I've gotten a few questions about how CHA works, so I thought I'd answer them in brief as best as I can. Let me know if you have other questions. The CHA Trade Show is an industry-only show. You have to have a retailer, manufacturer, designer, educator, press, or service provider badge to get into the show. There is a CHA Super Show that is open to the public. But it isn't a reveal of new products the way that this one is. It's a lot of shopping with big box stores like Michael's selling their wares. As for shopping... Read more →

I started the morning teaching a great page class at the Prima booth: After class I wandered a bit and found myself at Bella Blvd. It was crowded and I wasn't going to stop, but then this... ...was so amazing, I had to go in! I think that this pizza card is the most amazing card ever! Who thinks of these things?! The Fancy Pants booth was next for me: The Pink Paislee booth blew me away! I was especially charmed by the House of Three Collection they've just released: And the rest of the booth was lovely too: I... Read more →

So many photos, so little time! I'm sitting in the airport editing photos and blogging. We'll see if I get this done before my flight gets called! I breezed through the enormous American Crafts booth: And then this cute display pulled me into the Pebbles booth: Vintage looking furnishings were a huge trend in terms of displays! Check out some of the other stuff from their booth: The Ranger booth always pulls me in. But it's also always so crowded! I dodged the millions of people and took some photos: I think this is so clever. We all know that... Read more →

Where did we leave off? Ah, yes, I was headed into my Live With Prima class (you can watch these classes online right now, by the way)! We made "Pretty Packages." Check it out: I wandered into the Doodlebug booth... ...where I loved their buttons! I hit up the Studio Calico booth next! Um, hello! OPAQUE white mist! That's like the holy grail. Can't wait to get my hands on that! The very adorable Emily Pitts was doing a make and take! I fell in love with the beautiful trims at the Expo International booth: I whizzed by the impressive... Read more →

This post should be subtitled, "Oh My Aching Feet." My day started at 8am at the Innovations Showcase. Twenty companies were picked to share a cool new product. Each had one slide... ...and one minute to tell you about their product. It was like speed dating and totally fascinating from a marketing point-of-view. In addition to the one minute, each company had a small table top on which to display their wares: At the Innovations Showcase I bumped into Nancy Nally, but again, no photo. Dang. I have to get better about that. Anyway, when the showcase ended I headed... Read more →

Hello! Hello! Greetings from Chicago! I'm here in lovely Rosemont and excited for CHA to begin! Due to a series of events, my schedule is the most free it has ever been at a CHA, so I'm looking forward to taking my time and walking the show floor. AND I'm proud to say that I am officially a "Designer Member" of CHA! I filled out my application, paid my dues, and now I have my very own "Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Designer" badge! Cool, right? In case you don't know, CHA is the Craft and Hobby Association. And I'll be attending... Read more →

This week at Pencil Lines we were sent some fun Nikki Sivils products to play with! Here's the sketch: And here's what I did: Can you believe that I actually posted a picture of myself in a bathing suit on my blog?! I can't! But you know, I'm always getting on my soap box and telling people to use those photos where you have a double chin! Use those messy hair, upper arm fat, terrible fashion sense photos! They're full of emotion and memory. So I'm putting my money where my mouth is, baby! Originally, I had planned on using... Read more →

Would you like a little peek of some of the stencils that the Crafter's Workshop will be showing at CHA in just a few days? That was definitely a rhetorical question! Because I can't wait to share! First up is a very clean and simple layout (especially for me)! I used The Crafter's Workshop butterfly stencil (in two sizes) to create the butterflies on this layout. Each butterfly is two layers. I sprayed the butterfly onto a piece of patterned paper and then onto a transparency. I cut them both out and adhered them together along the body. Then I... Read more →

I wanted to share a few of the comments from Tuesday's post asking why you do or don't art journal. WHAT IS AN ART JOURNAL? A friend of mine was just having a frustrating time. She is a crafter. I told her to go into her room and just create something for herself, don't worry about what it looks like, what anyone else will think, just get it all out on paper. I realized that was what the art journal is. Posted by: Toni Kwaiser July 20, 2010 at 08:23 AM WHY DO YOU JOURNAL? My art journal(s) relax me.... Read more →

OMG! OMG! OMG! My DVD is here! You can watch a preview below: You can purchase the download version for $14.95 here. And it just downloads straight to your computer right away. You can purchase the DVD version for $19.95 here. And a pretty DVD in a colorful case (with a full written supply list) will arrive at your door in just a few days! I am so stinkin' excited! If you buy it, let me know what you think! and if you make anything inspired by the video (which I'm sure you will), please share photos! I'd love to... Read more →