Hi Friends,
So sorry I have been neglecting my blog for the past two weeks, I was away for a little while at CHA and now it seems I am having trouble getting my creativity going. As my husband so kindly reminded me last night as I was getting frustrated with myself, everyone goes through down times in their creativity. I guess it was bound to happen to me eventually.
It can be very frustrating to sit at my desk for the precious little time I have during the week after work and other activities and feel like I have accomplished nothing. UGH! I think it’s a side effect of winter too. Shorter days, colder weather, and everything outside looking pretty dead is not a great motivator. However, that being said, my trip to CHA was one full of fun and happiness. I am, or I guess I should say “was” a CHA rookie. I still at many times feel very new to the paper crafting community and at CHA I really felt green. But lucky for me I got to spend the majority of my time in the super cute Lawn Fawn booth telling people all the things I love about Lawn Fawn. Perfect! I got to meet friends from blog world face to face and made some new friends along the way too! Here are some highlights (I did steal some of these photos from friends because I realized I stayed so busy I didn’t get to take too many pictures). I will apologize in advance for this long post.
I flew out of Greenville, SC so my trip started with a hour long car ride to the airport. My sweet husband was kind enough to take me and pick me up when I returned. The sun was setting when I finally arrived Santa Ana where Jenny & Vera met me and Ayana at the airport. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated someone with a car that knew their way around Anaheim. Driving in unfamiliar places stresses me out!
After some running to hotels & back to the airport to get Laurel we met up with Kelly, Mike & Nancy at dinner. I was so happy to get some food in my belly and get to spend some time with all these amazing people (who are all now so much more than just a thumbnail pic on my computer screen by the way) 🙂
Sunday was the first day of CHA, wow that place is huge! We arrived before the opening ceremony to make some finishing touches to the booth. What a fun booth to work in for 3 days! Just look at all that cuteness!
Stamp clothesline |
Paper Trellis |
I manned the Make & Take table where we made bookmarks I designed featuring the new paper, twine and critters ever after stamps!
I did slip away for a few minutes when my fellow LF design team member Julie showed up to give me a break, and went to find the Paper Crafts Magazine booth and introduce myself to Susan Opal. She is so sweet, and I wanted to introduce myself since I got my first publication acceptance email last month! (little did I know she would come visit us at the Lawn Fawn booth the next two days as well) By the way, it was awesome getting to meet some of my fellow Design Team members while I was there…but dummy me didn’t get any pictures with them.
Laurel, Susan & Me |
The Busy Lawn Fawn Lawn |
I made some new friends while I was there and I am so happy to have gotten to know them! Nancy & Ivy are just the sweetest, love them! They helped out at the make & take table as well, we all designed a project so we made a different one each day. It was nice to spend time with these lovely ladies. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with them.
Nancy, Ivy, Vera & Me |
All the Lawn Fawn Fawnies |
What a great group of people to work with! I met many others that came by the booth that were familiar with my blog and my designs. It so made me blush. Hehe. I loved getting to met everyone, and make new friends, priceless. I hope I get the privilege to attend CHA again and expand on my experience from this trip. Hopefully I will feel like I know more people and won’t feel like such a newbie next time. Big, big thanks to Kelly & Mike for having me!
I am hoping to give scrapbooking a go after this trip. I have Amy Tangerine Daybook in which to document my expierence. Just wish I had more pictures, but I will be better prepared next time. I know I had my picture taken a few times, so if you have a photo you wouldn’t mind sharing please email it to me. I would love to add it to my book!
Thanks for sticking through my long post! 🙂
Looks like a great experience!!! I’m so happy you had fun! Of course people recognized your awesomeness – you rock girl – that must have felt so good!! On Pinterest there are a few things I’ve seen where you can turn your Instagram photos into photo strips & stuff – that may be fun for your book. I love all of the newest Amy Tan goodies – the colors are SO bright and fun! I can not wait to see your book! If you don’t post it on your blog – you have to email me pics of it! I’m sure it’s going to be amazable!!!
What’s really funny is, this weekend I took out mine (the “older” Amy Tan book and goodies I’ve been hoarding for too long to get started on a mini book of pics I took in April/July when my sister in law & niece visited) and had intended to get down to business, but I felt drained/tired and just couldn’t do it in that kind of mood. I printed the pics & everything – got out all of the goodies. I STILL haven’t started it, days later. So, believe me, I totally know how it feels when you want to create and just don’t want to at the same time.
Chari, it was so fun getting to know you at CHA. You are so sweet & quiet. LOL, usually I am the quiet one. As for having creativity trouble, I have that, too. I think it's normal and that's when you get to do other things that's not card making related. You should totally do scrapbooking. My first paper craft love is scrapbooking. We'll keep in touch! Hugs.
Hey Chari, I loved seeing your CHA adventure in photos and I'm so happy to have had a part in it. I have no doubt your creative spark will return with wonderful results very soon. Sending hugs and blessings!
Great pics! It seems that you had an amazing time at CHA, meeting all that nice people and showing and talking about all the new LF stuff 🙂
It sounds like SUCH a fun experience! I hope to make it there someday. I really enjoyed living it vicariously through your pics though. ;o) Hope your Mojo returns after it recovers from jet lag. I've been missing your new creations! They're always so inspiring!