Hello everyone!!  I’ve been back from CHA for a week today and I’m still tired!!  There was so much packed into the 4 days that I was there!! So lets get started!

Day One: Thursday, January 7th, 2016

I arrived in California at 10:30 am and I was ready to hit the ground running.  I had no clue what to expect or what this event would even look like but I was eager to learn.

I stayed at the Red Lion Hotel which was right across the street from the convention center.

The hotel was decent!!  I had two queens sizes beds all to myself!! The staff was very polite and the entire establishment was clean and inviting for my first impression.

The other bonus to this hotel was IHop!!  It was adjacent to the hotel.  I love pancakes!! I went in their for breakfast.  The palm trees cover up the IHop sign in the picture above, LOL!!!

While waiting for my food, I was startled by Suzanne from So Suzy Stamps!!  She found me in IHop!!  Talk about CIA mission, LOL!!!  It was the first time we’ve met after working with each other for over a year!!  How awesome is that.  Another bonus, was her mom was with her!!  Mama Denise!!!  Such a fantastic women.  We sat and ate breakfast together.

Once we were done with breakfast, we headed straight to the convention center.  It took us a minute to get inside, non of the the parking garages were open. We eventually found one and made our way in, not without a hiccup!  We were directed in one direction and it turned out it was wrong. We took our chances and walked through an open door where they were setting up a volleyball tournament.  Thank you, we were in!  LOL!

The front of the convention center.

The posted schedule for the show room floor

So the first thing you have to do one is pick up your badge and goody bag from the registration table.  (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that).

A bag full of stuff came with the registration but for now these are the most important items.  You need that badge to enter all of the events and the directory was my guide.  Now I can hit the ground running.

On Thursday and Friday, there’s classes and workshops.  The showroom floor didn’t open until Saturday so it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be.  Which was perfect for me since, this was my first time.  I can see and move around with no hassle.

Now let me just give you some info on my badge type.  I went to CHA as “Press”.  That means, my job is to report on the entire event.  Take pictures, blog about the event and spread the word.  In order to do that, all of the class and workshops were free for me to attend.  Now that means, I can only audit the classes.  I couldn’t actively participate, which was a bummer, but I made the best of it.  It was up to the instructors, to allow me to participate. Each class has a set amount of materials they prepared for each paid participate.  If they had extras and allowed me to play along then I did.  Despite all of that, I really enjoyed all of my classes.

First class: Beautiful Boxes sponsored by Brother International Corporation taught by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer from 2-4pm

I was super excited about this class because as all of you know, I have the Brother ScanNCut 2 and absolutely love it.  Plus I follow Julie on all of her social media outlets.  She is amazing and super knowledgeable.

This class was pretty full and the staff working the room were warm and friendly.

I sat to the back since I was press and didn’t want to take anyone space.  Believe me when I say all of the seats were taken.

I spoke to Tina who was the Marketing Manger for Brother and she gave me permission to periscope some of the class.  (I thought I set up my katch account properly but apparently I didn’t so I can’t link the videos here.  I’m upset about that.)

Julie, taught the class how to create two beautiful boxes while exploring all of the new features that the ScanNCut 2 has to offer.  Super cool and fun.  I learned a lot about my machine.

She also taught us how to create stamps and a stencil with the ScanNCut 2.  Take a look:

Totally amazing.  The possibilities of this machine is endless. Here are some of the new features she shared with us:

1. 300 DPI Built-in Scanner with RGB Recognition: the machine can read black and white and color just by a push of a button.
2. SVG Data Readability: All of those SVG files you currently have can be cut out with your ScanNCut 2.
3. ScanNCut Online: You can create something on your machine and save it to the Canvas and have access to it no matter where you go.
4. Stand-Alone:  You don’t need a computer hook up to use the machine.  You didn’t see any in the photo above.

These are just some of the features she talked about in class.  I truly enjoyed taking this class and learning all about my ScanNCut 2.

I would recommend this machine to everyone.  I love the fact that it can cut almost all of my stamped images.  (Remember to cut, the machine has to read closed lines.  So if you have an image that is whimsical with open lines, it might not read it.  Trail and error is the best way to see) No need for coordinating dies.

The sweetest part of this class was the end, when I was able to talk to Julie face to face.  Awesome.  She is full of life and energy.

I have to say I don’t like how I look in this photo, but who cares right!!  LOL!!!

Thanks Julie for this amazing class and thank you Tina for allowing me to walk the room and tape and take photos of the class.  I need to also thank the lady who let me sit over her shoulder to tape and photograph her projects. I didn’t get her name but just in case she happens to read this, Thank you!!

First class done √

Onto my first Seminar:

Hands-On Lab: Learn To Take Better Photos With Any Camera by Helen Bradley from 4-6pm

Since it was a seminar, I didn’t take photos because it was a very intimate class setting and I didn’t want to be rude.  I was invited to have a sit so I did.

We learned all about the cameras we are currently using.  How to set the camera up and take better photos.  I knew how to use my SLR prior to the class but she did give me some good pointers on the ISO, White Balance and working without a tripod.

After the class, I took a couple of photos at 10pm at night:

I use my Canon 70D Lens 50mm 1.4 f/stop:  I changed my ISO since I wasn’t using a tripod and it was super dark outside.

I was totally amazed and grateful for that lesson.  Can you believe these were take at night!! The camera is amazing and so was that seminar.

Before I left the convention, I stopped by the registration booth to ask some questions about the do’s and don’t as press and I ran into Jennifer Priest!!  Another young lady that I follow on different social media outlets.  This young lady is full and I mean full of information and she doesn’t mind sharing it.

Now this really isn’t a good picture of me but what the hectic!! I was in great company!

Thanks Jennifer!!!

Ok, folks, this was a long post but so worth it.  I will be back with the more CHA recaps.  I hope you enjoyed this post today!

If your on Instagram, you can see all of the photos I took by typing #kreativekymonacha2016 in the search bar.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

~Kymona