{capture the moment}

CHA Craft SuperShow from a Papertrey Point of View

This post is late in coming, but I thought it would still be fun to summarize all of the fun & success we had at the CHA Craft SuperShow at the end of July.

 

Here is the uhaul truck all packed and ready to pull out of our driveway.  Last year we managed to only take a trailer, but this year we had to upgrade to a full-size truck!  David and I spent 6 whole weeks preparing everything for the booth and an entire day packing up the truck.  We got a late start and drove through the night, arriving in Chicago at 4:30am.  We were sooooo tired, we couldn't wait to hit the bed at the hotel when we arrived!

We spent our first day at the CHA retailers show scoping out new products and manufacturers, but the following day was set-up day!  We got a very early start because of the amount of work involved in setting a booth this size.  We were some of the first people there for the day!  The first thing that had to come off the truck were the large pieces of carpet that would make-up the floor of the booth.  They weighed several hundred pounds a piece.  See David flexing his muscles?!?!? :)

Here's the team hard at work.  That big black stack are all the hundreds of grid wall pieces needed to make up the walls of the booth!

Here's David finishing up with the carpet.  Our booth was a whopping 40' x 40' this year, quadruple the size of last years booth in an attempt to accommodate the many dedicated customers who come by to visit us!

In the distance here you can see Mish, Heather and myself chatting and finishing up the unloading process.

Mish was kind enough to help David in setting up the grid walls.  Dawn & I were on the other side of the booth working our way around to meet them in the middle.

Of course, CHA is not complete without some senior portraits.  Here Heather & Mish strike a pose!

We almost have all of the fixtures set up.  It doesn't look like much until all that beautiful product is added to the shelves!

Here's Jenn Ellefson & Julie plotting the best way to arrange the stamp sets on the back wall.

Heather is assembling the dozens and dozens of shelves needed to hold ribbon.

David working hard while oblivious to Mish striking a pose with a piece of hardware.

Another shot of all of the shelving & fixtures awaiting to be added to the walls.  Jane, Heather & I are in the background figuring out set up options.  In case you haven't noticed, there isn't any product to be seen.  That's because it hadn't arrived yet!  There had been an issue with our trucs delivery being accepted by the folks at CHA and we found out it wasn't going to be delivered until 8pm that night.  Completely tragic since it took us hours to get the product unloaded and organized in the booth last year!

So we finished up all the fixture set up and decided to take the product delay in stride and have a feast of good ol' Chicago style pizza for dinner.  It was fabulous and the company was fun and entertaining.

After dinner, we all headed back to the convention center to wait for the product to arrive.  Luckily it came a bit early and we were able to dig right in.  Heather brought her iPod dock, so we jammed to some tunes and worked our little fannies off until the wee hours of the night to get everything stocked and ready to go for morning.

We were back at it early the next morning in preparation for the large crowds of the first day of the show.  Here are some of our helpers, Kristen, Carla & Andrea.  They worked at three of our four cash registers this year.  We doubled the amount of cash registers from two lat year to try to get people through the line faster.

Here's Heather (and Mish in the background) busily preparing for the make-n-takes of the first day.  Look at all that felt!

Debbie was busy with prep work as well.

Here I am getting a few last minute things in place within the booth.

Mish is hard at work cutting everyone's ribbon.

With the make-n-takes almost prepared, the stage is set for a fabulous how.  Our booth inspiration this year was the sky.  We asked each design team member to create a handmade kite to be hung on either side of the booth.  As always, these girls did NOT disappoint!

They were AMAZING and so many people commented throughout the show how fantastic they looked!

Here is the interior of the booth just minuted before the doors were opened.  You can see the beginning of the amazing color section where all the cardstock, ribbon, felt & buttons were displayed.

*sigh* don't you just love seeing all those colors together in one place?  They make me so happy!

A peek at the wall opposite the previous display wall.

The back wall of the booth showcased all of the stamp sets that we had brought along.  Each stamp set had a black & white index sheet to show what the images looked like in addition to a card sample or two. 

People really enjoyed being able to take photos of all the inspiration and seeing many projects from the blogs come to life.

 

This was our patterned paper & twine section.  There were also a few $5 mini stamp sets displayed here.

The dies & impression plates were on display int he form or labeled cardstock cut-outs.  There were then checklists that people could mark which items they wanted to purchase and get them at the register.  It was fun to all of the shapes together like this.

As a new addition this year, David built 12 display units with glass doors to display projects around the outside perimeter of the booth.  They worked wonderfully and he did such a great job with them.

This display unit was at the very front of the booth showcasing what the design team had created with the CHA exclusive set, Four of a Kind.  I couldn't even begin to count the number of times this cabinet was photographed!

Four of a Kind was available to CHA show-goers only as an exclusive gift with a $100 purchase.  Everyone was very excited about it and even got to make a few projects with it in our make-n-take area throughout the show. (And just as a confirmation, I'm sorry to say that this set will never e available for sale.)

A few of the designers posted photos of their Four of a Kind projects on their blogs.  I have listed direct links to each of them below if you want a closer look!

• Lisa Johnson
• Dawn McVey
• Maile Belles

Mish & Dawn went outside the doors of the show shortly before they opened to see if there were any Papertrey peeps around.  And wouldn't you know it, the very first folks in line were anxiously waiting to come by and visit us when the doors opened.

Here is some of the team just minutes before the show began.  We are all wearing adorable aprons from Jessie Steele.  Gotta love a damask apron!

Dawn wanted to tweet right before the show began, so she had David snap this quick pic of us together in our show attire.

Mish & Heather had to ham it up for the cameras, of course!

Here's Mish, Dawn & Lori Craig from Splicoaststampers.  Lori was so fun during the show and she even saved us a few times with emergency items we needed during booth set-up!

And then it began.  I swear, when those doors open the first day, I feel SO overwhelmed/nervous/excited as the large crowds stampede upon our booth.

Everyone is so excited to be one of the first.  Product is flying everywhere.  Racks are cleaned off so fast, David & JD can hardly keep up with the re-stocking.

There was a line of people just waiting to come in and shop!  Talk about dedication!  We loved having all of you!!!!  The day continued on in one crazy whirlwind.  Meeting many old and new customers alike.  Answering questions, performing crowd control.  Definitely a very long day, but so worthwhile!

Here we are, back at it early the next morning for the second day of the show.  This was one of THE most funny moments behind the scenes.  David was attempting to vacuum the make-n--take area, but where the nearest outlet was positioned, David couldn't reach the areas that needed attention.  So Mish, in her all-powerful wisdom, stuck a wrapping paper tube onto the end of the vacuum.  And surprisingly, it worked great!  David still needed even more length, so Mish stuck a SECOND tube on, and it worked too!  It was hilarious as Mish kept adding the tubes on and David just kept vacuuming away!  No...if only I could get David to vacuum at home?!!?!? :)

Here I am right before the doors opened the second day, prepared with plenty of shopping bags to hand to everyone to hold all of their products until they got to the cash register.  I managed to get 100 of them on one arm so I would be ready to go!  The second day was much like the first.  Just a whirlwind of customers, smiles, friends (old & new), and so much more. 

Take down went much faster this year than it did last year.  Here we are after all the fixtures have been put into the truck, taking care of the carpet.  Us lady folks decided to race JD & David in rolling up carpet strips.

They were pretty sure they were going to win...

but we proved them wrong!  So, another fabulous CHA has come and gone!  We are SO incredibly appreciative to all the folks who bopped out our way to visit us.  These events are truly some of the most gratifying & rewarding experiences I have had with Papertrey yet!

Now, we know that there were many of you that didn't get to attend CHA and partake in all the fun.  So we are opening up a contest to EVERYONE for a chance to win some amazing goodies!  There will be 18 winners in all, so be sure to play along, 'cause your chances are better than ever to snag some Papertrey goodness!

PRIZE PACKAGE 1: Four of a Kind CHA Exclusive stamp set!

PRIZE PACKAGES 2-12: one of 11 kites created by our talented design team!

PRIZE PACKAGES 13-16: one of 4 CHA display posters

PRIZE PACKAGES 17-18: one of 2 Jessie Steele aprons, just like what we wore during the show!

To have a chance to win one of these 18 prizes, just leave a comment on this post.  Only one comment per person please.  This contest will close at 5pm EST, Tuesday, September 8th.  One randomly selected winner for each prize will be listed here after 9pm EST.  Good luck to everyone!  

  
 Congratulations to all of the winners!  Please be sure to email customer service with your username, full-name & shipping address within 30-days to claim your prize!  Thank you to everyone for playing along!  And we hope to see YOU at our yet-to-be-disclosed 2011 event!

Monday CHA Prep Notes

Things have been crazy around here as last minute preparations for CHA are underway.  (If you missed all the details about CHA, you can get all caught up HERE!)  I am so excited to see everything come together this year!  We have all worked so hard to make our booth a little slice of Papertrey heaven right in Chicago!

 

I thought it would be fun to document a little of the prep work behind the scenes.  Today I bring you images of the project that David and I took on yesterday.  (Excuse the quality of the photos, they are taken with my iphone since I didn't have my camera handy!) We picked up all of the booth fixtures we ordered to add to what we already had accumulated from last year.  This includes grid walls, shelving, hooks, pegs, fasteners and everything else we need to contain all the merchandise we are bringing. 

The booth this year is four times the size of last year's booth in an effort to accommodate everyone and alleviate lines.  We also doubled our check-out area with four cash registers instead of two.  

It is always so fascinating to see all of these boxes turned into something as tangible as a temporary "store"!  After opening all of these boxes and getting everything organized in the booth storage unit that we rent, we were beginning to get those first twinges of excitement that the big event will soon be here!

Pioneer Weekend 2009

I returned home last night after a fun filled "weekend" at the McVey Ranch.  It was packed full of laughter, fun, food and memories.  So many wonderful memories that I will look back on fondly for many years to come.  It is a given that Dawn thoroughly planned the weekend with fun activities and good eats, but one of the most special aspects was getting to spend the time with her.  She is just the sweetest friend a girl could have.  So thoughtful.  So kind.  So fun.  Any time spent with her is like a new spring day, it fills your heart with joy and happiness and everything seems new through her eyes.  She looks at life through rose-colored glasses and this weekend she let me try them on. 

And they were a perfect fit.

Dawn & Bart were both the perfect hosts.  When I arrived they had a warm, inviting guest room all prepared for me, complete with a cozy vintage quilt upon the bed to keep me warm at night.  Also on that bed was a bag of goodies Dawn had put together for me, which included a new book, Dean & Deluca chocolates and tea along with a special Nell Hill's ornament as a prelude to future outings of the weekend.  All in the name of pampering me.  This girl thinks of everything!

 

As I said in my FIRST POST about this amazing weekend, one of the motives for heading to Kansas City was that Pioneer Woman would be in town herself for her book tour.  We actually got to see her twice.  Once in the morning for a book signing and again in the evening for a question & answer session.

This intimate event was fascinating and shed much light on Ree's sense of humor.  Laughter erupted at several points throughout the large crowd.  I was especially interested in how she described the viewpoints she had on "doing it all" and "finding balance".  Totally things I could take away and use in my own day-to-day life.

We had to wait quite a while at the evening session to make our way up to see her again, but it was so worth it.  She's so genuine and down-to-earth; she speaks to you as though she's know you her whole life.  I couldn't have possibly left any happier or more content that night.

"Marlboro Man" had his own legion of fans that lined up for his autograph.  He took it in stride and tried to be as accommodating as he could to all his adoring fans!

Ree's youngest boys were in attendance and provided entertainment for all.  Who knew the UFC was in town the same day?

 

Here's Dawn & I with P-dub herself.  *sigh* such a wonderful evening with fabulous company!

Any guest of the McVey's is definitely well fed.  They took me to several of their favorite local eateries while I was in town.  What an amazing, diverse culinary experience I had while there. 

There was lunch at Andre's...

and Oklahoma Joe's.  Dinner at their favorite Mexican watering hole, seafood at McCormick & Schmick's and of course, Kansas City steak at Hereford House.  As Pam and I discussed (insert me waving to Pam!  Hi, Pam!), and you can see from the photos, I went to bed hungry EVERY night! (said in my best sarcastic voice!).

Dawn, Bart & I headed to two different Nell Hill's stores while I was there.  There aren't any in my neck of the woods, so this was an extra special treat.  Especially since Dawn goes on and on about the inspiration to be had there!  Both stores literally took my breath away as soon as I walked in the doors.

 

So many stunning color combinations, eye candy filling every nook and cranny.  Personality & style emitting from every piece, as though it has a history and it's own story.  Just amazing.  I could have easily wandered around inside all day.

 

I think Dawn & Bart thought that it was pretty entertaining to see my reaction to Nell Hill's.  I truly loved getting to experience it first hand, guided by my very dear friend, Dawn.  I don't think it can get much better than that.

The last night I was there, Dawn and I decided that a bit of stamping was in order.  After all, stamping is what brought us together when we first met, so it only seemed natural that we get a little inky during our reunion.

Before we began though, we thought a tribute to Mish was in order.  Mish is ALWAYS trying to get us to do Senior Portraits when we get together.  ALWAYS! In honor of Mishie, we had Bart take some shots that were truly worthy of the official "Pioneer Weekend Yearbook".  Here's Dawn and her cute cheerleader pose! Rah rah rah!

And little 'ol me.  I thought Dawn's glasses would be the perfect accessory to make me look more "studious".  Do you think I pulled it off?

We stamped until nearly 1am, but it was totally worth the loss of sleep.  (Sleep its overrated anyway, isn't it?!?!)  I even helped Dawn get ready for her next color inspiration challenge, so you'll have to watch her blog for our projects!

I neglected to mention earlier that P-dub was kind enough to give everyone at the evening book signing a FREE Pioneer Woman Book Tour t-shirt!  So thoughtful, so generous, SO fabulous!

We had Bart take a photo of us together in our new digs.  Aren't they ca-ute!  I love the pattern, the colors and the fact that it is a memory I can wear.  Souvenirs are the best, especially when they're free!

So, how many of you have purchased your own copy of THE new cookbook? (coincidentally it has already reached #1 on the NY Times Best Seller list!)  Did you happen to notice the last page?  Dawn and I thought that this was so fitting for Ree's personality and just hysterical!

And we thought we would leave you with our own version as a parting shot. *wink*

Before I sign off, I just had to gush for a moment about David.  Not only did he become the lone caretaker for all three kids, but he cleaned our entire *release neglected* house from top to bottom while I was away.  He has always been so supportive of me, knowing when I needed to have some space and getaway.  I owe this wonderful weekend away to him and his willingness to "take it all on".  Thank you from the bottom of my heart, David.  Love ya.

My Little Stick Friend

Hello to everyone from Kansas City!  I'm here enjoying the last day of my visit with Dawn.  It has been such an amazing experience so far, with Dawn and Bart being the best hosts a gal could know.  I will definitely tell you more about all of that later on.  Today I wanted to stop in to tell you all about our very eventful day yesterday, along with introducing you to My Little Stick Friend.

There was actually an ulterior motive for flying across the country to visit Dawn.  Pioneer Woman, one of my all time favorite bloggers, recently released a brand new cookbook, and anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE new cookbook.  She was coming to Kansas City as part of her book tour and Dawn invited me to come down so I could get *THE* new cookbook autographed.  So we headed out to a western couture store yesterday morning to take part in this momentous event.  Mish lives only about an hour and a half from *the city* so she made plans to join us as well to meet the famous P-dub.  

Dawn and I were so sad when Mish called us in the morning to let us know that the roads were too icy for her venture out that day, and we knew she was disappointed to miss meeting Pioneer Woman.  So we came up with an ingenious way to include her in that day's festivities....

I'd like to introduce you to My Little Stick Friend, Mishie!!!  (This is a good time to interject that this was ALL Dawn's idea, no matter what she claims otherwise!)  When we whipped Mish out at the book signing, everyone in line behind us was laughing hysterically and P-dub herself was quite entertained as well.  Ree (Pioneer Woman) was such a good sport.  Additionally, she was warm, friendly, very funny and just overall a very sweet lady.  She had an air of underlying elegance, but at the same time could whip out one-liners before you blinked an eye.  Just an absolute joy to meet, she couldn't have been more gracious. 

After leaving Pioneer Woman, we decided we would continue taking Mish along with us to other outings that afternoon.  Here's Mish with us at Dean & Deluca.  Mish had SUCH a good time there and got to sample all of the delicacies there.  We did however skip sampling some dipping oil because it might have made Mish's ink run!

Here we are at Crate & Barrel.  She gained SO much inspiration there and is looking forward to paper crafting herself later on this week.

We also took Mishie to lunch, which she enjoyed thoroughly.  She skipped dessert because since she was printed on Papertrey's 110lb. cardstock, she didn't want to gain too much weight, or else it might be difficult to cut & score her later.  

It was SUCH a fun afternoon!  Dawn and I laughed so much that we had tears running from our eyes most of the day.  We love you Mish and missed you so much!  

I am heading home tomorrow morning.  A bit bittersweet, but I know we will have another super fun today. 

CHA SuperShow from a Papertrey point of view

Hello everyone!  I am so glad to be home after our long journey and work week surrounding the first ever CHA SuperShow.  Everything has been such a whirlwind!  When we returned home last night, it felt as though we had been gone for nearly a month!

Even though neither David or I hardly had a chance to snap photos while we were there, I have been able to piece together my pictorial journal by using photos from my dearest friends & co-workers, Mish, Debbie, Heather & Dawn.  I am also incredibly grateful for the generosity of MacArthur (Bold Lifestyle Photography) & Ashley Newell (A New Design) for sharing some photos they took at the show as well! I hope you enjoy my version of the amazing events of last week!

It all started with a little Uhaul trailer in Tennessee.  Packed with all the bits & pieces necessary for creating a Papertrey wonderland within a cement floored convention center.  David and I were so thankful to *finally* have that Uhaul packed.  We were supposed to head out at 6am that morning, but didn't end up being able to actually pull out until 3pm.  In addition, the booth had been set up in our garage for nearly a month, and it was nice to clear everything out so we could walk through the building once again!

We drove all night, *literally*, and pulled into Orlando at 5am.  We were so thankful to crawl into bed!  David & I caught a few hours rest and then headed to the Convention Center to meet up with the rest of the girls and walk to floor of the main CHA show!  Debbie was already inside on the show floor by the time we arrived, but the rest of us needed to pick up our passes before we entered.  David captured this cool shot while we were getting everything we needed.

Our first stop was the Hero Arts to visit one of my stamping idols and dear friends, Jennifer McGuire.  She graciously forgave me for missing the appointment we had set up for that morning so I was able to catch a bit of sleep.

Jennifer is one of the sweetest, most kind people you will ever meet and I always love the opportunity to see her.  We all chatted a bit about a few industry subjects of interest and then we were sure to get a group photo of everyone together!  (just ignore how exhausted I look!)

We walked the show a bit more until it closed up for the night at 6.  I had a meeting to attend with Julie & Jane and then we all met up again for a yummy dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy.  Dawn's new friend, Brooke, was kind enough to join us!  She is a local Floridian who played the role of hostess to all of us at Papertrey Ink on more than one occasion!  Brooke was such a joy to have at our dinner table and I was so pleased to get to know her a bit better!  Our dinner reservation hadn't been until 8:00, so needless to say, we were out until late!

Back at the hotel, I had one more task to complete for the booth set-up the next day and I enlisted the help of all my girls to complete it.  The task was a pennant flag made of Papertrey's ribbons, buttons & papers.  I had packed all of the products that coordinated with my desired color scheme along with a few other essentials.  We spread them out onto Dawn's bed and just started cutting, adhering & tying!

Heather, Debbie, Mish & I randomly cut the flags from different papers and added buttons & ribbon as embellishments.  The flags were then handed off to Dawn who was in charge of attaching them to the string that would hold all of them to form a banner or sorts.  It was fascinating to see how different each of the flags turned out!

 

We worked until quite late that night, even though an early morning was ahead of us.  One of the most memorable events of this part of the evening that was not captured on film was the laughter.  Oh my goodness, did we ever laugh.  You know, that deep kind of belly laugh that just makes you feel like a kid again?  I think we experienced that type of intense laughter for nearly two hours straight! 

Mish was usually the cause of most of our laughter.  She's definitely the biggest comedian of the bunch.  She just knows the right things to say to make us all double over with giggles!  One of her best moments was when she decided to have David take some Senior Pictures of her.  Mish is lucky that I am *such* a good friend, because I am not going to post the other shots taken that night, but I figured this one would suffice to get my point across!  (I'm sure she'll forgive me!  After all, I need to provide my readers with a complete picture of all these events!)

After going to bed SO late, it was a little difficult to get back up at 6am!  Our adventure began with all 5 of us packed into David's pick-up truck with the Uhaul in tow.  Our mission was to find exactly WHERE we needed to go at the convention center to unload all of the booth supplies.  We drove in circles around the perimeter of the Convention Center before *finally* finding signs to point us in the right direction.  Julie & Jane were already there and came out one of the back cargo bays to help David back in.  It took a few trips to get the truck unloaded, but with everyone working together it didn't take much time at all.  While David went to park the truck, we began set up, starting with rolling out the carpet.

When David returned, he and I began erecting the grid wall system around the perimeter of the shopping area.  There were so many boxes to be unpacked and fixtures added to the walls at one point, it was almost a little overwhelming!  I forgot to mention the eight pallets of merchandise that had been delivered via semi that morning as well!  Julie & Jane (above in black shirts) did a fabulous job of organizing the distribution of the pallets and their contents.

I had a detailed scaled floor plan I had created to help keep everything straight & organized during the set up process.  This is a photo Dawn snapped of me referring to my trusty chart once again.  I was SO thankful to have that, because in all the chaos, I kept forgetting where everything was supposed to go!  Did I mention that they did NOT turn on the AC while we were setting up?  Phew!  Was it ever humid. You probably could have just sat still and broken a sweat!  We were all quite *moist* by the end of the day!

ALL of the thousands of pieces of merchandise we had brought needed to be *tabbed*, which means a sticky back hang tag needed to be adhered so that it could be hung from the pegs we were using to display everything in the retail area.  The brunt of this job fell on the shoulders of the *girls*, Debbie, Mish, Heather and Dawn.  I give them extra kudos, because they didn't know what they were getting into when they arrived and worked their hearts out!

Dawn & Heather unpacking one of the hundreds of boxes that contained stamp sets.

Debbie & Mish tabbing more stamp sets.

Heather working on getting the patterned paper onto our spinner.  Dawn unpacking more boxes!

We finally finished up the booth at 6pm, and we were SO hot & tired!  We all headed back to the hotel to take a quick shower, freshen up and head out to dinner at Tommy Bahamas.  We had such an incredibly good time that night!  The food was absolutely delicious, the margaritas were cold (and strong) and the laughter flowed like a never-ending stream down the center of our table.

One of the funniest moments was when Michelle decided to feed poor exhausted Debbie some dessert we had ordered to share.  What REALLY made it a sight, was that Debbie was in the middle of telling us all a story and out of no where she suddenly had a spoonful of brownie coming in for a landing in her mouth!

The laughter that followed was SO contagious!  A few of us even had tears coming from the corners of our eyes because we were laughing so hard!  I am so glad that the moment got captured on film so we can re-live it over and over again for years to come!

Two of my favorite personal shots were taken that night as well.  Heather took this one of Dawn & I.  It was a shot we made sure to get, because at the last show (which was the last time we had seen each other) we didn't have a single photo of just the two of us.  Not only did we *check this off the list*, but it turned out beautifully and I am looking forward to framing it in my office to I can remember my dear friend fondly even when we are apart!

The second one was a fun candid taken by Dawn.  If I remember correctly, I think David & I were told to pose while we were sitting finishing up dinner.  I like this photo so much because it embodies the moment perfectly and how wonderful it was to have David along for the ride with me.  This is the perfect opportunity for me to thank him for all he dedicated and sacrificed for this entire CHA experience to happen. 

I hadn't cooked for weeks leading up to our departure date.  He was taking care of the house and kids when he wasn't at work.  He designed & constructed several important parts of the booth.  He had very little sleep for nearly a week straight, and never complained once about it.  The fact that he is as dedicated as I am even thought he is not directly responsible, really allows me to see how much he loves me, supports me and cares about my hopes & dreams.  I am SO incredibly lucky, and that night at dinner I was overwhelmed with these emotions, making this photo even more special & memorable.

Since we had eaten dinner late, once again, we didn't arrive back to the hotel until nearly midnight.  Another early morning followed, beginning at 5am.  We needed to get over to the booth to prepare all of the last finishing touches for the *official* opening that day.  It was a great opportunity for everyone to get shots of the completed booth before customers began filing in.  This is the first color wall you see on the right-hand side as you enter the booth.  All of the products were meticulously organized by color to make it easy to find everything.

Each color section included our exclusive cardstock, ink, buttons and ribbons.  I made swatch books for each color that included the cardstock & all the ribbons.  These hung and each section so that people could easily touch everything and feel the quality that we have insisted on.  The swatch books also worked well in allowing people to see all of the elements of a color collection together in close proximity.

This is the back stamp wall where we had over 60 of our most popular stamp sets available for sale.  Isn't it purrr-ty!

Each stamp set was on display with it's own index sheet so customers could clearly see all the images.  There was also a small shelf for each set, showcasing samples using it's images.  It was so fun for Heather and I to pick out which cards went on each shelf.  The finished product was truly inspiring.  One of the coolest parts of all this was getting to see our fellow design team members work in person.  It was amazing to see each creation in real life and appreciate all of the detail that went into it.  Sooo awesome.  I admire all of them even more today than I did before the show! 

This is the other color wall, on the opposing side of the booth.  More colors, more eye candy!  It was SO fun even for us (the owners) of PTI, to see everything together like this!  We normally just see everything in the warehouse, in cardboard boxes nonetheless.  We were just giddy when we put the final products out for display so we could see them together in all their glory!

This is a little display I created beside the t-shirt display.  For all of you that have been wondering, this is where the fruit came into play that I shared a little sneak peek of last week. ( BTW, I will be providing a printable template and instructions in the near future for those of you that have asked).  A few other small details I thought I would mention... a tiered cake created from ribbon spools, an altered bottle of designer water, complete with a Papertrey Ink logo, and a delectable bowl of sorbet, berry sorbet buttons that is!  Which all ties into the catch phrase displayed at the top of the fruit stand...

I have my dear friend Dawn to thank for the phraseology!  She always helps me when I am stumped!  Thanks again, Dawn!

This is the cash counter, where Jane and Julie set up the two laptops that served as our cash registers.  Notice the pennant flag banner?  That would be the very one that all of the girls & I made in the hotel room together!  Didn't it turn out cute?!?!?

In case you were wondering what was in those polka dot bins on top of the counter, they were filled with free notepads and pens that were decked out with our logo.  They were a big hit with everyone that passed through the booth!

This is the Floral Fusion wall, which could be found directly behind the make & take area.  I created small individual displays for each of our design team members that included their headshot, card sample and a quote regarding their first impressions of the stamp set. They all did an AMAZING job on their samples!  All the designers will be sharing their Floral Fusion projects with you over the next month or so on their individual blogs, so be sure to keep an eye out!

This is the poster I created for the promotion of Floral Fusion, an exclusive set available to CHA SuperShow customers who spent $100 or more.  Two of these posters were on display in the booth to help spread the word of the special show promotion.

With all of the finishing touches in place, it was about time for the convention doors to open!!!  The team and I posed for a quick photo with our matching Papertrey t-shirts & aprons.  Gosh, looking at this photo just makes my heart burst with pride and thankfulness for all these girls invested in the show.  I couldn't ask for a better team to surround myself with.

Shortly before the clock was prepared to strike 10, I got an extreme case of butterflies in my stomach and was so nervous as to what was about to happen.  I can't even describe it really!  David could totally tell and he came up to me in those last few seconds and put his arm around me and told me how beautiful I looked and assured me everything would be okay.  He ALWAYS knows just the right thing to say at the right time. 

...and then, almost as if someone had turned on a light switch, the crowds began pouring in.  It happened so fast, the chaos was almost a bit overwhelming!

We had lines just to get in the booth to go shopping.  Several portions of the day on Friday reported hour long waits just to get into the booth.

Julie and Jane worked so hard to ring people's purchases up as fast as they could!

Even the lines for our make & take projects were quite extensive!  But everyone waited with a smile and happily chatted with fellow PTI addicts (or converted those that hadn't yet heard of us!)

As soon as the flood gates opened, as I described above, the entire Papertrey Team jumped into action.  Debbie facilitated her make & take projects beautifully.

Heather was gracious enough to facilitate my make & take project so that I could remain in my meet & greet spot.

 

Michelle really knew how to keep everyone moving along and laughing all at the same time.

Dawn helped me greet people at the front of the booth.  This proved to be a great pace to be, especially when the lines were so long.  I loved the opportunity to talk to each customer in a personal and genuine way.  Dawn & I had many fun & interesting exchanges with all of you when you passed by!

 

Here is a shot of everyone working away at their projects.  Such concentration by these PTI students!

My partner/co-owner, Jane was dedicated to on of the cash registers the entire length of both days.

Julie, the other part of the threesome and daughter of Jane, was focused on processing purchases as well.

 

We had two energetic, insightful helpers, Andrea & Kristen.  They helped bag, process credit cards & make change.  Julie & Jane couldn't have moved as fast without them and we appreciated them being there SO much!

 

And of course, I cannot forget David.  He and JD (Jane's son/ Julie's brother, not pictured here) constantly made lists and ran back and forth between the booth and our extra stock that was kept out back on pallets.  It was absolutely shocking how fast the inventory of each item within the booth was dwindling on the first day of the show.  Buttons were the hottest commodity and had to be refilled the most often. 

 

David is specifically preparing to restock stamps in these photos.  He seems to be concentrating SO hard!

 

After two *long* days of booth work along followed by a few hours of tear down, myself and the team were COMPLETELY exhausted.  Showers and a change of clothes along with reservations at the local Capital Grille were the perfect prescription for all involved.  It was a nice change of pace to get dressed up and out of our Papertrey t-shirts and aprons! 

That pretty much sums it all up!  I hope you enjoyed my overview of the show!  It was SO amazing to have the opportunity to meet SO many customers in person.  I felt as though I was surrounded by friends all day.  So many hugs were exchanged, you shared your praise & encouragement.  I felt so energized & inspired by ALL of your kindness.  What more can I say other than my cup runneth over.

Thank you to each and every one of you who made the journey out to visit us.  I know how much a trip of that nature takes, whether you are coming from near or far, and we all just want you to know how much we truly appreciate it.  You were all shining stars in the little piece of Papertrey we were able to bring to you at this show and it made every moment, every hour of lost sleep, every strain & stress, completely worthwhile.

Thank you.