My Monday at CHA

Hello crafty ones!

Just when you thought it was all over....there's more!  There is just way too much to share!  

Monday began with more time spent doing make and takes with When Creativity Knocks!  I even guest appeared on one episode with Ana.  That was a nice surprise!  I'm always amazed at what Ana Araujo creates with foam board.  Sometimes I wish I could spend a couple of hours in her head so that I can wrap my head around it!!  Just amazingly incredible!  All the videos of these awesome cards will be up on the WCK website soon.  

At the show, Ana and Megan interviewed some of CHA's top crafters.  The segments are titled Great Crafter's Viewpoints and you can see segments from some of the industry greats like Brenda Pinnick, Suede, Mark Montano and Drew Emborsky, "The Crochet Dude"...just to name a few.  Plus, Laura Bray taped at fantastic segment called Valentine Votives at Art Glitter.  You don't want to miss that!!

Ana Araujo and Cindi Bisson...two of my favorite designers whom I am proud to call friends!

This smiley fella is Scott Pfeiffer, the Producer of When Creativity Knocks.  He is always behind the cameras and I think he needed to get his props!!  Thank you, Scott!

Next, it was time to stop at Charity Wings, formerly known as Scrapbook Royalty...where I got to speak a little bit with, always gracious, Elena Etcheverry.  They are a very generous organization.  They had the warmest, most inviting booth with all this great, new signage.  Just beautiful.  Plus, they were streaming live during the entire show.

After my visit and short walk of the show floor, it was time to head down to Craft Studio for my demo.  Here is the display case of projects from all the designers who contributed to this event.

Designers were asked to choose between four different material:  yarn, paper, wire and canvas.  We were challenged to do something innovative with those materials.  We were allowed to incorporate other medium into our projects but the focus had to be on the material we chose.  I chose yarn.  Since I don't crochet or knit, I thought it would be challenging and fun.  It really was too!  Once I figured out what I was going to do with cream colored, acrylic yarn!  I used yarn, ribbon, Sizzix die cuts and Ranger's Color Wash to create my piece.  I thought it was pretty innovative!

That's it for today.  There's more to come.....

Sunday at CHA...Part Two

So, here it is, still Sunday at CHA.  That was a particularly crazy day.  We had two make and takes at Elmer's and one at Craftwell.  I had a demo at ScraPerfect an then the Designer Showcase...which was awesome!

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a special visitor come by to say hi...it was Vanna White from Wheel of Fortune!  What a lovely woman!  She is spokesperson for Lion Brand Yarn, which was across from the Elmer's booth.  Her daughter, Giovanna, and Christine, from Lion, were at the Elmer's booth that morning making cards for the Troops with When Creativity Knocks.  Later that afternoon, when we returned to Elmer's, Christine brought her over to say hi to us.  She signed a card.

And stayed for a couple of pictures!

And even though she was going back and forth to say hello to everyone and pose for pictures, she decided that she wanted to make a card as well!  That is her daughter, Giovanna, on the right.

I only had about an hour to walk the show floor on Sunday, but I did catch up with Mark Montano of While You Were Out.  I got to speak with him for a little bit.  He is such a doll!  Dean, from Design Originals, gave me a copy of his new book, Pulp Fiction, which Mark signed.

Finally finished with all my show floor obligations, it was time for the meet and greet at the Designer Showcase.  Because I had such a busy day, I had to set up in the wee hours of the morning.  This picture was taken before the room was completely set up.

This was the showcase from later that night when everything was set up and the room was all a buzz.  I think I did pretty well for my first showcase!  Here is Jen Goode and Carla Schauer...really talented designers and overall great peeps!

Sunday was my most productive...and exhausting day by far.  I only wish I'd had more time to walk to floor.  I am sure I missed a lot!

Artfully yours,

Theresa