I've arrived.....

.......at Ranger Headquarters in New Jersey, where I will be camping out in the Education room for the next couple of weeks, alongside Tim and Mario. We are here getting ready to teach 2 weekends of Ranger U and also tons of product development...

As usual, with me, there is always a bit of a crisis involving the journey. The day started early, so we could miss the morning traffic, only to get stuck in every set of roadworks possible. Every detour led to more roadworks and more delays. With the clock ticking, Mr Babe of Deliciousness took his apprehension at me missing a flight and materialised into into temper at other inconsiderately rude road users. After a wtf from me, tempers flared even more with the result of me jumping out of the car at kerbside and making a run for it...straight into the wrong terminal with not a lot of spare time.!! So was the other terminal close..?? No it frikkin wasn't. Apparently it was a 25/30 min walk. Well considering I had two, on the limit, suitcases, carry on, lap top bag AND not a lot of time before gate closing I obviously wasn't going to make it. Cue lots of  hysterical panic hyperventilating.

Rushing outside to find a taxi was proving unsuccessful as they were all lined up waiting for people. Was it possible to order a taxi...? No... Aaaaargh.

Suddenly one of the taxi drivers got out of his cab and came towards me. "Are you Caroline..?" he said. I can be who ever you like if you take me to terminal 2, I relied laughing. Amazingly enough, after I had explained my situation, he agreed and bless him, whizzed me round there quick as a flash, only charged a couple of quid and refused to take a tip...Get in there.....thank you, thank you, you will be rewarded in taxi driver heaven.!!!

So in I go and check in by the skin of my teeth. Quick upgrade to economy comfort and I was off on the first 9 1/2 hr leg of the journey. We landed in Atlanta to a massive immigration queue..  After an hour more panic set in when I realised that there was an extremely good chance I wouldn't make the flight. Oh well here goes. Out of immigration, queue to pick up baggage, queue to re check baggage, queue to go through security again. Set off alarms at security with a lone hair grip, wait to be searched by female, waited and waited, hyperventilated and waited a bit more. Eventually when no female was forth coming I was sent back through the scanner minus offending hair grip and happily processed through to the other side. 

Straight to information desk....Where does Newark flight leave from..??  it leaves from gate 48 terminal B...cool which terminal are we in now. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek we are in E terminal. So how do we get there.?? Down a floor, run down the corridor, wait for train shuttle, fight your way in, stop at every other terminal along the way. Eventually reach terminal B, run back along a corridor, up a flight , ask at information, find out you are still a long, long way away, realise you are going to have to kick up your Dr Martens and make a run for it.....

Cue one mad women in fifties clothing, nostrils flaring, wild scary look in eyes, beehive bobbing ten to the dozen hurtling herself extremely ungracefully down the corridor, taking out unsuspecting passengers, right left and centre, with her carry on case. I arrived at the gate at 4.12pm and flung myself over the counter pleading and praying that the 4.20 flight hadn't closed. It was a wonder the poor women didn't have me removed immediately. I was panting, taking deep breaths and trying to explain, whilst all the time the only thing I could say was..." Have I made it, please tell me I made it..." only to receive the reply "Yup, its been delayed 2 hrs...??? Wtf...??? you mean my heroic Marathon sprint, which lets face it, that's what it was!!!!!!, and at my age deserved the very least a standing ovation and a bouquet of flowers...!!!...was all in vain.?? Bejeezus...how ruuuuuuuuuuude.!!

Any hows I finally made it to New Jersey and was greeted with a Chinese and a bottle of beer, don't mind if I do..lol.

Today started with a quick trip round the supermarket for supplies...mainly Diet Dr Pepper, lol and then it was straight to HQ. First thing I wanted to do was run up and down the shelves of my product and announcing to all and sundry..."These are mine.. yes mine, my name, look...can you see yes it's me.!"  Eventually I realised that the only person remotely interested in my overexcited witherings was me, so I breathed into a paper bag, regained my composure and carried on.

But I did sneak some pictures just so I can prove to myself it's really true, lol.

Here's where some of the inks are

boxex and boxes of stencils

Some of the staff who pick and pack the orders

Boxes of stamps

Complete outers of the ink sprays

And whats this...?

Heres a clue...

No.? Okay how about now...

 
Yup , they are mixing up a whole vat full of melted chocolate ink. Tomorrow I am going in whilst they are bottling and I am going to see the procedure from start to finish. Soooooooooooooo frikkin excited, I can tell you, lol.

Here's the lovely Justin

  and the lovely Alain

Always great to see the lads, but just wait till you clock this. Unbelievable to see it, in person, in all it's glory.

What is it...? I hear you cry...

It's only the actual coat Alain was wearing in his extreme stickling video. you remember...the one where he got a vat of Stickles poured over him, from a great height.!!!

 Here's the gorgeous Sherri, who's in charge of the whole pick and pack department, and ensures that all my Dylusions are delivered correctly to the stores.

And here she is with her extremely gorgeous daughter, The lovely Elizabeth. They are just so darned cute, the pair of them.

Nearly had a serious melt down when I thought I had lost the files with all the work for my How to book. Again, cue hyperventilating and severe gnashing of teeth. I knew there was no way, if completely lost, that I could start again from scratch at this late date. On the verge of tears and with every available swear word known to man, on the tip of my tongue, we trawled and trawled through the files. Just as I was about to admit defeat...there it was. Thank frikk for that was about all I could muster as the tears now turned to tears of relief, lol. Things soon settled down after that as I staked my claim to a large area of the \education room. I was a bit like a dog, marking out my territory, although I did draw the line at cocking my leg up at the comfiest chair. Once I got into the swing of things there was no stopping me working and creating, so I stayed for a few hours after closing. I could have gone home, but wanted to crack on seeing as \I was in the zone, so to speak. |well, |I was greatly rewarded with the arrival of |Tim and Mario and the news that we were going out to dinner at my favouritest restaurant.

Oh yes the one and only sawa....sushi restaurant extraordinaire...what a result..!!!

Topped off with a McDonalds flurry and a quick putting the world to rights, we headed on home. And here I sit, freshly bathed and moisturised, blogging, whilst listening to the dulcet tones of their snoring, lol. It's a glamorous life and someone has to do it.....so it might as well be me.!!!!!

Enjoy xx

News from the studio

Had a fabby art journal class yesterday, as usual.

 It was lovely to see everyone and aren't they looking smart in their new Ranger aprons?

I am sooooo pleased that Ranger have finally brought out an apron that people can buy. It is really good quality and so we have filled the studio with enough for everyone.

They are also available to buy from the shop.

It's just a quickie from me tonight as I am running around like the proverbial...getting ready for my trip to the States, heres 2 pages from one of my journals.

And I will leave you with this fabulous quote I came across...

‎"The people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to love, mad to live, mad to talk. desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.".......Jack Kerovac

Enjoy xx

So where have I been....

you might well ask...!!!

I've been a busy little bee. No change there then, lol.

I have been moving home.

well not actually moving home, more moving in the home..!!

Confused..? lol.

I have moved to the upstairs part of my home, like a granny flat I suppose. I have 3 big bedrooms, one is mine, one is the most beautiful grand daughter in the whole worlds and the other was going to be my home studio. But instead I have made this bedroom into my sitting room. I know it sounds odd but I am loving it, even though it nearly killed me and Mr Babe of Deliciousness getting all the furniture upstairs.!!

It still needs a lot of work, wall paper samples are ordered, paint chips are being sourced, and I am haunting ebay for vintage curtains., but heres a sneak peak of it so far.

So what am I doing with the downstairs..??

I have a large through dining/living room, which is now going to be transformed into my studio. Yee hah woop de frikkin woop. Why didn't I think of it before. Acres and acres of space for me to fill. I can have my sewing area with large cutting table and my machines, my large old pine table for my working and designing. Wall upon wall of shelves and cubes to stash all the arty goodness, and yard upon yard of plate rack for display purposes. For the days I am not teaching, I can just fall out of bed and be creative. I can get my stuff out and leave it out. I can twirl and skip from arty station to sewing station. And the rest of my house will be the peaceful haven I hanker for.

But these things take time and deciding what to leave at the teaching studio and what to bring here is frikkin hard work. My teaching studio is full of many personal items and memories. But it is no longer just mine. Because I am out of the country so much, we have other tutors teaching, there are long periods where I  am not there. I have always been very Territorial about my studio very protective of the place where I spent most of my awake hours and I am amazed at the ease I have managed to let other people in. it helps, of course, that the other tutors are fabby people who I trust totally and feel comfortable to know they are there. But I still need a "me" space, a space filled with inspiration, hopes and dreams,a space to twirl, a space to create a space that will nurture me for the next part of my journey.

At the moment it is quite bare, as well as suffering with an ear infection, where the anti biotics have knocked me for six, I have taught a mixed media weekend, planned my portion of the Ranger U Itinerary, made all the final workshop plans for the USA ( more details below), sat in for two days while BT faffed and fannied around with my phone and broadband connection, spent my entire months budget on a cowhide rug.!!! oops..|!! So not a lot of progress has been made. BUT I have transported home the shrine of naffness and given it a new, possibly temporary home on the material chest. Have naff shrine will travel, so to speak.

They are also joined by this surprise arrival from the gorgeous Sandy Poppins and her equally gorgeous hubby Andy, The Northern Soul dancing vicar.!!

How beautiful is she..? But the best thing is, she isn't just an ordinary statue of Our Lady, shes over 3ft worth of statue of Our Lady.!! Oh yes they know how to treat a girl do them two. And I frikkin love her, just haven't decided where her pride of place is going to be yet. She will definitely be staying in the studio, to inspire me.

I had a visit today from not only the lovely BT engineer, who braved the telegraph pole in extremely wet and windy conditions, but also the gorgeous Sexy Susie. She is a doll and we had a good old natter exchanging Christmas gifts ( hey everyday is Christmas at Reaveley Towers, or should that now be Reaveley Penthouse.??

She confessed that she hadn't done anything in her journal for months and couldn't seem to muster up the nettle to get back into it. Step forward Sergeant Major Reaveley and before you know it, she was painting and inking like a good un. Well she didn't have a lot of choice really, lol

Our Ben was desperate for hearts and twine for the Mail Order so we took a little trip to the wholesalers, where we got totally distracted by some fabulous Queen Elizabeth bunting, and tea towels.!! Well it would have been rude of me to have left it wouldn't it. I am thinking of wrapping some around Heddy the mannequin, until the Diamond Jubilee is over, but at the moment she is sporting a lovely little apron and leopardskin coat combo and I a little worried it may clash. !! maybe I will wait till it gets a bit warmer and she sheds some layers. And yes Kaz Hall, \I have got some tucked away for you.!!

This is what I have been working on today, finishing off the workshop projects for the US.

If you fancy taking a workshop with me and getting inky painty messy, I will be in New Jersey and Texas next month, whilst I am teaching at Ranger U.

I will be at The Scrappers Cove New Jersey on the 3rd May

The Crafty Scrapper, Texas on the 10th/11th May

and The Stamp Asylum, Texas on the 12th/13th May.

Sign ups have started and places are filling quickly so don't leave it too late.

I'll leave you with some old journal pages.

Enjoy xx

Tales from the Sanitarium....

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you are enjoying a few days off from whatever else you may have been doing. The Easter bunny came early at Reaveley Towers. I have spent two days in bed with a stinking cold and sore throat, and the only thing I seemed to manage to eat was chocolate.!!!

I know, I know why am I always ill when I can have some me time? Not that I haven't got tons to do...the Dylusion train which is supposed to be gently chugging from station to station is actually trying to break the land speed record and I am almost meeting myself coming back.

By the end of next week I need to have finished my Ranger U technique tags I will be teaching, prep of 14 classes I will be teaching in Texas in May (details another day), a magazine article, samples for magazines and promo, stencil designs, stamp designs AND, of course, lots of top secret things, lol.

I am also trying to get the time to finish Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry online workshop. If you were umming and aahing about it, um and aah no more...you NEED to do it. No excuses. Here's the link  You can join at anytime, and the class is yours forever. No time limit, no expiry date. How cool is that. Brill for me as I am still on lesson 1, lol.

So you can see I have no time to be ill...no time at all.

So I took to my bed and didn't come out, lol. I just sat and sniffed, and doodled, and sneezed, and journaled, and coughed, and coloured, and moaned and drank copious amounts of tea. Feel a bit better today which is a good job as I have been teaching a fabulous bunch of ladies art journaling.

Most of these pages are in old journals and I just added doodling, colour and the finishing touches. but then, you know me, are they ever really finished.??