More from CHA...

While the show was a bit smaller than in the past, there was still plenty of great product to be seen and some fabulous make & takes! Plaid always has great jewelry make & takes and they didn't let me down this time, then on to Ranger's booth to make a fun UTEE ring with Suze Weinberg. I learned to felt using recycled sweaters, bent brass charms, got an autographed copy of Mark Montano's Big Ass Book of Crafts and Stephanie Girard's Sweater Surgery books.... and best of all spent time with 'old' friends and made lots of new friends!!! It was a great week!

I think my favorite find was Vintaj - they make natural brass charms and findings - a truly great assortment and a gorgeous booth with a rustic feel.

Pebbles, Inc. had a wonderful booth with absolutely fabulous new papers. Little Yellow Bicycle came through with a colorful selection. Creative Options was giving out their fun green tote bags - this time with coordinating scrapbook papers & embellishments - wahoo!

I discovered the Port-a-Palette - a very clever new portable tool for storing and carrying craft paints. Amate Studios has a very inspiring assortment of jewelry "blanks" in copper, silver, pewter, and goldtone.... I can't wait to let my creative muse free with these!! A perfect companion for these Amate findings is Judikins new products - Mica Gloss (yummy sparkling color!!!) and sunlight curing epoxy!! Finally - epoxy in a small, easy to use format!

I discovered a talented fellow designer in the License & Design section of the show - Linda Calvert Jacobson - I hope she did wonderfully as her work is absolutely breathtaking!

Makin's Clay offers some new tools for clay artists. Creative Charms has some gorgeous new flowers and butterflies. EarthSafe Finishes assortment of green products was a must see. Kandi Corps booth offered some neat ideas for hot wax art. Scraperfect.com spoiled the Makin's team with custom colored Perfect Printing Pouches (perfect not just for printing, but for acting as a release agent on texture sheets and push molds!) Many generous companies spoiled the designers at the designer get together (we all got a goody bag full of fabulous products including Coredinations cardstock Clover bowmakers, Pentel products, a Scraperfect printing pouch, a Hambly screenprint transparency, Expo International trim, and more!) I can hardly wait until the summer show in Orlando!