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CHA-Craft & Hobby Assoc Trade Show- is a wonderful experience for any retailer. You are exposed
to so many new things, your mind feels like it will explode. CHA is where manufacturers and distributors preview new
and existing products for the upcoming year, new lines and new designers. You can try out many of the products
and tools you see in magazines, catalogs, etc. Many of the companies offer classes and offer free make-it & take-its
too. I have created this page to showcase some of the make-its & take-its I did while there along with finished
class projects. Some are still waiting to be finished so I will have them up later on as I have the time to finish them.
Some projects are quick and easy and others a little more involved. But all are fun and I enjoyed them all.
I get very sidetracked while there for the demos and make-it & take-its (MITI). CHA should be
an Olympic event. It is like running a marathon every day. If you take classes, they were mostly offered from
7-9 am or 6:30-8:30 pm, plus going all day trying to get around to the vendors you want to visit along with all the others
you get side-tracked to visit. This year they had approx 3500 booths. Yes, I said 3500 booths.
You thought it was hard to get around to 50 or 60 at a rubber stamp/scrapbook convention. Needless to say,
you get pretty worn out pretty quick and if you have any aches and pains-like being 54 years of age- then it makes it a little
more challenging. Also, you are getting bombarded with catalogs and hand outs, samples, etc. so you need a little luggage
bag to pull behind you to put all your stuff in. Then after being busy all day and going back to your hotel, it takes
another hour or so to go thru your bag and sort out the things you have accumulated all day long. Whew!
On the trip out, I picked up my traveling companion, LoriBeth K. at 3:45 am, Saturday morning, to make our
6:00am flight from Columbus, Oh. I was quite anxious to leave so I only got about 2 hours of actual sleep Friday night-so
starting the trip sleep deprived. I thought I would sleep somewhere along the flight and catch up a bit, but it wasn't
happening. The excitement and adrenalin was already kicking in. We had a long layover in Houston- over 3
hours so we finally arrived in Anaheim, Ca. about 2:30 pm (5:30 Columbus, Oh. time). We got a bus to our hotel and got
settled in, and then went to the convention center to register and get ready because we had scheduled a class for that evening
from 6:30 to 8:30--which, if we had really thought about it was actually 9:30 to 11:30 our time. It was a very long
day.
We left Anaheim on Thursday about noon. While waiting in the airport, there was a gal sitting
there who was fiddling thru her things and pulled out a pretty polymer clay piece. I like speaking with other crafters
so I said "you must have been at CHA" and of course, she had. Now while at CHA, many of the publishing companies are
there and you can pick up all sorts of free magazines and one I picked up was Art Jewelry Magazine which focuses on precious
metal clay jewelry along with other metal jewelry and such. This woman had a beautiful necklace on and I recognized
it from somewhere and asked if it had been on display at CHA. She said it hadn't but it was featured as an ad on the
very first page of Art Jewelry Magazine and I had admired it from the magazine..it was so pretty. So I actually got
to see it first hand and the picture really did portray the beauty of it. You just never know who you might get to chat
with if you venture out being friendly.
So, on we went to Houston again for a short 1 hour layover. We finally arrived at the Columbus, Oh.
airport about 10:15 pm and home around midnight. Again....whew! I only slept about an hour coming home.
I forgot to mentiion that on the way out, after we connected with our Houston-Anaheim plane, it seemed that almost everyone
on the plane was going to CHA. I sat next to a woman who worked for Cousin Corp. -they do jewelry- and her co-worker/designer
was across the aisle. She shared a new design they had that will be coming out later in the year. It was a very
pretty butterfly and had alot of movement to it and I just loved it. That was pretty interesting talking with her too-
crafters and artists are so much fun!
So that was the trip in a nutshell. Now on to the samples. I hope they will inspire you for
your own creations.
This was a pretty quick MITI (make-it take-it) at one of the publication companies. I really wish they would give
you a little sticker with the company name on it so you can remember where you made it at. Anyhow, we used a product
I really liked by Heidi Swapp called a "daisy mask". Really simple- which I like- you just put the self adhesive mask
down on the book borad, painted over it with an pretty lime green acrylic paint, put the pages in and snapped the rings, added
the fabric ties and voila! - cute little book.
This little card was by a company I hope to use later this year. They have wonderful flexible acrylic shapes and
metal tags. They also have very nice clear acrylic blocks for use with unmounted stamps. What I liked about them
was they were not the traditional square shape. They had like a scalloped design all the way around so that your hands
can fit it and hold it quite easily. What is pretty difficult to see is that the area that is cut out actually has an
acrylic rectangle shape over it and held on with glue and ribbon. It has one of their little metal tags on the inside
of the card that shows thru the acrylic window. The little flower on the side is also an acrylic shape that has been
colored with Staz-On ink pad in yellow, an orange brad added to the center of the flower and glued to a large paper clip.
This is a little matchbook necklace. It was very quick and easy. We just folded the decorative paper in the
matchbook shape, stapled some folded papers to the inside, and glued a button on the closure end. We also added a neat
brad that has a loop on it to the backside of the matchbook and then put the decorative ribbon thru the loop on the brad for
an instant necklace to take with you when you want to make some quick notes. I will have to remember to make one to
take to the next CHA show. Great little item to take with you when you are taking a new class somewhere to make some
quick notes.
This funky paper mache tag was made at the Krylon booth. They were demoing there psychedelic paint pens.
We made this on the last day of the show. Not many MITI are going on that day. They are pretty much sick of us
by then and you can tell they just want to pack up and go home. What is hard to see from the picture is that the flowers
are actually clear plastic. We colored them using the paint pens and they were fun. I think that these were also
a Heidi Swapp product. If I saw these in a store, I probably wouldn't think too much about them, but when you get to
play with them a little bit, you can see how much fun they could be. Now, this isn't too much of my style, but what
I have thought about doing is adding some walnut ink stain spray to it to finsih it off or adding some more Articus Studio
embellishments-maybe some floral brass charms.
This was a really simple MITI from Junkitz booth. We just added a couple paper cut outs to a jump ring and added
some pink ric-rac. I did, however, like the jump ring alot. It looks like it is coated so it gives it some pop
and was pretty sturdy.
This wasn't a MITI but I saw it the last day at the Artgirlz booth and I begged her to sell it to me (they aren't supposed
to sell things off the floor). I took their class to make a necklace, but I was so tired that evening, I just couldn't
finish it. I love their charms and hope to carry them later this year and I just did not want to throw the necklace
together just to get it done. It did portray how I felt that last day- instead of a right hand, this menopausal
maven has a tag that reads "HELP ME". Just too darn cute! Her name is "Crabby Clair"- I wasn't crabby but I did
fell like I needed some help,ha-ha.
This was a fun little book made at a company that sells unmounted rubber stamps. I may be carrying them a little
later in the year. They had some really cool stamps and the prices were really good for their sets. This was one
of their paisley sets--you get a set of about 12 or more stamps in a nice plastic case you can store in a CD tower that retail
for about $9.00--what a bargain! The pinkish stuff on the right side where it is bound is actually felt. I wetted
it and colored it with some of their markers and then my mind starts going and wonder if we can emboss it. You can but
it was still a bit damp so the embossing powder just hung everywhere. Felt was a big thing at the show. You will
see it all over this year-felt beads, felted pocket books and other items--felt, felt, felt everywhere.
We stopped to do this MITI on the last day at the DMC booth. They are the company that sells floss and stuff for
cross stitching. You can't tell from the picture, but this is an exquisite silk bag with a strap like a purse.
They had already pre-marked the circle design with a stencil and chalk and all that was left for us to do was choose our thread
color, needle and begin sewing. It was a nice relaxing thing to do that last day. It helps to sit alot when you
can. My ol body doesn't like to just stand- if I can keep moving I can do pretty good but so many of the MITI there-they
did not have chairs for you to sit and do them -plus you often have to wait for ahwile for a space to open up to do the MITI-
all the while standing. It wears on your body pretty quick.
This wasn't a MITI but a sample. Lisa Pavelka is a well-known polymer clay artist seen on Carol Duvall and has
also created some products for clayers. She has teamed up with JHB Buttom company for some great new products you will
be seeing later this year. These are some of the new polymer clay buttons from her "Claying Around" demo.
I took a class from her while there, but I have to finish it. We covered a tin with clay. It was a great project
and really pretty simple. I will post that after I get it done.
This was a MITI started at the Maya Road booth. They are my new WOW vendor and should have their products shortly.
This was a chipboard tag. I finished it at home by adding the blue punched out flower like shape and the Articus Studio
brass crown charm. Quick and easy!
This was made at a class I took with Ampersand Art Supply using Stampbord. I really liked this class. The
scan doesn't show how nice the color is on this. Because of time restraints, they had already colored the Stampbord
and we stamped it with the "A" and then carved it out and assembled the black grosgrain ribbon to the shadowbox frame (from
Provo Craft) and the smaller 1"x1" Stampbord pieces to the side. The only thing I did different was put a bit of the
Aleene's paper glaze where I had carved out the "A". I wanted to see what kind of look that would give it. I currently
have it hanging in my hall. You can read more about Stampbord-the best surface for stamping on- by visiting the Stampbord
page on our website.
This was a MITI at the Ampersand Art Supply booth. It was simple and easy. I applied a combination of
red and yellow Stampbord ink to the Stampbord using Ranger's cut and dry foam (I like that alot!). and then simply stamped
over the ink. I didn't catch the name of the stamp mfg. but the stamp reads "She had all the royal makings of a queen".
I guess it is a quote from Shakespeare. I carved out a little piece of the fancy flourish on the top and then carved
nitches all around the perimeter of the piece. I had also stamped a verse using the red ink pad to blend in but also
to give it some depth before stamping the quote in black ink.
This is part of Ampersand's booth display at CHA. They had sent me a sample of a new product-their 6"x6" Stampbord
frame and asked me to do something with it. I was thrilled! I didn't want to mess it up so I prayed about a cool
idea for it and all the way through the process because I only had the one piece and didn't want to screw it up. So
the Angel of Stampbord was born and there she hung on the top of the display for all to see. It was all I could do to
hold back the tears when I saw it at the booth and they said how mcuh they liked it. It was very exciting.
This was a long MITI. I had to stand and wait about 1/2 hour or more to do this one. I believe it was at
LuminArte. They gave you a nice, sturdy glass heart. Then you used a solution they had- I don't recall the name
of it- swished it around in the heart and then you pour it out (I missed that part about pouring it out so I had a bit
of trouble with mine). Then you start adding mica powders similar to Pearl Ex to the inside of the heart and shake around
a bit. I believe they recommended choosing 3 colors to add but many used more than that. They somehow react with
that solution and different colors begin to show thru on the glass. There were some beautiful effects had with this
technique. It is hard to see from the scan but there are several different colors showing through on mine. Then
we decoupaged a valentine type picture to the front. They added the bow and we colored a beautiful clay rose and leaf they
had prepared earlier and they affixed it to the heart and bow with hot glue.
I really think these companies should have a hand out telling you what products were used so that if you want to purchase
at a later day, you have some kind of reference. You just forget so much. They really do themselves a disservice
by not having that available.
Ok- the gal who actually did the demo (the art director from Luminarte-Peggy) visited my website and she gave me
all the info to repeat this process. The system is called Primary Elements. Within that system we used Polished
Pigments, pure mica and their simple solution. The air dry clay rose was painted with the same pigments that went
inside of the ornament- they were very ncie to paint with. So if you have the Primary Elements System from Luminarte
and would like directions for this, please email me at c_byers1@msn.com and I will scan and send to you.
This was a little book made for me to demonstrate a binding machine and I bought it). It only has 5 pages
but I decorated the front with paper from the Tim Holtz line along with some Articus Studio corners, brass charms and red
clip. I decorated the pages inside with some stamps I was using to do some Stampbord samples and even incorporated one
of the ATC Stampbords inside the book. Actually, I had stamped a large stamp on the page and it didn't take so I needed
something to cover it with (I addded that page too to show you). I like to take these little books and add momentos
from CHA- particulary items I liked, but maybe wouldn't consider buying for one reason or another-but I want to remember
them. You might like that idea for stamping or scrapbooking conventions you go. Little books are great to make
and take along with you to classes you take to take extra notes on.
This was a fun and clever little card made at the MSE! (My Sentiments Exactly) booth. We tied the sentiment to
the large small case "f" with ribbon and added one of their little MSE charms and anchored it with a fun flower brad.
Very cute!
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