So blogging has recently, you may have noticed, TOTALLY gone by the way-side. It's sad. I'm a slacker, I know. It's not on purpose, it's just....INSANITY around me lately.
September brought: the new idea book & launch party, Little Miss's second birthday, the first day of school (I'm officially a fourth-year student now!), (followed quickly by the first week of school, first few days of school, the first assignments and quizzes of school.....OY!), Mom had knee surgery....somewhere in all that muddled-ness was MY birthday.... OY! STOP THE RIDE - I WANNA GET OFF!! hahaha
Sooooooo......... here FINALLY are some pics from Stamp Camp, though my 'report' will be much more sparse than if I'd had a chance to get it up closer to the end of the actual event. My SINCEREST apologies. I can't guarantee it won't happen again, but I'll do my best.
Just look how excited Spo is to be driving me to stamp camp!! THANKS, SPO!!
Here's the Royal Family table... we scrapbookers sure know how to take up some space, eh?
This little gal is 12, and made this BEAUTIFUL layout while we were there - she won second-place for layouts-made-at-stamp-camp - YES working with CTMH is THAT easy!
Suzy Scrapper working up a storm! (AND the proud mama of the 2nd-place winner!)
St. February trying to ignore the camera... ;) (Suzy's sister!)
And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is The Brae-er. She's a fantastic gal and a lot of fun to get better acquainted with AND if I understand correctly she is to blame for at least half of the organization of these fantastic events I get to go to, so KUDOS and a million thanks! :)
OHmigosh, SO much fun. We had a BLAST!! AND got lots done, too!!
I've been waiting to announce that I recently acquired a brand-spankin' new downline, and she immediately jumped on board and came to stamp camp with us. We had way too much fun breaking her in - hahaha Poor girl.
So, my darling dearest Spo (who I first met when she arrived at my house for a launch party after seeing my event on Facebook AND brought a friend! She came to a few gatherings, then had her own, then announced she wanted to be a consultant - we have TOO much fun together) picked me up after goodbyes to her kiddos and hubby, and off we went to pick up our newest team member, Princess Pink. ;) (I hope you love your new name, darling - you earned it! hahaha)
Kudos, seriously, to Princess Pink - she has a 21-month-old and a 3-month-old and though she was absolutely crushed to leave them for an overnighter she was SO enthusiastic and too fun to have along. (She definitely wins the prize for being on the phone to the fam the most often).
Anyway, we arrived at Wildfire Outdoor Education Centre in Wyevale at 4:58pm Friday, and quickly set up. We stole the room closest to the bathroom (for my MOM! WE'RE not greedy! .....or at least that's the story....) and an extra table for our foursome to work at (Spo, Princess Pink, Me, and Mom when she arrived) and got set up!!
I handed in my contest entries, as did Spo (who had some GORGEOUS CARDS), and we quickly buckled down to help Princess Pink finish her layout entry.
Spo's two card entries (left & middle) alongside my suddenly not-so-good card:
My page entry "Sweet Dreams" (left) beside Princess Pink's "Our Paradise" - a little friendly competition never hurt anyone, eh?
We were STARVING and called Mom, who was on her way, and arrive shortly thereafter bearing McDonald's - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........
Then we all got to work!
Spo working on her second layout at the event with Bella paper and one of last Idea Book's stamps of the month - turned out SO well!
Mom finishing her Emporium Workshop projects from our workshop back in March!
Princess Pink, being adorable, as always.
Which picture should go where...???
Princess Pink had a little trouble with keeping track of her (and MY) stuff while she worked - she LOST one of my stamps and quickly thereafter it seemed everything she touched went missing for a few minutes! TOO funny!! She lost her double scrubber to the floor, a stamp, ink pads, stamp sets.... we were DYING. Spo dubbed Princess Pink's workspace The Black Hole:
Mom entered "Little Miss Noodle" into a layouts-completed-at-Stamp-Camp contest:
Spo, lookin' good, takin' pics!
SO, there were some cute, kind of 'gimmicky' cards in the card contest that beat out Spo's gorgeous artwork, BUT everyone was so impressed with her 'World's Best Dad' card (see the picture above - it's the one in the middle) she got like, honourable mention.
Mom's "Little Miss Noodle" lost out to a number that was admittedly very creative - the left side "The boys went fishin'" right side, "the girls went shopping!" with this "fishing line" tying the two sides together, BUT Mom got the honourable mention in THAT category for Little Miss Noodle's incredibleness.
AND.... Princess Pink BEAT ME! hahaha The week-old consultant WON for her "Paradise" layout using only "Back Country" paper and some accessories, all available in the current summer Idea Book. She was the 'youngest' consultant there and won in a landslide, according to the judges' report from the ballot boxes. (I'm trying not to take it too personally - hahaha!) We couldn't be more excited for and proud of our newest addition AND she won a GREAT prize - the distressing kit, worth $44.50! WOW! Congrats, darlin'!
Stamp Camp as an event was meant not only for some consultant training, but also to raise money for Operation Smile - take a minute to click on that link and check it out or watch the video below (grab tissue). ALL contest entry fees went to Operation Smile, part of our registration fees, ticket purchases for a draw for fantastic prizes, auction of an hour-long massage, 10-minute massages by a RMT were $15 all to Operation Smile, and there was one very generous donation of a complete smile to the camp's total. The organizers were hoping to raise enough money for 4 smiles (one smile is $240) and we ended up raising about $1600, more than enough for 6 smiles. What a fantastic success!!
To get involved with Operation Smile is EASY with Close To My Heart - proceeds from the purchase of every Close To My Heart My Acrylix Stamp Sets are given to Operation Smile; you can round up your order totals at any time to include a donation of any size, small or large; OR keep watch - Spo and I are REALLY REALLY hoping to get some great events up and going to help raise money for this fantastic cause. We only need $240 to change a child's life FOREVER - it's mind-blowing and awe-inspiring.
Okay, that's that!! We had a blast! Thanks for checking up on us, and I'll be back soon with some GREAT information about what's coming up in June, and my newfound LOVE of Jeanette Lynton's newest how-to book for cards, "Wishes" both the bane and joy of my Stamp Camping!
I'm going to "Stamp Camp" up North in goodness-only-knows-where this weekend for an overnighter. It's a function run by some of my team members who live in Barrie and the surrounding areas but for us southerners, it's going to be a bit of a drive. hahaha
Good thing we like each other or the car ride up could be a little dicey... ;)
ANYWAY: at Stamp Camp this time around there are some contests, $2 entry fee (proceeds to Operation Smile). One is a card contest using at least one colour of sorbet, tulip, or creme brulee.
SO I did THIS today Chocolate and sorbet cardstock on colonial white cardstock with a dimensional element sponged with creme brulee ink and then toss in some autumn harvest buttons for kicks & giggles. Mr. Man picked the sentiment "Just Because" for me...because I couldn't decide. hahaha
