CHA day 2 (alternately titled as Paper Heaven)

we woke up somewhat bright and early Tuesday morning to begin the first official day of CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association Tradeshow-- for all my friends who have no idea what i am talking about!).

Keshet, Jenny, and I went together tuesday morning to the convention where we met up with Val-- we were super excited and ready to hit the show. It was fun to have Press Passes with Ella Publishing! (be sure to check all of their blogs- great CHA recaps!)

And guess who else went to the show? do i have the best husband, or what?

Todd says that if I was in Paper Heaven, he was in Paper Purgatory. humph. :)

The Christmas decorations upon entering the show were just beautiful. These shows are creative overload. Everywhere you turn there are incredible ideas-- it's hard to capture/describe/remember everything the show had to offer.

Felt hot chocolate, cupcake wrapper paper flowers? yes thank you!

Martha had a great party display and we were excited about some of the new punches she has coming out.

Is this deer bust awesome or what?

We were excited to see the Smash Books and all the new books and accessories they have coming out. Smash is defintely a hit (i have one!). There were also mini smashes-- perfect for on the go or to stash in your purse!

I loved running into my friends Ronda and Christine of Cocoa Daisy!! We reminisced about our fabulous Greece trip (that was almost a year ago- yikes!).

American Crafts Fall line has incredible thickers-- love these fonts.

One of the highlights of the show was seeing Amy Tan's new line with American Crafts, Amy Tangerine. I just adore everything this line has to offer. The colors, the design, all the different embellishments, journaling spots, thickers... let's just say i plan to own every.single.piece. of this line. pure perfection.

Her booth was awesome!! Loved the backdrop with the luggage, hangers, window shutters- loads of fun.

A photo of the Ella Friends with Amy-- she is just adorable!

Another highlight was making our way to the Studio Calico booth. It was a bit of a reunion as we are also all members on the message board and have made some great friendships over there.

I adore seeing gorgeous paper and projects in real life, but meeting friends was by far the best part of the show. Even if it was for a few minutes-- it's a neat thing to have a face to face connection with these wonderful people. Relationships and friendships are the best part of this industry if you ask me.

Nic Harper and I at the Studio Calico booth (love her).

The booth was filled with incredible inspiration (as Studio Calico always does so well). SC knocked it out of the park with their new lines Autumn Press, Memoir, and Classic Calico. It's hard to choose a favorite but i love the warm/fun autumn colors of Autumn Press.

It was about this time when i heard from Elle of Elle's Studio that she had landed in Chicago! It was a BLAST hanging out with Elle and brainstorming for future project kits. I have known Elle for almost two years now and it was just wonderful spending time with her. She is one incredibly talented woman!

I of course had to take her to Amy's booth upon arrival :) Here is Elle and I with Amy.

Another favorite of ours was Jenni Bowlin's booth. Loved all her detailed vintage displays and products-- and her Halloween and Christmas lines are just fabulous.

How adorable are these little thimbles? So fun!

The day seemed to fly by and before we knew it the floor was closing. we headed back to the hotel and then Todd and I went out to dinner with Elle and after that we met up with Keshet, Jenny, Linda, and Cindy for drinks at their hotel (which was crazy swanky with a pool pretty much in the lobby- fancy!).

(PS totally stole this pic from keshet's blog :) WHEW! what a fabulous and full day!!! loved it! be back soon with more CHA eye candy!