I'm Back!!! New Beginnings...

Hi everyone.  Sorry I disappeared for - um - 4 months.  But I have a good reason.  I moved to Brasil.  

After coming home in January, life got a bit hectic.  As soon as I landed I had to cover hours for my friend Barbara at The Ink Pad in NYC.  She had come down with a bit of the flu and, since she was going to be my CHA buddy for a week, she needed to get better.  So I covered her hours for a week.

The following week was CHA.  My first one.  It was fun.  It was overwhelming.  It was exhausting.  It was fantastic.  If you ever get a chance to go to a CHA show - GO!!  For me, going from the consumer side to the buying side for our store in Brasil, it was even stranger.  I knew so many of the vendors from local stamp shows or from using their products for the past 20 years.  It's a great time to meet some of those bloggers who you watch, get to meet some of the stamping/scrapping celebs that you adore, get to see all the new stuff coming out, you get to see demos, and you get to meet so many great people.  It was really fun.  

Jennifer McGuire from Hero Arts (http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/)

Suzi Blu from Stampavie (http://www.suziblu.typepad.com/)

Mark Montano the Designer, Crafter, TV Host, and Author (http://markmontanoblogs.blogspot.com)

Jen Del Muro (http://iheart2stamp.com/)

And, of course, Tim Holtz - he whom needs no introduction.

Ok, I took a pic with him twice.  Shoot me!!

And, Barbara and I got to get to Disney for a day.  Can it get any more perfect than CHA and Disney in the same week?

After getting home from CHA my life basically turned into one of packing boxes.  16 years living in my small one bedroom apartment in Queens, and being a crafter on top of that, left little time to do anything but pack, pack, pack.  The boxes are all on a boat on their way to Brasil.  Then it was a few dinners with friends and family and now.....

I am here living in Brasil.  Lots to do here.  We have a store on the first floor of our home, which is a stamping/scrapping store/photography studio.  There are lots of opportunities here for me and I hope to get those working soon.  

I am going to continue making projects and tutorials using stamps from the companies I have bought from over the years.  Also going to start doing some product reviews so you guys know what rocks and what is not really worth it (in my opinion), projects for a Brasilian company here that I hope to do work with, lots of mixed media projects, and projects using stamps and tools from some companies that I want to help out and promote.  

Oh, I might also post some blog entries in English and Portuguese - if I get up the nerve.  

So, with that all being said, time to get crafting again.  I hope you continue with my on my crafting journey!!!

~Michael