The Suit Lives On . . .

Last week was “Convention Week” in these parts.  In the store, we call it the “Stamping Gala” – I used to simply refer to it as “Stampaway Week” until Connie Williams reminded me that she had copyrighted “Stampaway”.  Regardless, it’s a fun, exhausting week – especially this year, when it’s the second of four consecutive weekends of shows.

Most of these random observations and photos are related to the show portion of the week – I was in “convention mode” all week so I barely made it into the store . . .

We had a ball with Cheryl Darrow back for a visit right after her winning performance on Craft Wars on TLC.  She got to do a segment on “Fox 45 in the Morning” on the local Fox affiliate, and one of the local newspapers sent a reporter to do a story in an upcoming edition.  I thought the pic on the left was fantastic, but I didn’t understand the purpose of the sign Cheryl was holding until she explained it while we were setting up the booth later in the week.  “GAZR” is Cheryl’s “tagger” name – she says if she ever starts spray painting art on the myriad of overpasses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, that’s the name she’ll use.  So we decided to go ahead and take the mug shots so she’ll be ready to go when she is arrested . . .

During the show, we had three demos drawing crowds in our booth.  Sue Rothamel from USArtQuest, and Cheryl Darrow from Ten Seconds Studio were on the ends.  They were the “national” drawing cards, but there was also a local flavor in-between . . .

 

Kathy and Mike Saul from Zoom Creative Products in Maineville (just a short drive from both our store and the Sharonville Convention Center) were in the booth demoing their Glitter-Fast glitter products (the kind that don’t stick to you after you’re finished) – and their daughter Maddy came along for the fun and spent most of the day seated between Mom and Dad helping with the demos.

But as usual, most of the interest on Friday night centered around the costume theme.  This year, it was “Prom Night” – and since Karen hid behind Tammie when the group shot was taken (not really, but it looks that way), I was forced to include this “snacking” photo so you can see her formal . . .

A lot of outfits came complete with “Prom Queen” sashes . . .

This was the best shot I could get of the group that was my choice for best vendor costumes – Ted Cutts and his compadres from Art Gone Wild/Inky Antics/Stampers Anonymous/Darcie’s Country Folk went to the prom as hillbillies.  For those of you who know that Ted is not as tall as he seems in that picture, I offer this shot of the reason why.  I told them later that I would have titled their entry “The Munsters Go to the Prom” . . .

As usual, best customer costumes went to the Dauber Sisters from Christy’s Main Street Memories.  As much as customers look forward to our costumes, I look forward to theirs . . .

And then there was my outfit.  I know that I disappointed a lot of customers who assumed from past years’ offerings that I would wear a strapless formal.  Not this time – as soon as the theme was announced, I knew what I was wearing.  Unlike other years, which required a trip to the costume shop or some special planning, everything I needed for a trip into the Wayback Machine was already in the back corner of my closet . . .

 

Except the pictures, which required an evening going through old photo albums.  These are not the pictures that were found in the album – all of the color except red and black had faded out of them.  Thankfully, the negatives were still available – but the photo labs don’t make prints from negatives anymore (they have to scan them into a computer and then print them).  I guess that’s what happens after 34 years – these pictures were taken in 1978 (I was a college sophomore then, but was still attending high school dances).  And this was my favorite denim suit – with wide lapels, gold piping, and elephant legs.  Even though the lime green leisure suit and all other things ‘70s were thrown away long ago, I couldn’t bring myself to part with it, even though it went out of style 30+ years ago.  The only other time it has seen the light of day was at my 25-year high school reunion eleven years ago.

Even though I put a sign in the booth showing the old pictures, I heard the same question from a lot of customers -- “Where did you find another suit like that one?”

Ironically, I did have to find a ruffled shirt and bow tie this time – in 1978, it was my fourth prom and I decided to just wear a shirt and tie.  But 34 years later, I decided that if I was going to do a retro prom night, it needed to be as ‘70s as possible.

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Two unrelated pieces of information . . .

If you haven’t met Joe Rotella before, come to our booth in Novi, Michigan this weekend and you will be amazed at his warmth and his talent.  He will be sitting in for Sue Rothamel in the USArtQuest portion of our booth while she is preparing for an appearance at 12:00 noon EDT on Monday, August 13 at Cool2Craft.com.  Get to know Joe now – so you can say “I knew him when” after he is a star in the crafting industry.

And this is Carol Hayhurst – she and I had a nice conversation at the show Saturday that started with her asking how Zoe was doing.  I found out that she lost her beloved Great Dane not long ago – she patrolled Carol’s huge farm near Cambridge, Ohio.  And she has tried to find a female Great Dane puppy (not necessarily purebred) ever since – without success.  So I told her I would put a note on the blog – if you have or know of someone who has a puppy for this nice lady, please send her an e-mail to hayhurst@frontier.net – thanks!