CHA Supershow

A Swagger Wagon full of crafty ladies traveled to the CHA SuperShow in Rosemont yesterday.  For those of you going, "Huh?" CHA stands for Craft and Hobby Association.  They have their convention and trade show I believe twice a year for their members, and the summer one is typically in Chicago, IL.  After that, they have what they call a Super Show, for which you do not need to be a member of CHA.  Members of CHA are typically merchants of some type.  For example, Creating Keepsakes, Jessica Sprague, The Keepsake Element, Fiskars, Kaiser Craft, etc.  People who make their living in the biz are members, and they go to convention to showcase new product.

The Super Show is a huge vendor fair.  Some people have booths to show product.  Others sponsor make-and-take projects for attendees.  Still others come with inventory to sell.  This happens every year, but this is the first year some of us committed to taking a road trip (a little over 2 hours of a drive for us here in B-N).  We had so much fun!  We each had our own purposes.  Ann spent some time meeting up with her cyberbuddies "in the flesh."  Michelle is a relatively new crafter and was indoctrinated into the world of craziness known as the vendor fair.  Kate is always up for a good crafting time, and she is so much fun to take on a trip.  Belly laughs galore!  Karen, as well as the rest of us, wanted to spend some quality time with Papertrey Ink booth, and also got to meet up with one of her idols, Beate from Splitcoaststampers!  We brought along a special guest, know as Flat Krystal, to represent our buddy, Krystal, who could not make the trip.  She was a hit!

Now for the photodocumentary.  Enjoy!

Mama Kate in the back seat with Flat Krystal.

Priorities!  We stopped at Sweet Tomatoes in Lombard for some yummy lunch.

Flat Krystal enjoys some sweets.

Enjoying good three-dimensional friends.

Checking in.  How do you like that?  Imaginary attendees get in free!

No, Toto, we are not in Bloomington anymore!

Flat Krystal gets to meet up with some Papertrey superstars: Dawn McVey and Michelle Wooderson!

Flat Krystal and Karen meet up with Nichole Heady herself!

Some very cool, free stuff from Papertrey!  The card was a make and take using a stamp set for CHA called Four of a Kind.  If you purchased >$100 at their booth, you got the set for free.  The pad and pens were a freebie.  The flower is a make and take pin using Papertrey felt, buttons, and paper.  We used some Papertrey cutting dies with this project as well.

Yup, quite a lot of time was spent with Papertrey!  All very much worth our while.

Ann meets up with cyber buds, Sankari Wegman and Courtney Baker.  A lot of celebrity under one roof, I have to admit!

Yeppers, that's Karen meeting Beate!  It was an exciting time to see the person behind so much great Splitcoast stuff!

Speaking of Splitcoast, they set up some really cute make and takes.  The one on the left was made with a stamp that Unity Stamps made for the event.  The bracelet was made with Grungeboard, Adirondack inks, a cute paper flower, and a button.  Fun!

Flat Krystal with Beate and Paper Crafts celebrity Maren Benedict as well!

Yes, it is I, lowly JoLynn, with none other than Jessica Sprague! This was the make and take from her booth.  Awesome.

A freebie mouse pad from Jessica.  She also had a 20% off coupon for one of her classes, and a rebate for an Epson printer that I am seriously considering purchasing.  Meeting her was quite enough for me, though!  After that, it was all gravy!

And, to top the day off... Dinner at Portillo's!  My first time.

BUT JOLYNN, WHAT DID YOU BUY?
Well, I was very conservative with my purchases.  I truly have plenty right now.  I didn't need to go hog wild.  I made some Papertrey purchases, of course.  From there I got a couple packages of their white cardstock, a package of Plum Pudding, and a package of Enchanted Evening.  I also purchased the twill ribbon that matched the colored papers.  I really like Papertrey's ribbon.  It has a nice weight to it.

I wish I could say that the online versions of these colors were accurate.  They're in the ballpark, but both colors are actually a deeper richer version of what is shown.  That's why it was nice to see them as I was making my purchasing decisions.  Based on the above swatches, I would not have chosen either color.

I also purchased Signature Greetings, designed by Dawn McVey.

Cute, I know!

At another booth, whose name escapes me at present, I purchased some Corrugated Craft Alphas by Jillibean Soup.

The next several images show the Nestabilities I got at this same booth.  They were selling them for $19 each, and buy 3, get one free.  Could not pass that up!  I need to grab a new Quick Kutz case for them!

I was a very well-behaved spender, in my humble opinion.  And that was our day.  Sigh.  Quite a lot o' fun.

CHA Supershow Bound

Yeah! It's July 30, and the craft ladies and I are headed to Rosemont, IL, a mere 2 1/4 hours away. Why?

Yes, it's today!  The CHA Super Show.  For as close as we have lived to this each year, this is the first year we all decided we should go.  At the end of CHA, for which for must be a member to enter, they have a huge vendor fair of sorts.  We are attending day 1 of the Super Show.

Photos and stories to follow!  First stop: Sweet Tomatoes in Lombard!  Yummo.

MISA's last hop and S-A-S

Yesterday, I got to do one of my favorite things: go to my amiga, Karen's, house and participate in Stamp-A-Stack.  She provides the designs, the papers, the adhesive, the atmosphere, I provide $$ and my wonderful disposition, and I walk away with my crafty juices revived and with 10 cards (2 of 5 designs).

You have heard me say before that she's a busy gal, and updating her blog has not been high on her priority list (and with good reason), therefore, I present to you her five designs from our time together.  I don't have specs, but I do know that she used sets and papers from the new SU! catalog.

And now for something completely different...well, maybe only partially different, but then I would not be able to use one of my favorite Python lines...

The last two persons being awarded the title Most Influential Scrapbooker by Ella Publishing.  I have to say, I had not heard of Shimelle Laine, but now that I have, WHEW!  She is a stitch!  I spent a long time on her blog, as she hyperlinked her giveaway post with many worthwhile detours.  I'm definitely going to start following her!  FUN-NY!  She also does quite a bit of business with online workshops, so I may have to check one or two of them out.  If you're hemming and hawing, just watch her video about why she scrapbooks.  I swear, it will be worth a few minutes.

And last, but without a doubt NOT least, a person whose Simple Scrapbooks magazine led me into a whole different stratosphere of belief in what I could do as an archiver of events, the brilliant Stacy Julian.  A list without Stacy would be like a list without Becky Higgins.  {Oh wait!  Yep, that was totally planned.  I am a little miffed about BH's absence on this list.  I cannot lie.}  In all seriousness, Stacy went from Simple Scrapbooks to Big Picture Scrapbooking, which are both responsible for my stalker-level appreciation for Cathy Zielske and many a scrapbook page for my posterity.  Thank you, Stacy.

She has some pretty stinking cool stuff on her post, but the coolest of them all is this>>>

Seriously.  It says "admission is free."  See why she rocks?  Yup.

Keep on hopping....

Today's leg of the tour takes us to two women that have seemingly different styles.  I have seen Margie Romney-Aslett's stuff here and there.  She's more vintage, and, for lack of a better word, "girlie," than I, but she definitely has talent.  Her site, The Girl's Loft, was created with her two daughters, and offers kits, ideas, and lots of other goodness.

If you have done anything in the world of digital scrapbooking, even just read about it to see if you wanted to get your feet wet, you have heard the name Renee Pearson.  She was once the editor of Digital Scrapbooking magazine, but has moved on to offering many online classes and such.  Like Jessica Sprague, she offers quite a bit of learning for the Photoshop novices among us (like moiself).

So, go to their sites and leave some comments!  They each have 10 fantastic giveaway prizes!

Blog Hop Madness!

First, a blog-o-versary!  Congrats to Ann Cox, whose Creative Antics blog has kept us entertained for two years running.  Love her Clean and Simple cards!  She's having a giveaway, so take a stroll on over and leave her some good wishes while you're there browsing through her wide variety of cards.

Second, the MISA Blog Tour Continues!  Yesterday, the two highlighted scrapbookers were Noell Hyman and Jenni Bowlin.  I had not heard of Noell before, and I must say, she has a LOT out there in cyber-scrapland.  It's worth it to take a nice walk through her blog, and get to know her business, Paperclipping.  Is there really anyone in the world of crafting who doesn't know Jenni Bowlin?  Vintage with a capital "V."  In my scrapbooking yesterday, on Max's graduation page, that little BINGO card with the word GROW on it?  Yep, that's Jenni.  She was a little late updating her blog yesterday due to travel, so her giveaways are still going until Thursday.  Noell has chosen her winners and has posted them on her blog.

Third, today's superstar scrapbookers: Jessica Sprague and Maggie Holmes.  You might remember Jessica from this little ol' blog last summer.  I took a free class of hers...I didn't finish because life got in the way, but...it...never...expires.  Yes, you read that right.  It was free, and she's not going to boot me off because it takes me a year to finish everything I do lately.  Yes, she's listed as one of my favorite peeps to the right as well.  She does FABULOUS online tutorials, and she is reasonable in what she charges for her digital media.  Stop by her blog, and she even offers a coupon for $5!  And, for those attending the CHA Vendor Summer Supershow July 30 in Rosemont, IL, she has a code for $$ off registration for that!

I am sure I have seen products from Maggie Holmes, but I am a blank as to what they were.  She mentions having layouts in Creating Keepsakes, so you know I have seen them at one point or another.  Apparently from her blog, she is very knowledgeable in the area of photography, so I sure should get cozy with that blog!  And, lo and behold, she has autism links on her site.  So she loves someone with autism spectrum disorder, too!  I'll be diving a bit more into her areas of interest, but for now, hop on over to her blog and make a comment for a chance to win!

Project Life Smorgasbord

I did a LOT of scrapbooking today.  I started in the morning, when it was raining and bleh, and then I continued here and there throughout the day, because, come on, who is given time to just work straight through?  It did feel quite marathonish, however, in all good ways.  So, here you are (drum roll...).  Click on the pics for a closer view: