Thursday, January 28, 2010

Winter CHA

So, I did attend Winter CHA in Anaheim, CA this week and it was a blast! First I want to thank my friends Kim Burmeister of Clearly Inspired and Susanna Boyd, founder of Paper Craft Planet for doing the behind the scenes work to allow me to attend CHA. We went on non-consumer days, which meant we couldn't make purchases unless we had a store...that was fine with me, I was able to keep my money in my wallet...but I was still excited none-the-less. Also, let me say now, I didn't take pictures of the various displays, because some vendors said no photos, and some were okay with it. I decided to just put my camera away and enjoy my time there...

I finally got to meet Kim! We've been blogging buddies for a while now and so it was super fun to get to spend time with her. She is adorable! We laughed and giggled like school girls and I felt like I'd known her for years.



Disclaimer on this photo...this was at the end of the day. I was WIPED out! Ready to just lay down and sleep!

We moved thru the displays fairly quickly. LOVED seeing all the new papers. I am such a paper hoarder...Basic Grey, October Afternoon, Melissa Frances, Cosmo Cricket, Graphic 45. I was able to get catalogs from some of these vendors, so I can pore over them and make my shopping list!

We participated in a few make and takes...we made a vintage necklace at the Making Memories booth.



This is a page we scrapped on canvas. I think I'm going to add the pics from my day and put this on the wall of my studio.



This is a little book we made using the Bind-it-All. I love the colors...not too sure what I'm going to do with this one yet...




AND...I got to meet my biggest inspiration... Debbie Olson...thought I would die! She is just as sweet in person, as she has been to me all these months when I would e-mail her and ask her Copic questions or questions about her cards. AND...she gave me a one on one mini Copic tutorial. I could have camped out at her booth all day.

Ahhhh!!! Can you believe I was standing so close to all that talent!! Hopefully some of it rubbed off on me!


One of my goals was to snag as many vendor tote bags as I possibly could. This actually turned out to be pretty fun! Because sometimes we could just walk up and take a bag, but sometimes we had to DO something to get it. It didn't matter to me, if I saw a bag I liked, I would do just about anything to get it...just ask Kim. ;-) She started calling me Bag Lady after a while! Not a bad score here! LOVE the pink and black one. And the Yellow Bicycle bag is too cute for words. These make great 'going to the library' bags or beach bags.




There were freebies of course...here is my wonderful pink craft apron and this funny little Cricut Cake chefs hat. Now with the Cricut, I understand that machine can cut fondant to decorate cakes and cupcakes. I didn't see that demo, but the finished product looked yummy!


Wearing the hat and the apron gave us chances to win products...chefs hat would get us a Cricut, pink apron would get us a Slice from Making Memories. Here is our group, riding the Vespas at MM...

We have here Lynn Mercurio, Susanna Boyd, Kim Burmeister and me.


I really did have a good time, even though I had to cut my day short...still not fully recovered from my surgery and that was a lot of walking and standing. I'm looking forward to the next CHA!!

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Blessings~

6 comments:

Sparkplug17 said...

What fun pictures! Looks like such a great time!

Sarah said...

Ohhhh Barb!!! I LOVED looking at your photo's and reading about your time there! I would have LOVED to have gone with you! Thanks so much for sharing ...what a treat!
Oh and those bags!!! AWESOME...I LOVE the black and pink one too. You should use them as inspiration for some cards.
Sorry you are still not back to 100% after surgery.

Kathi Carlson said...

What fun photos and so much fun to read about your experiences! Good for you!!

stampmonkey said...

Wow, Barb!! It looks like you had an absolute blast at CHA {I'm totally envious!}! Great pics, love the bags you came home with, and how fun that you got personal instruction from Ms. Debbie O! Looking forward to hearing which papers are your favorites. ;)

Kim Burmeister said...

Barb, I am sooo happy you were able to join us at CHA. I loved meeting you and hanging out all day. In no time it felt like we knew each other forever. I had a blast tracking down the pretty bags we saw other crafters carrying. I didn't get anymore after you were gone. I spent the rest of the day creating a make-n-take with other Paper Craft Planet DTs.

OH, I hope we can see each other again. I might go again next year depending on what is happening.

You are so much fun to hang around. I laughed and laughed and can't imagine you not being there.

Thanks for having an eagle eye and finding Lynn's tote. Whew! That was a little excitement. Inky hugs until we meet again!

Risa said...

What amazing and beautiful pictures Barb. You are living the dream girl! I can tell that you had a great time and just to see a crafting idol is priceless! Thanks for sharing the pictures of CHA with us.
Big Hugs
Risa:)