Collins Group Trade Show

I think I've finally rested (?) from our whirlwind long weekend at the Collins Group show in Houston.  We drove to Houston on Thursday afternoon and started classes bright and early on Friday morning (8 am).  Anyone who knows me knows I'm a nightowl, not a morning person, so this was difficult for me!  Classes ran 1.5 hours with about 10-15 minutes between - just enough to find the next classroom and possibly take a potty break.  We had two classes in the morning, three in the afternoon and one at night with a 1.5 hour break for dinner.  Then we repeated this schedule on Saturday, except in the evening when we had a marathon three-hour make-and-take event.  There were 30 vendors attending and each had a make-and-take for us to do.  As soon as the doors opened we made a beeline for the Tim Holtz table where there were four available spaces. By the time I got over there, I was #4 in line! So I spent the first hour waiting and then making the great Halloween tag shown in the last post.  In all, I think I only made about 6 projects, but they were fun.  I have no idea how you could possibly do them all. Sunday was an all-day trade show much like CHA (but much smaller!) where you could talk to vendors, see their products up close and order if you wanted.  The keynote speaker, Bob Negen, was scheduled for 8 am (early again!) but was worth getting up for. He was an awesome speaker and was full of tips and information for retailers.  The Little Blue House even won a door prize - a free, 30-minute private consultation with him!  And the fun continued on Monday with an all-day class with Tim Holtz called "Winter Wonderland" in which we made three gorgeous Christmas projects.  

One of my favorite classes was with Hero Arts with instructors Jennifer McGuire and Shari Carroll.  They were very organized and knowledgeable.  We made these four technique-filled cards using lots of distress inks and stains.

The last one above uses a new Hero Arts cling stamp and matching embossing folder.  So many possibilities with this.  And Hero Arts also just debuted matching dies for some of their stamps - fun, fun!