CHA 2016 – Going on A Creative Journey with Melissa

Hi All,

I AM AT CHA 2016 I am having a great time and wish you were all here to be able to experience this first hand at least once. But before I go on, I would like to apologize because I said I would be giving you sneak peeks and of all times, my website has been down since Thursday. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to post anything to my website so I apologize for this being late. What a nightmare that was! I have however, posted on my Instagram as well as my Facebook business page if you would like to check those out. Those would be more timely than my blog posts as I do my blog posts once I am home to recap my day.

Sooooo if you weren’t able to come to CHA 2016 or haven’t been to CHA at all or don’t know what it is, here is an explanation in a nutshell. CHA is the acronym for the Craft and Hobby Association. It is an organization where creatives, manufacturers, designers and more :),  of all different areas of crafts whether it be paper crafts, knitting, painting, jewelry and basically anything crafty and creative, come together from ALL OVER THE WORLD. They hold various conferences throughout the year. This specific show is one of the largest of it’s kind and for the last year it is being held at the Anaheim Convention Center. Next year, it will be held in Arizona. In order to be a member there are certain prerequisites. To find out more information if you qualify, please go here. If you happen to sign up, tell them I sent ya!

Part of being a CHA member and it’s membership cost includes education. They are really great about offering education classes for people that want to learn more about the industry, mentoring from fellow creatives in your field and getting you in contact with who you need to talk to if you have questions. The wealth of knowledge in the CHA organization as a whole is vast and wonderful to have when you are a new business starting out or an established business looking to boost your sales to a higher level. I have been a member for a number of years taking classes as well as enjoying the show. I went on Thursday and Friday for classes and the show floor opened yesterday. The classes are great for business owners like myself where you can learn things that you normally wouldn’t be able to do so. For example, I have a stamp line and would be able to ask questions to fellow stamp line owners, manufacturers, designers, web designers, attorneys, etc., questions about my personal situation and be able to get real answers as they are all within the industry that I am. It is UNBELIEVABLY instrumental in my business adventure. I have met a number of what I call lifetime friends too!

Yesterday I took a bunch of pictures at CHA 2016. have consolidated them down to a few below. I went to CHA this year with my awesomely supportive husband and son. I was excited that my son was old enough to be able to attend. It is cool to show him this side of things and that I am NOT the only one that is creative minded. Although to be honest, he is too so he TOTALLY gets it! As you will see, we got the “C” (Christian) and the “J” (Jon) of ACJwM (A Creative Journey with Melissa) in on the action. My hubby and son were my “posers” in pictures! LOL I also was fortunate enough to have a few of my AMAZINGLY talented Creative Crew along to check out the new things and see what THEY would like to work with next year as well as ideas and trends that are going on in the industry. Leticia, Marie and Rhoda are joining me this year. Unfortunately, Brandie is unable to attend due to a health issue so we DEFINITELY want to wish Brandie to feel better and be back on her feet soon.

First, I want to share with you a few things I learned in my classes. Here are a few DID YOU KNOW…. Please feel free to share!

In a class that my husband took, they said at least 500 words. Sounds to me if you stick between 500-3000 you will have it covered varying between them throughout your different blog posts. This is what my plan is.

Now for some pictures. One of the amazing creatives that I love to see is Tim Holtz. He is so kind, amazingly creative and very good to his fans. He truly appreciates our admiration. Here he was showing his distress crayons. They look FABULOUS!!! A must have for sure!

We took a very inspirational class from Kathy AKA Crafty Chica. She is so wonderful, kind and inspirational. Her story is amazing and really goes to show that hard work, dedication and perseverance pays off.

I of course stopped by Doodlebug Design because I LOVE THEIR COLOR PALETTE! ALWAYS. PERIOD! Adorable designs with awesome colors. Can’t go wrong with that!

And of course there is PLANNER AWESOMENESS with Heidi Swapp... I love her, her creativity and her spirit.

And more planner excitement with Marion Smith! Isn’t Christian a great “poser” LOL!

I will have a bunch more pictures in my next post but I have to run for now as we are about to get to the convention center. Don’t forget to connect with us on your favorite social media platform above. Thanks for stopping by and as always, we hope you enjoyed going on A Creative Journey with Melissa!