I just returned from the ACCI (Association of Crafts and Creative Industries) trade show in Chicago. It was a whirlwind trip. I arrived later Thursday evening than I had planned because they had closed the Chicago airport because of bad weather. I heard it was "really" bad. Hail the size of golf balls.

I actually walked the entire show this time. My favorite place is the "New Exhibitors" area. I met some very nice people and even met someone from my own town...she lives in a neighborhood very close to my home. What a small world!

Scrapbooking is still the main focus of the "craft" world at this time. Personally...when you have seen one paper you have seen them all. If you want to be in this arena, you must find a niche! One that I noticed was a vendor selling military "stuff". They had stickers, papers, and other embellishments for all the military divisions.

I found it most interesting to look at all of the metal, acrylic, and fabric embellishments that were being shown. Those are things that can be added to any sort of design, not just a scrapbook page!

I worked in the Fiskars booth most of the time. My job was to teach people how to use the ShapeCutter. I just love that tool!! Fiskars has a new letter template...Letters-4. It is a little more whimisal than the other letter templates. It was fun to visit with the store buyers and teach them how to demonstrate the ShapeCutter in their stores.

The show ended at 4:00 and I was at the airport at 5:00. My flight was delayed out of Chicago (although we beat the storm this time) and I almost missed my connection in San Francisco. Lucky for me, the pilots were also late arriving from Seattle so the connection was running late. Anyway...I got home at 1:30am....AAHHH!!