CHA Tear Down

The CHA Show closed at 2pm and we quickly tore down and packed everything away in the crates. It has ended up being a good show for us and we made some good contacts to pursue when we get home. We paid a union guy $$ under the table to get our crate early... yes illegal payoffs are alive and well in the convention world... political world as well. Then off to the airport we went.

While we were taking down the booth, Bonnie got a sliver in her finger and ended up going to the first aid station. They could not get it out and sent her on to the hospital emergency. She ended up having a 3/4" sliver that went through her knuckle to the other side of her finger and walked away with two stitches. Only Bonnie. Through the years on trips she has had blood poisoning, kidney stones, broken shoulder and more...
-Brenda

Top Left: 1) Brenda & Madison of Fancy Pants 2) Brenda & Ryann of Piggy Tales 3) Brenda & Carolee of Carolee's Creation 4) Brenda & Heather Downs 5) Brenda, Ash & Rick Gass of Cameo 6) Brenda, Bonnie, Josh, Lindsay, Annie & Craig of CREA

Top Left: 1) Bonnie with TP 2) Brenda & Deann of We Are Storytellers 3) Bonnie, Brenda & Mike Hessing of WR Memories 4) The tear down begins 5) Brenda & Kristia playing clothespin torture game while we waited for crate to come 6) Josh with velcro

Josh with Brags in Hand

We met up with Annie & Craig from CREA for breakfast and talked about product development. Annie had the new 'Brags' that a client of theirs had developed. They had hopes of getting them into the hands of Paris Hilton when she was at the show. They are special travel bags for your special things. She gave Josh a sample to take home to his wife Mandi. As you can see, he happily showed the world he was one lucky boy :)
-Brenda

CHA Day Three

The pranks started today and I am sure they will carry into tomorrow as we keep ourselves entertained in a way unbecoming to a tradeshow. Why I don't feel something is hanging from my rear end is surprising to me.

On our way to dinner with Matt, we talked to the taxi driver about the different conventions and he filled us in on the convention scoop.
Best looking people: Natural Products Convention
Ugliest dressers: Nurses Convention
Most uptight: Helicopter Convention
Snootiest people: Doctors Convention
Most Alcohol consumed: Music Convention

We came back to our room and watched The Secret Life of Bees... a keeper of a movie :)
-BrendaTop Left: 1) Josh & Matt from Flexo One 2) Brenda, Sue & Sharee of Scrapbook Nook 3) Brenda & Ash 4) Brenda, Bonnie, Cynthea & Tonya of Doodlebug 5) Brenda, Leslie & Jennifer of Las Vegas 6) Ash & Josh
Top Left: 1) Brenda & Dennis Conforto of Scrapbooking.com 2) Brenda & Sophia of Strictly Scrapbooking 3) Brenda, Bonnie, Josh & Delanie of EK Success 4) Brenda & Josh 5) Lindsay & Bonnie 6) Brenda & Des Tanner

CHA Day Two

We are now suffering from effects of the trade show. I think it happens to everyone in trade shows around the world. One day melds into another and you slowly lose your mind. I long to be outside. It is hard to stay in a 20x20 booth and keep your sanity, but the thing that makes it all worthwhile are the visits from friends in the scrapbook market and time with our customers who we love & appreciate. This year the economy seems to be on everyone's minds, whether their business is in the US or overseas. We are more tired today then we were yesterday. This show is 1/2 day too long... it should have been over today. We had an emergency evacuation in the morning. Everyone left, I stayed and cut paper.
-Brenda

Top left: 1) Erika Clayton & I 2) Josh & Bonnie 3) Brenda, Ash, Richard & Kyle of Obrien 4) Jane Seymore 5 Miss Vicky & I 5) Brenda, Josh, Steve & Lisa of Crate Paper

Top left: 1) Brenda, Josh, Bob & Rob 2) Brenda & Jody Hunt of My Mind's Eye 3) Emergency Evacuation 4) Bonnie, Kristia & Richard Lowton of Scrapdoodles, UK 5) Brenda & Rebecca of Scrapblog 6) Pebbles with Matt & Jessica & Sofia of Flexo-One

Day One!

Wow! Day one is already over! Where'd the day go?? Our Creamy Metallic Chalks were on demo at the front counter and were such a big hit! Be sure to stop by the booth and check 'em out!
One of my most favorite new products is our Ribbon...they're so sweet on the spools and they come with a cute little flower charm! I might need to get one in every color for myself!
It's rare to have a normal picture of Josh!
Kristia with the Scrapbook Royalty group! These girls really know how to have a good time!
Lindsay and Ashlee at the end of day one! One down, three more to go!
One last picture for the night--Paris Hilton made an appearance at CHA! She has a craft line coming out, so she was there to unveil it. We had to go and see if we could get a picture, and this is what we came away with:
We'll see you tomorrow! Be sure and say "hi!" if you're at the show! Booth #4777

We're in Anaheim!

We made it to Anaheim...and in record time! Our pilot seemed to be in a hurry to get from Utah to Anaheim and our driver from the airport to our hotel was in an even bigger hurry! It's still amazing to me that we made it to the hotel in one piece!

Today was setup day at CHA--12 hours later and we were finally done setting everything up. I am so, so excited about our booth and was even more excited to see everything come together.
Be sure to check out the gallery on the backside of our booth! Remember all those frames we were collecting? This is where they ended up:
Oops...already found a mistake! See how that says, "gathering life's memories"? It's supposed to say, "gathering life's moments." Oh, well. It's too late to fix it! We'll get it right next time!
More to come...live from CHA!!

It's almost time!!

We're busy finishing up all the last minute details and getting ready to head off to Anaheim tomorrow night! Be sure to watch for UPDATES FROM CHA! I don't think we could be more excited about this release! New products will be shipping out within the next week or so, so be sure to look for it at your favorite Pebbles retailer!

New Balance Day at Work!

Who belongs to which shoe? Take a guess. Choose from Josh, Amy or Lindsay.

Last Crazy Day . . . For Now

Crazy. I started my day this morning, eating my lunch that I didn't eat yesterday. I have 4 day old hair and didn't even pat it down. My notes are all over my arm... reminders of to do's I can't forget. We worked non stop and are wrapping things up... I believe I can see the light at the end of the tunnel... and I pray it is not a train! Sometimes it feels like it's the last minute details that take the longest to complete. Our designer material came in a slightly different color, much to Lindsay's horror. A little tea bath took the edge off and it looks good :) Bonnie & Kristia are working hard in sales, Larry & Josh stayed late figuring out a way to secure our sign to the display. Ash & I headed over to Lowe's tonight and picked up flooring & misc. hardware. Everyone at Pebbles Inc. has worked so hard to get it all ready. Last minute details to pack the crate up tomorrow morning and we are done. We fly out a week from tonight.

We got home late, but Ash & Paul had surprised us with a Stouffer's Lasagna in the oven (yes... they are still making room for beef in their freezer). We watched Signs & Psych and stayed up too late. It was nice being home together. I am grateful all of my girls are so willing to pitch in and fill in my holes at home this week... actually I always have holes, just not this many. The girls told me that there is a dead bird in the driveway. I was sad and asked where? 'Under your car Mom. It's been there all week'. I've been running over the dead, frozen bird all week. I feel thoughtless & disconnected this week in my extreme busyness getting ready for the show. I am probably going to go to bird hell and be pecked to death, deservedly so. My life is unbalanced this week. Ugh!
-Brenda

Three More Days . . .

Three more days until our booth ships out to California for the show. We took all the display pieces over to the warehouse and arranged them in a 20x20 foot space. There is still shopping to do and holes to fill. Larry spray painted our thrift store frames dark brown, which pulls our booth together. Josh has been printing out all of our designs, Lindsay is working on our show email, Bonnie is working on the order form, Kristia on sales and Mona & the girls are invoicing & packing. Lots to do, we don't have the luxury of time, so everything has got to come together quickly.
-Brenda

Build a Booth

We are beyond crazy at work. We are getting Pebbles Inc. ready for the CHA Show in Anaheim January 25-28 (Craft & Hobby Association). Our catalogue was put to bed today, now its full speed ahead to create our new booth which ships out a week from today. We are shopping fools, picking up an odd piece here and there at the thrift stores and crossing our fingers that it will all come together quickly and be spectacular! We are crossing our fingers and toes XXX. On a high note, Jack Bauer is back saving the world and we all can sleep a bit better!
Any lovers of 24 out there? Let's talk!
-Brenda

Soul Man

When my daughter Katie brought Conrad to our weekly Pebbles meeting today, he and I took a little walk... When we visited Josh & Lindsay it was easy to see that Conrad was quite taken with Josh's soul patch and wanted one badly, so we gave our favorite little guy one of his own... using our very own Pebbles Inc. chalk, non-toxic of course :) He totally owns this look don't you think?
Pebbles Chalk Tip #78 - makes groovy facial hair
-Brenda