The surprise concert was...

Jim Belushi!  He has a band and sang blue-sy/Jazz music.  He did a little comedy and even brought a lot of people on stage to dance with him.  Of course he ended with Soul Man from Blues Brothers and danced crazy like at the end of the movie.  It was a fun night!

Ok, I have some cleaning to do tonight, so keeping it short.

Here are a few cards to inspire you til next time...

Have a good night!

Darla

Fancy Pants

For some reason, my pictures of the layouts in the Fancy Pants booth did not turn out very good.  I did get some great shots of these little ornaments.  We even got a chance to make a similar to these.  It was also a great chance to sit down and rest our feet.

I can't wait to try and make some of these myself.  They might even make great teacher gifts this Christmas.  I am always on the lookout for something unique for teacher gifts.

Well, tonight we are going to a "surprise concert" sponsored by my husband's employer, Hy-Vee Food Stores.  It is being held at the Wells Fargo Arena, where they have major concerts.  Nobody knows who the entertainment is, so we are excited to find out who it is going to be.  I will report back tomorrow with who it was and maybe I will have some pictures to share too.

My guess on who the entertainment is, was ELVIS!  He's alive and working for Hy-Vee.  Just kidding!  Joe thinks it might be David Cook, who won American Idol a few years ago.  He used to work for Hy-Vee in the KC area.  Who knows.  I am hoping it is a country singer, since that is the kind of music I prefer, but listen to a lot of different music.  Either way, it will be a fun night out!

Darla

Melissa Francis-Vintage Christmas

The Vintage style of the Melissa Francis line is so beautiful.  I am already planning on using this line for my Christmas layouts this year.  Here are several (ok, almost all) of the projects in the Melissa Francis booth at CHA.  Enjoy!

I love this snowman plaque and can't wait to make something like it for my front door this winter.  Very CUTE!

Maya Road

Here were some of the projects that were on display at Maya Road.

And some of them are even for sale at The Scrappy Gourmet, created by Katie Watson.  The pictures don't do the projects justice.  Check them out here.

I will keep sharing some of my favorite booths with you, and there are a lot more to come.  Keep checking back.  Later!

Darla

My Minds Eye from CHA

This was another of my favorite lines that I cannot wait to get my hands on.  The My Minds Eye-Lost & Found line is absolutely gorgeous!  The papers have glittered accents on them that are beautiful.  I am excited to start working with them and will be making a Christmas mini-album using the Holly Jolly line with some of the Lost and Found glitter papers mixed in.

I must also add that they guys in the booth were a lot of fun to talk with and were very helpful when my sister and I had the papers all laying on the floor matching the papers from the different lines.  They even gave us duct tape to use to get the lint off our pants.  :)  Very helpful!

Here are most of the projects they had in their booth.

The photos do not do the papers and colors justice to how beautiful they are.  And all the journal cards, letter stickers, embellishments, etc. are beautiful too.  Of course, The Scrappy Gourmet ordered the entire Lost & Found line, so you know exactly where you can find it all.  Trust me, you want it ALL!

Until next time...

Darla

House of Three-from Pink Paislee

Ok, this was the first booth we visited as we entered CHA this past week.  I loved everything I saw, but was blown away with the House of Three line.  Here are some great projects they had in their booth.  Enjoy!

A lot of the papers are made to be altered with Glimmer Mist or other inks, with a resist on them.  I think these will be a lot of fun to play with and can't wait to get my hands on them.  There was also some great bling (you can see a few in the first picture posted).  There is a gorgeous stamp set we got to use for a make and take.  It is a very CUTE bag.  I will try and get a picture of it, because it has one of the new flowers too.  All fun stuff!

Well, I will try and post more inspirational layouts from CHA over the next week or 2 along with some of my own work.  Have a good night!

Darla

CHA-WOW!

Well, we have finished our days at CHA.  We found some wonderful product for The Scrappy Gourmet.  I can't wait to get my hands on almost all of it.  I am tired and heading to bed, but when I get home I will be sure to share some pictures.  There was a lot of great inspiration everywhere you turned and I got to meet a lot of great people.

Darla

One more day...

...til I leave for CHA.  I can't wait.  It is going to be fun spending time with 2 of my sisters and being surrounded by all kinds of scrappy inspiration.   I am sure I will come home with my head spinning with ideas.  I can't wait.

Anyway, here is the last layout I have done right now.  This was Hope coloring Easter eggs a year ago.  She loves it, and always ends up doing it with her hands (which are always very colorful when she is done too).  I still have no clue how she ended up in a white shirt to color eggs, but by some small miracle the shirt came away with no permanent stains.  :)

You can't really tell in the picture, but in each hole of the lace I placed a teal colored gem.  And my journaling is in the die cut shape at the top of the layout.

Finally, tonight, is another card using Pink Paislee scraps from the Amber Road collection.  I chose all the teal colors to make a simple card that can be used for any occasion.  I tie all the block pieces together, I used a thin black pen and drew a border around the edge as a small detail.

Well, I am not sure I will be able to post while I am at  CHA, but if I get the chance I most definitely will share some of my favorite finds.  If not, I will be sharing when I get home and settled again.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Darla

So Lucky to be loved...

I love how this layout turned out.  I pulled together embellishments from several different manufacturers and was amazed at how well they all blended together.

This was the original photo I took before I completed the journaling.

This is a close up of the die cut heart using the Tim Holtz die.  Love this die.  I also used the distressing stickles on the heart and the crackle paint on the wings.  Everything just matched perfectly.  

Here is a photo after I completed the journaling.  I have started doing more handwritten journaling on my pages.  I have had to learn to like my own handwriting and just use it in my albums.

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Darla