Summer CHA, day two - so many things.

Let's start the day off with an entertaining photo . . .

Melody Ross and I goofing off! She's one of the nicest people in the whole world.

I fell in love with the Tattered Angels line at Brave Girls Camp (I know . . . can you believe I'd never tried Glimmer Mist before?). I had to stop by and see what new goodies they had, and I got to check out the new Glimmer Glam and Glimmer Glaze. BEAUTIFUL COLORS.

I also got to try the new Chalkboard Glimmer Mist. I'm in love!

My next stop was Basic Grey - one of my favorite paper lines to Mod Podge with. They had some fabulous new collections, my favorite being Pyrus. It was hard to get good photos of their new lines, so go here to see better photos.

Ah, Sizzix. How I love thee! You know that my Big Shot is one of my most prized possessions, and that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I spent a lot of time in the Ellison booth, just browsing all of their products. I loved this table.

What else did I see at the Ellison booth? The new Sizzix eclips! I've never had an electronic die cutter, and I never really wanted one - until now. This machine has a print preview sorta feature, with a laser light that shows you where exactly the blade is going to cut. There are two blade movement speeds, so you can slow it down if you need. It cuts AND scores. You can cut lightweight chipboards. Go here to see a video of the machine cutting. You are going to be impressed.

Lion Brand left the knitted animals at home this time, but they did have some great pattern sheets for a knitter like me.

Welcome to the world of Tim Holtz! Here's a display showing off some of his new goodies.

I even got a picture with him!

I know you needlecrafters will appreciate my visit to the Clover booth - I got to see their bamboo needles live. They are amazing in feel, and I've actually used them. They rock SO much harder than metal!

More Halloween for you at the Making Memories booth. Sorry to be annoying about my favorite holiday, but isn't the Toil & Trouble line delightful? I love the bright colors. I'm going to be decoupaging with these shortly, for sure.

I'm also going to have to get some of their new Noel line for the holidays. It's the perfect mix of vintage and fresh. It just works.

You know I'm not a big pink girl, but I am a big ribbon girl - and the Making Memories Je t' Adore ribbons were absolutely beautiful. I'm wondering if you could even embellish a sewn items with these?

One of the highlights of my CHA was meeting Mark Montano. He's a crafty superstar, having been an author (the Big A** Book of Crafts), fashion designer and even on a TV show. Most importantly? He was VERY nice and VERY funny. With us in the photo is my friend Candie Cooper, talented jewelry designer, artist and author.

I think that's it for day two. Wow . . . I'm completely overwhelmed (in a good way) and my feet are blown out. I wish all of you could be here with me! Don't forget to view all of the pictures I took on my Flickr stream.

Summer CHA continues on.

Wow, what a day! I started the day off by wearing a dress. If you know me, then you're shocked. I'm not really a dress kind of girl, although I like them on other people. What can I say? Nordstrom Rack was having a sale.

So here I am in the morning, before the craziness started and my hair went wild. Do you like the rotating banner? It was made to sit behind my purple Mod Podge chair throne. I love it.

Cathie and Steve, bright and chipper before the demo-ing of their new product called the Hot Glue Gun Helpers begins. I talked about the HGGH before during my Winter CHA update, but since that time there has been more development and they were able to show REAL product! So exciting. Visit Cathie here and tell her what you think about the product.

Oh Lolly and Candie - the cutest girls with the cutest names. Lolly Chops (middle) is one of my favorite bloggers and Candie Cooper is a very talented designer (and blogger too).

Yay! Chica and Jo came by to visit. They are so kind, and really crafty superheros if you want to know the truth. Their site is organized very well and has lots of great ideas. Go take a peek.

Sarah from Craft Critique is simply fabulous. If you haven't been to Craft Critique, you must go. Sarah and her group of editors provide the latest in crafty product reviews. If you are wondering about something before you buy it, you have to make a visit to their site.

Scrapbook Royalty is a crafty charity - basically, if you like to make stuff and you want to give, you need to pay them a visit! Lisa, Sheila and Elena posed for me (Sheila and Elena are fellow Brave Girls). Visit their site for more information.

Die Cuts with a View (DCWV) had some new product, and I particularly loved The Colorful Life. It looks perfect for Podging!

I need this wreath from the Cosmo Cricket booth. Notice I said "need" and not "want."

You are going to laugh. The Glitz Design booth had so many fabulous new things, but my favorite was the pom-pom-on-a-string packages. I want these in all colors.

Dear Prima: Are you kidding? Your booth was AMAZING. I want all of your new stuff, and I'm going to ask my parents if I can go ahead and have my inheritance now so that I can afford it.

So these photos are just a preview of these companies' products - you can see all of those that I took on my photostream and the Plaid photostream. There is so much more tomorrow, so come back and visit me.

The first day of CHA.

Hi! So I made it to Rosemont, IL, and I'm in one piece. I ate WAY too much tonight, my friends! I'm blogging with a stomach ache right now, but I have to share day one of Summer CHA. It's a set-up day (the show starts tomorrow at 10am EST), but there are so many things to be excited about. Here's just a little bit of what I saw, between all of the boxes and bubble wrap:

Here's where I'm going to be sitting tomorrow as I blog live from the show. Isn't this a wonderful Mod Podge throne? That chair is way comfortable. Oh, and I have a custom banner behind me!

Do I really need to say anything about this awesome picture?

Cathie and Steve are doing a demo of their new product, Hot Glue Gun Helpers, for the rest of the week. Check back tomorrow to get the details on this cool new tool.

Unity Stamps - waiting to see the Melody Ross stamps live and in person!

Got a peek at the Sizzix booth. I want to see their new dies, badly.

The Making Memories Toil & Trouble collection is darling. You know how I love Halloween.

What will Lion Brand Yarn do this year? I'm wondering if they can outdo their knitted animals from the winter show.

I LOVE Mod Podging with Basic Grey paper. I'm really wondering what's in these boxes. Debating whether to make away with one on a fork lift.

Blumenthal Lansing does Halloween with buttons, and that means they totally get it.

My Mod Podge friends, this is just a tiny snapshot of what is going on at the show. I can't wait to share more with you tomorrow! You can view additional photos here at Paint Me Plaid, the blog about craft paint that I write for Plaid (makers of Mod Podge). Come back tomorrow for more exciting news and photos.

Art Glitter, CHA and the giveaway.

I'm still on a tear for Art Glitter, and you can see a sneak peak above of my fourth project. I had a great time with this one, and it's kind of girly. And I kind of like that. If you are a regular reader then you know I'm not the most girly in the world, so it's fun to go outside of the box with my color palette and make something a little feminine. So what is my project? All I can tell you is that it's a canvas - you'll have to go here to see the rest.

What else am I up to? Well, I'm heading to CHA tomorrow! For those of you who aren't familiar with CHA, it stands for Craft & Hobby Association, and the organization holds two big trade shows a year. The big winter show is in late January, and the summer show is in July. I'll be heading out on a flight to Chicago tomorrow morning to blog live from the Plaid booth (Plaid makes Mod Podge). I love giving you updates, taking pictures and showing you what's new. It's so fun!

In case you were wondering, the CHA show is only open to the trade. There is some good news though! The CHA organization hosts an event open to the public, called the Craft Supershow. It's two days of crafty wonderfulness and it's going to be July 30th - 31st in Rosemont, IL. Are you in the area? You should definitely attend. There are so many free goodies, classes and make-and-takes than you can shake a stick at. Okay, enough talking - time for the giveaway.

Rule reminder:
1. Comment on THIS blog entry. Say anything, or let me know what you would like to know about CHA!
2. Only one entry per person.
3. Contest will close this Wednesday, July 28th at midnight (EST).
4. PLEASE leave your e-mail address if it's not attached in Blogger - I need some way to reach you.

Last week's winner was Kristen.

PS - I still owe you entries about Brave Girls Camp, and I haven't forgotten. I came back into craziness and now am leaving for CHA, so I promise you'll see my update soon.

Dresser repurposed with vintage sheets.

Melissa from Under Construction probably didn't know it, but when she covered this dresser in vintage sheets she was paying homage to Jan Wetstone, creator of Mod Podge. Jan is pretty cool; as a stay-at-home mom, she invented my favorite decoupage medium in her kitchen. Shortly thereafter, she decoupaged a VW Beetle with sheets. Melissa continues the brilliance of using sheets to decoupage with this dresser. I'm especially digging the patchwork effect of the drawers, because I'm so into patchwork right now. Get the full tutorial here.

You've asked me about Dimensional Magic.

I've been getting a lot of questions about Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, so I thought I would take a blog entry to give you all of the information. Even if you don't think you need to know about Dimensional Magic, I promise you, you do. It's just plain wonderful. Like everything Mod Podge.

What is Dimensional Magic? First of all, it's a waterbased product, which means it's non-toxic. Secondly, it creates an epoxy-like finish on a project surface. You can see it in the picture above - it's glassy and three-dimensional, and it adds interest to the surface of your project. Think Envirotex on a much smaller, less-toxic scale. It goes on cloudy but dries completely clear. To see the actual product, go here.

What projects can I use it on? Anything really, but it works very well on jewelry, accessories and cards. Your best bet is to use it to accent small areas. It looks very sharp on bracelets, rings, brooches, belt buckles, necklaces, etc. I also like it on handmade cards. I'm a big fan of Mod Podging stuff down and then using Dimensional Magic on top of my decoupaged surface.

Where can I buy it? This is probably the question I've been asked most often. You can get it online here or here, and I've also seen it at JoAnn Stores hanging right above the Mod Podge.

I hope this helps. Complete instructions for usage are on the back of the package, and I'm telling you that it's just about as easy as Mod Podging. I'm off to Dimensional Magic a fake eyeball! Or something. . .

Suspended cuteness in a jar.

I really love the whimsical world of Jenny Doh over at Crescendoh. She believes that art saves, and I believe that too (especially after Brave Girls Camp). Jenny also believes that sometimes you make something just because it's fun and cute to do, and this suspended cuteness is a perfect example. My first thought when I saw this is that I want to have an Alice in Wonderland party and these should be on each table. Check out her post right here, and then think about how suspended cuteness might apply to your life.