CHA Paper Show This Week

It's a super busy week....
Putting the finishing touches on all the make & takes, prizes, games, decorations & favors for the 8th Anniversary 24 hour crop on Saturday.  We are sold out & I'm over the moon excited to be celebrating 8 years since I opened my little store with those attending.

Suzy & I are attending the CHA Paper Show this week in downtown Atlanta Wednesday & Thursday.  It's a smaller show - CHA is trying something new to fill the gap of the defunct summer show.   I really miss going to Chicago for the "big" CHA summer show it's always helpful to see the new products in person.

There's a good variety of manufacturers coming to this show so I plan on ordering

 a lot of new goodies for the store & mini book kits

I'm looking at the show guide & some online catalogs....

Making lists & plans 

These are the planned store hours for the week

As always my life is super busy & hectic and life happens....

I always post immediately on the store facebook page which I encourage everyone to follow since that's where I post daily inspiration & other store happenings.

Please feel free to call my cell to double check.

404-273-4773

We're still figuring out how the blog fits in since it's just another place to post the same information that's easily posted on instagram & facebook from the iphone & the blog isn't.

Let Suzy & me know what you'd like to see on the blog, if you are even reading it, if you have a facebook account, etc.

Teresa Collins Pre CHA Summer 2010 Chicago Party

Those who know me well know that I am not a celebrity scrapbooker kind of person.
However you all know there is one gal who I absolutely love and have followed for many years.
Everyone probably knows it's Teresa Collins. I have followed her since her Rusty Pickle Days..then we carried her lines she designed for Junkitz and now we carry every single line she designs/creates for her own company Teresa Collins Designs.
I follow her blog daily. She shares her love of scrapping, her family and adventures. We were lucky to be able to attend her pre-CHA party Monday night and she is exactly how I thought she would be in person; Incredible. She taught a celebrate mini album using her new papers and goodies from the Celebrate Collection, we all got to try the new stamp maker machine, create fabric flowers, see all the new releases and samples prior to CHA the next morning while enjoying cute little cupcakes and punch. She made sure to greet and talk several times to everyone at the party. She posed endless times for pics and signed everyone's pizza boxes of goodies. She even remembered seeing pictures of some of Jen's albums weeks ago and wanted to see them after the class :)

We took several pics of the party some of which I shared above.

Summer 2010 CHA Day 3 Recap..Packed Up & Ready To Head Home In The Morning

(we saw this sea of suitcases in the atrium this morning, they went on around the corner...we chuckled thinking that I need a few of these for all the catalogs I am bringing home)




We just got back from dinner and non stop final hours of CHA ordering.I think the total floor hours the past 3 days is 22/23 hours plus an additional 3-4 hours each night going thru catalogs and samples. We have had a blast but are all ready to head home to Atlanta.

Today we placed orders with so many companies I can't remember them all.
I need my notebook but it's already packed.

I remember
Echo Park
Cosmo
Bo Bunny
October Afternoon
Prima
Maya Road
Studio G Acrylic Stamps By Hampton Arts
Ranger-New Stickles & Liquid Pearls

Once we get home I will get a few slide shows up of all the cool lines, samples and ideas we saw at the show.

First stop tomorrow is Dunkin. It has been 4 long days without any of my DD Coffee :)

CHA Summer 2010 Day 1 Recap

We are just getting back to our room after a full day (8 hours on the
floor) I took +400 pictures so far and will sort them by company and
post them through out the night. We placed several orders and
also did quite a few make and takes. I will work on a link to what
all we ordered after we return home this weekend but for now here's
a partial list for day 1

***Teresa Collins***
Celebrbate
Freestyle
Giving Thanks
Noel

***Fancy Pants Designs***
Happy Together
Tradition
Lilac House
It's your Day

***Pink Paislee***
Shipping Mid August
Old School
Hocus Pocus
Sweetness
House of Three
Artsian items,
since we were one of the first 75 orders we
won a class with Heidi Swapp which Suzy attended :)

***My Mind's Eye***
Shipping Mid August
every single item they released.
This was a HUGE HUGE release and it is incredible.
There are 2 Christmas releases, 2 Halloween Releases,
the huge Lost & Found Collection and Alphabet Soup.
Lost & Found is made up of 4 sublines and they are
packed with embellies. There are 10 double sided papers,
brads, trims, glittered die cuts, stamps, alphabet
glitter stickers, buttons, titles, layered stickers, chipboard
album cover kits and more. Alphabet Soup is made up of a boy line
and a girl line that contain 9 papers, playing cards, brads,
chipboard elements. One of the Halloween lines is made up of 9
styles of black flocked kraft papers, decorative brads, stamps and
flocked vinyl accessories.

***Girl's Paperie***
Tinsel & Twig
Toil & Trouble
Love love love both of these releases
We also made a cute little trick or treat
bag with Margie at her booth :)

***Crate Paper***
Restoration Collection
School Spirit Collection
Snow Day Collection

***Graphic 45***
Halloween In Wonderland
Christmas Past--the new additions
Steam Punk Debunate
Staples

On the list for tomorrow is
Lily Bee
Basic Grey
Bo Bunny Press
Glitz
Making Memories
Shimmerz
Websters Pages
Kaisercraft
Echo Park
Jenni Bowlin
October Afternoon
Prima
and more :)

Heading down to the atrium for some caffeine and then going
to start sorting thru booth pictures :)

CHA Pre-Show Class With Teresa Collins Monday July 26th 2010

We had a blast meeting and creating with Teresa Collins tonight.
She is by far one of the most genuine people in the scrapping
business I have met. She remembered seeing pictures of a mini album
Jen created months ago and I shared some more pictures with her
after the class. She had the nicest comments about the books Jen designs.

Of course with the 4 of us it involved many laughs even getting there.
We are staying at the Hyatt, Teresa's class was at the Marriott which
the server at the bar said was half a mile away. So instead of waiting
for the valet to get the car and driving there. We decide the temp is
nice out (10 degrees less than Atlanta) we will walk the 1/2 mile. Yes well
it involved me so it cant be so simple.... We start walking
...hummm are we heading the correct direction????....the server said right 1/2 mile...Well after Maggie running down the sidewalk checking street signs
at the intersection to make sure we are going the right direction,
us walking a good bit, I see the Marriott in the distance...definately
not a 1/2 mile and the event starts in 10 minutes. Thankfully I also see a taxi close by...We all run...jumped into the taxi and get to the event just in time
to get started. Everyone had a pizza box of goodies from one of Teresa Collins new Celebrate Paper Collections & Embellishments sitting at their place along with Yummy punch, chocolates and cute cupcakes. The project was a cute mini album
using the papers, embellies, new stamps, fabric twirled flowers and more.

She had a work station set up with her new Stamp Machine and we all went up and took turns watching demos on how to make stamps, stencils, embossing plates, necklaces and more. It is a very neat little machine and I cant wait to get my hands on one to play with back home.

We saw all 4 new paper lines, stamps etc and my favorite has the be the Christmas line. I love love love it. She used the thicker weight papers for this line and the usual weight for the girl, gratitude and celebrate lines. We will be getting all the papers, stamps, blingage and the machine. The collections will be shipping
the 4th-5th of August :)

I took a ton of pics but will post just a few for now. This gal is one tired
gal and the show fun starts at 7am for me :) On the list for tomorrow
ordering from Teresa, Pink Paislee, My Mind's Eye, Crate Paper, Echo Park, Websters,
Graphic 45 and a few others. I will post pics from all the booths late tomorrow night.

Road Trip To Summer 2010 CHA In Chicago

We arrived safe and sound in Chicago this afternoon. We had
a great time and many laughs along the way. Especially along the
roads in Kentucky and Indiana. We checked into the
Hyatt and its a great hotel (not the Peabody like last
summer) but nice spacious rooms with great work stations and laptop
desks, comfy beds, cozy chairs/sitting areas in the atrium and
a covered sky walk to the convention center for CHA.
No Dunkin but there's a Starbucks
open late and then again super early at 4am.
Here are a few pics of the road trip.


The SUV at my house before we left.


After the 4 of us loaded up :)


100's of windmills in Indiana


We made it to Taylorsville late last night, checked into the Marriott for
a little shut eye before heading out this morning the rest of the way
to Chicago.




Lesson learned there are very few Dunkins between Georgia and Chicago so if you
see a Starbucks you better settle for it :)


Suzy, Patti and Maggie heading to the bar for a quick dinner before our sneak peek
class with Teresa Collins tonight.

CHA Summer 2010 Chicago Count Down

We are getting ready to head to Chicago this weekend for
Summer CHA.

We are going to CHA a little early so we can play with one of my
favorite scrapping people. Those who know me know
it has to be none other than Teresa Collins. I have
loved everything she has designed going back to her
Junkitz days. She is having a special celebration
Monday including a class, treats and other fun. It was
limited to 70 people and sold out quickly but
we got in. This is the cover of the album using
her new Celebration Product Line.



Instead of doing a separate CHA blog this time I am just
going to post the highlights and new product pics on
the store blog. Last time I took +1100 pictures and
it was crazy trying to keep up with another blog, orders,
catalogs, meeting with reps etc.
I should be posting several times a day since from
what I can tell this CHA is FULL of incredible
new releases and products. My favorites that
come to mind so far
Teresa Collins Lines
Teresa Collins Stamp Machine
Tim Holtz Sizzix and Folders (love the flower)
October Afternoon all of it
Graphic 45 Halloween
Pink Paislee All of it including the
new Heidi/Rhonna Items
Girls Paperie
Echo Park
Fancy Pants
My Minds Eye
and on and on and on
:)

The new store will be opening the first week of August and
we will have a grand opening celebration then also.

Look for details after CHA
:)