CHA Link

Just wanted to give a shout out to my sweet friend Ivy who sent me this pic today and the link to her CHA pics that she uploaded in her blog gallery.

OMG....Ivy has some of the best CHA product pics I have seen and you really need to take a peek. She has a great eye and loves many many things...as we all do. Thanks Ivy!

I have been busy painting and doing a "while you were out"on Cody's room. He is going to be so shocked and so in love with his bedroom when he comes home from Texas. Every boy dreams of a football room and I think I made that dream come true! I'll show you pics once we are all done.

See ya on the blog!

More CHA stuff

Thanks for the comments about posting pics of products and not people. Well, I did post pics of people the other day but there were so many other people that I met but didn't have a chance to get a pic taken with them. Like my sweet friend Gina K stopped by, Emily "The" Stamping Bella sat and listened to my infomercial with her sweet side kick Nicki, I saw Jen Balcer, Kurtis and Daven walk by the booth {I've never met them but recognized them and would have enjoyed a chit chat}. I had a quick convo with Tim Holtz but no pic. Ok...over all I feel weird asking for pics with people....like I am a stalker...LOL...but it is exciting to be in company with such incredibly talented people.

Ok...more booth and product pics.

I am really sorry but I think this was taken at the Maya Road booth. I was just walking by and this little bucket of flowers caught my eye so I snapped a pic.
OMG...more Glitz. I LOVE these strands of rhinestone Gems! I actually won a pack at Mark Montano's give away at his booth. I stood next to Taylor...it's always good to stand next to the tall girl. LOL...I think she got a glue stick from Scotch.
We R Memory Keepers had a great line of Christmas paper that I think will go so well with the JustRite Christmas Ensemble. Snapped a pic to remember them in a few months when it is time to get started on Christmas cards.

Karen Foster has a great set of baking papers that are going to go with the JustRite Baking Ensemble. Really keep your eyes open for this paper line....I can't wait to get it for Christmas gifts and holiday baking. More Karen Foster Christmas Baking papers. I am so dead serious when I say that this is going to perfectly match the JustRite Baking Ensemble. It's totally on my "must have" list.

Ok...off to do some Facebook. Yes, I have joined the Facebook crowd and I am still trying to learn about it. Sadly, my kids are the ones that are geeking out my site with the flair and stuff. If you want to be my Facebook Friend you have to tell me who you are in the message cause I won't accept anyone that I don't know. Safety first. LOL Like I am not totally exposing myself here on the blog. I am a dorkabella...I know.

See ya on the blog!

My CHA Favs

Since I spent the majority of my time working at CHA I was only able to sneak away for a a few minutes at and I just snapped pics of the companies that I wanted to remember. I didn't really have time to get in for a close look but these companies definately caught my attention.

American Crafts had walls and walls of thickers. OMG...I was so in heaven just standing there and looking at all the thickers. Thickers are my new addiction and I want them all.
BossKut is a new company that has dies just like Quickutz. I really liked their images and they had sentiments...normal sentiments that I would get a lot of use out of. BTW, I only walked past the Quickutz booth during set up and saw the new fonts....very cool. Jen went back and said there are 8x8 sheets of dies too.
I think Jenni Bowlin is the talk of the town and her booth was to die for. I didn't take any close ups as I was in total awe and forgot I even had my camera with me. She had the cutest booth set up and I loved her bingo cards and the vintage feel of her booth and all her products. I don't own anything from Jenni Bowlin....yet...but it won't be long before she is on my shelves.
Glitz Design was by far my absolute favorite booth. OMG....I literally stood there with my mouth wide open. They had these strands of rhinestone gems in every color that could be used as page borders or cut for smaller projects. They had shiney vinyl looking rub ons and the most awesome display set up. I totally wanted everything in their booth. Gosh what I wouldn't do to be on the Sizzix Design Team. As you know, I have always been a Sizzix girl at heart and this is just the Halloween stuff they have coming out. They have a whole Hello Kitty line too. I am not into that but it was cute. There were so many dies introduced and the Christmas stuff was awesome too.
Look at this cute Halloween display at Sizzix. I love their booth and did visit a few times just cause I can't resist.

Ok...that's all for now. There are other things that I loved too but I am sure you have seen it on other blogs as well. This is just what popped out at me.

See ya on the blog!

Hello From CHA

Hello from CHA. Oh my what a long day but so much fun. The JustRite Booth is very busy....a good kind of busy...and lots of fun. Just thought I would share some pictures with you. So cool that the show is opened by the Shannon Rovers bag piping their way down each aisle of the floor. It made me cry because we had a member of the Shannon Rovers play bagpipes at my Dad's funeral.

Here is Michelle Wooderson from the blog Mish Mash. Michelle was our first Guest Designer at the JustRite Booth. Isn't she just the cutest girl ever? She was so sweet and had a great recipe card project at her table.I really enjoyed having Michelle at our booth...she really is a sweet girl.

Here is the wonderful Wendy Smedley. As soon as I saw her walking by the booth I had to thank her for her wonderful book "The Organized Scrapbooker". Then she was nice enough to come listen to my JustRite infomercial and she took lots of notes too. I would love to see what Wendy could do with a monogram stamper!

This is Mark Montano from the TV show While You Were Out and 10 Years Younger. He is our neighbor at CHA and he is pusing his new book "The Big Ass Book of Crafts". For real...that is the true title. LOL He is so nice to pose with me for a picture....and he has a great sense of humor...funny guy.

Ok...there's my rockstar pics of the day. I will have more tomorrow as it will be super duper busy tomorrow. Oh and I am on the look out with Donna Downey...I need a picture with her and me wearing my DD camera bag. {Yeah, I am a dorkabella.}

See ya on the blog!

Doodlebug at CHA

I have to say that I was quite impressed with the displays at CHA. Some manufactuers went all out to create pretty and inviting booths that really showcased their products.

I am not a Doodlebug fan in the sense that it was not on my list of booths to visit. Don't get me wrong, I do use their products...they are everywhere.....but I just never thought of them as a favorite. However, their booth was so big, so pretty and so visible, and so irresitable that I couldn't help go inside. I was quite impressed with their displays and products....it looked like a giant candy store....but elegant with chandeliers hanging too. The samples and displays were awesome.

Sorry for the bad pics. I think it was half way through the show before I figured out how to use Sarah's digital camera. It's a basic Kodak Easy Share too....not so easy when I am used to the big Sony Cybershot with all the gadets.

I am so blessed to have been able to attend CHA for the limited time I was there. I can't wait for CHA in July already. Next time I am not going to be in such a rush to take it all in and actually visit with people that I admire and not be so star struck.

I'll be back later with a PMS check and all of my birthday cards that I received. I am so late in posting those...better late than never!!!

See ya on the blog!

New Sizzix at CHA

So I bet you thought I would come home and blog about stamps and paper and well you are sadly mistaken. Don't get me wrong .....there was so much paper and sooooo many stamps....and so many of my absolute favorite stampin and scrapbookin idols (I brushed by Taylor VanBruggen and my very first make and take was with Lisa Johnson at the Marvy booth....I was her first CHA guest...and I shook hand with one of my scrapbook idols Stacy Julian) and well.....I basically was in awe and completely overwhelmed from the moment I stepped into the building and like a big loser forgot to take out my camera until the very end.

Here are pics from one of my favorite booth at CHA...it was the Sizzix booth! OMG...can you say PINK and BLACK!!! The whole booth was done in pink and black to go along with their new pink and black line. I will seriously get a new Big Shot just to have the pink and black version.....as well as all the new pink and black accessories....yes, I am easily swayed by product packaging and presentation and Sizzix has hit me where it counts.....my wallet....with one of my favotire color combos....PINK and BLACK.

They also have a new line called Bigz XL (the XL stands for xtra long) which reqires an XL cutting mat. There is a new line of dies called Movers and Shapers which allow you to make an A2 size card and used different magnetic dies shapes to create a window in the card. There are also XL dies to make scallop cards, take out boxes, shaker boxes, purses and cupcake holders.

Of course, there are many other dies added to the collection but I was most impressed with the XL line. Oh and I can't forget al the wonderful pink and black carrying bags to house all your new pink and black tools and machines. Pretty sells and it's PRETTY!!

I am back!!!

CHA was amazingly awesome...and totally overwhelming. I tried to make the best use of my time from the moment I got there....4 hours late! Yes, my plane left O'Hare late on Saturday so I checked into the hotel and raced to get my badge Saturday night.

Even though CHA was not open to the public until Sunday I was able to get in for a sneak peak on Saturday because I had an Exhibitor badge. Therefore, I walked the floor and figured out my plan of attack which was scrapbooking and paper crafts.

They were all there....all my favorites in rows and rows all pretty and full of amazing goodies. Basic Grey, SEI, K&Co, Anna Griffith, Inky Antics, Tim Holtz, Quickutz, Cosmo Crickit, Crate Paper....and many many more. Sizzix was definately my favorite booth....I must have went in it 5 times. I just can't wait to get my hands on their new dies. I will have a seperate post all about Sizzix.

Sunday was the big day and I spent the entire day roaming the floor and I saw lots of bloggers. I was the very first guest at the Marvy booth and Lisa Johnson from Poppy Paperie was the sweetest thing on Earth. I saw Julie Ebersole at the Amuse booth but didn't want to appear as a stalker so didn't tell her I read her blog. I went to the Copic booth and got a private tutorial from Trudee....I did confess to her that I read her blog. I saw Taylor Van Bruggen on the floor and recognized her immediately....said nothing...didn't want to scare her. I met Jami and Lori from Splitcoast. They came to our booth and are going to do a review of Just Rite Stampers on the Splitcoast blog...I hope.

From the scrapboking field I saw Wendy Smedly at the CK booth. I was introduced and shook hands with Stacy Julian. I saw Donna Downey walking the floor. I did a make and take with Jennifer McGuire at the Hero Arts booth.

The only non paper crafting booth I went to was Wilton because they had the best cupcake displays. The pic above is cupcakes made in silicone cups that have flower petals on the edges. When in the stand they look like yummy flowers. So darn cute.

Oh and I totally forgot to take out my camera for most of the show....hence the reason I don't have many pics. I do have to say that the booth I was most surprised about was Doodle Bug. I am not a huge Doodle Bug fan but their booth was so pretty and so cute. They had great displays and I found many things that I like...that totally surprised me.

There is so much more to tell you but I'll have to break it up over multiple posts or you will be bored to death.

See ya on the blog! Oh and thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had an incredible birthday weekend.....and wait til you see my Valentine's Day present!!! I am sooooo spoiled by my wonderful husband....and I am able to publicly admit it too.

Big Exciting News!!!!

**WARNING** This is going to be long but worth the read.....I have BIG news.

**Good News** I have some good news to share with you! It has been so hard to keep it quiet but I think it's safe to share with you that I got another job. It's a long story but a friend asked me to make some cards for her friend for Christmas.

It so happens that the lady that received the cards...her husband owns a commercial stamp company not far from my house. The commercial stamp company has a division which sells self inked stamps and some clear stamps. The husband saw my cards and told his wife (the card recipient) to send me a self inking monogram stamp kit.

From there we started an email conversation that lead to me talking to her husband about my stamping history. The conversation progressed to me testing out some products for him, coming in to meet him, giving him my feedback, touring the warehouse and then he offered me a job!!! Of course, there are pros and cons to this because I do LOVE my current job and I really don't want to commute an hour to this other job.

Anyway, he offered to hire me as a consultant and my first assignment would be going to CHA in Annaheim, CA!!! Sign me up! So in exchange for my consulting services I have received air fare, hotel accomodations and a pass to CHA. How incredibly awesome is that?!? The bummer is that I couldn't take off of work at my current job for the whole CHA so I will only be there all day, Saturday, Sunday (the day CHA opens) and half of Monday.

**New Shoes** So why the pic of the shoes? Because everyone said geta COMFY pair of shoes because it is huge and lots of walking. These are the shoes I picked out...now I need a cute, comfy outfit to go with them. I have no idea what to wear because it is below zero here and all I have is winter clothes! Last night I went to the Gap and found the cutest capri pants so I might end up getting those. I wish Jen could go with me but she can't. So she is mapping out my route for me. She has been going through the vendor list and helping me make the most of my limited time at CHA.

Oh and I found out that Sarah Moore from Craft Critique and two other reporters are on my flight. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to hook up at the airport if possible. Soooooo excited that I will not only be at CHA but I might get to see meet some fellow bloggers and SCS'ers too. If you are going PLEASE let me know.

So there ya have it. My big exciting news!!! I am telling you...it's the Law of Attraction at work here. Being thankful for all that you have in your life before you can let more in is the they. Visualize, plan your actions and be thankful....do it daily.

**Gratitdute** Monday, January 21st was Cody's 16 year Anniversary for his Liver Transplant. What a huge milestone in his life. I am thankful that 16 years ago a mother was able to see through her grief after losing her child and saved the life of mine. Thank you is not enough to say to her but living life in a way that honors her choice is all I can do. Please take the time to complete your donor card and make your family members aware of your choice to be an organ donor.

See ya on the blog.