Mega Meet 2013

Actually, I almost didn't get to attend MegaMeet this year, especially with my nephew in the hospital for round two of chemotherapy. As it turned out, I was able to sneak away on Thursday afternoon, the first day of the convention, but I only had about three hours. I almost didn't go just because it hardly seemed worth it to pay for parking and the ticket price, just to hurry through the booths for a couple hours.

But I decided to go ahead and go, take some time off for me and enjoy the fun of it all, and I'm so glad I did.

When I arrived, I started down the farthest row, pausing at a couple booths, but not taking too much time. At the end of the row was the Stampers Anonymous/Ranger booth, and just beyond that, a crowd of paper-crafters were gathered around Tim Holtz.

For quite awhile, now, the Tim Holtz Distress line has been my go-to inks. I love how the Distress products react with water, and I've been slowly building my stash of ink pads, adding a few other products in as well. I REALLY dig the new line of Distress paint, and I've been back-and-forth with myself on whether or not I need a whole set of Distress markers.

But what I love the most about all things Tim Holtz is his creativity and the philosophy behind it. I love the ease, the freedom, the messiness, the play of how he does his crafting. Watching him play with his products, creating all kinds of beautiful things in a matter of minutes, wound up the best way I could think of to spend my allotted time at MegaMeet.

Of course, it also made me want to add some of his products to my stash, like that background stamp there, which he used to make the most awesome rainbow dot pattern with a variety of Distress inks, sticky embossing powder (which I'd never heard of) and glitter.

I also learned a few things, including that Distress Stickles can be heated to dry, and so can alcohol inks. I learned a couple techniques that I'm going to try, including one project that's in progress already. Tim demo'd this really cool technique with Distress paint and Starbucks napkins (He said paper towels work better, but that didn't seem to stop his result from being awesome!) that I am practically drooling to try for myself...if I can recall how he did it, exactly.

Watching Tim, I was so inspired. I know he has that effect on thousands of paper-crafters just like me.

And most importantly, I was able to take a few hours off from the stress of my life right now, relax, decompress and enjoy myself. Thanks to Tim and to everyone involved in making MegaMeet happen!