The One with PaperWorld 2015

Last weekend I had the fun opportunity to drive up to Frankfurt and work at the American Crafts booth! PaperWorld is like a European version of CHA, and since I have missed going to CHA like what, this was so good for my soul :)

My original plan was to wake up at 4am, get to Tina's house by 8am, and then arrive at the show by 9am to help set up. When I woke up at 4am and looked outside there was a crazy blizzard going on. I texted Tina, told her I didn't want to risk my life and hoped the AC people would understand, then went back to sleep for a couple hours. It was still snowing like crazy when I left at 7:30am, but it lessened as the drive went on.

Würzburg, especially the Marienberg Fortress, looked particularly pretty all lit up by the rising sun.

I arrived around 10:30am and parked veeeeery far away from where I needed to be, cuz I didn't know where I needed to be. Every day I ended up taking a picture of my parking spot so I wouldn't forget where I parked. Usually I rely on Chris to remember those kinds of details, but since I was solo and learned after the 1st day when I lost my car, I learned quickly to remember!

I hopped on the show shuttle bus. And got off too early. But it all worked out.

The Messe Tower.

Goin' on in to the convention.

I met up with Tina and Miera and the AC people and we got to work! It was a fun... challenge :) We were sent 6 boxes of Mayberry (remember that line from like 3 years ago?) and not much of the new stuff. But, we made it work and the booth looked great!

Happy girl cuz this was the first time I laid eyes on and physically handled the new collections.

The next morning I ate some frosted mini wheats with soy milk. Tina and her family are vegan and she's taught me a lot of things about this way of life.

The snow caught up to Frankfurt.

Bündingen looked so lovely all blanketed in snow.

Why does everything look so much prettier powdered in white?

When I walked into the convention center it looked like a whole different place with all of the carpets rolled out, lights lit, and booths completely decorated. Of course the AC booth was my favorite :)

My job was to demonstrate the new Minc machine. It's basically a "glaminator" - or glorified laminator, and it applies foil onto toner. So you can even snazz up order forms and spreadsheets!

Way cool.

I wish I had recorded everyone's "oooooh!" face and reaction as they lifted up the plastic sheet revealing their beautified quote. It would have made an excellent mashed up video.

And then friends came to visit!

So fun to finally meet Felicitas in person!

One of the days I walked around and saw some of the show.

String art.

The docrafts booth. I've been doing some projects for them here and there and it was fun to see the new collections.

One morning I stopped at the bridge to take some pictures of Frankfurt. 

Not even this bridge can escape the locks of love.

Did you know: Frankfurt is one of only a few cities in the European Union that has skyscrapers and is nicknamed "Mainhattan" - a portmanteau of the local Main River and Manhattan. I love the juxtaposition of old and new. 
Hey there pigeon!

The Main River.

My last night working at the show I drove us into the old town so we could eat dinner. I can't wait to go back to Frankfurt with Chris and the kids and see this during the day, I'm sure it's spectacular!

My last morning I stopped at the Scrapbook Werkstatt warehouse to buy some scrap supplies. Cuz I don't have enough haha. Seriously my version of heaven! I could spend all day here :)

It was a super great show, I met a lot of interesting people from all over the world (and swapped travel stories which was really fun!), and hopefully some new workshops are in the works!