I'm a CHA Fan

Good evening! I am back after an absolute whirlwind of a day taking in CHA down in Anaheim. I have been to scrapbook and stamping conventions, but this one certainly put them all to share. It was absolutely HUGE and absolutely amazing. I can now understand why people were so excited about the summer one in Orlando a few months back.

I met up with my stamping buddy Angie around eleven, and then we carpooled down to Anaheim (only about 30 minutes). Of course it took a little long than thirty minutes due to rain still coming down. We got there right about noon, which was when it opened. Thanks to buying our tickets in advance, we got to skip the long lines and walk right on into the hall. It was huge, HUGE I tell you! The Supershow was open from 12-8pm and we figured we might be there a few hours, based on our past convention trips. But, no! We were there until 7pm! And we were busy the whole time! We did countless make and takes, all for free, visited tons of booths... Everything from stamping to sewing to jewelry-making to yarn.

My personal favorite booth was Taylored Expressions. It was so cheery, and meeting people like Karen Giron, Dawn Easton, and Jodi Collins was amazing! It is so wonderful to put real faces, voices, and personalities to typed words and blogs. :) Taylor even remembered me from the class I took from her back in October. So fun!

We pretty much shopped 'til we dropped. But I did well, controlling myself and really only bought some paper I have been eyeing, a few stamps, and a glue pen. We got a bunch of free stuff, especially from Memory Makers: they gave us all aprons that say "Slice" and bags. Michael's and Joann's Fabrics gave out bags as well.

There were not very many "new" products there... I think that may have been in the other two ballrooms which are only open to industry members beginning tomorrow. But we did get to try out some new Post It crafting paper (which is already sticky on the back!), and take some surveys to help them with marketing. We definitely felt important. :)

By seven o'clock, we were tired, but extremely content. We had conquered the CHA Supershow. And we had conquered it well. It was an absolute blast and I would definitley go again. Maybe next time Verve and Papertrey Ink will be there!

I only snapped a few pictures while I was there. It was so overwhelming that I could have simply lived behind my camera, but chose rather to simply enjoy my time and snap when really needed.

The spoils of my trip. Not too bad in the damage department, hehe.

The countless make-n-takes. Everything from cards to knitting, crafting, screen printing, and bedazzling.

Free stuff! Bags, aprons, flowers, glue runners, paper... You name it, we snagged it!

So, in closing, our CHA experience was wonderful. We both agreed that we could have gone back for more tomorrow! Maybe next year we'll book a two-day pass and really do it right!

Thanks for stopping by!