::CHA SUMMER ‘08 SHOW - DAY 1 in CHICAGO::
Saturday, July 19th, 2008Greetings from all of us currently in the place known as the Windy City! If you’re new to scrapbooking, Swee Ching, Sandra, Jasmine and i are once again at the Crafts & Hobbies Association Summer Show which we attend annually, like the Winter show, scouting for the best supplies that we can get out hands on.
Just a little trivia and contrary to what many newbie scrappers believe, we do not literally go mad shopping here, pull stuff off the displays and pack as much as we can in our suitcases to bring home to Made With Love. This is a trade show where retailers visit exhibitors’ booths to place orders for new releases of scrap supplies. Most of the time, only samples are on display, with many products in prototype form, yet to be manufactured … … so sorry to burst your bubbles ladies … we don’t literally get to lug home tons and tons of shopping bags of stuff. And most of the gifts that suppliers wanna give us get shipped to us.
Nevertheless, it’s always a meaningfully fun time although incredibly tiring … but who has a right to complain when we are surrounded by sooooo many pretty things!!!
Anyways, the show opened yesterday and what a day it has been! It’s great meeting up with people we constantly communicate with in the US to bring you all your scrapping supplies, some of whom, we’ve known for close to 5 years … … luuuurvely people who we’ve worked with and become friends with since we first started Made With Love … … warm fuzzy feelings all round cos we only get to see these people who have helped us through the years at most twice a year at the CHA shows.
And this show is a little special cos it’s the first time Swee Ching has managed to join Sandra and i and we had a whale of a time initiating her into surviving the show and achieving MAXIMUM productivity cos there’s so much to see and order but too little time!
Anyhow, as promised, here are some snapshots of some of the brands that caught our eye at the show … … wish we had more pics but we’ve been running around like Tasmanian devils trying to get as much done as possible.
Without further ado … … from K & Company … … one of my picks for the day …
This here is one of the hot faves at the show … … Amy Butler’s Lotus collection …
And guess what? K & Company is really into environment conservation and have come up with RE-MAKE - their very own recycled cardstock collections - Sandra’s pick for the day. They’ve also done all kinds of cutesey things too, like incorporating print-outs of motifs on the chipboard backing of the cardstock pads so they can double-up as a form of embellishing … … and the recycled packaging for albums and kits … everything just ties in beautifully and looks great!!!
Stuff for Christmas is out at K & Company already, as it is with the majority of the brands … …
And here below, something even for Valentines’ Day already … … Sweet Talk by Brenda Walton … ships in October …
On to Hambly Designs - one of Jasmine’s picks of the day … …
We simply can’t get enough of them!!!
And more from MAMBI below …
And Glitz Designs … …
And to top it all off, it being Swee Ching’s first time at a CHA show, to complete the experience, the mandatory snapshots with celebrity scrapbook designers that rock her world … …
Here’s one of her with Stacey Julian above … …
… and one with owner of Scenic Route - Sarah Milne above who is a super down-to-earth and lovely person that Swee Ching had the privilege of meeting … … not to mention …. we LOVE SCENIC ROUTE!!!!!!
And of course, what’s a trip to a CHA show without a picture with TIM HOLTZ!!! Ooooo … didn’t realise how cosy she looks with THE MAN … all snuggly …. better not let your DH see this, SweeCh!!! Otherwise, you can forget about coming home to the sunny island of Singapore from the windy city of Chicago!!! Actually …. come to think of it, it hasn’t been all that windy since we’ve been here. Incredibly sunny, humid and hot, it has been … no different from what we get all year round in Singapore!!!
But back to our experiences here that many of you have asked us to share … … and it certainly is nice keeping in touch with all who are close to our hearts here … … here are some behind the scenes shots when we’re locked up in our hotel room late at night, still agonising over our orders … …
SweeCh in some form of meditation …. maybe she thinks the images from the catalog can be transmitted by osmosis and some form of enlightenment may be achieved in the process thereby giving her the ability to decide just HOW MUCH TO BUY for us!!!! The no. 1 question that’s constantly on our minds!!!
A wee hours of the morning work-out …. the things SweeCh does when she’s drunk from sleep deprivation … …
Who’s ever seen anyone derive so much pleasure from ordering in the wee hours of the morning??? That’s the spirit, Sandra!!!
And here’s a side of us that you probably have never seen … did we tell you we live like fraternity boys when we go on these trips …. food wrappers everywhere … dirty laundry on the floor, stuff everywhere …. ….
And here … wait Jas!!! Don’t leave … … Won’t be surprised if Jas wants to pack up and get herself another hotel room, SweeCh, Sandra and i can be quite frightful room-mates to have. Cos, it’s rush, rush, rush … throw on clothes, out the door, get to the show, come back, more ordering, stuff ourselves with take-out food, shower, and crash onto beds …. …. there’s of course plenty of laughs in between but it’s really quite disgraceful that 3 moms to a total of 4 kids live like this when they are not at home … … let’s hope we’ll be better behaved today … hope to be able to tidy up a little despite the crazy hectic day we are going to have today.
And no pics of me … cos i look like i’ve been run over by a truck and it has been a pretty uneventful day of negotiations and ordering for me apart from the fact that i was interviewed and filmed by a camera crew … more about that another time. ;P
Anyhow, till our next update … … hang in there …. we’re trying to get everyone to ship out our orders for you as soon as possible … … and keep telling us what you want to see at Made With Love … … we hope everyone will be as pleased as punch upon seeing all the luuuurvely scrap supplies which will be pouring into Made With Love for the next 6 months!!!
Lotsa love, {e}
P.S.
And we thought you might like to know that we’ve received pleasant surprises when we keep bumping into people right here in Chicago at the show who tell us they visit our blog regularly and online forum and they can rattle off all the events and stuff that we’ve got on at Made With Love?? Isn’t that mind-boggling!!!! And many people have expressed how amazed they are when they look at our online gallery and see such a vibrant community of talented scrappers from Singapore!!! So well done, Made With Love scrappers …. it’s great that Singapore’s on the global scrapbooking map and shining pretty bright! ;)
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Hmmm…. haven’t asked her about durians though …
