CHA Download, Part 3: Projects (+ a giveaway)

If you're not completely sick of hearing about the Craft and Hobby Association Winter show yet, indulge me for one more post, okay?

Today I'll share some of the projects I made for display at the show. Many of these were made back in November, and it's always fun to see them when they're part of a booth.

I created this Travel Pinboard for ILoveToCreate, which is the company behind Tulip Paints and Aleene's Adhesives. I had a lot of fun making this project featuring their Aleene's Fabric Fusion line of adhesives. Full project instructions are now on their website.

And then there were a bunch of projects for the We R Memory Keepers booth. I can't post all of them today, but I'll share a couple.

Here's one I did with the For the Record collection, which will be shipping in February. This one also uses the new Euro Slot Power Punch by We R:

These projects feature the Simply Spring line, which is now shipping:

And that brings me to the best part of my CHA posts. The end, you say? Not so fast! How about a giveaway?

I've unpacked my bag o' goodies and put together a few of my favorites for one lucky  reader, including the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes and the CHA Magazine, a few pieces of flair and an assortment of other crafty supplies for your enjoyment.

For your chance to win, leave a comment below. I'll leave the comments open until 5 p.m. Central on Monday, January 21. Be sure to include your email address in your comment if it's not already in your Blogger profile. U.S. entries only please.

Good luck!


FINE PRINT: If you don't have an email in your blogger profile (or you aren't sure what I'm talking about), please be sure to leave your email addy with your comment. After 5 p.m. Central on January 21, I will randomly draw a winner from the comments  on this post and list the winner's name/ comment at the bottom of this post. I will also contact the winner by email if possible. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Thanks for reading!


GIVEAWAY WINNER:

Congratulations to Jill Rugg! Jill, watch your email!

CHA Download, Part 2: On Display

Continuing along my CHA recap series, today's post is all about the "wow" factor.

Yes, it's fun seeing the new products at CHA. But even more fun is seeing the clever and often jawdropping ways they've been used to create displays for the booths.

A few of my favorites:


Maya Road

Canvas messenger bags embellished with paints, mists, fabric, burlap and flowers


GCD Studios

Pure Bliss Collection by Heather Tozzi -- loved the rolled up papers


Crate Paper

Vintage window frames and mailbox door used as backdrop


Plaid (Mod Podge)

Wouldn't this be a fun kids craft?



Teresa Collins

Teresa's booth always has the prettiest mini albums.

Maya Road (again)

This is a chipboard butterfly album, but the designer created a box for it by adding bingo pieces and mini rulers to make the frame. Genius!

Bottlecaps

I could. not. stop. looking at this amazing wall art created with colored bottlecaps. I want this on my wall!
 
My Mind's Eye

Don't like your bike? Cover it in washi tape and you will love it!
 
Hemptique

Crocheted flower using hemp cord -- a little stiffer than yarn and comes in a huge variety of colors. If only I could crochet.

Check back on Friday for my last CHA post...a wrap-up of projects, classes and other fun stuff. See you then!

CHA Download, Part 1: Favorites

I flew home from CHA on Monday and woke up this morning to a mix of snow and sleet for my drive to work. Reality is so cruel.

But back to the trip...it was fabulous in EVERY way: oohing and aahing over all the great new products coming out, meeting the amazing minds behind all those products, trying new techniques, learning lots and, best of all, giggling all night long with sweet friends who are just as crazy as me.

I'll be devoting the rest of the week to posts about things I saw and did at the show, and today's post will showcase my favorite products and collections:


Maya Road Wood Embellishments

I always love Maya Road and, honestly, I could fill up a full blog post with favorites from this company (hmmm, maybe someday...), but these little wood rulers (called Measure Twice Cut Once) and the polaroid frames (You've Been Framed) stole my heart. Come to Mama!


Sweet Girl Collection by Echo Park

Well, you knew there would be something from Echo Park in here, right? I loved all of their new releases, but the swirly, circle-y paper in this one put it over the top for me. I want to cut that up right now!

Chic Tags - Birthday Cake Collection

I was so happy to see this booth. I'm kind of a tag-junkie, and I've been using this company's tags for a while, but they've always come in kits. I didn't realize all this time I could buy full sets of them on Scrapbook.com and ACherryOnTop.com, but I'm so glad I know now! (Why yes, I did already place an order. How did you guess?)


Elle's Studio You & Me

In addition to all their wonderful tags and titles, Elle's Studio is now doing paper! Yippee! My favorite was the chalkboard-look paper in this line. While I was checking out all the gorgeous releases, I got to meet Elle and she was so kind and friendly. She was handing out little bags of samples, which I can't wait to use. Thanks, Elle!

Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper
 

Maggie rocked this collection! The papers are beautiful -- just as you'd expect from anything that says Crate -- but what really stood out were the variety of embellishments. Not just the same old, same old -- adorable bobby pins, mini bows and a whole lotta other fun stuff. Love it!

Chevron Ribbon by May Arts

The chevron ribbon May Arts released last year was (and still is) a staple on my craft table. But this is like Version 2.0 -- vertical chevrons in bright colors and neutrals. I think I need them all. Oh yes.

Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Collection

Really nice muted primary colors, lots of fun, on-trend patterns, like chevrons, stripes, florals. But the thing that really got me was the horse chipboard. My horse-obsessed girl is going to love this!

We R Memory Keepers 360 Tote

It's been a long time since a good crafting tote hit the market, and this one combines all the best features: plenty of pockets for organizing tools, zippered compartments on every side, 360-degree rolling wheels for easy maneuvering around all those crop tables and a bright, fun pattern. There's also a matching paper storage tote with accordion files to keep all your pages organized with no bent corners...bonus!

Jinger Adams Craft Armoire

Storage-challenged scrappers, this is for you! It hangs over a door and opens to reveal tons and tons of organization for paper, tools, embellishments, ribbon...everything you can think of, Jinger has it covered. The door even has corkboard in the panel so you can pin notes and ideas.

Of course, there are lots of other fantastic new things that I'm excited about, but I'll save those for another day and another post.

Check back tomorrow for a look at the most clever and beautiful displays I saw. Until then...

CHA Prep (and a few peeks!)

Today's the day...getting on a plane and heading to LAX. Suitcase is packed, itinerary printed, stack of business cards ready to go...California, here I come!


I'm headed to the Craft and Hobby Association Winter Show, also known as CHA-W (but never prounounced "chaw" -- trust me, that's a rookie mistake). Some people will tell you that going to CHA is work -- and it does involve long days of walking, talking, going to workshops, and a little schmoozing. But for me, it's kind of like going to Disney World...a fun-filled escape to a wonderland of activities (and people) I love.

I always have intentions to blog while I'm there, but usually I'm so tired by the time I get back to my hotel room at night that I just curl up and fall asleep. Really, I'm going to try to squeak in a post here and there, but no promises.

I'll leave you with a few peeks of samples I did for the We R Memory Keepers booth. In addition to some amazing new paper collections, We R has really outdone themselves this year with several really awesome new tools and even a set of crafting bags that I'm pretty excited to get my hands on. If you're at the show, be sure to check out their booth!


This collection is called Simply Spring...isn't it pretty?

And this one is For the Record. I love the cool colors and patterns!

The tool I'm most excited about? This clever Envelope Punch that creates matching envelopes for your cards in a variety of sizes:

It's already been named one of the Hot 20 new products by CHA, so I think We R has a hit on their hands with this one. I'm looking forward to never having to dig in my drawer for the right-sized envelope.

How about you? What are you excited to see from CHA?

Little teenager

My girls are big for their age -- as in tall -- which usually makes them seem older than they really are. Sometimes I have to remind myself that they're still just little girls. I don't want them to grow up any faster than they already do. But they want to be Taylor Swift and Bridget Mendler and Selena Gomez. They want to go to fabulous places...wear fabulous clothes...do fabulous things.

So they act all "mature" in their little girl way.

The camera is very good at capturing this. Too good, really. Because I end up with photos of a 6-year-old that make her look like a 16-year-old.

Not at all what I'm going for, but it's kind of fun to see a glimpse of the young lady she will be someday. I decided to just embrace the too-old-looking photo. Just this once.

Patterned paper, stickers, chipboard, fabric buttons: We R Memory Keepers Winter Frost collection; twine: The Twinery; adhesives: Scotch, Zip Dry (Beacon Adhesives).

Brrrrr!

This warm-weather girl has had just about enough of the heavy-coat-and-glove-wearing weather. Too much, actually.

Sure, it was kind of cool seeing big, fluffy snowflakes coming down on Christmas Day...right up to the point I had to chase my escaping dog down the street in my slippers. Then I was ready for the 70-degree temps to come back.

Still waiting...

It's not such a bad thing to be trapped indoors though. At least I did some scrapbooking.

 

 

Cardstock, patterned paper, stickers, crochet doily, fabric buttons, metal snowflake and title tag from We R Memory Keepers (Winter Frost collection). 


Hope you're staying warm and toasty wherever you are!
 

My Word for 2013

New Year's Resolutions never really worked for me, so I stopped making them years ago. Instead, I choose a word that I want to focus on for the year. It's kind of a common practice in scrapbooking circles, known as One Little Word. It's much simpler than a resolution because you never really fail, as long as you let that word guide you all year. When you make a mistake, you think a little about it (maybe write a little about it), then get back on course.

I gave a lot of thought to what my word would be for 2013. There are plenty of ways I could go: relaxation, focus, contentment, home. All good concepts, but none of them really captured what I need to work on. In the end, I decided what I really needed to do was to stop trying to do all the thinking about what could happen or not happen in the future and be more aware of today...this moment.

So my word for 2013 is:

 
Present in the little moments, paying attention to the here and now.

Present in my kids lives -- at their performances, in their classrooms, talking about their day, listening to their ideas.

Present in my relationships -- tuning into what others really need from me without them having to ask (or beg). Just being there when they need me.

This will be a challenge. The planner in me likes to think about tomorrow, and the next day and the next task on my to-do list...and the next idea....and the next place to go...

But then again, it might be pretty refreshing.

I made a little pocket on my layout to tuck some thoughts into throughout the year. I figure it will be fun to read them at the end of the year and see how I did.

Happy New Year!!