LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES...YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET!

The holidays are always so hectic, but even more so this year because one of my best friends has Stage 4 Gastric Cancer. I've written about this before, but I feel compelled to share a little more. My friend Katie Renz, mother to boy twins Nate & Will who are five and Hunter who is eleven (boy time flies!), and the wife of Kevin, was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Gastric Cancer. It's a very aggressive cancer too. Currently she is in the hospital (she's been there since Christmas Eve). Today she is getting started on chemo as the cancer is not operable at this time. You can read the details on her blog at katiespaperhaven.blogger.com, where she is journalling about her wild ride with this disease. She started Chemo today (3 types) and most of the side effects are similar to what she is feeling now (lots of nausea and pain, plus needed to be transfused Christmas Eve with blood too). She is in a lot of pain, and it is very difficult to eat (read that as 3 cans of Ensure). She is a fighter and has many loved ones and friends praying for her constantly and lifting her up to God, along with the boys and Kevin. This is one of those times where I wish I could bear it myself, she has so much of her life before her. :-D

I met Katie two years ago when Lori with Clear Dollar Stamps invited all of us on her design team to go to the Winter 2009 CHA trade show In Anahiem (Lori's stamp design team and card/projects team). These are some of my favorite memories, along with the 2010 CHA-W & CHA-S Shows. Angela Beavers came along with us during the 2010 Winter show (I met Angela on the 2009 Artful Cruise to Mexico with Tim Holtz), and we all hit it off and had an awesome time! Ang, Corrine (another cruiser) went to the Chicago show this year and we had a great time there too. You all are my buds!I thought I would share a couple of photos from the shows. We had an amazing time, and we are looking for even more amazing times in the future! Our God is a God of Miracles, we are hoping and praying and believing that the chemo will nuke it all! She's in decent spirits considering how fast all of this is happening. A million times I have wished we lived closer!

So here are a few pics of all of us at various shows.

Nancy Grant & Katie Renz chilling on the SCS couch during the consumer show.

Katie waving to her fans after registering for the CHA-W 2010 show.

Angela and I at the CHA-S 2010 show.

Starting on left, Laurie Wilson, Nancy Grant, Kim Teasdale, Katie Renz, Lori McCroskey and Vicki Conquest (me) eating dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Tasty!

All of us bugging Steve Posner and taking over his booth! Great guy!

Katie and Nancy at the Cricut booth checking out new dies during consumer show.


I hope you all enjoyed my walk down memory lane! These ladies are five of the most talented people I know,and I am PROUD to call them my friends! Get on over to Lori McCroskey's web site, Clear Dollar Stamps and check out the new stamps and products they are sneak peaking this week, and the new dies that match their stamps. AWESOME!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and truly appreaciate your friends and family. And most of all, don't forget the reason for the season, a baby wrapped in a manger, given to us by the Father to redeem us by His shed blood, risen and interceding for us! What love! God IS the Miracle Man, and we are praying for one now!

GRAPHIC 45 ONCE UPON A SPRINGTIME IS IN!

It's finally here! Graphic 45's new spring line, Once Upon a Springtime is in the store! I LOVE it! Something about Fairies, Butterflies and Flowers makes me happy! The papers are gorgeous, and the backside patterns are beautiful. I have pads in 12x12 and 8x8 as well as 7 of the loose sheets. Now is the time to reserve yours! Supplies are limited! For those attending the 12 Tags of Christmas play dates, you will get extra special pricing on this new line of papers. I don't generally carry lots of loose sheets, but this time I went all out. (heheheh) I also purchased many of the retiring lines of G45 loose sheet papers, so there is a very nice selection of G45 here at the Conquest Keepsakes Paper Studio. In case you didn't know, G45 is retiring Baby 2 Bride, Playtimes Past, Times Nouveau, and Botanica Bella. Some of it is already sold out, so get here early to get the best picks. We also have both sizes of the G45 pads for Perfect Gentlemen, Boardwalk, and Le Romantique, Staple Stickers, Chipboard Buttons and Trim in stock, as well as loose sheets of Renaissance, Domestic Goddess, Fashionista, Communique, Transatlantic, and Christmas Past, & Baby 2 Bride. If you want any of these items, call or email me ASAP, it will be going fast!

We also have Tim's paper pads, along with EVERYTHING Tim Holtz and Ranger. And I do mean EVERYTHING! Don't see what you want? Just ask, we do special orders with discounts. Through Dec. 24th we are offering the Vagabond machine at $199, plus some grungepaper, grungeboard and a TH Bigz die for being patient enough to wait until our next shipment. We sold 5 Vagabond's on Saturday, so get yours today! Patience is a virtue, not a character fault!

Along with G45 papers, we also received some DCWV Mariposa Glitter pads (both sizes and you are going to SWOON when you see it!), 7Gypsies Conservatory papers with accessories, Basic Grey Curio (paper packs in two sizes, matching chipboard, journal notes), Prima Fairy Floral in paper and Journal Notes, Core'dinations Jenni Bolin and Graphic 45, cold-press watercolor paper, Kaisercrafts Carnival, HomeMade and English Rose lines, the Kaisercraft wood cupcake stands, Printer's tray, bookends, drawers, diaries, wood Flourish Words, birds, keys, frames,and snowflakes, Webster's Pages Vintage Netting, Pan Pastels, jewelry findings and beads, ALL Ten Seconds Studio molds, metals and tools, UTEE, melt pot, wax, molding materials, and Maya Road chipboard. Much more than I can list! I receive new stuff every week, come by and check it out!

Don't forget to sign up for CK 12 Tags of Christmas events!

Vicki C

IT'S THAT 12 TAGS TIME OF YEAR!

Last Saturday's sale was AWESOME! Even though it's a lot of work to get everything tagged and arranged, it is always SO worth the effort! I enjoy nothing better than enabling my friends to get crafty with me, and particularly, giving them a good reason to be excited about crafting. And what could be more exciting than showing off Tim Holtz's Vagabond machine for die cutting and embossing?! NOTHING! :-)

Well, maybe inviting my friends over to do Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, THAT is exciting in and of itself. If you don't know what the 12 Tags of Christmas are all about, click this link to go to Tim's blog and read all about it and find yourself caught up in the urge to be creative with what you have on hand! (I can see that every sentence I write tonight is going to end up being punctuated with exclamation points.) How else do you get across how fun it is taking something as simple as a #8 manila shipping tag and turning it into your own piece of artful Christmas cheer? The past couple of nights, I've been up when Tim has posted his tag for the day, even though I am supposed to be conducting myself within the realms of good sleep hygiene. Sheesh, that just sounds somehow unclean to say. Why is it called "sleep hygiene?" Why not "sleep habit" or something else less, um, dirty-sounding? The only time I go to bed before midnight or 1am is when I am sick. That's when they should worry. :-) Anyway, seeing the tags go live is exciting for us night owls, and you can follow Mario's BTS Tweets on Twitter for a peak at what is going on "Behind The Scenes" as Tim make's his tags. The best part is learning a ton of techniques new and old using Tim's products, Ranger products, as well as some unusual applications of items you may have just sitting around your craft room.

So, if you are not busy Wednesday, December 8th; Saturday, December 11th, and Monday December 13th, come over to the CK Paper Studio and make your own interpretation of Tim's tags. We're loaded with all kinds of Tim and Ranger goodies, and so much more. LIKE... my Vagabond! Yep, we'll be using the Vagabond to do all our cutting and embossing. We'll be using Tim's Tag Die to cut tags, not to mention using just about every other die and embossing folder handy (and believe me, they are ALL handy!). We'll be spraying, misting, sprinkling, stamping, inking, heating, distressing, cutting, trimming, painting, water-coloring, masking, swiping, edging, drying, laughing, chatting and eating on every one of those dates! Wednesday and Monday start times are 6p, Saturday is 10a. There is no cost for this event, just bring yourself and your trimming stash. The store will be open, so you can buy what you don't have and think you MUST have. Knowing most of you, we pretty much have it all!

On Saturday, December 18 (my hubby had to point out that I was calendar-challenged when I posted to FB about this, Saturday is the 18th, not the 17th as I FB'd), we'll be gathering one last time before Christmas to finish our tags (or make more) or chose from any one of several small projects you can do as great gifts for your friends. Gift Card holders, Alcohol Ink Splattered Ornaments, Candy boxes and the like are on the menu. Give us a call and let us know you are coming to any one of these events, and have a good time fellowshipping with friends and family! Check out the 12 Tags of Christmas and see what you can be inspired to do!