CHA Winter 2012

Finally. My CHA post. I meant to do this sooner, but I've been so sick. Apparently a bug I brought home from my trip. Ick. I just hope nobody else in the house gets it. Allan separated two ribs (sledding with the kids) when I was gone and I think the sneezing and coughing would do him in! I'm trying desperately not to spread my germs. Miss Moya has been a huge help with making meals and cleaning. She deserves a big reward. Maybe a day at the mall when I'm all better. I love rewards that I can enjoy too. :)

I'll start with a glimpse of the morning I left for CHA. This is what I saw from my window seat on the plane. Snow. And it was coming down pretty fast. We ended up sitting in the plane for an hour while they de-iced it and plowed the runway. The plane even did a little slipping and sliding across the ice as we made our way out to the runway...which, by the way, was not as fun as it may sound.
  
Photo taken by Deena Wuest.

Here I am the next morning on my hotel room balcony just so happy to be in warm, sunny California. Notice the lack of snow? Oh, yeah!

So I took a LOT of photos at the show. Photos of friends, projects, products, cute booths and the list goes on. I tried to narrow it down and condense it but I still have a lot of images to share. So...just to let you know, this post is lengthy! :)

I'll start with cute booths.


Paper airplane mobile from the 7gypsies booth. I am so going to do this for Elijah's room! It will be a fun project that we can do together. Can't wait!


Isn't this banner adorable?! Coffee filters, doilies and cup cake liners! Fun idea for a party. I'm not sure what booth it was in. Oops.


Okay, can I just say that I wanted to take the decor from the Cosmo Cricket booth home with me? I did. I seriously did. Shelves made from old books, drawers, and suitcases cut in half. Such a fun, easy, and cost-friendly idea! I need to do some thrifting! Loved the old ladder hung on the wall and those vintage clocks are just begging to be in my kitchen!


The Die Cuts With a View booth was amazing! Trees decorated with paper leaves, butterflies and birds. The paper peacock was crazy awesome and there were some beaded birds (not pictured) and lots of other awesome decor created with crafting supplies.


GCD Studios' booth was super cute. Love this wall of letters and the fun fake turf floor. Take a video tour of their booth with me (below), filmed by Megan Hoeppner.





Jenni Bowlin always has such great products and ideas. I love this spool of floss with little cards pinned to it. I could totally see this in our house with mini photos pinned on. And check out these old specs turned photo frames! Sigh. Awesomeness.

If you know me, you know I have a fondness for yarn...okay, deep infatuation with yarn. These yarn covered trees made my heart skip a beat! I will be looking for a fun little faux tree to dress in yarn.

Now for the products. 

Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook collection for American Crafts. Love this album! I will be snagging one of these for sure. I really love the bright colors and artsy vibe of this collection. 

BasicGrey's PB&J collection. Yum! Great colors and patterns. Love the chevron prints! ...and now I'm craving a pb&j sandwich.

Yummy canvas and burlap shapes from Canvas Corp. Just ordered some of these.

A few things that caught my eye from Crate Paper.

Thin sheets of wood that can be die cut (with a hand crank die-cut machine). I don't think these are a new product, but I didn't realize they existed until I spotted them in the Creative Imaginations booth. Ordered some of these too! :)

Dear Lizzy's Neapolitan collection for American Crafts. Another collection with a fun artsy vibe.

Speaking of artsy...Faber Castell has a large set of their awesome gelatos available! Love working with these vibrant pigment sticks! They actually have a variety of fun coloring mediums that can be used together for mixed media.

Hambly has some really fun label tapes and overlays.

Heidi Swapp's new collections for Pink Paislee are amazing! I want it all. I've always loved her products. Can't wait until these are in the stores.

Fun collections from Jillibean Soup. I know the one on the bottom right is older, but I still love it!

Jolee's Boutique French General embellishments. Pure vintage fun! Must-haves.

KaiserCraft has amazing wood kits and shapes.

Beautiful collection, Children at Play, from Making Memories. There is a girl and boy line - love the storybook feel of the illustrations.

Cute buttons and pins from My Mind's Eye. They also have a lot of great wood shapes, and I love the bright colors in their On the Bright Side collection. I was drawn especially to all the chevron patterns as well as the wood grain textures – they remind me of the boardwalk in my favorite Lake Michigan beach town.

Kitschy vintage goodness with these embellishments from Prima. So fun!

Vibrant spray inks from Ranger.

Check out this fun Smash tape! Look at the variety of patterns they've included on just one roll of tape!

Studio Calico knocked it out of the park with their new release wood veneer shapes. Seriously. I need them all! The intricacy of the shapes is amazing. They have some fun masks too and I love their new paper collections (not pictured).

And to end my CHA post - photos of some friends that I got to see at the show.  :)

So what do you think? Any of my picks speak to you? Do you have other favorites? I'd love to hear about them.