I Survived CHA Summer 2009

What an amazing time I had. But it is so good to be home. I don't even know where to start telling you of the adventure of my first CHA... I feel like I've been cut off from the world without my laptop & the internet for nearly a week. That will be a must next time - I can't leave the online world behind. With anything the first time you do it it's a learning experience....

It's been so much fun seeing the new products, winning prizes, meeting online friends & artists that I've been following, & just being with the girls.... The one thing I want to let you know if you don't want to read all about our adventures is that Everything Scrapp'n will be carrying the latest & greatest products. So if you've visited the store in the past but didn't order you will have to give us another chance.... When new products come in they are always on sale for the first couple days, there is the customer reward program, and super fast shipping. I'll be keeping you posted of all the dates that new product will be arriving. I have to say I'm on my dream store design team!

We listened to your wish list suggestions & some lines we will be carrying are: Basic Grey, Webster's Pages, Cosmo Cricket, Graphics 45, Nikki Silvis, Pink Paislee, Tattered Angels, Tim Holtz, 7 Gypsies, Maya Road, Little Yellow Bicycle, all the Prima you could want & many more .....

If you haven't seen the videos that Noell Hyman of Paperclipping posted Check out Paperclipping here.

Nancy Nally of Scrapbook Update also has some great articles about the show here.

Monday, July 27th:
9 AM:
My dad & mom drove me to Heather's house (owner of Everything Scrappn) 2 hours south of where I live in Atlanta area & I rode to Orlando with her. My dad was "worried to death" about leaving the laptop in the hotel room during the day so I listened to him & left it in the car. I guess you can tell I'm not a "seasoned traveler". I figured I would just use Heather's laptop if I wanted to sneak in a quick post in the evenings. LESSON 1 LEARNED: TAKE LAPTOP

Noon:
Arrived at Heather's - First time meeting in person. We loaded all my luggage & totes in her SUV. It seems we are both directionally challenged people so it was going to be interesting if we would manage to get to the hotel without any wrong turns. With her trusty Tomtom GPS in the console we had more confidence. The GPS is named "Bo" short for Bosephus because he has a habit of getting them lost & speaks in an Australian accent. So he kept telling us to "Keep right to stay left on the motorway". We thought it would take about 5-1/2 hours from her house to get to Orlando but it took almost an hour and a half longer.... we learned the lesson to say we wanted to use toll roads.... LESSON 2 LEARNED - ALWAYS SAY USE TOLL ROADS ON GPS

The Quality Inn by the convention center was huge. Just walking to the front desk from the room in the back of the complex was quite a stroll. The rooms were all newly renovated. The ES design team coordinator Denise didn't drive down with us an was coming in for the show on Tues on her own leaving at 3 am so the first night I had the room to myself. We checked in & dragged the luggage up to room 3411 just in time for me to click on the TV & see Ed propose to Jillian on the Bachelorette (I'll have to catch up this week watching the rerun on abc.com). From the first show it was Ed, Kipton, or Jake as my favorites. Sorry back to CHA .....

Tuesday, July 28th

We weren't a hotel on the shuttle route but we were supposed to be able to take a trolley to the convention center. Those trolleys sure didn't run on a regular schedule so we decided to just walk to CHA hall. Being on the back side of the hotel it didn't make sense to walk way out of the way to get onto the sidewalk on International Blvd so we cut our way thru multiple hotel parking lots making our way to the convention center. It sure was creative & saved walking but dragging the rolling carts over planting beds & between cars was funny. The walk in the morning was fine. It wasn't too hot & the humidity was still not to heavy and neither were our totes.... it was the walk back to the room in the afternoon that was a killer. The first morning we got there early at 8 am. The badge check in was super easy since we had preregistered & you just scanned your printout from home & they had your badge by the time you walked to to table.


Entering the show floor & seeing all the vendors was overwhelming. I was "beaming" like a kid in a toy store. Heather & I walked around the show floor for a little before Denise arrived & since we had her badge I went outside the hall to wait for her. While I was there I saw Carol Duvall from TV. She was very sweet & I spoke to her for a moment. I had left my tote with Heather so didn't have my camera.

Our first booth on the show floor was Pink Paislee. All of the new lines were awesome so Heather will be stocking complete lines of each as they are released. Don't you love the colors this time around? I really love the fabric tags that go along with each line. Check out the Pink Paislee blog for photos of each & every piece of paper & embellishment in each line here.

Pink Paislee gave everyone a clip on piece of pink hair & if one of their workers saw you walking the show floor wearing it & chose you you would win a prize. (I never got picked for that & my pink hair turned into a pink rats nest of knots so I didn't wear it but 2 days).

Their make n takes were also amazing. I'll be posting them next week.




7 Gypsies had some beautiful new products. Heather was pointing.... this one, this one, this one... glad the rep could keep up with her.....



Many of the booths had great giveaways. Making Memories was giving away the Slice Machine. Everyone who was wearing an apron had the opportunity to get their picture taken & then throughout the show you could be chosen to win a special edition pink Slice machine & extra cartridge. They also did 2 giveaways with tickets each day. That drew quite the rowdy crowd (which was told to quiet down or else by CHA officials lol). The MM blog has video of the drawings you have to see to believe so click here and scroll down to see the different videos of the week... They have some great new products to add to the Vintage Findings Line. Everything Scrapp'n will not be carrying Making Memories but I couldn't resist sharing with you a peek of new product wall.


Heather works with sales reps & they make the buying from multi companies a breeze. That is sure the way to go.

Webster's Pages is one of my favorite companies. Not only do I love their papers & embellishments but the online community is so inspiring & encouraging..... We will now be stocking their 2 newest lines including the vellum paper & many of their yummy ribbons/trims.

It was wonderful to meet both Brandin O'Neill & Terri Hayes. They both knew me by the posts I made on the community. I had to have a photo taken with them. Brandin was working with a customer so I was tickled that Terri posed with me. I had told them we would order tomorrow with our rep but then Heather came up & was so excited about the paper that she ordered right then & there lol


Here's some photos of new paper & a layout Terri did. I just loved the look of the vellum flowers. I've never been super big on the cheapo vellum but Webster's Pages vellum is a just amazing in quality & richness of color.



At the end of the first day our last stop was Scrapblog. They have some really great quality books & photo cards that you can make on line. The books are super heavy & seem like they would last a long time. They made us each pretty name badges. I chose one with Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday papers. I sure was tired & I didn't eat anything that day so I was out of "juice". LESSON 3 LEARNED - EAT TO KEEP UP ENERGY EVEN IF IT'S NOT APPETIZING & IS SUPER EXPENSIVE....


Tuesday night we ate in downtown Disney at the Rainforest Cafe. It's a very fun admosphere with loads of animated animals. The chocolate lava dessert was so huge that even the 4 of us hardly put a dent in it.

DAY 2 - Wednesday, July 26
We had an appointment to meet the sales rep at 7:30 am. Our little hike across the parking lots to the convention center usually took us 20 -30 minutes. It was wonderful getting on the show floor when it was empty & making selections.

You know how I love my Tiny Alpha from Making Memories & My Little Shoebox. Well Jenni Bowlin now has some & ES will be carrying them. JB Halloween & School Bingo Cards are so cute & I have so many great ideas how to use them.


Lots of great Tim Holtz stuff to choose from. We will be carrying the Grunge Paper - it's thinner than grungeboard & sold in 12x12 sheets. It was a customer request so we got you covered. I can't wait to run that thru the Cricut & make some flowers. The New Rock Candy Distressed Stickles really are pretty. The other new Distressed Stickles have a new formulation & colors we love in the distressed line.


Well that's all I can manage to post today..... I'll continue day 2 tomorrow after some much needed sleep.