Craft With May

{CHA = Craft and Hobby Association. Twice a year they have a show where manufacturers debut new product… I’ll be telling you about my trip to CHA Anaheim this week}

CHA. Where do I even begin? Let’s start at the Sacramento airport when at security the button on my khaki pants flew off into TSA somewhere. Good thing I had a belt on! I made it through the day without further wardrobe malfunctions (and yep – pants stayed up fine). I was amazed at how smooth my travels went. Flight came in early, bag was ready before I even walked to the baggage claim, taxi ride was super fast, and I went from being on a plane to the CHA show floor in 45minutes. CRAZY!

The best part about the smooth travel is that it meant I made the Big Picture teacher lunch/get together. I love that I got to spend some time with women I usually only see in avatar form or via e-mail. The perfect way to start the show!

I then wandered around the floor feeling dizzy. There was SO much that was good, and the list of people and things I wanted to see so great that I just let myself wander & roam. I really didn’t take many photos I was too busy seeing, experiencing, looking, and totally loving.

Above is a view from one isle. Just picture 30+ of those isles… and a whole lotta carpet to cover. It’s overwhelming to say the least! I only took about thirty photos on day #1. In comparison days 2 and 3 yielded about 275 photos/day so you know I was just in overload/adjust mode. Everything was sooo pretty!!

Mel, Alison, and Raqual from Kaiser Crafts were just the sweetest girls. I’m so glad I got to meet them and hang out that night in the hotel room get together. (more on that later). I hope to see them again.

Do you know who I’m with here? The damask goddess herself, Teresa Collins. Her booth was incredible – I was instantly drawn to all the pretty things! She’s such a sweetheart too – so happy to see her thriving. My friend Becky Olsen was also in this booth but dang it – I never got a photo with her! That seems to be a common problem in my photos. “whoops. was so excited forgot camera was with me!”

The above sign (and all those lovely beads and things) were hanging in the GCD booth. Melody Ross & her latest? Well more on that later.

Provo Craft launched a new tool that is rocking my baking world. It’s called Cricut Cake and it cuts sugar gum paste (and frozen thin fondant) into die cut shapes ready to make your cookies, cupcakes, or cakes into masterpieces. Check out the cookie I got at their special party. Also here’s a photo of the dessert table at the party…

Now the real head smack moment. I had a bunch of friends over for pizza & hanging out back at my hotel room and I so never took out my camera! WHAT!?! I know. Totally lame. I’ll have to watch blogs for images of that part of the night because I forgot. I did get one shot of my friend Stephenie Hamen and her friend Mark Montano who popped in for a few minutes.

Stay tuned for more fun, TSA searches, product throwdowns, more sparkles, hugs, girlie things, man sparkle, cute shoes, and more. Also be sure to keep an eye on www.scrapbookupdate.com for all my product picks, trend reports, and more!

I’ve always made my own trade show badge holders. It’s a fun way to liven up my usual uniform of solid color shirts, and it’s a great idea if you’re like me and want more stuff to be able to hang from your neck. I love not having the plain ‘ol badge holder everyone else does. If I wasn’t in such a time crunch I’d show you past ones that I’ve kept. But since the clock is ticking I’ll show you what I whipped up (last week) for CHA:

The black badge holder (in center) is a nice one. I got it from Nancy Nally. It’s just wouldn’t hold my phone, cards, money, gum, and a pen. Yes, I require that much stuff at my fingertips. So I sewed together a piece of white sparkle fabric + aqua felt (both cut with a scallop blade) together on the sides & bottom. You can’t see it – but there is a button + button hole on back side top so I can close it up and my phone & stuff won’t fall out. Then I zig-zag stitched across the two sides of the black badge holder onto my pouch. I sealed the bottom of the badge holder (creating a pocket you can see – with a biz card peeking) by hot gluing the bottom. I didn’t want the big pouch behind to be too shallow.

Yes, if I’d planned better I could have stitched the badge holder to the white fabric and then stitched that to the aqua… but I was making it up as I went along.

I also hot glued all the pearls, buttons, and do-dads onto it. Finally I sewed the white lace ribbon onto the badge holder (adding on buttons and such first) as well as a strand of pearls that will hold it around my neck. I made sure it hit at a flattering spot on my stomach before stitching – and I’m done!

I have a confession.

I’ve not put away a piece of patterned paper into it’s proper home for at least six months. Probably more like nine. Instead, I’ve stacked or arranged temporary homes for my new papers here and there. It’s gotten ugly. To be fair I was doing it on purpose for a while. To see if I could use up my older stuff, to see how much I reached into my ‘archives’, see if I wanted to change things up in my paper storage. Now that the experiment is over, I’m going to be glad to go back to the way things were. Away from this mess…

See? To be fair it’s a bit worse than that. But you get the idea. Anyhow, I purged, cleaned, and organized all my patterned paper yesterday that was in the proper storage container I have. I had papers that dated back to 2001. All papers I loved – but I had to admit that I’ve not even thought about using them. That the freebies from my managing days or extra class or project sheets of paper or design team extras that I love – but haven’t yet used… probably won’t ever see light of day. I’m in a unique position because I try not to use “extinct” patterned paper in my classes or assignments. To do so would mean that students couldn’t recreate and might get frustrated that they can’t get the paper I have. So those papers that are out of print (or are from companies who no longer exist) get put in a special file ‘for personal use only’… and I think you can guess that I just haven’t been reaching in there much.

I use vertical storage (cropper hopper) that are all fit into this crate thing. Rule is if my patterned paper outgrows it’s home, it’s time to sort & donate some. This is the photo before I started adding the newer papers back into it.

Here’s what I learned:

1. Some companies I love AND use up. Pink Paislee, Cosmo Cricket, and American Crafts all come to mind as companies that I thought I’d need a lot of room for but had hardly any papers. (I’ve used them!!!)

2. Some companies I love and either over-buy or under-use. Basic Grey, October Afternoon, and Making Memories are examples. I LOVE their stuff – but still have quite a bit unused. Hmmm.

3. Buying only paper you truly love or that you know will be useful is a smart move. This year I did NOT find lots of stripes, graphic bold designs, and other patterns that I rarely use.

4. Stuff that’s truly “you” won’t go out of style. I still have some 5+yr old paper in my stash that got a nod to stay on. It doesn’t feel old – it just hasn’t been needed yet…

What will clearing out your patterned paper say about you as a crafter? I’m liking what I see in my space.

I am for rain. I mean – would we survive without water? uh no. Do I like travel or working in it? not so much, but I still like rain. To be honest, rainy day activities totally kick the pants off warm summer day activities for me.

Bring on the book reading, puzzle solving, sitting by the fire, watching a movie, cuddling, listening to sound of rain, looking at the vivid colors of the freshly washed landscape, and cocoa weather anytime.

We had a hail storm. Here is B watching daddy sweep it off the patio so that the pouring rain could still get drained. Her shirt is a little short to wear with those pants, leaving a strip of toddler belly hanging out. It tortured me all day. Too cute.

Yep. We had hail. Lots. It was so much fun to run around in for me, and the girls loved eating the pebbles of ice. (FROM THE SKY!)

Here’s to embracing winter weather – and making good memories even if it rains on your previous plans.

Well my bloggy friends it’s been hard for me to keep my mouth shut & not show you all the layouts I did for the Girls’ Paperie debut at CHA. These lines truly made my creative heart so happy I could hardly stand to cut into them. (but once I started? There was no stopping! I went wild!) I can tell you this will be a huge stand-out for me at the show. The reaction it got from me when papers arrived here? Stunned awe. Heavy breathing. Much looking at papers & petting of them. Sorry – but it’s true. I am fully besotted.

I can’t show you my full pages until after the show (I know, SO hard to wait!!!) but I can sneak you a teeny tiny peek…

Ok, how about 2 peeks? On Holiday… another gem of a paper line…

For more info & peeks be sure to visit Margie’s blog!

If you’re going to CHA this weekend do stop by the Advantus booth & check out Margie’s new line. I’ve not even seen it all but I can tell you it is amazing. I will share photos & such after the show. If you’re not going to CHA – be sure to watch your favorite scrapbook store (or e-mail them and beg!) for this line. It’s got such a fabulous vintage inspired flair while remaining so totally useful for current photos.

You know, it seems unfair for me to gush on and on about loving this line but not sharing, now doesn’t it? What if I told you Margie e-mailed me and said I could give away some here? That’s right. YOU could win some & be playing before it’s even in stores. Just leave a comment here to be entered. I’ll draw the winner when I return home from CHA Tuesday (26th) night.

Happy Crafting!