Stampaway USA...August 8, 2008

Wow...how did it get to be September already? August just seemed to fly by, but maybe that's because we had three shows in a row and were gone more than we were home.

We started the August line-up with the Stampaway, USA convention in Cincinnati, OH. On Friday night there is always a theme and this year it was a pajama party. Many of the vendors and some of the customers dress up for three hours of fun, shopping and eating from 8-11pm.

I thought I'd share some of the pictures I snapped.

Lisa, a customer, who wore crossword puzzle pjs.
She had the name of every vendor written on her puzzle.

Stamp La Jolla was on her right leg.

Don and Susan from Rubber Stamp Tapestry

Greg and the gang from Marco's Paper

Greg and Don...what a pair!

Sarah and Ron from The Paper Cut

Judi, Mary Jo McGraw and Rob from Judi-Kins

Joyce and Kat from A Stamp in the Hand
surround Aiko from JudiKinsDeon and Al from G-Rated Rubber Stamps

Ted from Art Gone Wild at the mashed potato bar

This show was lots of fun. We even saw our friend Martha from San Diego who had traveled to Ohio for the show. She had been one of our first customers when we opened Stamp La Jolla and has become a friend over the years. I didn't get her picture this year, but here's one from last year's Stampaway.

Martha and her sister, Helen, from San Diego

Pittsburgh Show

Our "newest" Maryann did a super job at our "make-n-take" table.

The show in Pittsburgh was lots of fun and we met some stampers that we only knew as "on-line buddies" before the show. It's so great to actually meet people in person who I already consider friends just by knowing them from the internet. We have three weekends at home now but much to do since we will then have three weekends of shows.

Celebrating Freedom

We took a few days off to go camping in the local state park.

This frog jumped through our campsite one evening as we sat around the campfire.
It hopped right over my sister's feet and nearly scared her to death.

We saw many deer as we hiked and biked around the park.

We hope your celebration of our Independence was great. We are preparing for our trip to the Pittsburgh, PA area for a show this weekend. It is in Monroeville on the 12th and 13th. The details are on our website.

Rockford, IL

Last weekend we were in Rockford, IL for the second time this year. The show was north of Rockford near the speedway in a new location.

We love having Rhonda helping us in the booth.

Rock Cut State Park in Rockford is one of our favorite campgrounds. It is so peaceful and quiet there and the weather was perfect. This was our campsite.

Riley loves camping and exploring new places.

We don't fish, but plenty of people were enjoying the lake.

West Springfield, MA

Last weekend we were in West Springfield and had a great time. We were able to see lots of our friends we haven't seen for awhile...both vendors and customers.

Suzie did a great job at our make and take table on Saturday.

It's a long drive from Ohio to MA, but the scenery is absolutely beautiful. This is some fog in the mountains going through PA. On our trip home, we saw a black bear cross I-80 not too far in front of us. I tried to get to the camera, but by the time I got it and turned it on, the bear was out of sight.
We took our RV on this trip and this is the view from our campsite in PA. We saw deer in the evening, but it was too dark to get a good picture.

Michigan Stampers

I met these happy stampers in Southfield, MI and I loved their matching shirts and bags. Well, actually I had met Jannae before at Novi and Cincinnati. Her sister, Donna, is our "Ohio convention helper." They were having so much fun and I had to take their picture.

Sarah, Jannae and Thea

After taking this picture they told me they were waiting for one more friend who hadn't arrived yet so we got together for another picture after Ann got to the show.

Sarah, Jannae, Thea and Ann

Southfield, Michigan

Sorry, it has been a long time since I posted. We did the Akron show, and I forgot to take any pictures. Donna did our make and take table again and we love having her help us.

We flew to CA to visit with our kids and grandkids for ten days in May and had a great time, but like most vacations, we had to work like crazy to catch up once we returned home.

The Southfield, MI show was May 31-June 1 and we had a great time.

Ann did a great job doing our Make and Take table on Saturday.

It was the third year Karen has helped us in Michigan and we always enjoy having her at the Make and Take table. The show was a lot of fun and we'll be back in Michigan for the Novi show in August.