Stamp Fest Fun

 This past weekend I attended

Stamp Fest, 2015,

in Clearwater, Florida.

Seeing as I am not a stamper you might wonder -

why on earth did I go to a stamp convention.

Those butterflies up there are one reason . . .

. . . and this beautiful stencil is another.

I am not what you would consider a traditional stamper.

I have tons of stamps but I don't make cards,

nor do I scrapbook any longer,

yet the stamps remain.

You already know that I am driven by bright color

and anything tangled.

I hoped to find new product and new ideas

at Stamp Fest.

My son was over last week and I was showing him

my new brushos crystal colors and we made

the above background in about 15 seconds.

At the hotel the night before Stamp Fest began,

I tangled in the designs.

Then, class began the next day.

I attended a class taught by Linda Malcom of

Lost Coast Designs 

where we learned to make sidewalk crack art.

I'll do a post tomorrow showing how I made this design.

Just let me tell you it was crazy fun!

So much fun that I skipped the make and take

so I could stay in my hotel room and create more.

The next day was the stamp sell. Whatever you call that.

Stamp show.

Stamp exhibit.

About a million people in a teeny weeny space.

I got a migraine.

For realz.

It was bad.

But before I got sick, I saw some wonderful things.

Like that blue book in the middle there.

The Beauty of Zentangle.

I actually have a piece of art in that book - 

my steampunk wall.

It was the first time I had ever seen a book

with some of my art in it - for sale - except for on Amazon.

And I couldn't get close enough to put the book on

top for this photo. 

I was shooting over someone's shoulder who was

kind enough to lean to the left for me.

My most exciting find of the day was this huge set of

Gelatos!!!

I had two before this, so I know you can make

beautiful color with them.

And that is the extent of my knowledge about gelatos.

Hello, Mr. YouTube!

My next significant find was this awesome can of sparkle!

I took a picture of it with PanPastels so I would remember to use it specifically with this product.

The lady demoing the glitter dust used the back of her

business card. She rubbed on the PanPastel colored background first, 

then stamped the image on top.

Then she took the can of glitter dust and

spritzed a layer across the top of the card.

It gives the art a hint of shimmer -

and it seals in the PanPastels.

You can rub your finger over the top of this artwork

and the color does not come off.

That's a significant statement when it comes to PanPastels.

She said it also works to seal - microns, Pitt Artist Pens, Dylusions, chalk, pastels in general - any kind of art.

We will see. I will be playing with it over the next

week or so, and I'm hoping it is all she promised it to be.

My new friend Linda Malcom recently acquired Carmen's Veranda - a stamp company - and she made this stencil I bought.

Specifically for art journaling.

I never know where to go with those journaling lines,

so this was a-calling my name!

I absolutely love these stickers!

They are going to be showing up in my art journal pages real soon.

And this sheet of butterflies that I started this post off with -

is a sheet of scrapbook paper.

All you get is the sheet of butterflies that are laser-cut (?I think that is the right term?). They are totally going to be showing up on a gelli plate one-pull wonder (I hope it's a wonder) in a few days as well.

 These are some other things I bought.

 Isn't this beautiful?

And I got these for Emeli. Aren't they cute?

I got this set of stamps, too.

They are crazy awesome when you use them right.

If I can make that happen I will post separately about them.

So cool!

I bought three sets!

 I took pictures of some stamps I liked,

but didn't purchase.

 I really, really wanted this one but couldn't

justify spending $ on it. Hahahaha!

I could totally use this one, 

but didn't purchase it.

I had one other lady following me around and we

were showing each other crazy, funny stamps.

I even got some freebies.

And on that note,

I am out of here.

Tomorrow I will explain the above photo.

So stinkin' much fun!!!

And I hear there is a stamp fest in 

Colorado Springs in August!

I may just have to go to that one, too.