Forgive me dear readers for being so tardy with my first post this week. I’ve been recovering from this past weekend. I made a quick trip to Phoenix, Arizona to attend the CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Trade Show. I took a flight out of Denver early Saturday morning and flew back at sunset Sunday. It was a super busy time while I was there.
The primary reason I went was to attend the Saturday evening Bloggers Networking Event hosted by Prime Publishing. There I met a number of vendors and picked up some awesome swag to try out their products.
This is a photo of my pile of goodies. It doesn’t represent everyone that was there. Just some of the crafting supplies that I came home with from this event.
The gals from Scrapbook Adhesives also had this insanely huge adhesive runner. I had to have a picture of them with it so you could see how oversized it was.
Leisure Arts were giving away samples of their new oval shaped knitting loom, unfortunately they ran out. I’ll be getting one in a couple of weeks and hope to do a review of it. The line for the Leisure Arts table was very long, but I did get a moment to visit with them. On Sunday I went by their booth and was excited to see my “Texting Mitts” book in the rack of books on display.
While I was on the show floor both Saturday and Sunday I got to see so many fascinating products. When I visited the Clover Tools booth, I saw my friend Eloise, who was demonstrating knitting and crochet. She had their awesome new stitch markers.
These markers come in 3 different sizes and are shaped to look like sheep, including a little curling horn on their heads. They are super light weight and the smallest size would be ideal to use for working with lace-weight yarns.
There were lots of Make-and-Take opportunities. One of my first stops was to check out the Deco-Foil display. The woman there showed me how their foil papers could be used on embossed adhesives thru an ordinary laminator by making this little heart for me. This would be a great idea for making valentines for school exchanges.
One of the other products I wanted to check out was at the Diamond Tech booth, a glass fusing kiln that you use in your microwave. I’ve always wanted to learn more about working with hot glass, but have been prohibited by the cost of kilns or even kiln fees (plus driving distance). The pendants that they were making in the demonstration were really nice and I am seriously wanting to get their “Beginner’s Fusing Kit” this year.
Just to make things even more tempting they sent me home with a catalog of all their fun glass project stuff. Various mosaic tools and glass, glass cutting tools, Lampworking tools and sets, plus the glass fusing tools and sets. Oh yeah, I’m in big trouble.
I’m planning on doing a lot more illustration work this year, and was very interested in the Chameleon Pens booth. They were giving away single colortone pens for folks to try them out.
I really like this pen, it is a great tool for creating watercolor style effects when adding color to my drawings. I also tried out their new color pencils. I’ll be sharing a lot more about these tools come summer. You can check out more about their products at their website: www.chameleonpens.com. They also have a Kickstarter fundraiser going until February 17 for their new Color tops product that works with the colortone pens.
My nearly last stop on Sunday was at the Alumilite Booth to look at their brand of “Amazing, Casting Products”. I’ve always loved mold making and casting. They had a wonderful range of products for both endeavors and were kind enough to provide me with a small sample of their 2 part mold putty. I can hardly wait to play with it.
Well, now you know why I’ve been so distracted since I got back from Phoenix. There is a lot to absorb after such an inspiring weekend. I’ve been spending hours trying to capture all my ideas. There has also been the usual catching up with the family and the household after a trip.
I had hoped to get my video for the Shells on the Aegean Neck Cozy finished this week, but that has been delayed with all this other stuff happening. Instead I’m aiming for having the new video up by next Tuesday, January 31st. Wow, we have less than one week of January left! Looks like 2017 is going to be rocketing along.
Mamas2Hands 