certifiable

yup, i'm certified. fancy schmancy, as my Grandpa would say. Ranger U rocked my block. seriously, best time ever. it was so wonderful to be in student mode. to play and learn and experiment and to be in the company of other artists with the same mission. the scope of talent in that room was freaking amazing. stampers, scrappers, stamp-manufacturers, lawyers, creative directors, teachers, designers- and each one of them with this insane talent. folks from all over the world (love me some british and autralian accents!) and all over the country (michigan, missouri, oregon, philly, maine, california, you name it...) it was flipping incredible. i'm still kinda high from the whole thing. can you tell?

robin beam and tim holtz are a great team, they have fantastic chemistry- a real friendship and respect between them, which is so fun to see. you can totally see how they inspire each other and push each others creativity. i can not freaking wait to see the new stuff Ranger is coming up with, because of these two. and they are the coolest teachers- smart as hell, creative and funny and professional and kind. working with them was a pleasure and an honor. their enthusiasm for my work is something i will return to for strength in moments of doubt for probably the rest of my life. i feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from them, not just about inks & embossing powders (though ask me about inks and embossing powders- i know so much now, i got info coming out my ears!) but about designing and teaching and working in the industry and working a room. and holy bananas, the product we got. it was like winning the inky lottery. miss kristi-cakes, get ready to invoke- i got some serious new toys for us to play with! i also got tim's new book, Distressables 2 (frigging amazing stuff, for true. and i like that he legitimizes my craft for my guy/punk-ish friends) and an awesome new book from Design Originals called Ink Essentials, featuring a whole bunch of robin's work (she's so freaking talented, she blows my mind.) and also some other awesome artists like erikia ghumm, who does amazing things with color wash. spent the whole train ride curled up with those two. then i realized that my dad who had taken care of mr. chaz and miss lil for the weekend, well, he had taken my huse key with him to pennsylvania to visit my brother joe at college. so i had an impromptu day at my dear friend jared's house and it was so fun. we rearranged his living room furniture. well, i barked orders and made design choices. he rearranged furniture (car-busted arm doing better, but not furniture-moving-ready. at least not yet.) . and then jeffrey and i went grocery shopping together and then we all cooked dinner and made dessert and watched the Simpsons and it was just the homiest day, being in my city and with my boys, and i just loved it so much that i was glad my key went to pennsylvania by mistake.