cha.

well. i've decided to pay $10 for the hotel wifi so that i can update. ha.

the show ended today at 4:00, and i've been trying to pack things up a bit so that i won’t have so much to do tomorrow night. i'm worried that my suitcase will be over the weight limit… but we’ll have to wait and see when i get to the airport tuesday morning.

tomorrow is my day to explore the city. i'm taking the train downtown to see some museums and get some garrett’s popcorn. i hear that it’s excellent… and if you know me, then you probably know how much i la la la love popcorn.

ok. well you are probably most wanting to hear about the show, so here we go…

when i got to my hotel, i checked in and headed to the little bar-type place for some dinner. as i was finishing up my dinner, tim holtz and his crew walked in and sat down at the table right next to mine. he was facing me as i finished my meal. they needed another table for their group, so as soon as i got up, i just said that they could have my table. that was all. i felt like it was his personal time, so i didn’t want to bug him for a photo. [i saw him later in his booth, but it looked liked he was enjoying a moment to himself, so again, i didn’t want to bother him for a photo. besides i have one from memory trends, so it wasn’t as important i guess.]

it seems that set the bar for taking photos though because looking through my photos, i didn’t take nearly enough.

the first day of the show, i spent all but the last 3 hours of the show working in the fiskars booth doing make and takes for cloud 9. i got to meet one of the designers, also named amy, and we spent a lot of time together throughout the show. she is one of the nicest people ever. it was such a treat to talk with her. cloud 9 started promoting their idea of a “scrapanista” which is “a designer, promoter or follower of the latest scrapbooking fashions.” so the make and take was a luggage tag with the scrapanista definition on it. the tags were a lot of fun to make and the station was super busy.

after my shift in the booth, i wandered around the rest of the floor to check things out. i didn’t quite have my bearings on the layout of the show, so i made sure to look over the map for the next day… it really helped.

i spent saturday working in the fiskars booth again, but this time i got done with 4 hours to spare. i went to check out my favorite companies, and i loved what i saw. some of my favorites were:

-heidi grace. especially the halloween line. seriously, it’s so cute. reagan’s closet is also very cool. it’s vibrant and bright with all kinds of fun little doodles. i'm excited for all of her releases, but these two were my favorites.

-october afternoon. their new lines are just as good as their first releases. the good cheer collection is a wintery/holiday collection with the most darling little snowman. the night light collection is a boyish collection with some fun little monster guys. and the weathervane collection has a fall feeling with orange, brown and blue tones.

-cosmo cricket. the mr. campy collection. sigh. it’s adorable. their halloween collection is also great, and now their blackboard has adhesive shapes to go on top instead of the old punch outs which you had to try and adhere perfectly. such a good improvement.

-sassafrass. they’ve expanded on the fun feeling of their last releases. the hog heaven collection combines mushrooms, owls, deer, apples, and obviously a fun little hedgehog. it’s adorable. i also loved the woodland whimsy collection. i reminds me of something i would see in japantown. super cute.

-maya road. they have new cupcake stuff! enough said.

-hambly. bicycles. i've been waiting for bicycles to make their appearance in scrapbooking. a couple years ago i wanted to start screen printing my own t-shirts, but never found the proper resources. anyway, during this time i made a fun little bicycle design for my friend josh’s band. it was never printed, but i sure thought it was cool. ha.

-american crafts. fabric thickers. they are amazing. i need to have them like right now.


that’s about all i can think of as far as favorites go.
so i guess it’s time to talk about what else has happened the past few days here.

i saw ali edwards in my hotel. as you can guess, i didn’t want to bother her for a photo.

i saw heidi swapp in her booth, and was totally going to ask for a photo, but she disappeared.

elsie wasn’t here. i was sad about that for sure. i was hoping to see her new products and of course meet her. ah well.

i talked to heidi grace a bit. she remembered me from texas. i thought that was pretty sweet. :]

i met traci bautista and got a copy of her book signed. so cool.

on friday night, we had a big fiskateer dinner at giordano’s. i tried some chicago-style pizza, and i have to say that it was pretty good. :] after dinner, i went out with angela and rebecca, and a couple other girls. we went to the bar that was in rebecca’s hotel. i enjoyed talking with them late into the night.

on saturday night, i went to the twopeas social for a little bit and then met up with the lead fiskateers and had dinner at their hotel. then i had to head back to my hotel so that i could finish my project for fiskarstv, which i filmed today. i’m not really sure how that went because i was so nervous that i couldn’t think or move or talk. haha. i just went on autopilot, so i don’t really remember too much of what i said or did. probably just made a fool of myself. ah well. i’m glad that i did it because it think it was a good step away from being so shy.

actually, even aside from the taping, most of today was a blur. i went around the show and tried to see some last minute things before the it was over, and i said goodbye to a lot of people. i actually started to get kind of sad that it was over. so once i got back to my room, i just focused on packing and making a plan of attack for tomorrow so that i wouldn’t think about it being over. i took the city guide thing with me and ate dinner at the little bar place at my hotel again. the whole eating alone thing isn’t as bad as i previously thought. it’s definitely intimidating, but i didn’t like the room service options, so i decided to go for it. and i think i have a pretty good plan for tomorrow thanks to the little maps that i had. i have a lot that i want to see and do, so hopefully i can fit it all in to the day.

well. i’m tired and it’s definitely time to go to sleep so that i can get an early start tomorrow. i'll leave off with some photos.



amy
from
cloud
9
and
i
in
the
booth.




a
little
group
shot
with
cheryl
at
giordano's.




kelly
jo.
she's
just
so
cute
and
always
so
grateful.




the
cool
looking
bar
at
rebecca's
hotel.




su.
the
host
of
fiskarstv,
among
many
other
fun
job
duties.




stephanie.
so
super
sweet.
not
to
mention
energetic.
:]




angela
and
i
in
the
heidi
grace
booth.




wendy
jo
and
i
in
the
lil
davis
booth.




heidi
grace.
she
made
me
a
little
ladybug
doodle.
:]




this
is
heidi's
fun
new
halloween
line.




sassafrass
had
a
really
cute
booth
with
little
windows
along
the
outside.




here's
a
little
peak
into
hog
heaven.
isn't
it
adorable!





and
here's
a
little
peak
at
woodland
whimsy.
do
sense
a
little
asian
flair?




and
finally
the
fabric
thickers.