CHA 2011 - Day two - done and was a good day!

Day two of CHA 2011 is done in the history books - was again a long day - some parts of the day were really long, but so rewarding. I got out of the booth for just a few minutes just before the show was officially open. Didn't make it far - I found a few of my favorite booths and got stopped.

 First I saw Graphic 45... drooling here folks! Oh my this stuff is amazing, I love the feel and the looks! here are a few of their things in their  booth.

 

 Love this cone thingy... it has like a sugar coating on it!

 

 And oh my - just move this into my house please - as is! GORGEOUS!!!

I would love this little lamp in my craft room - I have no idea what booth it was... sorry I was moving fast at that point as the show was opening - 

 

I then spied Maya Road, just adore Caroline the owner, we were on a forum together many many moons ago - her buisness was just starting then. And now WOW she has some really cool things

 

Including a really cute dress form - 

 

And then I saw them everywhere.. dress forms are the "in" thing now!

 

GCD's booth - Love those paper flowers!

 

7-Gypsies - great for hanging hardware on huh? 

 

And this one caught my eye too... love the blue flowers.... I think this may have been the Prima booth? Maybe not... was on the move then too...

We had dinner last night with Tab from 7 Kids College Fund and her friend Jami Bova - Oh my love this ladies... my kind of fun girls! And we did some pretty good laughing.. just can't tell all the stories as I don't have signed waivers from them LOL Hope they aren't gonna sue me for showing the photo here.. don't have the sign -off on this either.. but oh well - it is a pretty good photo. Me - Tab - Heidi and Jami

I also got to meet Helene Kempf from Alota Rubber stamps today!!! I was so excited to actually meet her in person after being on her DT and getting to know her over the past few years... but a duh moment.. I was so excited to meet her in real life, I forgot to get a photo! Darn IT!!

I did get to get a photo with someone very special to me. This lady is one of the people that inspired me to get where I am today!

This is Rebecca Peck - she is a lead Fiskateer at Fiskars. LOVE LOVE LOVE this lady. You see we spent most of the time during our Fiskars Nifty Fifty training.. way back in 2007!! A great three day weekend learning to use Fiskars products and meeting other ladies from everywhere. But Rebecca and I just hit it off.. maybe the odd sense of humor we both have.. LOL! 

You see during the weekend it was disussions with her that ... shoved me to try out for a few design teams. I was sooooo nervous and scared to do it. Kept saying - why would they want me? I am not what they are wanting probably - and she said.. hey the worst that they can do is not respond, say no and that is that. You had the experience to try for it and at some point you will find the one that is right for you. .... Well I went home from that show and two weeks later I tried out for the Stampavie DT.... and look at me now! First joining the Stampavie DT and then getting asked to work for them! I work for the greatest bosses in the world, I love my job and feel like I am pretty good at it- I can't wait for each part of my job and so look forward to the new things to come while working for this amazing company.

Man that got gushy huh? That is what happens when you are worn out tired, it is late and you are trying to say how special someone is and start babbling. Ok.. so the point is that Rebecca is pretty special to me and she is a real special person! LOL 

Ok.. done - toast and have to turn in  or I won't function at all in the morning and make it though the day tomorrow. Day three! Man it goes by pretty fast especially when you work so long for something.

HUGS and

Day one of CHA is done, and now day two -

Well it is a good thing you don't have to listen to me for this post... I have no voice. I don't know where it went or why. I really wasn't talking that much, at least not any less than I normally babble. But it decided to leave me and today may be hard to understand me... but I can point and click those orders in right? LOL

It was a great day yesterday, we are in a fabulous location, with a lot of the really big names, we are just in front of 7-Gypsies they always have an awesome booth -

 

I just love their booth - It is ... well so 7 gypsies! Especially that huge umbrella at the top! And all the wonderful old things they decorate with - you know that is me! 

I am really in love with these new clip board thingies they have. I am sure they have a much nicer name for retail - but you know what I am taking about. I really do think I need to find me one of these and decorate it. Really cool to hold cards that come - Have to add this to my wish list - 

And you KNOW these are on my wish list. I am just so addicted to new

punches! The EK Success booth is just in front of us, and while coming in yesterday I spied the new slim line punches. They are really coming out with some great ones, especially the large jumbo ones!

The board makes them easier to see the patterns - I love that green one.. oh and the pink is really cute like a ribbon almost - but the purple would be fun like lace doilies - but I was thinking the blue one you could even run ribbon in and out of the center... Ok.. I really like all of these!

And don't even get me started on the regular size slim line punches!!! LOL too cute!

Pink Paisley is across the isle from us - BUSY booth! In the morning they had Rhonna Farrer in the booth - wow what a cute lady! I didn't get a photo of her, I was busy with customers myself - but then I looked up and saw this person in the booth!  Yep.. that is Heidi Swapp! pretty cute herself - And they were lined up for her make -n- take of course. It is really kind of cool to see these "famous" people in the papercrafting world - showing off their products themselves and talking with the people... Ok so they are just people too, but hey.. they are like scrapbooking super stars!

Speaking of Super Stars....

Here are the four of us at the start of the show yesterday. We are all pretty worn out already, but very excited for the start of the show! That is me - wide on the left, then Heidi, Stuart and on the right Diane, our design team coordinator and make-n-take hostess this year.

I'll try and make it out of our square around our booth today and snap more photos out in the show. Don't know how far I will make it, but I'll do my best!

HUGS and-

CHA 2011 - READY OR NOT???

Well of course Stampavie is ready! We worked on the finishing touches of the booth today - all the pretty parts - the images, and the wonderful samples made by the DT. When arriving this morning, we came around in front of the convention center - pretty building from the front, and always love those Welcoming CHA signs they hang.

Here is a little sneak of the booth - I'll take better photos tomorrow just before the show opens with all the lights on.

We have the larger booth - with the great slat wall to show off much more this year -

And YOU KNOW I HAD to show off the new large Sarah Kay - stunning - gorgeous and well just darn pretty! I love these new Sarah Kays... they are just too fun! This display really shows off - you can see her from way down the isles - and that is the point right? DRAW them in girl! LOL

This one is gonna have to be short tonight - I am so tired I just can't even function, and tomorrow is the big day- so I need some... would say beauty rest, but I think I better just work on some brain sleep so I can be sharp tomorrow. I am really looking forward to seeing many of our regular customers in person, as well as getting a whole bunch of new ones addicted to STAMPAVIE!

Night all.... I'll report tomorrow night on day one of the show! WOW it is really here!!!
HUGS and-

Day Two - Building the Booth and lookie who we ran into....

Today we got into the convention center and started building the Stampavie booth - When get there and find you booth.. it isn't much -

 

This year our booth is 10 x 30 - so we have a third more space than last year. This will be so much easier to get into and move around in the booth when the show is going. And Diane will have more room to have more people at our make-n-take table.  In this photo you can see that Stuart is just starting to open up our crates so we can pull all the things out and make this booth gorgeous!

Diane and Heidi were organizing and stacking up all the pieces to the shelves, tables and chairs here - LOTS of pieces - but oh so pretty once put together!

We took a break for some lunch and we headed off to the lunch truck to see if we could find something to eat. While waiting for our food - Diane spotted someone she recognized... Do you know who this man is with Heidi and Me (HORRIBLE photo of me, but when you snap your photo with this guy you have go with what you get - 

Yep...we found Tim Holtz in his booth! During the show there is no getting near him - very popular crafter here you know - He was very friendly, and was very nice to pose for photos of us - Can you even image how many time he has his photo taken each year? 

Show isn't even open yet and we already had excitement with a real paper crafter celebrity.. LOL Now if only I can find Melody Ross and Donna Downey :0)  But first the job of showing off all the GORGEOUS images that CHA is releasing this year... can't wait to share the link with you so you can see them all... they will go live on the web site (www.stampavie.com) Saturday morning.

ok... I my head is nodding here at my keyboard - VERY VERY sleepy!

Preparing for CHA 2011 - work day one!

Whew... work day one is behind us and it went relatively smoothly - well other than poor Stuart having to drive a very large U-Haul truck through down town LA traffic... talk about scary! The truck alone is a huge adventure, add a million or 10 million crazy drivers and well - things get dicey to say the least!

But the building of our crates, filling them with all the furniture and delivering them into the convention center - that all went well -

First ... this is sky from the storage unit this morning - glorious huh? Last year we were building furniture and loading the truck in the pouring rain.. this year we were taking off our jackets and working in short sleaves and enjoying the sun!

And of course ... looking up at palm trees in California is a beautiful site as well.

Here is our first crate being taken out of the truck... It is so hard to believe our entire 10-30 booth fits into two large crates - but it does - (I'll share the photo of the booth as soon as I can - right now as I type... it is still in these crates! LOL)

Of course.. Heidi and Stuart are master packers, so every inch of these crates is well planned out!

I can't wait to see inside this convention center here in LA - from the highway it seems HUGE!!! And well you just can't miss it with the turquoise coloring.

So tomorrow the fun starts up - getting the booth all built and then we will start the decorating - you know - decorating with all the FABULOUS 59 new images that are being released and decorating with all the beautiful creations from the Stampavie DT members.. yes - I'll snap lots of photos for you too see... cuz I have had some peeks at some of them and WOWSWER!

Well... another long day - I think I am going to go and lay down in that wonderful "Sweet Dreams" bed and crash! See you tomorrow evening to report on the booth and what I see in LA - OH... while driving following the U-HAUL truck today I saw a tiny glimpse of the "Hollywood" sign... maybe I can get a photo of it later in the week... didn't think that was too smart to try and snap a photo with my camera phone while doing 65 in traffic on the freeway - but I did see it!

HUGS and-

Arrived in LA - and then crashed in bed!

Well we are here in LA - was a pretty smooth trip, nice flight. And that is a lot for me to say that! We got our rental car - and then made the drive across LA to our hotel. So nothing real exciting to report so far - Today we will be working to gather all the furniture for our booth from the storage and start making things beautiful for the show.

This very moment we are driving in LA traffic... it isn't too bad for LA, but for the three of us - wow! SCARY -

Looking so forward to the show, and seeing all the fun new things - and showing off all the new Stampavie images... you can see them at our website www.stampavie.com on Saturday morning. YOU are going to just love them!!!!

Ok... one photo - how is this for a bed after a long day of traveling???

more later - sooo looking forward to sharing with you!!  But have to run now... my battery on my laptop is dying and this highway is VERY bumpy for typing... LOL

HUGS and

From France to Texas and the Donkeys priority one!

Heidi and Stuart (owners of Stampavie and my bosses!) are here from France for a short visit before we all take off to California to CHA - today was wonderful day of just chillin and takin it easy.

It was late last night when they touched town in Texas but first up this morning - it just had to be the visit to see the Donkeys of course!

Stuart took his life into his own hands and bravely went into the youth pen. Bravely he went - a person could get crushed by over friendly obnoxious donkeys in this pen.

Heidi was loving on donkeys too.. but we don't want to mess up those fancy pointy toe cowboy boots do we Heidi? Safer on the outside of the pen for those pretty boots! LOL

Tomorrow we will be doing lots of running around, then home for a good ole' fashioned Texas BBQ with some good friends. Then Tuesday morning we will be off - I'll blog as soon as I can once in California! And as often as I can to share my trip and all the cool new goodies I see!

HUGS and

A Stampavie CHA 2011 - Gillian Roberts Sneak Peek!

Hello! I know that Saturday's are normally Animal Crackers Day--- but for the next couple of weeks with me going and gone to California to CHA it will just be nearly impossible for me to get my children photographed. AND I have so much to show you with all the new CHA images there is lots to share and show off! Today I am running around like a mad woman, Stuart and Heidi arrive this afternoon from France to spend some time here in Texas before we leave on Tuesday.

So how about one of those peeks of a new image from Stampavie. This is from Gillian Roberts and it is called "Texting". How perfect is this image for the Teen Girl in you life? Heck most of the adults too.. Heck even my Mom is learning to text now! LOL

I cannot even tell you how much this looks like my Niece... she got her first phone for Christmas - times have changed, I think at 12 I was still asking for dolls. But nope now they need tech stuff. I colored her with my Copics and then cut her out.

For my card, I went with a quilt look.. well sort of. I used a Martha Stewart all around punch, then layered three layers of pattern papers from Basic Grey. Sewing each layer. I pop dotted my Texting Gal, and then went to look for a sentiment... and then thought ... HEY I need to use "Texting" words. LOL So because I am not the "coolest" at texting my self I Googled up some texting terms and used bubble letters to add them to the front of my card.

Hope you like her as much as I do... I think she is just too fun!

Please make sure to join me this week as I blog my trip to California... I leave on Tuesday!
HUGS and

Me and My Space #13 - A couple more drawers and a favorite!

Hi - Wow this week is flying - I can't believe this time next week I will be in California getting ready to set up for CHA!!! (Ok... palms sweating here cuz I am going to have to get on that Air Plane!)

I am not getting much crafting donethat I can show you right now - but still wanted to do a Me and My Space Post this week. I am hoping that while at CHA I can snap photos of new organization goodies to show you the couple of Wednesdays I will be there... that is the plan and the hope anyway. But today I thought I would show you a couple more drawers in one of my tall cabinet and then one of my favorite decorations in my craft room. This is also a test run for doing my blog from my laptop with my phone taking my photos... this is what I will be using all next week. When I was planning for my trip I realized that my new phone is an 8 meg. camera.. same as the little camera I was planning on taking. Uh why take both? So here is my test blog -

This drawer is what I call my paint drawer. Hubby even knows about this drawer and it is one drawer he is allowed to go into with out me... LOL These are all kinds of paints and supplies to use with paints, Most of this I have had FOREVER... Acrylics, thinners, mediums, and Gesso's can be seen. A brayer and some brushes I see too... and hmmm how did those glues get in there? LOL those don't go there.

This is the drawer right below... my overflow drawer. Odd stuff, duplicates, and overflows. I have my spare glue dots, foam brushes, flock, glitter, fabric paints and cheaper glitter glues. I also keep my duplicate flower soft (first purchase was sets... won't be doing that again, I got some that were the same in a few sets) So basically this is like a semi-organized junk drawer?? LOL

I think I may have showed this in the past... at least from CHA for sure. This was the corner display for our Stampavie booth last year - I ADORE THIS SARAH KAY... she is about 24 inches tall and is on foam board. You could see her from every isle. I was allowed to take her after the show closed... I just have to look at her and it makes me smile. When I was "out" this summer with my injury and had to stay in bed for so long, I could look through one of the openings from our bedroom into my craft room and see this on my storage closet door. Love seeing it. A Happy image isn't it? I don't know if there will another display this year with a different image, and I don't know if it would be my "turn" to take it again... :0)   But I am thrilled that I was blessed with the first one... (Thanks Heidi and Stuart!)

Well  I do believe my "test" has worked. That is good news, now the only other thing to check is if my Wi-Fi on my phone is going to work, but it won't be on until later in the week to try - then I am all set to blog my trip for you and snap lots of photos!

Better get back to my last minute projects... thanks for understanding that I am missing so much this week, promise I'll make it up to you over the next two weeks with lots of sneak peaks and fun new things from CHA!!

HUGS and-

Animal Crackers - A CHILLY and WET WEEK

Boy has it been cold here this week ( yes cold for Texas ) Highs in the low 40's and rainy all week. One day it didn't even get to 40! That is way to cold for me, and then you add drizzly rain on top of that and you can find me inside 24/7!

The Donkey's love the Chilly weather - 40's is just fine for them, they love that. But drizzle and rain.. and well this is about all you see here..

 The larger barn in the youth pen... taking shelter from the nasty rain -

 The loafin' shed as we call it, in the youth pen - nope we ain't going out in this nasty stuff either - not even for a photo -

Black Jack's pen with his ladies and kids... yep everyone under the shelter... we don't like the wet!

But wait....

Sergio must have gotten really hungry... he wandered out and is getting a bit of fresh green hay that Hubby had thrown out to them -

But back inside where I have gotten my propane tank filled and have plenty of heat.. the dogs are cozy and dry.

 My Stud Man, Autie.. man he is a looker! Love the lion like mane of his! Ok.. so it needs a good brushing, but he has been out some today and you know how the wet humid days messes with hair...

 Is this Autie's Daughter or what??? Chica is still here with us. And I cannot believe I am saying this... but you know if she doesn't get purchased... it is ok with me. I am really getting attached to this gal. She is now sleeping with us - she was just too lonely in the puppy pen by herself, and when it is cold like this Autie and Libbie is in bed with us, so what is one more dog??? We may need to upgrade to a King size bed though - LOL

Minnie is happy and VERY spoiled in her new home. We are for sure keeping in touch with them, and totally enjoying the photos they are snapping and sharing with us as they get VERY attached to her.

And last but not least... our Libbie - Skinny gal huh?

She has back that girlish figure now, and as most all dogs do after a litter, she has lost quite a bit of fur. But I can see it coming back in. She is back to her playful self, and well... controlling self as normal too. She still does from time to time like to be my runway model! I was worried she wasn't going to pose for me anymore like she did that first couple of years - but now that she is trim again she is confident and is back to loving to do a little freeze frame poses for me! LOL...

Have a wonderful Saturday - I don't know if I will have a Dust if Off again this week... just so much going on to get ready for CHA!!! ONLY ONE WEEK AND THEN I AM JETTING TO CALIFORNIA!!! YIKES!!! And yes, I am planning to blog my entire trip again this year :0)

HUGS and-