Today's the Day!

Today I leave for Chicago and the CHA Trade Show. Yippee! I am so excited to get on the road. We are driving (let me rephrase that....I am driving) with my girlfriend Ann, who owns the scrapbook store I teach at. We are going early so she has some time to plan her strategy for buying. Apparently it's a very exhausting deal being a retailer at CHA! The drive to Chicago is only about 7 hours from where we live, and as I calculate it, we should be arriving in and around Chicago right in time for RUSH HOUR! Yikes.

Our hotel is only about 2 miles from the Stephen's Convention Center (where the trade show is being held) and is less than a mile from where I'm having dinner Saturday night with the gals from Craft Critique! We're eating at Gino's Pizza, which is heralded as one of the best pizza joints in Chicago. Youngest Son is convinced it's the BEST pizza joint in the USA!

I plan on checking in everyday (wireless internet willing) from CHA. I'll have lots of fun pictures to share with you and a wealth of great information on all the hot new products for fall! If there's anything specific you want to know about, please leave me a comment and I'll try and find out whatever it is you want to know. This is going to be so much fun!

Ok, onto the card for today. This card was initially made for one of the {Caardvark} challenges. I made a few different versions of the card and this was the one I liked least. Even though I liked it the least, I still love it. I love the paper (American Craft)! I love the colors!!!!! I love the layout. The stamp is from Fancy Pants (Pollen Dust) and was first stamped with Versamark and then embossed with black embossing powder. I did the dual mat on the sentiment because making it all green or all black would have gotten lost in the wild paper! Such a classy, elegant card, isn't it?

I want to share a few RAK's with you that I've received in the last few days.

The first one is from my blogging pal (and new Verve Visual Design Team Teammate) Bethany Paul over at It's Not All Black and White! Is this not a BEAUTIFUL card? I love the lavender, black and cream color combination. It's so elegant looking. The main image actually is comprised of TWO background stamps (Canvas and French Script BG's), and then on top of that she stamped the birds and flowers from the Carte Postale SU set. I'm trying to figure out the paisely paper she used behind the main image, it's black and white as well! Very cool. Thank you Bethany, for thinking of me and for such a sweet card. You ROCK!

The second card is from my blogging friend Jenn from GA! Her blog is Just For You By Jen. Jenn knows I've had a bunch of rough spots in my life lately, so she sent me this amazing baseball bat card!!!!

The front of the card says "When Life Throws Curves"......and the inside of the card says "Swing for the Cheap Seats, Sister!" Isn't this the most original, amazing card you've seen in a long time! Thank you Jenn! This was a great "pick me up"!

The final RAK is from Melody, better known as LacyQuilter at SCS! Melody is one of my most loyal readers/commenters and I can't thank her enough for thinking of me at this crazy time in my life. Her card is beautiful, and one that I am amazed at. I cannot, for the life of me, make an all-white card and keep it clean of smudges! Her card is flawless! I love how she did the raised circle panel on top of the scalloped circle. She sponged the edges with blue ink and detailed the circles with little blue dots. Such a precious card. Thank you Melody!

Well, I need to wrap it up for the day. Remember to leave me a comment with the things you want to know from CHA! I promise I'll answer or find out whatever it is you need to know!

Hugs,

Amy