Everyone is born with creativity. But those people who appear to be super creative have a secret. They know that creativity has to be developed and exercised to come easily. I am on a quest to immerse myself in creativity of all kinds. I hope you will join me!

 I started the day yesterday with a special guest at my make it take it table. Mr. Levinson, he company's Chairman of the Board sat down to craft with me. He is a very interesting man, and he had his own creative ideas in making his Valentine's Day card. The best part for me was the way the Blumenthal Lansing employees hovered with cameras to take pics of him.  So Cute they were!

 This is felt from Kunin Felt. Do you love it?


 I had the most fun with these sisters from Quebec. I told them my 11th great Grandfather founded their city. HOOT! I could tell they thought I was a nut. They were trying hard to respond politely when I told them his name was Louis Hebert, and there is a statue of him there. Both of them made the O shape with their mouths as their eyes went wide and then they asked if they could take my picture. hahahahaa!  You have to take your 15 minutes of fame wherever you can get it!

 First day of the show and here is my home away from home for the week.  The booth is looking marvelous. If you want me, I will be at this table.


 These were my first four customers. We made cards today.

 One finished card. They all looked different, according to the artist's personality.


This is Koggy. She is here from China. She is a designer there. Isn't she a doll?


One of the best parts of my day at a show is meeting crafters.  Although I have met some "way out there" folks, for the most part, crafters are a passionate lot.  I try to get their stories about where crafts has led them. More and more, the industry is global and I get to meet people far from home like Koggy. Today, I taught 2 women from Japan, a couple from South America, and one from China. 


I also meet people from all over the USA. I had four women from Oahu today... and a lot of locals. Crafts take people on paths I never would have imagined. At the table today, I had a darling girl who runs a non profit company that makes scrapbooks for "Make A Wish" kids. She takes the pics from their big wish trip and turns them into pages.  And makes no money from it.


And while some stories are heartwarming, some just make me laugh. One of my ladies told me when she was young, she married a man from Italy, as she said, straight off the boat. He spoke not one word of English. They both went to college and she earned a degree for each of them. Because he spoke no English, she did all of his work. She said, for each assignment, she would write an A paper for herself and a C paper for him. In the middle of that, she had a baby! She got him his degree and one for herself before she collapsed of exhaustion. Literally. I asked her what in the world drew her to a man she could not speak to, who would not learn the language, and allowed her to do all of his college work for him. She said, He was tall, dark, and Italian, and a musician. I was young. Need I say more?" While she is no longer married to him, she said they had a daughter who has turned out to be the brilliant owner of a multi million dollar company. She is happy with that result.


So many stories. Good ones.


Take your Vitamin C!

I am in California and the CHA show starts tomorrow. Today was filled with travel, booth set up, sneaking into an interesting program, a fabulous dinner, and a visit with friends from Florida, China, and Japan. I now can hardly keep my eyes open. Is it any wonder?


I sort of snuck into a program this afternoon that was meant for retailers.  It was 20 of the top new products in the industry. Each manufacturer was allowed 60 seconds to sell said new product. Wow, some did great. Some really need copywriters. I have been in this industry 23598 years and I have seen it all, so most of this was not really new.


But, I share with you three products that impressed me in some way. I will categorize them as What is the Point?, I am Not Sure, and I Would Buy That!.


What is the Point?
This is a glue gun that you plug into the USB port of your computer. At first, I thought, cool! Then I wondered why. What reason could you have to plug your glue gun into your computer? Seems slightly dangerous. Kind of a novelty, maybe, but does not seem practical.




I am Not Sure
This is a shoe application by Kodak, called Shoe Attitude. You run the film through your computer, so you can have any design in the universe on your tennis shoes, even photos. Then you glue the film to the shoe. They used a glue stick. Yes, a glue stick you buy at the drug store. You and I both know that is not going to stay on there. They say it will last a couple weeks. I am doubtful. Their idea is that you will want to keep changing the design on your shoes.  It did look cool, but I was not completely sold.






I Would Buy That!
This is an interchangeable upholstery tack. They come in stone and gems. You pound the tack into the furniture...headboard, sofa, chair, ottoman wall, etc. Then the head screws onto the tack. You can then unscrew the head, and change it to a different look if you want. They made quite a statement. Pretty cool.
 And this is where the randomness hits its peak. These are ceiling light fixtures in my hotel. They are huge, and stinking cool.

 It's official. Leaving my camera battery charger at home when I go to the CHA show is now a tradition.  So, only grainy phone pics, but here we go.... I am happily working in the Blumenthal Lansing booth at the show. The folks there are great, the buttons are great, it is all great. Buttons are always a draw to crafters and some non crafters as well.  Maybe the reason is that we remember, as I do, playing in Grandma's button box when we were young.

Here are just a couple pics from the booth of the fab buttons there this week.

 These bright resin flower buttons have had me drooling for a couple months.

 Faux stone buttons........

 Fabric covered buttons. They are gorgeous. Click to enlarge the pic so you can see them up close...

Glitter buttons.  Click on this one too.  I am taking this canvas home in my suitcase with me.  Don't tell Helen.

I directed a make it take it project each day for the last three days. That means I have a tableful of women sitting, making a project. They are a captive audience, and I can ask them any question I want, listen to the their stories, or even sing to them.  They won't leave till they are finished with their project.

In the years I have worked in the craft industry, I have learned that some of the most genuine people on earth are crafters.  And, also some of the least explainable.

Genuine:
- One shop owner told me that she has taught a class in her shop for years that she calls Naughty Knickers. Women bring their own underwear to class and she helps them add embellishments. She said she has offered it for years and it always fills up. Oh, I cannot even repeat what she said about thongs.
- Women leave my table, go out to other booths and bring me back presents. Sometimes it is something from their own company. Sometimes they heard me mention a product and they go talk a company out of it and bring it to me.
- The table of Texans who told me that the hills in east Texas were formed by burying Yankees. With twinkles in their eyes, they laughed while they called me Yankee.
- The amazing woman who did our project, then taught us her own project. It was an origami tea bag holder that is just darling.  We all made one with her and then she opened her bag and gave us each one that she had made.
- Several women who came to play with me all three days, called me by name, and chatted with me like we have known each other all of our lives.

The unexplainable:
- The woman who ate strings of hot glue while she worked on her project. I am not fibbing.  She did.

Crafters.  Love 'em!
Take your vitamin C!

 Don't you love this? It is made out of paper.  It made me wonder how they transported this.

 I have not been out of the booth much, but did walk by the Die Cuts with a View booth and saw their paper displays and snapped a few quick pics.  Very eyecatching!

So cool!  More today and tomorrow.

Opening day. Woke to a sunny day in downtown Los Angeles.

From my hotel room, I can see the Hollywood sign....way, way, way off in the distance, but I can see it!


In the booth today, we did some fun bangle bracelets.  Very easy, cute, and of course, I encouraged everyone to try their hand at creating their own designs.  How cute are these girls?  This little girl was smart as a whip and barely needed any instruction. She was intuitive.  Then she helped her Grandma.

Oh yeah, and for those of you who think this is one big party......well, yeah, it is...... but the price of the pizza killed me anyway.

We started with a bangle, wrapped yarn and fibers around it and then wired some new flower and leaf buttons on top.  Go Darlene! I turned two quilters into jewelry makers here.

One finished bracelet.

Looking forward to day 2!