Once again, I came home from the Craft & Hobby Association tradeshow with more than just a few paper packs and a notebook full of inspiring ideas. I've also got a nasty cold. But on the bright side, it's not Swine Flu, as was the case after CHA Summer 2009.
FRIENDS
This year, my six-day trip was half family reunion and half scrapbooker reunion. I spend half of each day walking the show floor with my fellow Ella peeps, meeting up with longtime industry friends:
A blurry photo of the Ella crew: Tami Morrison, me, Brenda Johnston, Wendy Smedley, and Jennifer Larson. (Keshet Shenkar had not yet arrived.)
Emily Pitts, Keshet Shenkar, Aly Dosdall, Stacy Julian, Wendy Smedley, Keira Jane, and me.
Linda Barber, a former Ella Friend and current CK Dream Team member, and me.
FAMILY
I spent the other half of the time hanging out with my sister and her three kids, who live in nearby Orange, as well as my sister-in-law and her four kids, who drove over from Arizona for the weekend:
A first-thing-in-the-morning shot of seven of the eight cousins who ran around my sister's house for three days straight.
All on their own, Haylee and Breanna decided to set up a schedule of Keira time, to keep things fair. They set the timer and traded off every 7 minutes.
The only lingering issue with the schedule was when Keira timed her feedings, "Well you got to feed her last time, so this time it's my turn!"
Cousin Gillian: "Can I hold baby Keira? Can I hold baby Keira? CanIholdbabyKeiraCanIholdbabyKeiraCanIholdbabyKeira?" followed by "Oh, her's so little! Her's so cute! Look at her's tiny fingers!"
Cousin Townes, just 8 months older than Keira but twice her size. It's a good thing he's a gentle giant, because he was mighty interested in this little peanut.
There's a reason Townes is sometimes known as "Townes-zilla."
INSPIRATION
Of course the other half of the fun is drooling over the latest and greatest in scrapbooking trends and supplies. We've got lots of highlight posts planned over on the Ella Blog for the next week or so, so be sure to stop by. In the meantime, here are just a few of my personal favorites:
I adore the Daily Junque paper line from Pink Paislee and House of Three. I want to bathe my entire home in this color palette. (That central paper might look black, but it's actually navy.)
This n That from Lily Bee was another favorite. Elegant, bright, retro, gorgeous!
Cosmo Cricket's Glubers (which are "uber" glue circles that come in 2-inch, 2.5-inch, and 3-inch sizes) make it possible to create gorgeous flowers in minutes--minus the glue-gun burns that usually come with this territory!
The Sophisticates by Stephanie line is a collection of universal patterns and products in eleven mouth-watering colors. It's what made this layout possible, which may be one of my favorite layouts I've ever seen in person.
For the Record by Echo Park Paper is among my favorites, too. It was also Stacy Julian's pick for the "almost live from CHA" episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable. (My baby needed me, so I couldn't make the recording session.)
And I must say that the Smash Book from EK Success definitely lives up to all the hype. It's one of those why-hasn't-anyone-thought-of-that-yet ideas, executed brilliantly. And it has a perfect name.
BABY ON BOARD
We also found time for Miss Keira Jane to make her CHA debut:
The Moby wrap was a lifesaver. I can harness her in there a dozen different ways, depending on whether she was in the mood to interact with people. She was quite the charmer, grinning her little cheeks off whenever she'd get attention from someone new.
Here she meets Stacy Julian, an adoptive mama herself, for the first time. Wendy was Keira's talent agent, using texting technology to make sure she got face time with a handful of her biggest fans.
After a while, the attention was just too much. Not to worry, Keira, there's a wrap for that. (Hee hee.)
There's more to share. There always is. And I'm bursting with ideas for layouts I want to create right this minute. But this girl needs some Nyquil and the comforts of her own bed. Keira nodded off hours ago, and it's time for her sniffly mama to follow suit.
