CHA round up

I'm back from sunny LA and it's feeling a tad chilly. I'm doing my best to fight off the jet lag so I'm trying hard to stay up until my regular bedtime oh, and I'm really enjoying lots of cups of real tea, I had no idea I would miss it that much!

I had an amazing timein LA....laughed a lot, just as you would expect if you spend the week in the company of Linda Elbourne who thanks to Mario now goes by the name of Julia!! We did our bit to boost the Californian economy....shopping at Michael's...shopping at the Grove where they have an UGG shop.....got me some lush Ugg trainer/pump fur lined jobbies but sooooo wishing I had bought the blue boots too. We also found Glendale Galleria, if any of you UK guys are still in LA, you need to go shopping there......it was fabulous! And get this....they have armchairs in the underground car park for you to take the weight off your feet whilst you wait for your taxi....only in America!!

Now I need you to concentrate for this picture. Linda and I decided we would have a little drinky in the hotel bar.....well it would be rude not to, wouldn't it?

In the bar area, there was the most beautiful lighting arrangement....all oriental and everything. The table was black and shiny, so if you look carefully, not only can you see the lights reflection in the table, but the reflection of that in the wine glass........how cool is that?

Now for CHA stuff......this is the Convention Centre in Downtown LA on a beautiful, sunny day

As always, Ranger and Tim Holtz stole the show in my eyes. The New Distress Stains are to die for and of course Tim has amazing new lines with Sizzix and Advantus for his Ideaology range of embellishments plus a new release of stamps with Stampers Anonymous which I think is the best release he has done.......and guess what.....I've ordered them all!!!!

I also ordered Wendy Vecchi's new Studio 490 stamps and Art Parts, got some nice ideas whizzing around my head for those. Loved Graphic 45's new release too, so that should be with us soon along with a great range of bottle caps. Now I can hear you saying that bottle caps have been and gone but some of these are really different......they are magnetic and interchangeable. More about those when I get my hands on them.

OK, so now sit and enjoy the pictures of some of the artwork that I found inspiring.

The above two samples were by my very talented friend Linda Cain......just beautuful!

And this amazing sample was Tim's submission for the Ranger Designer challenge......loved it!!!

Wndy Vecchi's Art Parts.

Some of Tim's new stamps.

I have a gazillion more photographs but that will have to keep for another day, the jet lag is starting to win the battle.

Lin