Gobble 'Til Ya Wobble Chalkboard Signs

It's almost turkey time!

Every year, I host Thanksgiving here at my house. Even though I am only cooking for 5 people, I make enough food for at least twice that so the saying "Gobble 'Til Ya Wobble" takes on real meaning this time of year!

I used the Deflecto wet-erase easels and chalk markers to make these fun Thanksgiving-themed easels showing my menu and my motto for the day.

I dressed up the first with some pretty ribbon from Webster's Pages and a cornucopia sticker that I mounted on chipboard.

On the second, I attached a little paper-pieced turkey on an embossed background and then put the whole thing on the chalkboard.

These easels are so cool -- the wooden legs are a beautiful wood and the chalkboard surface is a black plastic-like material that you can clean off with just water (which is great if you don't like your handwriting and you have to erase it a hundred times to make it look right... not that I would know anything about that). Those people at Deflecto are geniuses, I tell you!

I hope all of you have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Materials used:
Deflecto chalkboard easels and chalk markers (provided by Deflecto)
Ribbon by Webster's Pages
Adhesive by Thermoweb
Sticker unknown
Paper piecing -- this pattern came from an online source but I don't know where! If you know the creator of this pattern, let me know so I can attribute it to him/her! 

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. As a member of the Deflecto Design Team I have been provided product in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions.

CHA Winter 2011

The CHA Winter 2011 Conference and Trade Show is coming up!

CHA is where the newest crafting products and lines are debuted. Just thinking about all of that crafty goodness in one place makes me giddy!

You'll be giddy too when you look at some of the CHA sneak peeks. The wonderful Nancy Nally, publisher and editor of Scrapbook Update, has gathered a list of some of the many companies and the lines they will be debuting at CHA. You can see them here. Thanks, Nancy!

After looking at all of the sneak peeks, I can see some definite trends for the new lines:

• Vintage/retro - Lots of papers and embellishments that look straight out of the 1920's-1950's (with a couple of 70's thrown in!)
• Circus/carnival (mostly vintage/retro) - Just as long as we don't have to see lots of clowns. Clowns eat people.
• Pastel/muted colors

All of the new lines are wonderful. I can honestly say that I didn't see a dud in the bunch (and believe me, I have seen some duds in past CHA releases!). However, these are the things that stood out to me:

GCD Studios: Melody Ross "Soul Food" -- OK, this one comes with a disclaimer... I love everything that Melody Ross does. She could poop in a bag, put a little vintage bird on it, and I would buy it. Seriously. But even if I didn't have an overwhelming "scrap crush" on her, I would still love this collection. The colors and the retro ladies take me back to the late 70's, sitting in Calico Corner and looking at sewing pattern books with my mom. (That's a true story -- Calico Corner was our local fabric store & I loved going in there as a kid, just looking at patterns!)

Echo Park Paper: "For the Record" -- Love love love this line. I would buy it for that vintage typewriter alone.

Sassafras: "Paper Crush" -- Sassafras Lass (I can't help it... that used to be their name and I will always call them that!) can do no wrong in my book. Their papers and embellishments just make me happy. Love the border strips on the edge of the papers. Love the 2-sided paper (but it makes it hard to choose what side I want to use). And the little chubby cannon firing hearts made me say SQUEE!

Webster's Pages: "Spring Market" -- Oh. My. Goodness. This collection makes me want to plant a garden and make homemade jam. No lie. And the fabric flowers? Shut up. I am dying over here.

So what are your favorites? See anything that you will just have to buy when it hits the stores? What collections make you want to run the other way?