Linda Blair & Steve Go Dog Crazy!

Peek a boo we see you!

Many moons ago, I wrote about our friend, the fabulously talented and awesome animal activist - Linda Blair. She does amazing things to care for animals with her WorldHeart Foundation. Well I am pleased to say that the foundation/ranch has been going through some "dog house" improvements! Steve was on hand to help out. If you want to learn more about Linda and her efforts please visit her website: www.lindablairworldheart.com.

Steve will take two!Everyone is all smiles!

Home From Knoxville!

At The Expo

I had such a wonderful time in Knoxville - my trip was short, sweet and full of fun.

I arrived in TN at 10:00pm on Friday and was whisked to my hotel room by a lovely lad who is in an indie band called The Book Of Law - you can check out their myspace here: The Book Of Law.

I stayed at the Sheraton Cumberland House which is adjacent to the convention center and the UT campus. It is a beautiful hotel with a lovely staff. Anyone visiting Knoxville should stay here.... the beds are divine and the breakfast was delicious and reasonably priced.

I got to bed as early as possible - because I had to be up at 6:30am which was like 3:30am for me. I brought along some clear eyes to deal with the time change.

The convention was awesome. Loads of vendors, make-up, handmade items, good people and crafters. I also got to meet two very special fans of Creative Juice. They were both around 5 years old and so adorable. Future crafters!! I'll be posting all the projects in a 2nd blog post.

Demo Time

After my demo I explored the convention and spent some time hanging with the knoxmoms in their pretend garden area.

The Knox Moms were so sweet and helpful. Their website is loaded with info and meet-ups for Moms in the Knoxville area. You can check out their website here: www.knoxmoms.com. Their booth was awesome! It was filled with activities for kids, the zoo had a small section and they had face paintings complete with knoxmoms temporary tattoos.

The Knox Moms

As I was exploring the convention, I discovered lots of great crafty vendors, kids services and inventors in the Knoxville area. Check out the cool companies below.

Barnes and Noble with the Creative Juice Book Display!

CHA Day 2 - Crafty Peeps

CHA Day 1 - Crafty Peeps

Cathie Filian, Susan Beal, Steve Piacenza

The lovely Susan Beal popped by and we got a peek at her new book, Bead Simple! The book is due out late March. Visit her blog to get all the scoop: Bead Simple Blog

Lots of great crafters stopped by to make Luminaries!

Steve Piacenza, Crafty Chica, Cathie Filian

We stole a moment to visit with our pal Kathy aka Crafty Chica.
Her new line was unveiled and boy does it look cool. I can see it now....mini shrines, goddess and glitter protecting all us crafters. Stay tuned to all things Crafty Chica by visiting her website: Crafty Chica

Home from CHA

We just returned home from the CHA convention and we are dog tired. My voice is shot, I can only whisper and I have spent the last day and a half in bed with a 101 fever - I guess I caught the flu that is going around.

The Plaid booth was hopping with fun! The days were packed full with crafts, we did 3 mornings of "make and takes" with Mod Podge and the afternoons were a crafty free for all - haha. We were thrilled to get to meet the fabulous Donna Dewberry, watching her paint is truly magical. Did you know her son is following in her footsteps? I'll give you the full scoop later.

Don't fret if you could not attend, you can still get in on the crafty action....I'll be posting pictures of the projects we made plus, pics of new products, peeps we met, and links to crafty shops.

All our goodies packed and ready to go the CHA.

The massive Plaid booth - redesigned for 2008!

The fabulous "Pink Ladies" of Plaid!

Our section of the booth.

All ready to go!

Get Crafty With US at CHA!

We are almost set for a few wild days of mod podge, glitter, paint, tons of laughs and creativity. Steve and I will be demonstrating the hottest new products from plaid as well as 4 different "Make and Takes."

If you are attending CHA, join in the fun and stop by the Plaid booth (#3117)! Don't worry of you can not attend...you can still get in on all the action! We will be blogging the entire adventure, complete with project pics, instructions and behind the scenes mini videos.

Stop by introduce yourself! Snap a pic with us and you might end up on our blog!

The mornings are dedicated to our classic craft favorite...Mod Podge! Sunday we will be making mini luminaries and on display will be luminaries with a vintage Vogue vibe. Monday morning we will be experimenting with the newest members of the Mod Podge family...holographic glitter, shimmer and glow in the dark to create personalized hangers. Tuesday is all about the bling! We are crafting some easy to make pendant necklaces. All the projects are quick & easy and tiny enough to pack in your suitcase.

Afternoons are all about exploring new products and ideas. On Sunday we are putting a modern spin on gallery glass with some cutting edge techniques for making art. On Monday we are designing some fabulous ideas for kids using Chalkboard Paint! This paint is amazing and the colors rock! Our sewing machine will be on hand and you can see us sew through some of the ideas. Tuesday we are stamping up an easy idea for creating pins that have a vintage feel and a modern look. The secret? The hot new cork stamps! They create the most beautiful impression. We have a ton of fabric choices, so stop by and make your own.

Please stop by the booth or the blog and join in the fun!

Cathie

Day 1 in Las Vegas

Well last night was great fun! We met with some guys from Warner Bros at TheHotel and sipped a bit of wine ($17 per glass - no joke). We also met a great guy who gave us some invaluable tips on creating promos and presentations. I showed him our presentation for our shows and he loved it! I was so thrilled that it passed his inspection because he is a veteran in Hollywood.

Joined at the head and hip.

We played the penny slots and I lost $10! Not bad considering I am not a gambler. Then - I mistook a $5 slot machine for a nickel slot and lost $20 in 20 seconds. Must quit gambling now!

The conference went well - we made some solid connections and got reacquainted with some folks that we had not worked with for awhile. I don't want to give away too much - But - I smell football and my hubby will be happy about that. :) Details soon.

Emeril was all smiles!

Oh Dolly!

Yummy Lunch at the Border Grill!
We are huge fans of Mary Sue and Susan! LOVE THEM

Waiting for our talk show seminar with Sally Jessy Raphael, funny man Tom Green, Jim Paratore the executive producer of TMZ, Talk show legends Burt Dubrow and Woody Frazier and Terry Wood from CBS.

Getting Sleepy

Back at the room, ready for a little
Jeopardy, snacks and Idol.

Getting Crafty with Plaid!

Hump day! Steve and I have so much to do...we are burning dvd's, making press kits and getting crafty as fast as we can. We are getting ready for a huge tv conference in Las Vegas and then CHA (the largest craft convention for manufacturers and retailers) in early February.



We are so excited because we love Plaid products; mod podge, folk art paint, stiffy, gallery glass, the list goes on and on and we have just inked a deal to do "make and takes" and craft project demos in the Plaid booth for the winter CHA!

The UPS trucks have been delivering boxes of fabulous new Plaid products for us to play with. Some products are so hot of the press that they don't even have their labels yet! Love it :)


Cork stamps! They make the most beautiful aged impressions - perfect for altering clothes. We will be making the stamped flower pins on the show floor and will have 7 different projects on display; everything from a "rocker inspired" reverse appliquéd hoodie to a glam gold purse.


Multicolor Chalkboard Paints! I started playing with them yesterday, they go on so smooth and the colors are rich. We are going to using them on Fredrix Sew Paintable. So far the testing looks really good.


Mod Podge Galore! Glow in the dark, shimmers and glitters!!! I can't wait to dip my brush into them. I know Steve is probably thinking up some glow in the dark robot art.


Gallery Glass! This product has been around forever and it is so amazing for making faux stained glass. Well, we are putting our own modern spin on stained glass windows and going arty! This one is called Hollywood Recycled. The painting of Liz Taylor is made with black onyx gallery glass, old magazine pages, yellow tablet paper, bubble wrap and shocking green felt. We will have 12 different designs in total.

I am sure Steve will be pulling up any minute - must go get a quick walk in with Mr. Max. Have a super crafty day.

Cathie

New Years Eve Party Ideas

New Year's Eve is just around the corner and that means it is time to celebrate!
 This youtube video is from a Party segment I did on NBC's IVillage Live.

Join us at the Holiday Tree Lighting in LA

Join us at the Holiday Tree Lighting in Los Angeles!

Steve has been as busy as Santa's elves getting ready for the tree lighting! Gathering strands of lights, stringing them together and even developing a few clever ideas for hanging giant ornaments.

The lighting ceremony will take place on Thursday, December 6. The tree is located on Glendale Avenue in the heart of Atwater Village near the base of Griffith Park. You can't miss the 50ft height! The festivities kick off with the Wells Fargo Holiday Festival at 6:30 pm. Wells Fargo is located at 3250 Glendale Boulevard.

The festivities will include children's singing and dance groups and the Tam O'Shanter Singers! Catherine Dent from "The Shield" as well as Council President Eric Garcetti and Council Member Tom LeBounge will also be showing off their holiday spirit.

At 8:00 you can expect a very special guest.
Santa himself will be arriving via Fire Truck.
So bring the kids and a little holiday cheer!

If you are in the neighborhood - swing on by!
Cathie Filian & Steve Piacenza

This event is sponsered by: ATWATER GRIFFITH PARK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Press: Apparance Good Day Tulsa

Next we were off to Good Day Tulsa. The host, Kirsten Dickerson, was so sweet and fun to work with. On the show I made flower glazed brie and a green salad with flowers, honey glazed walnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette. Steve made flower printed napkins by using a mallet and pansy petals.

Setting up for Good Day Tulsa.
(My cousin Mikey came along with us...she was an awesome assistant.)

Flower Salad - so beautiful.

This is a party favorite! People go crazy for the flower glazed brie.

DePaul Book Signing!

We had such a great time at DePaul! We met some lovely CJ watchers. One gal (Dawn?)makes the cutesiest Little Kiddle jewelry. Her earring were so adorable...she said she will start selling on etsy soon. I know I will getting a pair of her earrings. :)

We met tons of kids! Everyone choose their own kooky kritter supplies and took home bottles of Mod Podge!





This young fella has been working on our disco ball project!





Chicago was so fun....The best part was getting to see all of Steve's family! xoxoxoxo


After the signing we had delicious appetizers and cocktails with comcast at The Chicago Firehouse restaurant. They were comcastic!



We still had a little energy so we headed to the CUBS game! Check out all the people on the roof. We did not actually go in the game we went to the famous "Cubby Bears"




I am still tired from Chicago! Tomorrow morning I fly to Tulsa, Oklahoma for my Grandmother"s 99th birthday and a book signing at Barnes and Noble on August 9th at 7:00pm. The best part about the Tulsa trip is that my hubby will be joining me and I get to see my family! YEA!