What a journey it has been...12 years ago I attended my first Craft & Hobby Association trade show in Anaheim, California. I was there with Scrap n' Art Magazine working the floor as PRESS. I remember walking in and my mouth fell open with the sheer size and amount of vendors of every craft and hobby supply you can imagine. I can't believe I didn't take pictures of that moment. I was just standing there in awe. I was there for four days and only went down three aisles. I vowed I would come back, and I did every year (and when they had it, twice a year) for 12 years, until COVID 19. This January was the first show I missed in 12 years and I cannot tell you how much I miss everyone. It truly was the once a year event that refilled the soul bucket!
That first show in 2009 one of the days I was just exhausted and truly overwhelmed with 1000's of people all around me, so I wandered around the huge Convention Center to just find a place to get a few moment of peace and quiet by myself. As I wondered through the empty areas of the convention center, I heard a faint crying sound coming from a room, as I got closer I realized there was a woman that was sitting on the floor sobbing. I was trying to decide whether I should just leave her alone or say something. I am so glad that I decided to get her attention and ask her what was wrong. She told me her story, marriage and babies and all the loss she has had in her life. That was the start of an amazing friendship that I am so very grateful for with the beautiful Elena Etcheverry! And here we are this many years later and no more heartbreak, Devin is here and filling our lives with such joy!
Elena, my youngest daughter, Mariah and myself at the 2012 show. Elena is wearing a paper dress I created just for her for this show.
At {a vintage girl} we create chipboard albums elements, so when Elena invited me to make something special for Devins room, I had our amazing laser cutter, Robert Prince of Old Mans Hat Co. to create a Unicorn laser cut out of wood with dimensional elements. I started with painting it to primer it and kind of just got stuck right there. Life and lack of creativity got in the way! Until last night. I was cleaning up the craft room as I am determined to be creative again and I looked at this piece sitting on the windowsill for months and suddenly it came to me what I wanted to do. I had to make sure it was in my vintage style so it represented his Auntie properly. Then I looked around the room and seen the new Beacon Adhesives Glow In The Dark adhesive and said, hmmmm, that would be a fun addition. So I went to work on it.
I used DecoArt paints, Prima Marketing acrylic paints, art baubles and Finnabair waxes to give it the vintage look.
Thank you Elena Etcheverry and Devin for being such a wonderful part of my journey!