Archives for January 2009

The CHA Show closed at 2pm and we quickly tore down and packed everything away in the crates. It has ended up being a good show for us and we made some good contacts to pursue when we get home. We paid a union guy $$ under the table to get our crate early… yes illegal payoffs are alive and well in the convention world… political world as well. Then off to the airport we went.

While we were taking down the booth, Bonnie got a sliver in her finger and ended up going to the first aid station. They could not get it out and sent her on to the hospital emergency. She ended up having a 3/4″ sliver that went through her knuckle to the other side of her finger and walked away with two stitches. Only Bonnie. Through the years on trips she has had blood poisoning, kidney stones, broken shoulder and more…
-Brenda

Top Left: 1) Brenda & Madison of Fancy Pants 2) Brenda & Ryann of Piggy Tales 3) Brenda & Carolee of Carolee’s Creation 4) Brenda & Heather Downs 5) Brenda, Ash & Rick Gass of Cameo 6) Brenda, Bonnie, Josh, Lindsay, Annie & Craig of CREA

Top Left: 1) Bonnie with TP 2) Brenda & Deann of We Are Storytellers 3) Bonnie, Brenda & Mike Hessing of WR Memories 4) The tear down begins 5) Brenda & Kristia playing clothespin torture game while we waited for crate to come 6) Josh with velcro

We met up with Annie & Craig from CREA for breakfast and talked about product development. Annie had the new ‘Brags’ that a client of theirs had developed. They had hopes of getting them into the hands of Paris Hilton when she was at the show. They are special travel bags for your special things. She gave Josh a sample to take home to his wife Mandi. As you can see, he happily showed the world he was one lucky boy 🙂
-Brenda

The pranks started today and I am sure they will carry into tomorrow as we keep ourselves entertained in a way unbecoming to a tradeshow. Why I don’t feel something is hanging from my rear end is surprising to me.

On our way to dinner with Matt, we talked to the taxi driver about the different conventions and he filled us in on the convention scoop.
Best looking people: Natural Products Convention
Ugliest dressers: Nurses Convention
Most uptight: Helicopter Convention
Snootiest people: Doctors Convention
Most Alcohol consumed: Music Convention

We came back to our room and watched The Secret Life of Bees… a keeper of a movie 🙂
-BrendaTop Left: 1) Josh & Matt from Flexo One 2) Brenda, Sue & Sharee of Scrapbook Nook 3) Brenda & Ash 4) Brenda, Bonnie, Cynthea & Tonya of Doodlebug 5) Brenda, Leslie & Jennifer of Las Vegas 6) Ash & Josh
Top Left: 1) Brenda & Dennis Conforto of Scrapbooking.com 2) Brenda & Sophia of Strictly Scrapbooking 3) Brenda, Bonnie, Josh & Delanie of EK Success 4) Brenda & Josh 5) Lindsay & Bonnie 6) Brenda & Des Tanner

We are now suffering from effects of the trade show. I think it happens to everyone in trade shows around the world. One day melds into another and you slowly lose your mind. I long to be outside. It is hard to stay in a 20×20 booth and keep your sanity, but the thing that makes it all worthwhile are the visits from friends in the scrapbook market and time with our customers who we love & appreciate. This year the economy seems to be on everyone’s minds, whether their business is in the US or overseas. We are more tired today then we were yesterday. This show is 1/2 day too long… it should have been over today. We had an emergency evacuation in the morning. Everyone left, I stayed and cut paper.
-Brenda

Top left: 1) Erika Clayton & I 2) Josh & Bonnie 3) Brenda, Ash, Richard & Kyle of Obrien 4) Jane Seymore 5 Miss Vicky & I 5) Brenda, Josh, Steve & Lisa of Crate Paper

Top left: 1) Brenda, Josh, Bob & Rob 2) Brenda & Jody Hunt of My Mind’s Eye 3) Emergency Evacuation 4) Bonnie, Kristia & Richard Lowton of Scrapdoodles, UK 5) Brenda & Rebecca of Scrapblog 6) Pebbles with Matt & Jessica & Sofia of Flexo-One

Wow! Day one is already over! Where’d the day go?? Our Creamy Metallic Chalks were on demo at the front counter and were such a big hit! Be sure to stop by the booth and check ’em out!
One of my most favorite new products is our Ribbon…they’re so sweet on the spools and they come with a cute little flower charm! I might need to get one in every color for myself!
It’s rare to have a normal picture of Josh!
Kristia with the Scrapbook Royalty group! These girls really know how to have a good time!
Lindsay and Ashlee at the end of day one! One down, three more to go!
One last picture for the night–Paris Hilton made an appearance at CHA! She has a craft line coming out, so she was there to unveil it. We had to go and see if we could get a picture, and this is what we came away with:
We’ll see you tomorrow! Be sure and say “hi!” if you’re at the show! Booth #4777