, he was sick for the entire 4 days of CKU. Turns out he got salmonella from the tomatoes on the salad he ate Wednesday night – he was even hospitalized for it. Very scary, but thankful he was okay and is feeling better now. CKU was still fun though – it’s always a highlight for me to hang out with my friends and have some laughs (thank you margie – lovin’ your work)…
By Design Scrapbook Boutique – so from CKU-Houston i had scheduled to stay an extra day and teach at a local store there in texas (which i normally never stay extra after teaching for 3 days), but have you SEEN this store? now as most of you know, pink is not on my top 10 list of favorite colors, but like it or not, this store was simply incredible. seriously, the layout, the fixtures, the displays, the chandeliers, and PINK EVERYWHERE! the owner tracy was so incredibly kind, accommodating, and thoughtful and her staff was amazing. the students could not have been nicer, and creative beyond even their wildest dreams i think. it was so refreshing to teach at a scrapbook store where most students have not inked or gotten "dirty" much, yet they all embraced the ink! mario hung in there all day and was a huge help to me and everyone else – thanks mario! check out their blog for a few pics (yeah, and they even had "she" painted on the pink wall – i did what i could to make my statement about that!)…
so….then i returned home for 2 very short days and now i’m sitting in my hotel room down in phoenix for the creative escape preview. this is hush-hush top secret stuff so i can’t say much more about that, but just YOU wait and see all of the great projects planned for creative escape – i can’t wait to finally teach there in september!
tomorrow night i catch the red-eye to new jersey for 2 weeks at ranger working on final touches for our cha-summer product launches and teaching our first new format of Ranger U. this is going to be an exciting weekend next week with 28 attendees and 3 full days of everything ranger. suze weinberg and claudine hellmuth will also be there to teach the students about their signature product lines with ranger and i’ll be teaching the rest of our products – i truly can’t wait for that – i love what i do….
whew! so there you have a little recap of the last few weeks. just too busy to try to keep up on everything, but i PROMISE my announcement on monday will make up for my blog absence….so mark your calendar, write yourself a note, send your friends an e-mail and BE SURE to check my blog all next week starting MONDAY 6/16 – enjoy your weekend…t!m
