New Watercolors!

 Look what I just received yesterday! I ordered a set of Close to my Heart watercolors from my blogging friend, Claudia Henderson. She has some great tips on how to start with watercolors, as well as some lovely cards - check out her blog here if you get a chance.
 I just love the bright colors - this reminds me of shopping for pretty, shiny beads when I used to be able to see well enough to bead!! I can hardly wait to play with them.

May Technique Blog Hop

World of Watercolors

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas. 

For May, we are venturing into the world of watercolor. There are so many watercoloring techniques available to us today; far too many to list here. But actions speak louder than words so our team has worked with their favorite mediums to bring you lots of examples and loads of inspiration. 

If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here: 

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month 
• April-Stamp Set Showdown

We have an amazing sponsor this month, Jodie Park of Close to My Heart:

Please take a moment to check out the great products Close to My Heart has to offer. To visit Jodie on Facebook page, just click here.
And the awesome prize this month is:

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. One winner will be chosen from all comments on the hop as of May 26, 2017. The winner will be announced in our June hop; so be sure to come back next month.

And speaking of winners, the lucky hopper from last month is Golden Goddess Designs; picked by Random Name Picker. Congratulations! Please get in touch with me at wpayne@email.com by May 26th to claim your prize.

You should have arrived here from Kim's blog, Katydid Cards. If you're visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on each blog.

May Card Class

Here are the cards we'll be making Saturday May 20th at the Barkman Library, 1:30 to 4:30. We'll be doing three different coloring techniques: watercolor smooshing (yeah, that's a technical term!), colored pencils and Gamsol, and FSJ fusion ink.

I'll be moving to Rawlings library, Brett Kelly Room B, for next month's class. I really like the Barkman branch, but that room's getting pretty crowded now that more people are coming. The new location should give us more room to spread out.

  

New FSJ Website

Fun Stampers Journey just rolled out a brand new, improved website, and it's awesome! And I was the first coach to put in an order on it today. I received a phone call and heard all kinds of noise on the other end - it was all the folks at the home office yelling and cheering! 

I really love working for this company. It's like a big family, with everyone looking out for everyone else. Richard Garay, the president and co-founder, is so involved with all of us coaches and constantly trying to improve the company based on our input. I was affiliated with a different company for 10 years, but have NO regrets moving to FSJ - there's just no comparison.

If you get a chance, check out my website at www.funstampersjourney.com/WILMAPAYNE. And if you have any interest in stamping, mixed media, and paper crafting, you might even be interested in joining. The starter kits are a fantastic bargain, and there are several choices including one for the hobbyist who isn't interested in running a business. You don't have to sell to others unless you want to because the minimum to stay active is only $150 per quarter. I would spend $50 a month on craft supplies anyway - I'd rather buy from myself! The coach price is 20% off the catalog price, so that's really only $120 every three months. The products are excellent quality, the prices are very reasonable, and the people are wonderful.

Anyway...if you think you might be interested, drop me a note or leave a comment here on the blog!

In just three weeks I'll be at convention in Arizona, renewing old friendships and making new. It will be great to meet folks I've only known through social media so far. Convention is an amazing, exciting, inspiring four days. After going last year, I knew I had to go again! (And the food is A-MAZ-ING!!!!) I'll try to be a good blogger and post pictures and sneak peeks, as one of the perks is that I'll get the new catalog a whole month ahead of everyone else. And...the FSJ catalog is HUGE! I'm taking a suitcase with very little in it so I'll have room for all the goodies they give out.

So join FSJ and come with me to convention next year!!!!! 😉 

Early morning ramblings

Warning! - this is a long, wordy, and boring post! If you've happened to end up here, you may want to quit now and leave me to my meanderings.

Every now and then, not too often thank goodness, I wake up around 3:00 and can't go back to sleep. I lie in bed and think about all the things I need to do until finally I give up and get up. Throughout my adult life I've made lists. (Sometimes I think I make them I make them to avoid actually DOING the things on the list.) So maybe if I make a list of all the things that wouldn't leave me alone and let me sleep this morning, I can go back and take a nap.

1. I haven't updated my blog since last month. I'm a bad blogger. But since my blog is more of a personal diary, maybe that's OK.
2. I haven't finished my samples for the upcoming technique blog hop on the 20th. This month's theme is watercolor, and for some reason things aren't really coming together. I love watercolors - why the heck are they being so obstinate right now??
3. I managed to get the designs ready for my next card class (which is on the 20th also!) in time to send out the post card notices. Now I need to do the prep and get the instructions ready.
4. We're building a terraced flower bed on the hill in front of the house this year. While working on it the other day, we discovered the water pipe that goes under the driveway froze and broke this winter. One more project. 
5. I bought three tomato plants, a cilantro plant, and two lavender plants. Gotta figure out when and where to plant the garden this year. 
6. But first we have to finish fixing the screened roof of the enclosure around the raised beds. It came down with one of the HEAVY spring snows we had this year.
7. The second big, bad snowstorm this spring happened while we were away last week. We got 24 inches of really heavy wet snow that snapped branches off a lot of our trees. So on good days we need to work on cleaning that up.
8. Only two weeks to the girls' birthdays on the 19th and 20th. Then Michael's birthday is on June 3rd. I'd better get busy and pack a box and get it in the mail.
9. Next week I take Mom out to see my brother on Tuesday, then bring her home with me for a few days' visit. She has a doctor's appointment on Friday, then I have card class on Saturday, then we leave on a trip Sunday.
10. Fun Stampers Journey Convention is coming up soon - I leave on June 6th for Phoenix. I know I still have a month to get ready, but it's still running through my mind. I need to make a gift for an exchange and gifts for my upline and other team members who are attending. I'm skipping the swaps this year...no way I have time to make 20 or 30 cards. Some people take 100! Ouch.
11. Doctor appointments. Why can't they ALL happen on the same day??? Every time we go into town for an appointment, we end up running all kinds of errands and POOF! the whole day is gone and we're too tired to do anything when we get home. Yesterday we had to go to Pueblo and tomorrow we're going to Colorado Springs - two days gone this week.
12. Gotta clean the garage. :-(
13. Julie is bringing Addi out for a visit in August - YAY! So I'm thinking of all the fun things we're going to do. Yes, we have plenty of time. That doesn't mean all those things aren't running through my mind when I should be sleeping at 3:00 in the morning.
14. Treadmill and diet. Another :-(

I've finished my ginger tea. It's 5:00 AM - maybe I should just give up and start something on this list!