We're heeeeeere!!!

Hello from the windy city of Chicago! It's really not all that windy here, but it sure is hot :) We got the chance to see new products today and hear about new products being introduced tomorrow.

First...the slideshow. It's a bunch of pictures taken today at the Fiskars and Creative Imaginations events. It doesn't even remotely represent what we bought...if it did, I'd be up all night downloading pictures! I will tell you that there are several new lines that are uber cute! The Creative Imaginations army man line is a must have for any little boy who plays with army men. We spoke with the designer of that line...she said that her inspiration for the collection was that her husband was an Army helicopter pilot and her son always played with those little green army men. For whatever reason, we didn't get a picture of that collection but will get over there again tomorrow and snap a few more! More new collections include: EMT, police, fire, LEGOS (watch for an upcoming contest sponsored by LEGO!), lots of Christmas, lots of Halloween, Thanksgiving/Fall, wine, cooking, boys/kids, animal, cowboy/cowgirl, golf and fishing. Again, there's more, and you will see them all in due time! You'll also note in the slideshow that Fiskars has come out with Limited Edition holiday punches...cats, pumpkins, candy corn and ghosts for Halloween and more for Christmas...VERY cute! One trend that we are seeing is lots of die cut paper...die cut spider webs for Halloween, snowflakes for winter, paper with dolphins and turtles around the border, die cut jungle leaves and paper with all sorts of decorative edges. A popular color so far today has been purple...we've seen it in Halloween papers and Valentine collections. We'll see if that continues to be a trend. By the way, when we weren't stuffing our faces at the chocolate fountain, we got to play with the Creative Imaginations staff. They were all dressed up as kids - to go along with the Lego contenst they are promoting. One guy was dressed up as Yosemite Sam and the president was wearing bib overalls with bling all over them! In fact, Jack (the president) paid me $20 to move away from the chocolate fountain. He said other people wanted to eat, too. (Okay, kidding!) One last thing about the slide show, you have to look at the flowers first :) The conference center here has all sorts of beautiful flowers planted everywhere. I couldn't help but take a few pics on the walk over!

Second...we also attended SEI's event tonight. For the first time in a year, we will be bringing in a few of their lines. Their puffy spiders for Halloween are too cute! Sorry, no pictures...we were too tired!

Third...QuicKutz. Their release is tomorrow morning (I think it's at 10:00 eastern time). Check out their website as we'll be on the show floor all day and not able to report in a timely fashion! We have NOT seen this release yet but have heard the buzz while at CHA. The suspense is killing me!!! Also, check their website for their CHA camera...in February, they had one taking real time videos all day long. Our appointment is at 3:00 eastern time...look for us! We'll wave :)

Fourth...Bazzill and Basic Grey. Saw illegal copies of sneak peeks tonight! Bazzill is coming out with some cool new cardstock papers and tulle ribbon! One of their paper lines is going to have embossed dots in it...another is going to be mirrored paper available in gold and silver. Also, there are lots of new borders available in new colors, new In Stitch'z patterns (including different size circles, Christmas shapes and an alphabet!) and new plastic paper. More on Bazzill later! (How's that for a tease?!?!) About Basic Grey...I only saw a quick peek at their new release. I was told that they are guarding their collections, so I will honor that wish and not reveal any scoop here. Once again, we will have to make the mad dash to the booth tomorrow to get a good number. (The number represents your shipping order....the better the number, the quicker we'll get our product!). All I can say is there are 5 new lines (I think that's what I remember seeing)!

In honor of me doing the mad dash tomorrow morning (I only run this fast twice a year at the CHA shows and maybe a third time if wasps are attacking), mention MAD DASH when you check out and ALL BASIC GREY PAPER AND EMBELLISHMENTS ARE 30% OFF!!!! Sorry, tools and cutting mats are excluded. This is for Friday only and no other discounts apply.

Wish us luck for Friday - it's going to be a looong, fun-filled day. Gotta go charge my camera battery! Bye!