Welcome to the Anaheim Convention Center, home of the CHA Mega Show - 2014! Join me as I walk the show floor from one end to the other. You'll see booth displays, projects and people I met along the way. There's a lot to see, so grab a cup of tea, cup of coffee, or glass of wine, a few snacks, then put your feet up and enjoy!
I've had the good fortune to attend each Winter and Summer show since the early 90's. In the mid 90's the show was held in Dallas and that year my daughter, Jennie worked as a demonstrator in the EK Success booth, her first foray into the craft industry. She's been in the industry ever since and this year we enjoyed being at the show together.
Here we are with Julie Fei Fan Balzer and her mom, Eileen......
Now let's see the rest of the show starting with a photo taken by Carmen Flores Tanis of the Smoothfoam booth.
If you're not familiar with
Smoothfoam product, you really need to check it out. We had 6 Make & Takes for this show, a different one each morning and afternoon and we'll be featuring them, with instructions on the
Smoothfoam blog starting Friday, January 17th. If you take a break and hop over there now, you might still have time to win an iPad!
Since
Smoothfoam is one of the companies I have the pleasure of working with, I hope you don't mind if I start the tour at their booth. Quite justifiable I assure you, since it's also the first booth on the list, #301. You'll recognize many of the designers who work with us: Terry Ricioli, Carmen Flores Tanis, Lindsay Obermeyer, Lisa Fulmer, Vicki O'Dell, Cindi Bisson, Jennifer Priest and her family, Beth Watson and Debra Quartermain, plus you'll see Jonathan Fong checking up on our Craft Attitude project and Donna Bush, a decorative painter from DecoArt demoing painting techniques. Okay, fasten your seat belts and let's get going.......
These projects, designed by Jennifer Priest show how easy it is to be creative
on Smoothfoam's smooth surface.
As you can see, we had a lot of fun at the Smoothfoam booth. Now let's see the rest of the show.
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| Cathie and Steve at Plaid |
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| Liz Hicks, spokesperson for Scan'n Cut |
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| Courtney & Tanner |
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| Priscilla Hauser, the Queen of Decorative Painting and Hall of Fame inductee! |
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| Tim Holtz |
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| Eileen (Julie's mom), Julie Fei Fan Balzer and Jenn Mason |
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| Suzanne McNeill demonstrating Zentangle designs on tiles at Design Originals/Fox Publishing. |
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| Mark Montano demonstrating DecoArt chalk paint. |
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| Beth Watson demonstrating Makins Clay. |
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| Me, Chris Skinner and Dale Nicholson |
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| Kerry Goulder book signing. |
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| Lorine Mason at the Banners of Hope display. |
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| Back to basics! |
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| Lion brand features the Taj Mahal - Smoothfoam covered with yarn. |
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| New cake decorating tools at Katy Sue designs. |
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| Courtney, Cathy Cano Murillo (Crafty Chica), Alexa Westerfield and Tanner |
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| Krylon photo booth op. |
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| Sticky Sticks. |
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At the end of our walk we find the amazing Spellbinders booth featuring "A Gilded Life", a completely new look for this innovative company.
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| Stacey Caron and Linda Molden Peterson relaxing during the show. |
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| Ken Oliver demonstrating the new Spellbinders tool. |
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| We need to recognize that we all have wings, we just need to have faith and spread them... |
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I hope you've enjoyed your walk up and down the aisles of the show. Let me know if you have any questions and come back tomorrow for a look at products in the New Product showcase, including those voted the "Hot 20"....
Yours truly,
Julie :)
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!
