Copic Certification Day!!

So I left you on the last post, as we were just about to fall asleep after a fabulous but looooong day of stampin' fun. Well, sleep came well to three of the ladies in our hotel room....one was not so fortunate!!! One poor soul was awake alllllll night long, listening to the CONSTANT rumbling noises of a freight train beside her in the bed. She tossed and turned, she tried sleeping with the pillow over her head, she tried plugging her ears with her fingers, she tried plugging her ears with the bed sheets....all were fruitless efforts. Eventually she put on a sweatshirt and fuzzy socks and crept into the bathroom. She brought in two pillows and laid down several of the bath towels and curled up on the hard, cold floor!!! STILL, she could hear the freight train but eventually she did get a half hour's sleep. When she woke up, her back was killing her, so she had to get back in bed beside the freight train but she was SO exhausted that she finally fell asleep for an hour and a half before she had to get up to start the day!!

I tell you all this, so that when you look at all the pictures below, you will excuse my disheveled, exhausted look. In most of them, I look like a deer caught in the headlights and my hair was not cooperating (plus I was simply past the point of caring by then) and the headlights are bouncing off my gigantic forehead. There...that's my disclaimer!!

Anyhoo, we got up (some of us more slowly than others) and had Timmie's for breakfast, then headed to the hotel ballroom for the Copic workshop. It was fabulous meeting so many of the wonderful gals that I've 'known' through blogging and emailing for the last couple of years!!



The first one I met was Kerry Johnson!! What a fun and vivacious gal!! We're instant friends, I'm tellin' ya!! OH and she's up for the MFT Idol right now and her week two project is an AMAZING children's counting book! I got to see it in real life, so be SURE to go and vote for her before 10pm EST tonight!!! You're a shoe-in Kerry!!! *wave*




Then my pal Tara arrived!!! It was so fun to finally meet after months and months of yakking and emailing and doing our challenges together!! Tara is exactly how I imagined her to be....so sweet and lovely!! Tara just got invited to be a Guest Designer for Whiff of Joy and I'm so excited for her!!! Way to go Tara!!! *hugs*




Of course here are the High Hopes Divas that all made a loooooong trip in order to meet up with each other.....oh and of course the Copic thing too! haha!!!



Janette is from Buffalo, NY and even though there was a Copic workshop right where she lives, she made the trip to Toronto just to meet Crissy and I!! It was her first trip away from her kiddos and her first to Toronto!! I'm SO proud of her! Janette is SUCH a super sweetie!! Love you, Janette!!

I already told you that Crissy came the night before and she and Andrea and I hung out in the hotel room and coloured. I ran down the hotel hallway to grab her and hug her when she arrived! What a doll! She is truly an awesome artist, both in her drawing and her colouring. (I'm not gushing though!) She showed us some cool tricks that I've been practicing. I SO wish we could have spent more time together! Love you, Crissy!!




Julia Stainton and I FINALLY got to meet! After two years of talking back and forth through emails and blogging, we finally met! Can you believe that we live only about 20 mins apart and we had to travel all the way to Toronto to meet?? Crazy, right?! She's so sweet!



And Sherrie Siemens and I were on a Design Team together briefly a while back, so we know each other too! She was a co-teacher of the Copic workshop and it was fabulous to watch her work and learn from her. Sherrie is a fantabulous artist!!!



The workshop was awesome and we learned lots. We got some cool stuff to take home and got to play with different techniques that we'll be using for sure! Here are Janine and Amy workin' away!!

Overall it was an awesome day, I just wish it could have lasted longer. I have a beautiful new Copic Designer certificate that will be proudly displayed on my wall and now I can add that little Copic badge to my blog. I'd better do that before I forget.

Let me leave you with one last pic. If you haven't figured out who the noisy freight train is....here is a shot of her trying to apologize and make it up to me!!! Love ya girl!! *giggle*