The weekend always seems to go by fast when I attend the Craft & Hobby Assoc. show www.hobby.org and it was no different this time. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to spend time with Wendy who came to help me out because Kira was unable to attend this time. We walked and walked and walked and my shins are killing me. LOL

I placed a few orders there and we will be adding them to the shop soon. The show was primarily scrapbooking supplies and I was surprised to see that many past vendors did not attend. Hardly any publishers were there and many of our suppliers were not there. I have to say that was a little disappointing but with the economy the way it is, they have to choose more carefully where they spend their money.

Next year the show will be in Orlando, FL which is only a few hours away from where I live so I will probably attend the show but I have to say that I was not planning on going back if it was in Chicago again. I am so tired of flying and being crammed into an airplane and will avoid it if I can. Plus with so many companies not attending, I feel like it really is mostly a show for scrapbookers.

I did however meet with Kathy of Staedtler and she gave me the info on the Bottle of Hope Designer’s challenge. This year the theme is “A Message of Hope”. Here are the contest guidelines:

The bottle used must be any standard size bottle such as the ones used during chemotherapy treatment, insulin bottles, or any glass bottle 4 inches or smaller.

75% of the piece must be made with Fimo brand clay

All entries must be received by December 15, 2008.

Three award categories:

Best expression of hope, chosen by Lisa Pavleka and the Staedtler group. http://www.staedtler.com

Best of show, chosen by leading editors in the craft industry.

Peoples choice award, chosen from the attendees.

Each winner will get $250 for themselves and $500 donated to a cancer related charity or hospital of their choice.

The top four entries will receiving the most votes at CHA will receive a gift basket valued at $100 retail.

I hope everyone gets their thinking caps on and enters this year. Good luck!

Make sure to come back Friday for a new episode of Polymer Clay podcast and I will be sharing more of my experiences at CHA.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.