Mixed Media Winner and a little CHA update!

Sorry I'm late announcing the winner...it's taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things after coming home from Chicago. It's really almost easier for me to pack and take my family with me on a trip than prepare and plan for them to be without me for a week! Food, laundry, practices, etc. It's a lot to plan and prepare ahead of time.

The winner of the Mixed Media Special Issue is:

7
Random numbers generated Jul 25 2012 at 16:44:1 by www.psychicscience.org  
Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

Katie Bolinger said...

your pages look so fun. I need to try some new things, thanks for the chance to win the magazine.

I will send you an email very soon to get your address!!!

Now a little on my Chicago trip...

Going to the shows is a lot of work but I absolutely LOVE every single minute of it! It's the only time I get to see many of my scrapbooking friends and socialize. The Jillibean girls are my coworkers but my very, very good friends too.

This trip was unique too because instead of flying, I roadtripped with Nicole Harper all the way there and back. We seriously talked without pause the entire 5 hours there and back! Nic lives about 20 minutes away from me so it made sense for us to ride together and have some fun to boot!

All photos in this post are courtesy of my friend Summer Fullerton. (do you read her blog? You should! She's one of my FAV scrappers and one cool chick) I am absolutely HORRIBLE about taking photos at the shows...probably because it's the only trip I ever take without my kids and just feel like taking a break from being the photographer. Hopefully this will change once I get the new iphone and ditch my crummy Droid.

When I arrived at 11:30 on Monday, the girls were almost done! We have such a great team and they have setup pretty much down to a science. All I had to do was put up signs and stuff catalogs. I got off easy. Those crates are not fun to unload. We were done so early that Jill took us out for a late lunch at The Ram Brewery and to Woodfield Mall to see Magic Mike. Yep, five slap happy mommies watching Channing Tatum in the middle of the afternoon. It's hard to go to work for these company some days lol!!!

Macho Nacho board:

Jill and Patty prepping for the 3 different make and takes! Patty works at the Jillibean office full-time and pretty much takes care of anything and everything. She is dedicated and hardworking...I love her to pieces. And she is a pretty darn talented crafter as well.

 Don't you love the way Jill displays the Unity Stamps?

 Grandma's Lima Bean Soup

This wreath by Lisa VanderVeen was the talk of the booth!

 Jill is usually swamped before the show and has very little time to create with her own products...this show was different somehow and many of the projects and cards were created by Jill herself. She is very talented and it was nice to see her get a chance to express that side this time around. The ticket board and tags are by Jill!

 Monday morning! Kimber and Jill are ready for our retailers!

The best part of our trip was the fact that we met a lot of new retailers opening stores. It was great to hear that as the economy recovers, people are still willing to invest in this hobby and keep it alive.

You can see even more pictures of the booth and a post from Jill right here!