But first...

...CHA

A couple of days before we left for SF, I was able to attend the Craft and Hobby Association Winter Show in Anaheim. It was INCREDIBLE! It went on forever and ever and had everything from yarn companies, to button manufacturers to paper companies displaying their latest goods. I was there as part of the design team for Scrappin' Attack. Here are some of my favorites...

Making Memories

Everything they came out with this season was great. I loved the Animal Crackers line for babies and little ones, 5th Avenue and their expansion of the Noteworthy collection. But I must say, my favorite was the Passport collection. A great travel line with awesome tones and die-cut papers!

Tim Holtz
So, Tim Holtz had lots of cool new stuff... keys and other metal embellishments. But, the coolest thing to me was working with his Grungeboard. It's not new this season, although he did expand his offerings using the stuff, but it's incredible! You can bend it, paint it, sand it, ink it and it stays flexible and pliable. It's SO cool. I'm not sure I'd use it much on pages, but other projects? Heck yeah!

October Afternoon
A newer company with the cutest papers and stamps! They also came out with a chipboard font that is adorable! My favorite "cute" paper of this season!

7 Gypsies
They're one of my favorite companies and they didn't disappoint! This season they came out with a 4x6 ATC holder (for photos too) and these cool rub-ons in lots of rich colors. Awesome!

American Crafts
This is my favorite company. I love their products. I wasn't especially impressed with most of their new paper for the season, although I loved the Spring/Summer line (see the butterflies and birds?). I also loved their new sticker letter fonts, their glitter Thickers and the the Thicker shapes. I also can't wait to get some of the new MiniMarks.

I also liked some of the new Sassafras Lass (with the detachable border strips), the new Basic Grey (Boxer, Archaic and Sugared).

Overall, it was a great experience. I'd love to be involved with the marketing and planning for the show, but I have to say that although attending was fun, it's not something that I'd need to do every year unless I was involved in the marketing for a line of products or was a designer.

I'm putting together a trip report on our San Francisco visit but it's not quite finished yet. All is OK in our world. We're getting ready to move. We're trying to stay afloat and happy. I'm trying to get some new stuff together for my photo portfolio and I'm running our department alone at work as my boss is out of the country on a family emergency. Busy, busy!

More soon!