CHA News

Good morning, all!

Greetings from Anaheim California! Kathy & I are attending the Craft & Hobby Association show here. We have seen lots of great new products.

Day 1:

Our first stop was the Spellbinders booth. We ordered lots of the new dies! We also saw the new Impressabilities. (see more info on their blog) These die cut metal sheets make a great embossed image on paper or craft metal. They also can be cut apart to use pieces of them. I'm excited to work with them. We plan to use them at the Spring workshop on April 4th.

We're excited about Flower-Soft, a product from the United Kingdom. This product adds texture and color to anything you can use glue on. It's especially cute for little flowers on cards. Come to the Spring workshop to try it out!

Day 2:

We placed many orders for paper. We found lines we liked at Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and Imaginisce. We placed orders at all of them! Fun, fun, fun papers!

We found cute stamps at Hero Arts......yes, we ordered there, too!

Obsession Impressions has some great stamps by a new artist. We ordered them!

We also ordered new stamps from Technique Tuesday, Northwoods, and Crafty Secrets. It will be hard to wait until these shipments come in!

Day 3:

We have an early appointment with American Craft. Who knows what we'll find there to order!

Last night, we made a long list for Penny Black. We'll be placing an order today.

We have a list of several other places to visit including Tattered Angels, Ranger, Crate, Cosmo Cricket, Fiskars, Primo and more......

.......having fun at CHA!
-judy

Spellbinders dies

Spellbinders dies are back in stock. All the circle, square, rectangle & oval Nestabilities are back in stock. There are now 2 oval styles: one of which is new to FM. The shape is more elongated. We now have the Petite Scalloped circles. The scallops on these dies are quite small.

While I was at CHA, I checked out the Spellbinders booth and all the new dies to be released in September. I ordered most of the new ones, too. I'm really excited about the great shapes for the new Nestabilities. They are expected to be in stock around mid September, just in time for the workshop. Sometime after the workshop, we're planning a weekend card stamping event featuring the Spellbinders dies. Check back for more info

A Great CHA Trip

I'm back from CHA full of ideas & inspiration! I saw some great new products, met some wonderful people & enjoyed the creative displays. I ordered some great new things for the store from Penny Black, Hero Arts, Graphic 45, Spellbinders, Cornish Heritage Farms, Stampers Anonymous & Cloud 9. I wish all the orders would be here this week! You can see the new designs from these companies by going to their websites.

One of my favorite booths to visit is the Ranger booth. They do a wonderful job displaying their products with lots of wonderful inspirational samples. My sister, Kathy, came along with me to to help choose things to order, keep me company & enjoy all the creative displays. She's a stamper, too. While I was busy placing some orders, she enjoyed watching Tim Holtz demonstrate his products at the Ranger booth. Tim created the awesome sample that Kathy is holding with some of his new stamps on an Adirondack Alcohol Ink background. I ordered that stamp set which will be coming around the first of September.

I did have a chance to say "hi" to Tim & pose for this photo! He always has such great tips for using Ranger products. One of his new products is the holder for the Mini Misters that you can see at the bottom of the photo. He also has some great new masks premiering in September. One of them is the music staff that's just visible near the Glossy Accents bottle towards the right/ bottom of photo.

CHA, here I come!

Today, I'm scurrying around my house getting ready to leave for CHA very early tomorrow. I have laundry going, my suitcse half packed, finished a few small sewing jobs, etc. I tend to start numerous projects. By the end of the day, I'll finish them all.

Kathy gave me instructions to order some of the new Spellbinders dies. Have you seen them? They are great. If you check their website, you'll find links to their designers' blogs. Each designer previewed some of the new dies over a 2 week period. They inspired me!

Ranger has some new Stickles glitter glues that will premier at CHA. Some are Tim Holtz Stickles matching many of the Distress inks. Can't wait to see those! Several other colors are in Suze Weinberg's line & will be extra sparkly & glitzy. I'll be sure to check out all of them.

I must keep working on my numerous projects. I hope to get a chance to post while in Chicago.

Until next time, keep smiling!

Wow, how time flies..........

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last wrote. Besides work, I spent all last week catching up on lawn & garden work as well as getting ready for family here this weekend. It was so fun to have my 3 grandchildren visit with my daughter. We went to Walnut Grove on Saturday to take in the activities at the park: pony rides, kiddie train rides, playing on the playground equipment (a big hit with Josh & Logan) & vendor booths. Josh & Logan each got raccoon caps. We also watched the Laura Look Alike contest for awhile. It was fun to see all the girls dressed as "Laura". It was the first weekend of the Wilder Pageant. Lots of visitors were in town. Of course, we also stopped at Fond Memories. The kids loved the toys while their mom checked out the scrapbooking supplies.
Last week, Kathy, Doreen & I worked on a stamp order from a new company. We're excited about the stamps. We have one workshop project planned to feature this new company. I'll let you know when the stamps arrive at the store. Until then, I'll keep you in suspense.
I plan to attend the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) show this week. I so enjoy seeing all the new products as well as wonderful samples. I'll be looking for new products & checking our favorite companies for their new lines. It's always fun & inspiring!