CHA

This weekend begins the semi-annual CHA trade show. CHA stands for Craft & Hobby Association. It's where the many manufacturers of craft and hobby products gather in Anaheim to peddle their wares to retailers throughout the world. My job is to take some of 7gypsies' new products to be released at the show and make something from it to show how the various products are used. In other words, I use their stuff to make something useful and lovely to look at. What fun that is! I get to play with the new stuff before anyone else gets to even see it! Oftentimes I use prototype products. For one of the projects this time I used a new board book (parenthesis), new transfers and lots of paper and embellishments. Here is the end result. I won't bore you with all of the pages/pictures, but here are a few of the Parenthesis Board Book.



Erin was gracious enough to let me use their pictures from their recent NY trip.

The second project is a Paper Bag Book using their new Gypsy Market papers, Gypsy sticker sheet, large photo turn, paper bags, and lots of embellishments.




The idea of this book is following a "gypsy" (read...junker!) in her travels as she searches for the perfect junk! The sticker sheet quotes and sayings (for the most part) are direct quotes from our girls' retreat from five years ago. Deb, Ellen (my sisters), Paula and Patty (sisters but not ours...but our VERY DEAR friends) met at Deb's for a week-long retreat filled with creating, junkin', traveling, laughing and at show at Gammage (Phantom of the Opera). It was one of the best weeks of my life. Such wonderful relationships and oh, so fun!!! The places in this book document just a few of the places we've gone together over the years in our search for the "perfect junque"!! Just a note of instruction...the paper bags lay sideways in the book and are bound together at their bottoms. In each bag is an idex card (from the Photo Carousel collection) with a picture, business card and some detailsl about various places we've been. It's funny to me that all five of us have such similar tastes and enjoy so many of the same things.
You can see all of the 7gypsies products at www.sevengypsies.com . But I'm warning you, you may get pulled into the gypsy van, and then you're trapped. You'll be a gypsy, too!