CHA is on the way...

IMP Participating Manufacturers

Hello crafty peeps!  We are officially 7 days out to the official start of the Craft and Hobby Association's Winter Trade Show!  It has been very busy here preparing for show and all it's events.  I am involved in quite a lot...and I will be sharing everything!!

As part of a designer's prep, Victor Domine of CHA, led a teleconference with us to talk about Press Kits and Press Releases.  He gave us some valuable insights as to what should be included in these items as well as what the difference is between the two.  I always place a press kit in the Press Room at Conventions, but never believed that I had any press release worthy news!  I found out that I was indeed wrong...so I will have a press release ready to go for show (i'm still tweaking!).

During this call, Victor informed us that this will CHA's 70th anniversary for trade shows.  That speaks a lot to this organization and shows the growth of this industry.  I am always humbled to be a part of CHA.  They do such amazing things and everyone is very supportive of each other.

One of the events I am taking part in this show is really exciting.  Independent Manufacturing Partners...affectionately called IMP is sponsoring Completing the Puzzle...a wonderful event where show attendees can see demonstrations of each Manufacturer's products and then collect a puzzle piece to complete their puzzle.  The participants then have the opportunity to win $900.00 in product to place in their stores for retail.  My challenge was to use as many of these manufacturer's products in a project as possible.  It was quite a feat...lemme tell you!  I received oodles of product from 7 manufacturers.  The real challenge for me was incorporating something from each in a way that didn't make the project look too busy.  I was really pleased with the outcome.  During the show I will be demonstrating twice.  My demo primarily focuses on how I used products from Magenta, The Crafter's Workshop and Earth Safe Finishes.  

I will be blogging every night from the show and for at least two weeks after show....the amount of pictures I come home with on my camera are obscene!  I can't wait for you all to see!  Keep checking back....there will be more pre-show posts!

Artfully yours,

Theresa