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For those of us whose love of paper crafting has led us to becoming retailers, and who can't get out to Anaheim California, this was an anticipated event. I won't say that this was a big show. Gone are the fancy booths, and we are back to the standard trade show black curtains with tables and wire panels and/or bookshelves. It's in a hotel not a convention center and the ceilings are low, not soaring. There were fewer than 50 exhibitors (notably absent were DCWV, American Crafts, Ranger, Stampers Anonymous, and sadly, Marion Smith Designs, one of my biggest reasons for attending the show)! For the life of me, I can't seem to meet Marion or Garret no matter what, lol! Only 200 attendees had registered when the show opened on Tuesday and from the wholesalers point of view, that did not mean 200 customers as some retailers bring 2-3 people. Yet that doesn't mean in wasn't a good show! It was great for networking and getting to know people, you did not have to go crazy trying to place orders and it was much easier to navigate. Oh and there was the open market, where you literally could get some great bargains!
Day 1 - The Workshop Day
It turns out that only 200 people signed up to attend the show, which makes it terribly small, especially since sometimes up to 3 people are from the same store. But there are advantages to being at such a small show and the first day workshops are amongst the good things. Getting to talk to more people because you are bumping into them again and again is also an advantage and I got to meet some mighty fine people.
Now here are some pictures from Day 1:
Bo Bunny
Bo Bunny was my first workshop of the day at 8:00 am. It's also where I met Ivana, also known as CraftMuse. We were a very quiet class. Then again, by definition, the projects in such classes are ambitious and very quick paced, and we all know going in that we don't have any chance of finishing them! Finishing comes later, maybe at night if you can keep your eyes open long enough. But I digress!
We made the layout you see above as well as a cute envelope with an accordion album to slip inside the envelope.
My favorite new Bo Bunny products are the Glitter Paste, which comes in 3 colors for now, Gold, Bronze and Silver and their new stencils.
The stencils are made of a very thin, pliable pink plastic, that clings to your project, making it much easier to work with. Right now they have released 4 sets. Each set comes on 12x12 size backing. So that border in the picture is 12 inches long. The Glitter Paste dries fairly quickly and the stencil is very easy to remove, wash and use again. Based on my experience in the workshop it is very easy to use multiple times, in one sitting, without having to clean it between each use. That makes the Bo Bunny stencils a great choice if you are creating invitations or a series of cards. Of all their currently released ones, I loved the doilies!
I also visit our instructors, Liz Welch & Vicki Bentley in their booth! Can you see we had fun?
We made this cute tag in the Bo Bunny booth!
Well there is so much more to say even about the first day, but this post is way long!
More soon,
Be happy and crafty!
M-C
