One knew I was coming to see her........
(Melissa Francis and me at her booth. I'll tell you all about it in tomorrow's post!)
The other.....well, let's just say had she known how badly I wanted to see her, she probably could have legally taken out a restraining order on me. As you can see from the picture below, thankfully, she didn't take court issued measures........
Ok....this is how it all happened. Because, as you know, nothing is a simple uncomplicated story with me.
Monday morning started out as any normal morning should. There was nothing in the air that would indicate that I was going to intersect with a dream come true. I put on my walking shoes and packed my bag with chapstick, water, band aids and a simple wish.......to meet Carol Duvall. I had it on good authority that she was at the Crafty Chica's booth on Sunday. According Kathy Cano-Murillo's Facebook page, she sat and talked with her for awhile. That was as good as gold in my book. I told everybody that I knew, plus people that I didn't know, my only goal at CHA was to meet reigning Queen of Crafts. Oh sure, there were going to be some new-fangled craft celebrities there. But I wanted to meet the person responsible for paving the path of the craft resurgence. The person who was fashioning bottle cap projects before it was hip or cool. I wanted to meet Caroll Duvall.
Let me just back track a bit so I can explain why Carol Duvall is so special to me. Back when I was a little girl watching my tv with three channels and an antenna, and HGTV was a faraway fantasy that was on par with flying cars and colonies on mars, Carol Duvall would light up my screen demonstrating a craft or two at her little desk. She was just excited as I would be fashioning things out of paper and basic household items. With a little bit of glue and ingenuity she was able to fashion a paperclip, egg carton and a piece of string into a work of art. She was recycling and reusing before it was hip. Genius.
When she went to the Home Show I followed. When she was hosting her show on HGTV, I had a front row seat. She was like the neighbor next door who came over to have coffee with you. She exuded a warmth and excitement over craft projects that made you feel like your love of felt and paint made sense. Every guest she brought out inevitably led me down a path of new ideas and techniques. Let's be honest here, Mary O'Neil of Hot Potatoes is solely responsible for the resurgence of velvet in the mid 90's with her heat stamping technique. And who didn't make a little purse out of cigar box because of her show. Her guests made me believe that maybe, just maybe, I could do what I loved for a living.
So after wandering around CHA all day with Michelle, Helle and Randi keeping one eye open for a Carol spotting and the other eye on things like...........
Martha Stewart glitter!
Webster Pages booth with the owner designer extraordinaire Brandin. I'm going to do a whole post on this later!
Meeting up with Diane and her daughter from Melrose Vintage. After gushing and fawning all over Diane telling her how much I love Melrose Vintage, how I want to go see it in person.....blah, blah, blah....she reminds me that she knows me from Paper Tales and reads my blog. ACK! She reads my blog! The day just keeps getting better!
My badge. I kept looking at it to make sure I was really there.......
Here's Randi doing a "make and take." Or, as my friend Gail says "take and bake"........
These stamps by EK were great because of the way the stood up for storing.....
The Melissa Francis booth. The new stuff is great. Can't wait to get my hands on it. (More pictures tomorrow).....
While Michelle was doing actual work like buying product and talking to reps, I would wander away looking at all the product, people and creativity that was contained in one large building.
The day flew by in a flash and before we knew it, the May Art's ribbon rep was gently explaining that they were going to close the booth while we furiously kept writing stock numbers down for our favorite ribbon.
Of course, I lamented about not getting to see Carol on the way out, all the way up to Michelle's room, and to Debbie Schuh when she joined us later in the room. Sniff, sniff, boo hoo, whaaaaa...I didn't see Carol. At that point, I seriously was going to take Michelle up on her offer to stay overnight. Unfortunately I had to get home and realized that there was always next year.
A half an hour later Michelle, Debbie, Randi and I met up with Diane and her daughter and a few other people to meet for dinner. We tossed around a few restaurant ideas finally deciding on The Cheesecake Factory......
Where apparently some genius thought it was a good idea to list the calories on the name card......which is just wrong on so many different levels.....
Anyway, as the other's were finishing drinks and heading back upstairs for warmer coats, I steered my group to the parking garage so we could head over to the restaurant and secure a table. Almost to the van, I answer my phone to Michelle who is demanding to know where I am. Thinking they changed their minds on where to eat, I briefly contemplate saying I'm at the Cheesecake Factory ordering the Chicken Marsala that I'm craving. Instead, I say, "I'm in the garage."
"Well you need to get back up here because Carol Duvall is standing outside the restaurant waiting to be seated!!!!" Apparently my incessant whining to Debbie paid off. While the others in the group were chatting away, Debbie's eagle eye spotted Carol across the lobby.
I stood there as if a big huge purple genie popped out of a bottle and granted my wish.
I did an immediate about face and ran back to the elevator to meet up with my group in the lobby. We rushed back to where we were standing just mere moments ago discussing meal options while I frantically looked for Carol.
I looked at Michelle who pointed across the room toward Carol Duvall. There she stood.......innocently waiting with her friends to be seated for dinner. Unaware of the chaos that was about to befall her and her group in a few seconds. As I approached her, I swear I saw a couple of angels hovering above her head.....or, maybe it was just my imagination.....
Nevertheless, this was my one and only chance to profess my love and admiration for my idol. So I did what any crazed nut job fan would do.....I went up to her blubbering on and on and on about "watching you forever"......"little project desk in Detroit"....."queen of crafts"......"wish you would have never left HGTV"...."oh, you didn't leave?"...."HGTV is an idiot" ...."will you take me home with you"......
At this point my whole group descended up her taking pictures and talking a mile a minute.....
As if my dream hadn't been realized right then and there. As if meeting Carol Duvall wasn't enough of a slice of heaven for me. I hear a familiar southern drawl that pinged back and forth in my head......OMG!!! It's Mary O'Neil from Hot Potatoes! Again, I start blubbering "Stamps"....."Velvet"....."I watched you all the time!"...."please take me home with you."........
The entire group from Carol, to Mary, to Carol's longtime producer Kelly Ehrlich could not have been more gracious, patient and kind to us. Where some people may have called security (with good reason I might add), they were nothing but warm and friendly to our crazy little group.
At one point I turned to Michelle with tears in my eyes while she was taking a picture of me and Carol, and told her I was about to cry.
It was such a perfect way to end a great trip. So as you can see dreams do come true!
