You may have noticed I’ve been a little quiet of late as January and February are really busy times in the Craft industry for trade shows. I was however lucky enough to travel to Phoenix, Arizona in January for the Creativation (CHA) trade show.

I arrived in Phoenix to some gorgeous weather, it was so nice to see some sunshine, below are some pictures from my trip.

We stayed at the Kimpton Palomar (on the right) a great little hotel in downtown Phoenix and really close to the conference centre and all the local sights.

Food featured heavily during the trip, here is my giant breakfast burritos from the Breakfast club next to the hotel, their portions are huge but so yummy & yes I managed to eat all this!

I recommend a trip to the Japanese friendship garden if not just to feel the Koi Carp, they wait by the side of the lake for you to come and feed them, then they go mad, climbing over each other for some dinner.

I was lucky enough to get free entry to the Phoenix Art Museum, If you go after 3pm on a Wednesday. the top image shows the remains of a burnt church and shows how something amazing can come from the ruins. The bottom image is a Georgia O’Keeffe, one of my favourite artists it was great to see her work close up.

Phoenix also has some great art dotted around the local area, I loved these colourful bikes and the quirky ducks in a row plaque.

Another firm favourite for breakfast was the Kaleidoscope Juice cafe these blueberry pancakes were a dream, especially with the whipped coconut cream.

 We had an amazing meal at Crudo, an Italian on the way to Scottsdale. These were the crispy pigs ears, I had to try them and they were delicious.

I only took this one picture of the Trimcraft stand, here are some MDF letters I Deco Mache for the display. I was a great show, very tiring especially with jet lag but lovely to meet so many new customers and catch up with old friends.

The final highlight of the trip was being upgraded to business class on the flight home, after 5 days building and working on the stand it was amazing to be treated to some luxury on the journey home and to be able to lie down in my comfy flat-bed for a good nights sleep, bliss!

I hope you enjoyed my photos from Phoenix, I loved my time there and can’t wait to go back. I’m off to Dallas in a few weeks so watch this space for some more photos.

Love Claire x