A couple of weeks ago I could not tell you what HOOT stood for but I got it now!  It stands for Heart of Ohio Tole which is a decorative painters show in Columbus, Ohio.  The show is full of paint brushes, DECOART products, stencils, patterns, surfaces, and a TON more!  I had the pleasure of attending and demonstrating at the DecoArt Booth as the Education Coordinator!From setup to tear down there is a lot of work in these shows.   We are lucky to partner with awesome distributors who I have gotten to know over a few shows and just adore working with them all.  I have said from Day 1 that DecoArt is a team and what a powerhouse team it is!  Here are just some of the photos from the booth……

It takes a team to put together a show and I am so proud of the ladies not only at our booth but our partnering distributors….Team DecoArt! (Sandy, Tracy, Micaela, and Rosemary)

One thing I LOVED about this show was the offer to teach FREE 1-hour demonstrations.  Rosemary signed me up for 2 and Micaela taught the second one.  (We both did not like her for that initially but she was right…don’t tell her that).  This is a great opportunity for manufacturers and vendors to have a FREE venue to share what is the latest and greatest!  I needed more TIME and loved every minute of it once I got going!  AND……the feedback we got was great from each of our FULL demonstrations!  We thank you for spending that hour with us and in my case I got those who did both of mine!  I hope to see other organizations with this shows adopt this format.

Here are the two 12 X 12 wood panels I painted in my demonstrations…

Trade shows like this also give me the opportunity to meet like-minded passionate people such as myself and when times get slow on the trade show floor I like to stir things up and everyone loves giveaways.  I woke Rosemary Reynolds right up when we had a lull in the action and asked her to gather some pieces of paper and she went right along and indulged my craziness (It is great to work with people who just trust you and let you fly with their idea to strum things up).  We gave out some great prizes form the DecoArt booth AND other vendors in our aisle just joined right in and donated prizes.  The 100 row at HOOT rocked it and I know everyone appreciated it.  By the shout outs and screams on the floor the lull with short lived in.  It is about bringing the fun in!

Last but not least these shows are about collaborating and working finding those you admire from a long-standing profession who want to paint right long with you!  Special thanks to the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) President Andrej Suskavcevic (who for the record has a harder name than I do!) for stopping by and taking the time to paint with me (I know he has been wanting to collaborate with me just by the look in his eyes)!  What a powerhouse collaboration between his suit and my apron.  I think I may have to paint him a personalized apron for the next show.  I am sure just by the looks and grins he was giving that this is another powerhouse collaboration in the works so stay tuned….his people need to talk to my people, you know how it is:  

I leave you with this slide show of photos HERE.  Lots of smiles, happy vendors and attendees.

I invite my craft & hobby vendors and attendees to look in to look into these Decorative Painter Shows.  So much to learn as we merge and see where the industry takes us.  Here are a few shows to check out:

• New England Traditions – October 9-11, 2015
• World of Color Expo – November 2-7, 2015
• Creative Painting – Las Vegas – February 28-March 4, 2016
• Society of Decorative Painters Convention – San Diego, CA – June 6-11, 2016
• Heart of Ohio Tole Show – August 2016

Contact me if you would like more information.  Team DecoArt is working hard to bring our products and Education to you!  As Education Coordinator I take that seriously and always interested in your ideas too!  Now time to rest my voice and rest……I leave everything at the Show including my voice!  It was worth it!  Stay tuned in the next couple of days for more fun from the Show!

Letting go of control multiplies the potential for gratitude. – Sometimes we put too much weight into trying to control every tiny aspect of our lives that we completely miss the forest for the trees. Learn to let go, relax a bit and ride the path that life takes you sometimes.  Try something new, be fearless, but above all else, do your best and be OK with it.  Clearing yourself of needless expectations lets you truly experience the unexpected.  And the greatest joys in life are often the unexpected surprises and opportunities you never anticipated.”