the preview of our new collections that will be released at the upcoming CHA trade show. I had lots of questions about the trade show so I thought I would give you a quick run down. The CHA trade show is not open to the public, only wholesale (people who own and operate store fronts and online shops). There are two craft shows a year that we exhibit - one in Winter and this one which is Summer. The summer show is always located in Rosemont, IL. I love this trade show because Chicago has become one of my favorite cities. I think it is a clean, beautiful city and I love, love, love the shopping on Michigan Avenue. Back to the show details - We pack great big giant crates with all of our catalogs, samples, demos, and booth and a big semi comes and picks up the crates and they get driven to the trade show. We then catch a plane (we leave Wednesday morning) and travel to the convention center. We go in before the stores and set up our booth. We do not take product to sell - it is all display that we then take orders. After the show is over we tear down the booth and ship it back home in the crate. When we arrive home all the orders are input and are shipped out to stores. If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them.

Now, for the really fun stuff. The official number of new patterned papers is 78 patterned papers. Our design department has been busy! We have a total of 14 new collections. Below is small sampling of our new release...

And these are going to be so fun! They are die cuts that you slip in your pictures, adorn with embellishments and they fold up to card size, 4.25x6.5.

So that gives you a good idea of our new products. What is your favorite?