CHA Peeps

The VERY best part of a trade show is getting to see all my friends. I tried to get pics of most everyone, but got caught up in the moment several times and forgot. But, who could forget to get a pic with these crazy peeps? Kathy Cano Murillo and Traci Bautista were hanging out as designers at the Duncan booth, and Crafty Chica products were everywhere! These gals rock the craft world every day with the latest and greatest designs and ideas.

I also got a sneaky pic of Mike Hartnett of Creative Leisure News, Mark Peters and Larry Duncan at the Duncan booth. These highly respected fellas looked like they were solving the world's problems, and coming up with the next big thing in the arts and crafts industry.

Of course, the Lifetime TV.com team was there! That's Harriet Ells, Director and Mary Graff, Editor checking out all the exciting new stuff while we discussed what's going to be next on my "Let's Craft with Pattiewack" web-isodes and all kinds of new projects for the site. I'm holding the cute hand-out they were giving to everyone. I can't wait to get started on some new projects. Hmmmm, I see jewelry, beads, party themes, and holiday projects in the future.....stay tuned!

It wouldn't be a trade show without Joan Fee there to get a hug! We have been buds forever, and it's always great to catch up with her to exchange ideas and discuss the latest happenings. She has a great craft blog, Express Your Creativity, and is the Senior Copywriter at Duncan. Her life is filled with exciting things like adventure vacations, parties, and tons of crafts.

Oh my gosh! It was such fun to catch up with Heather Lancaster, who is just a ball of fire when it comes to scrapbooking and developing innovative products for Provo Craft, including the Coluzzles™ and the Cricut®. She is a well-known Hall of Famer for Creating Keepsakes and has begun hosting on the PBS show, Hands On: Crafts For Kids!


Check out that bag, baybee! Cheryl Ball is a diva of design at Duncan, and she was styling with her hand-painted roll-around. You can find hundreds of her projects all over the web when you google her name, or go to DuncanCrafts.com and find tons of great ideas made especially by Cheryl.


After a long day at the show, my pal and design partner, Susan Levin and I crashed at the Cheesecake Factory and almost threw out a lip, eating cheeeeeeeeesecake! Scott took the pic, otherwise you could see the cheesecake evidence on him, too. Susan is co-Author of the absolutely delightful new "SHOW ME HOW" books about a little girl named Mary Ruth, that teach how to knit and quilt. I will be discussing more about those cute books later.

CHA was fabulous! I'll be posting more about new products, and showing some of the latest and most innovative ideas I saw while I was there, so come back!

Fashion Divas & Dummy

Yep, that's me and Alyson Udell and a dummy (the dummy is in the middle:-) We are in the big middle of a fashion runway shoot at the Duncan warehouse in Fresno. It was a freaky white dummy (even whiter than me) and her arms click off and on, thank goodness, since Alyson had tons of clothes to dress her with. There's always a few minutes to have a little fun in the middle of working so hard. Our feet are starting to hurt, so we we're feeling a little crazy. I just love hanging with Alyson and the gang there in the crafty kingdom of paint and glue and their crazy creative designers. Joan Fee was out sick, so it was weird not being with my fun friend. (get better Joan!) I'll check back with you in a few weeks with photos of the grand finale.

Click for a CLOSE-UP!

Oh, have I told you that you can click on nearly all of the photos in my blog to get a close-up? Sometimes it's good to see a project up close. I just take it for granted that you all know more than me about blogging and everything, but someone mentioned that the photos need to be bigger, so I guess not everyone knows that. So, click away!

LifetimeTV.com Shoot with Pattiewack

It all happened behind this door, baybee. Four days of staging, lighting, equipment, directing, audio, set styling and crafts! My design studio was filled to the brim with all that stuff, plus the shiny happy people from Lifetime Network’s Broadband Video crew. So come on in, and let me give you a behind the scenes sneaky peak.
AND, get ready because…..

“Let’s Craft with Pattiewack!”
will be launched on SEPTEMBER 17th!



Director Harriet Ells was a total blur during the shoot as she ran around checking each step-out, camera angle and script. She has a fantastic eye for detail and made sure that whether it was an apron, necklace, tote bag, or martini glass, it was shot with perfection.


















I especially liked how Ruben our DP/Camera OP, kept track of his C47s. (That’s “clothespins” to the rest of us.) He was extremely patient with me as we stopped and started for each set-change and pick-up. I think he even got “into” some of the crafty stuff, too! I mean, what guy can resist “Girls Night Out” crafts with girlie girl papers and bows and ice buckets?



I want to be sure and thank everyone who sent awesomely abundant boxes of products. I just have to say thanks to Ed Murphy at EK Success , Linda Selnick and Alyson Udell at Duncan, Michelle Neuhauser at Krylon, Doxie Keller at Deco Art, Nancy Jewell at Singer, Coats and Clark , and Provo Craft for making me look good. You were ALL amazing with your efforts to get last minute supplies to me. And I know that you are just gonna LOVE the crafty things you made possible!



Did I tell you that we did 16 WEBISODES? Yes, sixteen! It was a ton of work to get the step-outs just right, but Harriet and I made it fun, and we came up with some spankin’ new ideas just for LifetimeTV.com that I have never done before.



After shooting 3 out of 4 sewing projects, we were just about to roll tape on the fourth one, when we heard a big truck outside and had to stop everything. It was the UPS man, and he had a big box with a fabulous new sewing machine inside.

Check it out. It is the Singer 7470 Computerized Sewing Machine with 1000+ Stitches. I can embroider, seam, stitch and hem with endless styles and options to work with. It’s fantastic! Needless to say, we stopped everything and threaded this puppy up, and sewed the cutest cowgirl aprons you’ve ever seen. Big thanks to Nancy Jewell, Director of Media Relations at Husqvarna Viking, SVP Worldwide and her amazing team!


















I fell in love with Mike’s dimples. (Don’t tell Scott…) What a cutie-pie, and what a fun Production Assistant he was, too. We all just died laughing when this humongous reflector came out of the bag. My goodness, it was HUGE! You could LIVE underneath it! I think we might have attracted some attention from the Santa Paula Airport with this big guy flashing sunrays around. Actually, Scott was behind the scenes helping me all week. He was great at telling me if my outfits worked and what jewelry to wear, and if my hair was too crazy. Thanks, babe.


Harriet busted up laughing at the big honkin reflector, too. Oh, and Mike did a super job with the cue cards for my open. Nice penmanship, dude. Now what font is that exactly?



There’s Ruben! Yeah, that reflector is BIG, but he can’t hide from the camera.

Oh, I almost forgot…(because we didn’t get a pic of him), Evan Blackford, Senior Lifetime Producer, was great at the shoot, too. I LOVE him! He was truly interested in the paper crafts and told me that he and his fiancé did handmade cards with embossed rubberstamping for their “save-the-date” announcements. Now THAT'S cool.



Our front porch was in full bloom with my hot-glued flower chairs and the gorgeous basket of plants that Joan Fee gave us as a housewarming gift. The red begonias were the perfect touch to brighten up my open as I welcome all of you to my crafty webisodes.



Well, it’s a WRAP until next time. We had great food all week from the some of the best places in Santa Paula , and I want to thank Richard at the Mupu Grill, Hozy’s, the Santa Paula Coffee Company, and the Familia Diaz restaurant for keeping us going!

Trade Show Heaven

I’m freaking out because I didn’t get to see EVERYONE and EVERYTHING at the CHA trade show in Chicago. Can you say Game Plan? I had one, but there were almost 500 booths, and there are over 5,000 buyers in the $30 Billion craft and hobby industry, so forget about it!















My class was a huge success, if you figure that every crafty store owner got to make 5 projects with their 123D Papercrafting System. We had an evil gremlin trying to keep us from using the projector, but the gallant gals from EK Success took over and soon we were all gazing upward at the power point for the happy how-tos.











I wasn’t flying a motorcycle over 15 buses, or saving the planet, but we were in a papercrafting frenzy, as the swag started to fly. There were fab new papers, stickers, brads, labels, and scrapbook bling everywhere.





















Gloria and Joy were the cutest Vannas I could ask for, and Susan kept the powerpoint humming, while Shane was spreading the love.
















I was still wiping the sleepies out of my eyes, since the class was at 8 o’clock, but these gals were ready! As store owners, they’ve got game, and when they get back home they will be stoked about crafting some serious papercraft bling.














Of course, trade shows are the perfect time to catch up with old friends, and Lauren Johnston made sure we scarfed up some yummo pizza in Chicago style. She’s an amazing designer who’s a riot to work with.















Hanging out at the Hyatt was great, since we got to run into the coolest peeps and even CEOs, like Larry Duncan.





Even Scott can relax sometimes, and sit around without a camera on his shoulder.
















Back on the floor the next day, the Wrights booth was one of the coolest there. The contrast of the architectural grunge against the feminine trims of beading, lace and ribbons was a fashionista’s dream world. Their new bobbin winder was the cutest and a must-have on my tools list.














Speaking of must-haves, you will flip when you get your hands on the Creative Options organizers and totes. Scott shot a video of their fresh new storage products. I’ll let you know when the clip is up for you to check out.







Traci and Alexis were the cutest and craftiest chickies you’ll ever see, and the Duncan booth was buzzing with activity over the new glues and paint products.

After 2 days of craft overload, Scott was delirious at the Hyatt lounge. Yeppers, those are tables, and we did an intervention before the hotel security took Scott away. Just another trade show casualty, I’m afraid. But don’t worry, we made it home just fine, and no animals were hurt or injured in the process. (giggle, giggle)