I'm home!.

I arrived home this morning from CHA - bittersweet, as it's always good to get home, but we had such fun in CA that I didn't want it to end! Yesterday was not only Jaclyn's birthday, but my daughter, Dana, turned 28 as well! And as it turned out, I decided to fly home through Albuquerque to spend the night with her. It's always great to be able to say Happy Birthday in person.


I loved how the vendors went all out to decorate their booths. There were some pretty awesome ones - can you imagine trucking all that stuff in, setting it up in a day or two, and then disassembling it again? But they are sure impressive.

I loved Doodlebug's 50's soda shop fountain look:

This was one side of their booth with "windows" and window boxes filled with such yummy glittery goodies.



Vintaj had a great booth with lots of brass findings - loved this display door! Their demo counter was made of old wood - you can see a bit in the pic to the left.



Graphic 45 is a fairly new paper line. Loved all their gorgeous papers and they had a fabulously decorated booth. Check out this display unit (a small version of old bed springs).



This huge hanging metal flower uses one of their papers - isn't this beautiful?!



Speaking of flowers, they were everywhere. Look at this happy endcap from Petaloo.



When Tracy placed an order at Prima, she qualified for the "scoop as many flowers as you can in this plastic bag in 10 seconds" offer. Here she's holding the bag while Jaclyn furiously scoops.




Tracy was very happy!



This was a cute layout at Basic Grey. The flowers were made with styrofoam balls cut in half and covered with tiny paper flowers. Very cute. I regret not getting a close-up.
I finally got to see Flower Soft up close. This has been getting a buzz on Yahoo groups and I could never quite "get it." It's basically a fluffy fibery product that you sprinkle on a wire (if you want to make flowers) or a shape covered with any clear drying glue. It really does make very realistic flowers as you can see on this card sample. It comes in every color imaginable and they had some interesting samples with hearts etc. Not something that I might use, but a new concept.

Everyone wants to get noticed at CHA. Look at the huge ribbon spools that were stacked on the four corners of the Offray ribbon booth. We heard they were made with paper - very clever and they really did look like ribbon!



It was great to get to see the altered bras for breast cancer at the Melissa Frances booth. They are so much prettier in real life! As you probably know, Melissa is a breast cancer survivor. I actually got to meet her in the booth and talk a bit with her. She talked a little about her cancer journey and how excited she is to have a full head of hair back and anticipating her upcoming wedding. She is a beautiful person, inside and out! I got so caught up in talking with her that I forgot to take a picture! She had beautiful papers, as always, and great new products. Isn't this little shabby chic box just the most adorable thing? It would be so perfect for a baby's special mementos. I so have to have this to keep for a future grandchild!





I can't remember which booth this was at, but look at this suitcase papered in these beautiful bright, happy papers. I would just love to have this to open and look at when I felt down or sad. I think I'll be keeping an eye out for an old suitcase...More cute ideas -- a paper covered lampshade from Graphic 45:

Paper birds in a tree (great Easter decor!) from Jillybean Soup, a brand new paper line.

A cylinder purse with a Just Rite Stamper monogram on the front - hmm, I'm imagining recyling an oatmeal box...?

I'm still on a CHA high. What creative stimulation - so many exciting ideas crammed in my brain right now. Just hope I don't forget anything. Thank heavens for digital cameras and old-fashioned notebooks! I have tons more to share later...