A Project, Super Bowl Wrap-Up and An Earthquake!

Night before last, at 4 am, I was awoken by an earthquake. Yes, that's right - in Illinois! It measured 3.8 on the scale. It was really interesting because everyone thought it was something else - a train, a tree falling, a truck passing by. And, it lasted about 40 seconds for us.

Here are a few pics from what I served on Super Bowl Sunday! This server was a gift from Mom and Dad from Napa Style. I served pico de gallo, chex mix and veggie dip in it. It worked out perfectly! And, they have a lot of really cool stuff in their catalog.

Here are some close-up pics on what I am making right now. Can you guess what it is? I will put it up as soon as it's finished - complete with a list of products.

A Sweet for Your Sweet! - Valentine's Day Is Sunday

Time to get creating for Valentine's Day! I used the new Tie The Knot Cricut cartridge for this project.

Enjoy and make someone feel special this Valentine's Day!

Get Creative in 10 Minutes!

You DO HAVE TIME! This card was really quick. I created it in about 10 minutes. You will need:

- Your favorite Jillibean Soup Cardstock

- Stamping Cricut Cartridge (it's a solutions one)

- 3 different shades of cardstock - I used Core'dinations

- 2 buttons - These came from Jillibean Soup as well

-Scalloped circle cut in your favorite way (these are Jillibean, but you could use your Cricut or Nestabilities, or a punch that you may already have)

-Cross-stitch thread in coordinating color

Hope you like it! Happy creating and wishing everyone a great weekend and Super Bowl Sunday! Go Saints and Colts! What can I say? I'm Switzerland on this one!

Our Brush With The Jay Leno Show

I forgot to blog about a really funny thing that happened when we landed at LAX. We noticed some film crews and we recognized Dan Finnerty from The Dan Band. They do a bit on the Jay Leno Show and you may also recognize him from "Old School" and "The Hangover."

Here's a quick video from our star sighting.

The spot aired on The Jay Leno Show a couple days after we got back home.

Pinch me, cause I think I'm dreamin'

It was only a short 6 months ago that I attended my first CHA. I was fascinated by all the products and crafters. We did the tour. I saw some great people who I recognized, like Claudine Hellmuth and Suze Weinburg. I met some really great artists and just all around creative people. It's a great space to be in. And, I also remember seeing Tim Holtz in his booth and being scared to the point of star-struckdome. I still am. But, this year, I got a really cool opportunity.

Tim Holtz actually invited us to a personal tour of his new products at the Ranger booth (after we asked him, of course! But, it's all the same!)

Anyway, Miranda and I fought off sleep that night to come up with come pretty amazing interview questions. We wanted to not ask him the same questions he's been asked 1,000 times but we also knew that his time was/is very valuable.

Here's the magic we captured. It was pretty darn cool.

Part 2- I LOVE his story about how he got started:

Bottom line? All around super-nice guy. And, artsy to boot.

Weekend is around the corner - hope you've all got something fun planned!

Natalie

Basic Grey is oh so much more than basic!

What did we find at the Basic Grey booth, you ask?

Tell them, Miranda:

Lots, and lots, and lots of super cool new paper lines.

And lots of cool designs done by creative people:

More to come! Stay tuned!

Natalie

CHA 2010 Intro Video!

More CHA Photos Soon - I Promise!

Sorry - tonight was Idol and Millionaire Matchmaker...so I will post some more CHA pics soon. I just ran out of time tonight.

And, we are filming tomorrow morning. Which reminds me - it's time for bed!

Good Night Moon...

Memories, like the corners of my mind...

I am so thankful I got to go to CHA. I had such a great time meeting so many fellow crafters. When you have an experience like that, it's hard not to think to yourself, "Self, this is definitely where I should be in life." When you are with thousands of people who share the same interest and passion for an industry is it very overwhelming but so awesome.

Here is a quick video of someone we met while at the CHA Supershow. His name is Jake and he is what we in the industry would call a "man crafter." He is a Custom Crops fan and a Cricut fan. So sweet and he even brought us cards that he made - it got this reaction from Miranda:

Who knows, he could be the next Tim Holtz!

I have some great memories from the show (and many more postings to do!)

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

I'm Back - Cha, Cha, Cha!

Hi everyone! I'm back from CHA and I've seen some ah-mazing stuff this past week. We started out our trip setting up My Pink Stamper, Robyn Cardon's, booth for the Supershow. Then on Friday, Karlee, Miranda and I helped with make-n-takes all day and sold A TON of Robyn's product (stamps and a second DVD) that you can find at customcrops.com. Robyn's make-n-take was a really cute cupcake card.

Here is a quick pic of Robyn and I during the show:

And, MJ and I during the show:

It was sooo much fun! We met many of Robyn's fans and, if you can believe it, a few of our own! (shout out to Jake - a fan of Custom Crops that stopped by to say hi and to give us a great card he made for each one of us! He was so sweet!) There were many of you who stopped by to say hi and that you enjoy our youtube videos! People were so nice!

One of my most favorite things from the show was a brand-spankin'-new friendship. We met Donna Mundinger, who is a Custom Crops designer and a very, very talented lady. You can check out her blog here.

She was an absolute hoot and we had such a great time with her. The trip wouldn't have been the same without her. Here's a pic of Miranda, Donna and I at McCormick and Schmick's:

So, after a full two days of compliments and having fun, it was down to business. On Sunday, it was time to shop! We saw a lot of really cool new products, including the eclipse machine by Sizzix. Of course, we spent some time at the Provocraft booth getting a demo of the Cricut Cake machine and we even were invited to an event on Sunday night that was the "official" debut of the product. Everyone at the event received a Cricut Cake! And to that I say, Provocraft Rocks!

I have OVER 300 pictures to share, but I'll put them up over the next week so that you don't suffer from image overload! Here's just a quick peek at some of the stuff we saw:

Scrapbook layout at Studio Calico - one of the new paper companies that had great product. They are going to be a hit. Their booth was always full of people. Check out their site here.

Really cool display at Graphic 45

Unbelievable art at Vintaj Brass Company

Creative canvas art at gcd Studios by Melody Ross

Decor items at Basic Grey

Bingo cards at Jenni Bowlin Studios. Get inspired at her blog here.

Awesome wreath with paper flowers at Pink Paislee. Find their website and blog here. We could have purchased everything in the booth!

A super fun new product at Webster's Pages called "bloomers." Check out their website here. The owner Brandin was so friendly.

Just a small sampling of things at the Tim Holtz booth.

Which leads me into my next segment! Here Miranda, Donna and I are with the King of Crafts!

You are definitely going to want to check out all his new product. It's unbelievable - wait a minute. We are talking about Tim Holtz. It is believable!

We also got a demo of the Tattered Angels new Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Glaze and Glimmer Glam products - and, look who we bumped into:

It's Heidi Swapp! What an honor to meet her. She is so down to earth and sweet as can be. Plus, she's super talented! You can see many of her digital products here at House of 3. You can read Heidi's personal blog here.

I also took about 50 videos while we were there with my Flip camera. So, I will be posting those later as well.

Happy Friday everyone. I'm so glad to be back and I can't wait to get into my studio and create!

California here I come!

Leaving very early this morning to go to California for CHA! I will post lots of pictures from the show. I am so looking forward to my trip, but I will miss my husband, doggies and family. It's only 7 days - that's what I keep telling myself.

Enjoy the rest of you week and I'll post when I get back!

Natalie

Countdown to CHA! (and some other stuff!)

T minus 2 days until lift off! I can't wait to go to CHA. On Thursday, we are going to help My Pink Stamper, Robyn, set up her booth. Friday and Saturday, we are going to be helping Robyn do her make-n-take (which I LOVE doing because you learn so many things from crafting with other people - especially consumers who buy our products) and we will be meeting and greeting people. So, if you live in the Anaheim area, come and check it out! We'd love to see you! Robyn even will be demoing on the Provo Craft stage and I hear they (PC) are going to making a big announcement about a new product.

In other news, Idol returns tonight with more auditions, and so does another of my guilty little pleasures, Millionaire Matchmaker, which airs on BRAVO. Love, love, love this show. I don't know what it is about us that we find other people's lives so entertaining (i.e. reality tv).

I forced CB to watch the Golden Globes with me the other night. I was pulling for "True Blood" - that Jason Stackhouse is a looker! And, he's got an Australian accent (melting...)

Two women were absolutely stunning:

Uh, can you say confidence?

And, Jennifer Garner was just so pretty:

But, I have to admit, I'm suffering from "Glee" withdrawal. Anyone else? And, with them winning The Globe for comedy/musical series, it was just a tease more than I could handle. With all that dancing and singing, Matthew Morrison is oh so dreamy:

If you haven't watched, and you're a musical (or heck, just plain music) fan, it's a must see. A little quirky at first, but once you get invested in the characters, it's great. The actress that plays Sue, the gym teacher/cheerleader advisor is a stitch-and-a-half. You have to watch to understand.

Here's a little peek incase you're wondering what all the fuss is about. (Keep singing and spinning Mr. Shue - what a hunk!)

Hope you are all having a great week!

Natalie