More from CHA

Here's a few tidbits that I noticed while at CHA - Trends: Circus/Carnival, Woods/Camping, Brights (think Basic Grey), Banners (these have been hot for a while now) and Flowers, any and all varieties, ones you make, roll, piece, whatever - flowers are bananas right now.

Okay, so here are a few more samples for you to drool over.  These are all from Graphic45, who's booth was awe inspiring.  I think that I had the coffee shakes, so some of the pictures aren't great - sorry!  Graphic45 had an amazing, vintage circus theme and they had a super sweet Beatrix Potter Spring line, Once Upon a Springtime, which I love for Easter, babies, whatever. 

{Shadow box with Circus Line}

{Decorated Frame using Once Upon a Springtime}

(Tussey Mussy with Once Upon Springtime}

{Handmade Paper flowers... see what I mean about flowers?}

{I love this card using their fairy line... I'll check on the name}

(Isn't this bananas?  All paper and embellishments}

{Birdcage with Circus Line}

I love Graphic45's paper - it's inspiring what you can do with it... I feel like their paper is so beautiful that it always pushes me to think of how I can use it the best to show it's amazing-ness.  Tomorrow I'll try to break it up and show more than one company's booth, but I just have soo much that I want to share!  I also hear that Graphic is looking to expand their design team... you should check out their blog if you're interested.
See you all soon!
Andrea

Let's take it from the top!

Hello!
I'm finally feeling better... it was a rough week around here(!) and I'm glad to say that I'm still feeling the creative rush from CHA - especially after looking at all the sample pictures again!

A nice, warm welcome!  The LA Convention Center is located by LA Live, which houses the Staples Center (Go Lakers!), and a ton of fabulously cool restaurants and bars! 

Our VERY first stop on the first day was LifeStyle Crafts - which had an amazing amount of fun and cute samples using their new CHA release, along with the Essentials and the LetterPress - It was really inspiring!

{Fun and cute card with LifeStyle Crafts new paper}

{New CHA Release - LOVE the fry box and the Chevron Border Die!)

{LetterPress Diamonds and "Thinking of You" with CHA Flower Die}

{Seriously cute felt flowers - turned into head bands - CHA Flower Die}

{If you remember my Peep's banner, you know that I love the 2x2 CHA Peeps die!}

{Seriously cute color combo, love the party idea - the banners are from the CHA release, the blue sunburst pattern is LetterPress}

And this is just a few samples from the 1st booth!  I know, you're thinking "WHAT??!!" and I'm all "I know!"  I took 274 pictures of booths and samples at CHA - There's no way that I'll be able to post all of them, so I'm going to try to pick my favorites, which is hard since they're all my favorites, which is why I took a picture of it! 

Some of you might be wondering about LifeStyle Crafts - they're formally QuicKutz and I think that with this release they're really showing their renewed spirit and commitment to the crafting world.  I know that some of you might have been wondering if they'd ever get back on track and I can honestly say that I feel 100% that they are.  I loved their CHA release, which was titled "New Beginnings" (appropriate, huh?), and I also love how their releases are geared towards crafters in general, not just scrapbookers!  And you might think that I'm bragging about them because I'm on their Design Team, but since they've now transitioned to LifeStyle Crafts, I am no longer on their design team so I do not get any kickback for singing their praises, except to say that I really do love their products and I think that they're weathering the crafting economy well considering all of the changes they've gone through.  Visit their blog here to see more awesome ideas and to learn more about the new company.

See you soon!  Baby crying...

Andrea

Back from CHA

Hello!

Well, I'm home from CHA in Los Angeles tonight... and it was a crazy, idea filled, speed walking, Starbucks drinking, make-n-taking, FANTASTIC weekend.  Tomorrow is CHA's last day, but I think that we saw all that we could see!  This was my first time away from my little guy and big guy, which was harder than I thought it would be... but I'm sure that they're both happy that Mommy came home ready to make crafty messes all over the house!  I'll share pictures of all the great projects  and trends that I saw tomorrow, some of my favorite booths were Cosmo Cricket (duh, right?), Pink Paislee (it was totally awesome, I mean, seriously, a-ma-ZING), 7 Gypsies (of course), Ranger (you could barely see the booths with all the throngs of people in them), October Afternoon, JilliBean Soup, Glitz, Maya Road (had the best Make-n-take, hands down!) and I loved all the samples in LifeStyle Crafts!

Can't wait to start sharing the inspiration!
Andrea