...and Last Summer

Ok ok....so I know what some of you are thinking..."What's with the giant bird?"  Isn't he cute?  And huge?  lol

This fantastically, feathery fellow is from the Flora Craft booth at the Craft and Hobby Industry's summer show...

I wonder how long it took to put that bad boy together.  Anyway,  you see all sorts of cool and interesting things at a trade show.

Anyway, I mentioned in my last post that I was gearing up for the Craft and Hobby Association's (hereafter and lovingly known as CHA) Winter trade show.  I've spent the better part of two months getting ready for this spectacular event.  There will be more about that in later posts....and plenty to share with you during the show.

Just to give you a little taste as to what's what with a trade show, I am sharing some pictures from CHA's summer show, which was in Chicago.

Bazzill...where they have my favorite solid colored scarpbook papers!

When at a trade show, I do a LOT of walking.  There is so much to see and usually not enough time to really see it all, so I always make a plan...usually starting with seeing what's new with my favorite manufacturers.....

Tattered Angels has partnered with Heidi Swapp...what better combo can ya get????

There's always a lot of goodies to see at Die Cuts With a View!

May Arts is a ribbon and fiber lover's (yes, me!) dream!

EK Success had a HUGE display for their line of American Girl scrapbook products.

I always check out what's going on at Ranger and you can usually catch Suze Weinberg, Tim Holtz and Claudine Helmuth, too!

So, once I've seen what's new at my fav places, I usually just walk to floor to see what else may catch my eye.  I have always liked the booth set up at Little Yellow Bicycle...but this show they were actually raffling off a yellow bicycle!  I'm not kidding....see for yourself.....

See!  I wasn't kidding!

I hope the person who won that lived close enough to ride it home. 

What is this?  This is the GIGANTIC hanging display that was above the Making Memories booth.  I noticed it right off when I walked onto the show floor.  It made me take a detour from my regular route because I just had to see who's booth that was from!  When I got there you could see all these butterflies dangling and twirling...all shimmery and glittery.  They cut a gagillion butterflies with the Slice...their electronic cutter.  It was really beautiful.

Of course, no show is complete without getting to spend a little bit of time...and sometimes just a pass by as we are on our way to demo's, make and takes, showcases, etc., ...with fellow designers.  We have quite a group at CHA.  We are organized, supportive and just generally fabulous!

This particular group above participated in the very first installment of the Triple Play Blog Hop.  I didn't participate in the first one...but Julianna Hudgins, who was the spokesperson and designer liaison for Sizzix at the time, invited me along to their thank you dinner.  It was very sweet to invite me...and they even gave me a gift, which started me on the path of being completely obsessed with Sizzix dies!

Designers do all sorts of things at a show.  We won't get all into that now, but here is my designer friend, Ann Butler who is demoing for Makin's Clay!

One of the highlights (literally...you'll see) was running into Suede from Project Runway.  I first ran into him at a charity event.  He was pretty surrounded, but I noticed right away that we both had purple highlights.  I mean...we were hair twins!

So, the next day, when I passed by the Craftwell booth, I realized why he was at the show.  He used Craftwell's electronic cutter to create these stunning dresses.

I'm looking forward to seeing him at CHA Winter.  He will be there with Simplicity.  I wonder what color his hair will be.........

Keep checking back for pre-show peeks!

Artfully yours,

Theresa