CHA Winter 2012 Day 3 - Tim Holtz, May Arts, Teresa Collins Stampmaker

For me, CHA comes to a close. I will fly back tomorrow. This has been a treat and a wonderful experience.

As I approached the doors this morning, the atmosphere was very quite. No huge crowds, just people walking in with in an orderly fashion. Many of them had their catalogs in hand after working through them the night before. I know, I did the same thing. By now you should have your purchasing plans all worked out because tomorrow is a short day and it is all over.

I did pick out some really cool ribbon from my favorite company, May Arts. It is really awesome when they recognize your name and all is well. The ribbons should be in soon as they are shipping everything that is in stock. YEAH!!!... New ribbon to play with.

Next, I went back to Ranger's booth and took pictures of the new pens that we have coming. There are 37 colors!!!... Better than color crayons, I swear....lol. They have a fine tip end and a wider tip on the other end. I want to play!!!! Like I say yesterday, we will carry a very limited supply, so if you want these, you need to buy them now. When we go the the CKC Expo in Portland Oregon in March, I know that these will fly off the shelves!!!
Then, I headed over to the Photocentric booth to take some pictures. Our very own Cheri Piles is on the Teresa Collins Design Team and Cheri also designs for Photocentric. The girls there are so sweet and awesome. I have a new friend in Janet. (her brother's name is Charlie and I have a sister who's name is Janet..lol)

We carry the Teresa Collins Stamp Maker. You really need to stop by our booth ( CKC Expo in Portland in March) and check it out. We will have it on display. It is an awesome tool and I love the logo Cheri made for The Hens' Den.

After all of my must do's, I finally took the opportunity to take some amazing pictures of the DCWV booth. They won the award for the best booth and they sure did deserve it. Look at all the wonderful things they had:

This is a Parrot display and on the other side was this:

He is so pretty!!

Next was the Peacock. Look at that flowing tail!

Here is a close up of his head. Just beautiful!!

The next several pictures are of various trees that they had in their booth. Just breath taking. The amount of time and care in putting each one together had to have been a major undertaking. AND they had to ship them in to the convention. MY OH MY!!

Each display was made from their very own paper. We do not carry DCWV, but this booth was a must post. They deserve the reconigtion. They did an awesome job.

As CHA comes to an end, I hope you have enjoyed our daily blog posts. I wanted to give you a feel of what it is like to be here. Please leave your comments, we would love to hear from you.

Take Care!!!

CHA Winter 2012 Day 2- Petaloo, Grapic 45, My Minds Eye, Tim Holtz

Day two started off with a different kind of energy. The opening crowd was half of that from the day before. There was no opening ceremonies, just the security staff checking and making sure that everyone getting into the show had their appropriate badge and that they belonged there. No sneaking in was going to be allowed.

Once the doors opened, that mad dash from yesterday was more of a walk of determination. A different kind of agenda was taking place. Those booths that you did not get to yesterday are now the target for the day. What great new items do they have in store for the public to see, touch and smell..(yes smell)

I do have to say, that by the end of yesterday I was so darn fed up with this rolling bag that was attached to my hand and following me all over the place. I would turn around and there it was. I would want to step to the right or the left and there it was. To think that I have this attachment for the 3 day in a row is getting old...lololololol

Ok, onto the goodies. My Mind's Eye was one of my stops. They have such wonderful paper and I really enjoyed chatting it up with one of the reps. I would love to carry everything they have but I promised myself that I would stick with my budget. (Ugh, a woman on a budget and admitting it....lol)





Next, I went back to Grapic 45 so that I could take pictures and show you the new goodies that we will be getting in with their paper lines. OH, what fun!!! Metal Butterflies and cute small brads.

Can you imagine taking a small set of needle nose pliers and tweaking those wings so that the butterfly looked like it was flying? Now imagine adding one or two of those cute metal brads...OooooLaLa!




Now, I made a wonderful find!!!... as I was walking around I found this cute booth called Petaloo. They have the most amazing flowers and WHAT DID MY EYE'S SPY but Grapic 45 paper! It was being used to show off the awesome colors and how wonderful they blend and compliment the Grapic 45 paper lines.....Yes!!! So...I "squirreled" and we are getting some of these wonderful flowers in our store to compliment and work with all the Grapic 45 paper lines. Such a grand find!!

Next I was back at the Ranger booth for another make and take and it was using the melting pot again. Applying Perfect Pearls with the resin they use and I made another piece of bling.

Yes, you see correctly. Tim Holtz signed the back of my bling!!.... Whooo Hooooo

I watched Tim demonstrate the new pens that Ranger is debuting and at first I thought they were just another marker and thinking they would not be an item that we would carry at this time. Well, I squirreled again. We are getting those wonderful pens and they should be shipping mid February. The things that you can do with those pens are awesome and they are priced very nicely compared to other products on the market. We will carry a limited supply, so be sure to be the first one to go on line and purchase them once we announce that they are in the store and available.

I will try and get some pictures of them today and post them on our Day 3 of CHA

(such a brain fart, should have done that yesterday)

Have an awesome day and we will catch you later

CHA Winter 2012

CHA Winter 2012.
What can I say?  What should I say?   But WOW!..  

This has been an experience.   From the moment I walked in this morning to the last booth I was at, it was a ride!   I has such an awesome opportunity to meet the people behind the scene to those on  the front lines.

Opening the doors....

I was 3rd in line to get in the doors.  From my vantage point I really got an in sight into the early hours of the opening.   We were surprised with a "flash mob" and all camera's were flashing and clicking like crazy.  One of the dis-advantages of being in front, you do not get to see what is happening in the rear.  But my ears told me all I needed to hear.  People were having fun!!.  (I am hoping to get a video from a friend, so please check back)

Having waited for a very long time, we were surprised once again.  Bag Pipes!!!... They are such an awesome sound and it came from afar and the closer they got to the front entrance, the more intense the excitement got.   What a wonderful and talented group and what a way to build up the the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Once that ribbon was cut, it was a MAD dash into the convention center.  Everyone spent days mapping out their path, mapping out who was giving limited specials to the first 50 or 100 people, who had the best goodies.... it was CRAZY!!!!!

Me... I headed straight to Ranger and my first make-in-take was quick and easy and very cute.   They were demonstrating a "melting pot" for a hard resin onto Tim Holtz's new "Tire Tread" material.   FUN.. FUN.. FUN.... 20 min later, I was in line at Tim Holtz Idea-ology.......

The was was 1.5 hours... When I got to that stool, I was so darn happy.  The sweet gal that was helping with the make-in-takes was so sweet.  She saw the look on my face and I am sure it was red from being so hot.  (you know that feeling... right.. private summer moments) ANY WAY...... This make-in-take was Tim's new releases.  The Pocket Watch... what a fun thing to play with!!!.  I wore it all day long.  (hope it Tim appreciates it).  Now, understand I am hearing hoops and hollars behind me and in the distance I could see Tim Holtz and Mario Rossi.  I felt so bumbed that my timing was way off and that I would not get to meet either of them....

WRONG!!!!... Happy Girl.. Happy Dance!!!

Mario is so sweet and kind and Tim was to gracious to take a moment out of his VERY busy day and take a picture with me.    Love them both!!!!!!!!!!   Ummmm... did I mention that we have goodies coming??

Next was Teresa Collins Designs!!....What an opportuity, I have to say.   I was to surprised to find that the very people I wanted to meet, they were ALL there.  Nick Nash.. (cutie pie), Julie Jacob (what a sweet heart and so darn cute), Teresa Collins, herself and Gentry her daughter.  That was a bonus.  We see the names of her children on her bling and it was such a pleasure to meet Gentry.  Very sweet girl and cute.  (hey guys!!!!). Teresa was so gracious.  I know it must be a very long day to stand in those beautiful heels and dresses and smile every time a stranger wanted to take a picture.  I am honored and blessed that she allowed me such an opportuinty. (yes, we have 2 lines coming from Teresa Collins Designs)

Then, onto Graphic 45.   I was sitting there with one of Diane's daughters placing an order and Diane came out.. let me say that all the dresses that every one of the girls were wearing were just gourgeous!!!!  Stunning!!!.. Diane was elegant and gracious.   I asked her daughter if I could take a photo with Diane and she said "sure".  I jumped out of my chair, stood next to Diane and I felt like a little school girl next to one of her idols...lol.   (OH.. AND... we have 2 lines coming!!)

Even Beautiful Ladies must take off their shoes.  Their feet hurt just like the rest of us.

Now by this time I have to eat.   Needed fuel.. so off to the food bar!!.. not the best, but the best I could find.  There was no way I was going to leave.   LOLOLOLOLOL

I spent a few moments collecting my thoughts and when I turned around there was Bo Bunny!!!!

I stepped into the booth and met Matthew, the owners son.  He was so funny.  We joked and laughed at some of the antic's we both saw and witnessed throughout the day.  He was a hoot. He even recited a saying that he had to type 100 times when he was in the 7th grade.   Cracked me up.   I stuck around for a drawing that they were holding at 5 pm.  Sad to say, I did not win anything but they were SO generous with their give -a- ways.   
Oh, and yes we have 2 of their new releases coming.  

Day 2...Wonder what I will find???  Stay tuned!

Here's a little sneak peak of what will be coming soon to the store!

BO BUNNY

Photo Source

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TERESA COLLINS

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MY MIND'S EYE

Follow Your Heart  

BE HAPPY COLLECTION

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SIMPLE STORIES

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After this, my day was done.  Many long hours standing on my feet and boy did they let me know that.   Now I sit in the hotel room planning tomorrow and my plan of attack for day 2........

CHA 2012 Winter Show

Oh My Gosh!!!.... What an experience.    Today is day 1 and I have 4 more days.   I swear I am going to wear out the rubber on the bottom of my sneakers.    This is my first time attending CHA, so from that point of view, it is more than I thought it would be but at the same time it is just what I thought is would be.  

People running everywhere trying to get their booths set up or make their way to their classes.   Mass people and it was only day one..... I will need to take my valuim tomorrow.

I will keep you posted......