CHA: Part 1

I’ve taken 250 photos in the last two days, but don’t worry, this post is photo heavy, but not nearly THAT heavy! Being at CHA is like being a kid in a candy store. There is so much to see, and lots to learn. My understanding is that this is a smaller show than the winter one, but it’s plenty big for me! Yesterday the show opened with a bagpipe parade. This is a traditionally done for the manufacturers before the doors were opened, and we were lucky enough to be inside to see and hear it.

One of the first booths we went to was Spellbinders. Their Nestability dies are my favorites and the big new product is large format dies. They are fabulous, and can be used in scrapbook layouts as mats, as books, and as cards.

 

One of the best things is seeing all the samples by the manufacturer’s design teams. Here’s a layout using one of the large format dies.

 

Learning some new techniques has also been one of the benefits of being here, and I’ll have more to show you in the next post.

 

The American Craft booth had fabulous new papers, embellishments, and Thickers. Some of my favorites were from the new Dear Lizzy line. We got to meet and talk to Elizabeth Kartchner who couldn’t be nicer.

Laura, Eva, me, Elizabeth, and Katie

 

I love these new Thickers.

 

Next stop was the Making Memories booth. These wonderful butterflies are just one example of the great decorations, hard work, and thought that goes into creating these booths.

 

The Slice now has a new cartridge that cuts appliques. How cute are these?

 

They were doing Make & Takes with their new Vintage Jewelry line.

Here’s Katie’s.

 

This was my first opportunity to meet Katie and Eva who are on the Scrap-Mart Design Team with me. They are, of course, just as nice in person as they are online!

I even bumped into Sharon Klima, the owner of Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. We were both watching a fabulous demonstration of Art Parts by Wendy Vecchi. Wendy’s coming to Buffalo to teach a class in September and I hope I’m able to go. I loved her work.

 

 

 

But the best part of today was winning not one, but two raffles. First I won the Martha Stewart Cricut Cake machine which I handed over to Laura since I’m not ever going to be a professional baker.

 

That was at 11:00 and at 2:00 I won a Slice machine! Can’t beat that kind of luck!

Tomorrow we set up the Scrap-Mart booth for the consumer show on Friday and Saturday. I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to run a business in this industry (and it ain’t easy!), and tomorrow should be another learning experience. I’ve got more to share as soon as I have time to get the post written.