Craft and Hobby Association

Jane Seymour, Lauren Johnston, PattieWack, Jack Canfield the Chicken Soup for the Soul guy, Cheryl Ball, Vanna White, Craft Products, Friends, Crafty Chica, Home Dec Ideas, Carol Duvall, Beads, Retro, Beaded Corvette, Road Trip...I'm EXHAUSTED!!!

There is so much to tell you about my trip to Anaheim...we had a great group on our 6 hour trip to Anaheim - Valerie, our VP of Marketing, her daughter, Allee now a designer at work and a Jenn our trend spotter - my, what a group we were! I started the adventure about 8:15 Saturday morning, picking everyone up in the company van and we laughed, we shared, we talked about our lives and we waited in traffic - it was a beautiful day with downtown LA looking particularly stunning since the air was clear and the snow on the mountains was wonderful.

To get to Anaheim and see the booth in all its glory was great! Everything went together and to see all our hard work in front of us was so powerful - we work on our booth for months coming up with themes, signs, new products...

We introduced Crafty Chica at the show - Kathy Cano-Murillo is a tremendous designer and businesswoman. I am so inspired by her and her giving ways. She shares so freely and has such an awesome, upbeat personality - I love being around her.













I was so taken by this mural - it was huge and all made out of beads - you can click on the image and see all the detail.








Aprons, aprons and more aprons!!! AND RETRO - These aprons were made from patterns from the 1950's. So cute!









More retro aprons!








I was so excited about his booth - It was like a little cabana and people sat and did their make-it and take-its.








This ice cream cone was stuck to the carpet on the aisleways of the show - they were probably 5 feet long - it really made we want to find some ice cream!!!








This blouse was on display in the Designer Showcase - it uses the Tulip Sticky Fabric Stencils.












friends...
when you've been in the industry as long as I have, there are people you know everywhere. I had the opportunity to get together with Lauren Johnston a few times - here we're taking a break to have a lovely convention center lunch - you'll notice that all of these pictures revolve around food...




Here's Lauren and me again, but this time with our old friend Marina - Marina was one of the art director's at Aleene's - we worked together on books and the magazine.









OK, not such a great picture of me, but I wanted to include a picture of Julianna - we worked together at Aleene's and at Jangle.com - she lives in New Jersey, so I just get to see her once a year.






And, Jane Seymour - she was demonstrating her watercolors kits - her pieces were beautiful! I was a HUGE fan of Medicine Woman (I believe I should have been born back in the 1800's!!!)






I kept walking passed his ginormous hanging thingie above a booth - it's made of ribbon...I have to incorporate this idea somewhere.







Here's a dress Debbie Rines recreated in Tulip Fashion Glitter.

More details later...I think I need a nap - oh, that brings to mind our trip home - someone, who shall remain nameless, gave us directions to save us time during the rush hour traffic - what took us 6 hours down took us 8 hours to get back home and even the six hours to get there should only have been about 4 to 4-1/2, so yes, I'm tired, but the trip was fantastic!!!

OK, still more...I had a kind of funky afternoon yesterday because I was SAD, but happy at the same time! I had to tell my friend, PattieWack goodbye and I don't know when I'll be able to see her again - she has taken a job in Nashville - just when I thought they'd settled in California again. My best to you, Pattie and Scott - to new beginnings my friends...

I'm sure more pictures will come my way as my friends make their way home - the trade show goes on through tomorrow afternoon.

Joan