Do you know what CHA is?  Well, I know the scrapbookers who read this KNOW what it is.  But for you friends of mine who have no idea, it’s the Craft & Hobby Association.  They put on a huge sort of trade show/exhibit type thing twice a year, once in Anaheim, California and once in Chicago, Illinois.  Winter CHA and Summer CHA.  It’s for companies who do production and sales of craft supplies to set up booths and show their new products to buyers, suppliers, retailers, manufacturers, professional crafters, etc.

Anyway, in normal terms, it’s a BIG DEAL.  You have to be a member to attend and have paid your dues for that year.  There are lots of requirements to be a member.  If you aren’t a member, I think they let you in for a ticket price of $150.00. 

Soooo……I’m not actually going to CHA in person, but a part of me is.  Remember this project?

I wrote about it before.  It’s the altered bra I made for an October contest (which I didn’t win dammit) and in November when CHA was taking submissions for a “regular” person (not a professional) for crafty items they had made, I submitted my bra and got chosen to have it displayed at CHA in Anaheim, California.  They told me to make a press sheet with all my info on it and they would put a stack of them with my project for industry people to take with them if they’d like to contact me for a job or a project or whatever. 

Again, it’s a BIG deal.  Last year at the California show, 16,000 people attended it.  That’s the number of people who could potentially see my project.  In my little scrapbooking world, that’s pretty cool.  The only thing cooler would be if I could attend CHA in California to SEE it for myself and take photos of it displayed (for my scrapbook of course).  So if any of you scrapbookers or crafters are reading this, take a photo for me (and a press sheet so you can see my email address to send it)

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I hate it cause you can’t see the olives very well in the photo, but trust me it’s the cutest thing ever!  haha

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I then covered THOSE covers with a bandana I bought from Hobby Lobby.  I used Staz-On ink to stamp the horse’s name on the front of the book.  Got all the quotes from different sites on the internet.  Here is the end result.

 Inside front cover

 Page 1

 Page 2/3 go together

  Page 4/5 go together

 Page 6/7 go together

  Page 8/9 go together

  Page 10/11 go together

  Page 12/13 go together

 Last page

 Back inside cover.

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This project was such a mental thing for me, trying to figure out where to put these photos so they would all FIT on there and would look lovely also.  I would lay them all out on the board with tiny glue dots and try to figure out a way to fit them all in there.  I would start at the top and make my way to the bottom, only to find out there wasn’t enough room at the bottom, or there was too much room, so then I would have to peel them all off and start again.  I can’t tell you how many times in those few weeks I wondered to myself what the hell did I get myself into?  But it was such a unique and cool idea that I was glad to have the challenge.  I’ll share the photos with you here.

This was the before photo.

And here is the finished project.

Here it is broken down into top half and bottom half so you can have a closer look.

TOP HALF:

BOTTOM HALF:

Just here and there on random photos I would tie ribbons around them, sometimes add a little tag with a straight pin.

Every Sunday they go have lunch with their grandparents, and her grandpa always says the same prayer.  I put this on black cardstock and attached it in the middle of all the photos.

See these pretty little flowers?  I cut those with my Pazzles machine.

And this is my favorite part of the whole wall.  I cut this with my Pazzles machine in a beautiful script font.  The letters are 2 inches high.

And that’s it!  What do you think?

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I tied every item with matching ribbons just to make them prettier.

I also added the word NOTES to the little hardback notebook with rubons.

The planner was not Tinkering Ink, though.  It was just some floral design or something, so I decided to take some Tinkering Ink paper I had in my supply and make a new one.  It was the first one I’ve ever done, and I don’t think I want to do another one!  I wanted to put a big cursive L on the front of the planner for decoration, but there was just not time to do it. 

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I got them because I’m on the mailing list for a great etsy shop and she has a blog that I follow.  You can get them too if you sign up for her mailing list on her blog!  Check out all the cool and cute things she’s been making and shows on her blog too.

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On a side note, when the holidays are over I’ll be doing something crafty and pretty with these babies.  Yes, those are medication bottles.  No, I did not take all that medication.  Got them off freecycle.  Check back later for the after photo!

Yes, I am dammit!

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Yes, there are 2 doors with a #5 on them.  Huh?  Were the elves drunk when they made this?  And some of the little knobs are missing that serve as doorknobs.  As if that’s not bad enough, most of the doors are crooked and don’t close nicely.  So I’m filling this thing up and all the doors are flopping open and stuff is spilling out.  Merry Christmas to me.  Whatever.

So I figured I could fix the problem of the numbers being wrong and I changed the knobs, but nothing I can do about how the doors fit.  We’ll live with it.  No big deal.  I covered all the doors with squares of American Crafts Christmas papers.  LOVE THESE.  Then I used pushpins for the doorknobs, just stuck them into the doors.  I kind of like these better, easier to grasp to open the door.  I used Making Memories rubons I’ve had forever for the numbers.  I believe that font is called “Rummage.”  I actually used my Le Plume markers to color in the snowman.  Was going to do paint, but that was my brain being a bit more ambitious than I could handle, so I went with the markers.

Sooo…….here is the AFTER photo.  What do you think?  Better? 

Now, I like Michaels as much as the next girl.  This is my first time buying something “bad” from them, but oh, the disappointment.  Just so sad that a store would actually sell a piece of crap like this.  I live 45 minutes away, so I was not about to return this stupid thing.  The gas money driving back would have cost me more than I paid for it in the first place!  Shape up Michaels, or I’m going 2 blocks down to Hobby Lobby next time!

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I made one!  My daughter has a student teacher helping her teacher this year, and her last day is today.  I made this little lunch box thingie to decorate her first classroom when she gets a teaching job.  Totally stole those crayons out of Summer’s stash since she hadn’t used them yet.  I filled it with things from the Dollar Tree for her classroom.  I love that place for stocking up teachers with supplies.  The funny thing was, after I had this done Summer’s teacher sent home a note saying she wanted to surprise the student teacher with a gift from all the students and asked us to send it office supplies for her first classroom.  Um, yeah, they’re already in my lunch box!  I might make one for Summer’s teacher for Christmas also, still trying to decide, but she’s already got a stocked classroom putting something else inside.  Decisions, decisions.

 (close up of the front, but WOW the colors of that paper got weird)

(goodies inside just to show you–they actually all fit in there quite nicely)

(the back side)

I’m going to list these for sale in my shop for teacher Christmas gifts or end-of-the year teacher gifts.  What do you think?  Cute, right?

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