Well a big hug goes out to all the people of Paris Ontario and the GTA for showing up for the 3rd annual Canadian Scrapbook Expo this Friday night and Saturday. It was lots of fun!

Although the weather was horrible on Friday, rain and cold, and we got lost on the way to the show…(not the first time)  we still managed to have a great show and meet some wonderful people.

Some comments…

I can see where the #1 need in the industry is still good ideas since I noticed that many people stayed 15 minutes or longer in our booth just soaking up all the projects and ideas that we had on display. Someone asked me if we sold idea books and I said "what for? you can get all our ideas online for free!"  I’m a firm believer in supplying the consumer with inspiration and a little tug creatively to get them going. One thing people need to remember, it’s supposed to be fun! Do what you want, don’t get bogged down with other people’s ideas about what is "in" and what isn’t. It’s your album or page, make it your own. In the end it’ll be you and your family looking at the album, not the trendy magazines.

I got several great ideas by just talking to people and getting their take on what they’ve done with my products or how they would have finished a page. What a breath of fresh air to have someone willing to share their ideas openly….so unlike most Trade Shows I have attended where the competition is so fierce people get sweaty if you even walk near their booths let alone inside if you’re not a buyer. 

One sad thing I realized at the show was that so many retailers are still not carrying the Bisous products around the area where I live. Many consumers complained that they were unable to buy them at their local stores. Hopefully some of the retailers I met at the show will remedy this as there is an obvious demand that is not yet being met.

I may be reconsidering at some time in the future the possibility of teaching again. Many students that I had in my class years before kept telling me how much they enjoyed it and one lady even said she’d made the exact same pages I’d taught in my class for 4 other grandchildren!  The same pages 4 times! Now she must be able to make those pages in her sleep. : P So, we’ll see if in the future I may be able to squeeze some teaching time back in.  Just the fact that all those students went out of their way to come and see me and let me know how much they missed the classes really made my day.

Other than that it was a great show and I am looking forward to the next one in a mere 2 weeks in Ottawa…yikes!  Hope to see you there!

I don’t know how on earth I forgot to mention this…

Anyhow, we went to this little vegetarian place in the Upper East Side called the Candle Cafe or something. It was supposed to be good. It looks like nothing from the outside and inside it’s just "okay". Didn’t matter, we’d come for the food. So after we’d ordered we were sitting there and 2 women come in and sit at the table across from us.  I didn’t notice anything but Robert was quick to say he thought that the one woman looked just like Paige the host from Trading Spaces. Now, a little note here, my husband has had a crush on Paige forever, so I wasn’t surprised when he was the one to notice.  I wasn’t 100% sure at first, but as soon as I heard her talking, yep, it was her.  I tried to convince my husband to go over and ask for a photo but he was too shy, and red. He kept blaming it on the poor air conditioning of the restaurant, but I think his hormones might have been jumping around a bit.  She looks exactly like she did on the TV. Don’t know if she has a new show going now or not. No one else at the place recognized her.

Last time we were in NYC we ran into Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts when we were in a lingerie store in Soho.  Kind of weird to be picking out bras and panties with the likes of them.  I felt like a midget elephant when standing next to Nicole!  Needless to say, I wasn’t trying anything on when they were there. Didn’t know if a gang of photo freaks might be hot on their heels and then in the back of the photo that gets published I can hear everyone saying, "who’s that fat chick sticking her head in behind Nicoles?" The worst part would be when the reply came back, "that’s not her head!"