I'm Back!

WOW! CHA was a whirlwind of fun, stress and scrapbooking!
I could never cover it all, but here are the highlights.

Saturday - Traveling and Miss America

Traveling. I missed my first plane, but managed to hop on another. During my layover in Chicago I had the best airport food of my life including this, Sundae Sundae from Ben & Jerry's. Old hippies really know their ice cream.


And whilst eating my ice cream I could not help but notice a nearby news stand filled with magazines about Barrack Obama. This was a photo for my Project 365 since this seemed to me to be a perfect representation of the times. I then met my good friend, Heidi, and enjoyed a delightful night watching the Miss America pageant....until they robbed Miss Hawaii that is.


Sunday - New Vendors and Paris Hilton

Awake early and head to the CHA for day one. On this day we were slated to hit the New Vendors section in the morning. I had two clear favorites and in the following days at the CHA, the buzz about these two companies was undeniable.

Bella Blvd. Who released 4 new lines that were warm, friendly and whimsical. Shown below is a sampling of Family Tree, my favorite of their new lines.


and Jillibean Soup. This company offers their lines on white backgrounds and on craft. Super fun and frolicking designs. Here is a sampling from my favorite line called Minestrone.


And now for the report that has blackened a little bit of my soul. I did, in fact, meet and talk to Paris Hilton. And she was everything you thought she was. A bit clueless, but nice and drop dead gorgeous. You know how sometimes you see celebs in pap photos and realize they have bad skin or look crappy without make-up? Not Paris. Close up she is perfect. Her skin is perfect, her teeth are perfect, she even smelled good.

Here's a video clip. Watch for the back of my head at 1:25. I was wearing a navy blue and white top. And seriously people, does the back of my head always look that square?!! Yuck.


Her lines were....ridiculous. And they won't sell. But she was very polite and her clothes were FABULOUS! This next footage was shot by yours truly. You can see just how very up close and personal I got to Miss Hilton. And you even get to hear my sweet voice talking to her.



Monday - The unfortunate Cupcake Mix-up

More CHA fun. Mostly browsing and meeting people I love. I spent some time at the CK Media booth to celebrate PaperCrafts magazine. it was their 5 year birthday. Here's me and Cath Edvalson celebrating in style.


Then I headed over to the 2peas Cupcake Social. Don't these cupcakes look amazing?

Please note the foremost cupcake in this photo. Clearly a white cupcake with lemon frosting. But you'll also notice the cupcake just to the right of it. Which appears to be a similar cupcake, but was a fluke cupcake. Notice the darker bottom? It turned out to be a mocha cupcake with mistaken lemon frosting.

And that's the cupcake I accidentally chose. After a few bites I turned to my neighbor and remarked, "Dude. Smell my cupcake." And she did. See...I'm not crazy! This hilarious girl turned out to be Kayla, our new found friend that we went to dinner with after she so selflessly smelled my yucky cupcake of terror. I am sure she is going to love this most flattering photo of her and my weirdy cupcake. Sorry Kayla! You're gorgeous girl!



Tuesday - Tim Holtz and Donna Downey Madness.

I used this day to make sure I visited some of my favorite companies.

Cosmo Cricket is a company I have always loved and the people behind Cosmo are some of the most fun and delightful people on earth. here's me and Julie Comstock.

And Julie, if you're reading this, I want you to notice that I chose the photo that was better for you, despite the fact that my ginormous cranium appears to be three times the size of yours. That's how much I love you.

Mid-day I tried to interview the gorgeous Donna Downey about her new line of Canvas products released through Prima. The following insane and unscripted exchange took place between the two of us and one very kooky Tim Holtz. Great fun! To read a separate interview I had with Tim Holtz click here.



Wednesday - Finishing up and rushing to the Airport.

I had a quick two hours in the morning to finish up at the CHA. I ended up at the Fiskars booth and was immediately in love with the cute Fiskateers that I met. I gabbed on and on about my new Fiskars Premium Craft Trimmer, which is highly unavailable right now due to it's popularity and I feel lucky to be a scrapper with my very own. it's perfection!

Also visited with GCD and Pebbles Inc. and fell in love with their products as well. All of my reports and peeks will be going up on Craft Critique in the next day or two. So check there for complete articles on all of my favorites.


I almost missed my flight because I simply had to have a photo of the creepiest cat statue of all time. This little architectural gem can be found outside of the home of Heidi Sonboul's neighbor. Creep-tastic!

And now a huge thank you to the people who made my trip a delight...

- The Cosmo Cricket, Glitz, Sasafrass, Studio Calico and Fiskars teams
- All of the girls at Monday night's dinner
- Everyone at CK Media
- The Sonboul Family
- Dana Delaware for watching my kids

and especially to

-Bradley Sonboul, who was the only roommate I had who didn't complain about my snoring. Sad that many adults aren't as polite as this 5 year old boy!

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