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.