Back from CHA Chicago 2010

What a trip! Last weekend I took a drive down to Chicago (should have been a 6 hour drive, but I have horrible timing and ended up in Chi-town rush hour - took 7 1/2 hours!!!) for the Summer Craft and Hobby Association convention. I had so much fun!

I traveled alone and met up with the girls at Peachy Keen Stamps and Emma from My Creative Time. How cool to have been chatting with these ladies for so long and finally get to meet them in person! Thank you SO MUCH, Girls, for being so sweet and welcoming!!!

Here we all are in the Peachy Keen Stamps booth at the Super Show.

The first night we were there, Emma and I took a trip over to the My Pink Stamper Live pajama party. We missed the taping of the video (technical issues forced the girls to make it "not so live" and they had to record it to post later), but we still made it! What a fun night! I was so excited to meet Robyn (My Pink Stamper) and her BFF Karlee (Karlee's Krafts) in real life!

Here we are with another Cricut lover, Angela, at the party.

Here I am with Emma at the PJ Party. Let me tell you, she is JUST as wonderful in real life as she is on her videos! I just love this girl!!!

During the Super Show, I was able to meets LOTS of wonderful bloggers that I've worked with. I felt like such a star when Suzanne Dean actually RECOGNIZED me! There aren't many pictures of me floating around the internet (well, until this post, I guess) so I didn't expect anyone to actually know who I was. But Suzanne came right up to me and said, "Are you...?" It was so fun! Suzanne is so talented and can be found MANY places on the web (ScrapBitz, Color Me Creative Classroom, Through the Craftroom Door Magazine).

I HAD to be sure to meet Taylor of Taylored Expressions. What a doll! At her booth, I was able to meet her husband and mom, too!

Check out some of the things in her booth. Aren't they ADORABLE? Perhaps I'm a bit biased. After all, I am the one who created "Tina" (the girl on the banner and Make-n-Take board) and the TE logo shown in the pictures!

One of the highlights of my (business) trip was meeting the girls from Unity Stamp Company/Ippity. Unity gave me my "big break" in 2008 when they first asked me to design their blog. We've done A LOT of work together since then. I am SO grateful for Unity - they're a big reason I get to do what I love!

Here I am with the lovely Michelle and Eryn in the Ippity booth.

I later found Angela walking past the Peachy Keen booth with her husband and stopped her to introduce myself. She's just as kind and beautiful in person as she is on the web!

The next day, Emma asked me to introduce her to Angela. Here we all are together.

Of course, this trip wasn't all business. I was surrounded by stamps and ink and paper! I picked up a few things (including my very FIRST Copic Markers) and can't wait to play with them!

I had such a great time in Chicago - memories to last a lifetime.

CHA Winter 2011 is in Los Angeles... perhaps some new travel plans are in my future ;o)