CHA Summer 2009

CHA SUMMER 2009 WAS CHA-TASTIC!

First, sorry this is a little late, but life happens.....first recover, then get swamped, then lose sleep and wake up and 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday for no good reason and get-r-done. That's just the way I roll and most of you know that and still tolerate me! LOL!

CHA Summer took place at the County Convention Center July 31 - August 1, 2009, in Florida this year and featured the first CHA Craft SuperShow open to the public. It was an amazing event to say the least. CHA always rocks, but having the consumer show on the tail end of it made it that much more fun and exciting. For those of you who aren't familiar with CHA, it is basically a big "market" for the craft industry. You have retailers and buyers from all walks of life and there are two shows each year, one in the winter and one in the summer. All of the latest and greatest upcoming craft products in the industry are launched and demonstrated and if you're like me, it's a total rush and you just get lost in all the possibilities!

CHA offers classes and forums and this celebrity panel of craft royalty were amazing as they presented “The Future of Crafts: Our Changing Face.” Host Terri O. questioned the panel about the past and future trends of crafting.

From left to right, host Terri O. , Kathy the Crafty Chica, Vickie Howell, Donna Dewberry, and Carol Duvall, who paved the way for television crafters! Each of these ladies offered their knowledge in the industry and it was exciting to hear how the industry has changed and how although the Internet has basically changed our lives, nothing beats a good ol' face-to-face crafting session and quality time with family and friends.

Me and my great friend, Donna Dewberry, who taught me to paint and help me create a path for myself in this industry and to whom I am forever grateful!

Many of you know I am a Plaid Ambassador and I'm so blessed to be able to use the many wonderful products Plaid has to offer and demonstrate them at the show! For this show, I was demonstrating Extreme Glitter and Simply Screen, both great new products. Extreme Glitter is already in stores and Simply Screen will be out in September I believe!

Go Team Plaid, from left to right, Sandy Bares, Shauna Lallatin , me (AngelaAnderson), Kasey Jones, and John Williams in front of the Extreme Glitter tree o' ornaments! Chris Williams must have been taking the picture, she rocks!!

Ok, so here's Simply Screen, check out the website by clicking on the logo! We've taken the concept of Silk Screening and made it simple. The reception to the product was flooring! I counted - at times 50 people were standing in line at the consumer show waiting to try this product!

Samples of cool applications of Simply Screen. Basically, you take an adhesive-backed screen, apply it to your fabric and you can either paint with a brush or squeegee paint across the screen. Lift and BAM - sweet success! You can also replace the paint for an adhesive product and apply metallic foils or glitter over the top........mmmmmmmmmm, glitter, focusss, focuss, must finish blog.

Connie rockin' the demo!

Me and Sandy el'promo Extreme Glitter-o!

Yummy Halloween Extreme Glitter Tree!

Miss Sandy and Sweet Chris!

Check out the fab ornament tree and these awesome wreaths! Even the wall is done in Silver Extreme Glitter! The fun thing about EG is combining colors on the inside of glass ornaments and shaking them up to see the results....great gifts for Christmas!

Kind of hard to see, but this tree was our office entrance, but also showed our popular jewelry lines. We have a new one called Petals a Plenty, kind of vintage and very cool. I love taking jewelry and using it collage style with my paintings!

This was the fourth wall of our both just showing peeps with product!

So of course, other great companies were there and there are always fabulous samples of projects. I didn't get much time out of the booth, but did snap a few shots. In the madness, I lost track of where some of the photos came from , but I believe these are all Ranger.

Paper florals, Wow!

Now, girlfriend, I KNOW where these next three are from, one of my favorite scrapbooking companies of all time ever.....Graphic 45, love their vintage style and their projects are always over the top. Even if you're not a scrapper, you just have to love the art.

Another favorite company of mine is Tattered Angels, love their Glimmer Mist products, chip boards and screens, check them out!

These next few I don't remember the product details, but how inspiring they all are, just had to share!

Oh and look below, images of fall and Halloween. As crafters, we must face it, the HOLIDAYS HAVE ARRIVED, so go forth, glue gun by your side, brush in hand and glitter in your heart and DREAM - CREATE - INSPIRE! ....and eat, holidays are all about the food, we all know that.

God bless you and your brushes! Hugs,

Angela

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