Hi There! Arrived home last night from my adventure to Chicago. We had a great vacation :) I had the opportunity to catch up with a few friends as well as meet some "new" ones. It is quite fascinating to me to sit back & see so many people, predominantly women, brought together because of the love we share for papercrafting! Pretty unique in my opinion :) I wish I could have taken a photo of everyone I met but that is simply not possible :( In no particular order, here are a few snapshots of a few I (Scott) was lucky enough to capture:
This is the Rosemont Stephens Convention Center where "it" all took place:
To start off the first day after my arrival, I met Pam Imholz in real life for breakfast :) Pam & I were Design Team-mates for both Just Us Girls & My Time Made Easy. 
Look at ALL these Spellbinders™ die templates all in one spot! Aren't they to die for?! Have you heard the BIG news & have you had a chance to see all the newly released die templates? If not, please be sure to visit the Spellbinders Paper Arts blog for COMPLETE info - I think you will happy :)
Heidi Blankenship, one of the talented Spellbinders Blog Designers, was working her magic at the Spellbinders booth :)
Gina K. of Gina K. Designs was filming a session for Stamp TV at the Spellbinders™ booth:
In the center is Stamp Designer/Artist Nina Brackett. Click HERE so see some of her designs. Next to Nina is one of my Waltzingmouse Stamps Design Team-mates, Belinda Chang Langer.
Here are 2 of my former Design Team-mates from The Play Date Cafe: Julie Ranae (on your far left) & Lisa Somerville (center). Julie & I met through blogging early on & is the Owner/Administator of The Play Date Cafe.
I was fortunate enough to have a personal, one - on - one / spur of the moment tutorial of sorts by one of Ranger's Signature Artists, Suze Weinberg! Sue taught me how to get over my fear of working with wax - she made it look so easy & non-intimidating! sigh... :)
Another Ranger Signature Artist - THE Tim Holtz!
Downtown CHICAGO:
Spellbinders™ Design Team-mate, Owner of the on-line Embellish Magazine - Ashley Cannon Newell & I in front of "The Cloud Gate" aka "The Bean". (it's the metal statue behind us that looks like a big bean!) Ashley, her husband Mac, Scott & I spent an entire afternoon touring around Downtown Chicago. We had so much fun taking in the sights, eating some down home Chicago dogs & burgers along with an ice-cold beverage ;) at Portillo's, we barely made it to the train station to catch the Midnight train out of the city!
A closer view:
Sweet Scott :) on the Navy Pier with the cityscape in the background.
The Buckingham Fountain located in downtown Chicago on Lake Michigan's waterfront:
I hope you have enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed sharing them :) Thanks for looking!
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38 Sweet Comments So Far:
What a great time we had with you and Scott! So glad you made it to Chicago ... come back soon : )
Oh I so wish I could have went. Maybe again to the winter one. Looks like it was a blast!
OMG, Tim Holtz, are you kidding me!!!! I just screamed this aloud and Ben shot this strange look at me, he has no idea who Tim is!!!! I'm so jealous (giggles)
I'm glad that Scott got to experience this with you! Thanks for sharing,
Blessings,
Kim xXX
Sorry I missed you at the show! Looks like you had tons of fun and caught up with lots of friends!
Brilliant!! Thanks so much for sharing
Great pictures, Mona! Thanks so much for sharing! Wish I could have been there. It would have been an honor to meet you! Maybe someday??!!?!
Wow, looks like you had a fantastic time at CHA! Thanks for sharing your experience, Mona!
Love your CHA pictures! I'm so totally jealous! Maybe I can meet you at the Winter CHA in LA! Now that would be special!
Great photos, Mona! Thanks so much for sharing with us! It's my dream to attend CHA someday, maybe winter 2011? If you are there, I would just die if I could meet you! Hint hint! Thanks again!
CHA looks like a whirlwind of amazing friends and great products. HOw fun to meet everyone in person!
ohmy mona, looks like you had an awesome time! i love all the photos. wonderful people :)! i hope to meet tim holtz one day, hee hee. thank you for sharing your special experience with us! have a great day! *hugs* steph :)
OMG, I am so totally jealous of you Mona! You got to hug Tim Holtz? You are so lucky! That's it, I'm making plans for CHA LA right now! I would also love to meet you to! You do realize that you are my fav designer, don't you? Thanks for sharing your wonderful CHA experience with us! You rock, GF!
Looks like you had a fabulous time at CHA! Thanks for sharing the photos :)
Thanks so much for sharing your CHA photos! Looks like a great time!
WOWOWOW! It looks like you had a GREAT time!! And Scott went with you!! I don't think Trav would want to shop and look at craft items all day with me--LUCKY you! And lucky you to meet all these wonderful people:) ESP--the PDCC crew!! LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing the pics:)
I absolutely love your CHA pictures! Looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic pics, Mona. I'm so sad we didn't get the chance to meet...next time for sure! Thanks for sharing these wonderful memories.
Thanks for sharing all the great pics Mona! Looks amazing - I can't imagine to size and scope of it all! I'll defintely have to go some time.
How nice to meet all those folks in person - you've got wonderful pics of you all! Glad you're home safe and sound!
Great to meet you and Scott and CHA Mona!
Thanks for sharing all those fun photos from CHA!!! Looks like you had a fab time and got to meet lots of talented people in person!!! So cool!
Hey Mona! It looks like you had a blast in Chicago. I bet it was fun to finally meet your friends in person.
Great pictures, Mona! We're just now making it home. Had so much fun with you + Scott!
Awesome pictures, Mona! Love seeing beautiful Chicago! I wish I could have been there to meet you! Maybe next time!
Thanks for sharing all those great photos!! Sounds like you had tons of fun meeting up with old friends and new ones!
Love the photos! I'm so jealous that you got to meet Tim! Lucky girl!
Love the pictures! Wish I could have been there to meet all those inspiring people, like you! Thanks for sharing this with us!
Love these CHA photos! Thanks for putting these up and letting us see what it's like! You really are a cutie; I bet Tim Holtz was happy to take a photo with you!!! Looks like you had lots of fun! CHA is definitely on my future "to-do" list!
Happy fun pictures! Wish I could have gone! TFS!
hello Mona - it was so amazing to run into you at CHA. i had too many crafty things on the sun-burned brain and it took me awhile to put two and two together. ;) I had so much fun...!
Hi Mona! I am dying to see the CHA wonderful scenes that you took. Especially the Spellbinder section, I wish I have ALL of them..!! make more creative cards to share and inspire!!
Great pix, Mona! Chicago looks so beautiful! I'm really jealous you got to meet all those interesting people! :D
You lucky girl!!! These are so awesome! TFS!!!
Thanks for sharing these FAB pictures! The only pic missing was one of you and your husband who was such a GREAT husband for going to CHA with you!!! LOVE all the pics of you with the designers! Maybe next year.....SIGH!
Looks like you had tons of fun! I wish I could have gone. I hope to make it to the next CHA if not that one maybe the next. :)
What great pics Mona - how fun you got to see all of these great stampers I've read about!!
Looks like you had a fantastic time, Mona!! Someday I want to be at CHA too!!!
Haha, I thought I left a comment here... guess not. Glad you guys had a rocking time in Chicago and so glad we ran into each other!!! :) So fun to walk the floor with you!
Wow, Mona -- you DID get to see a lot of Chicago and the show! Great photos -- thanks for sharing what I didn't get to see while there!
Thank you so much for leaving a sweet comment!