Craig Bachman Showroom Visit January 2013

Had to start this post off with an image we took from the plane window on our early morning visit to CBI. We left at 3:30 am from home and saw this beautiful sunrise just as we were landing in Atlanta for our connecting flight. It really made me think about where we all fit into the larger scheme of things......we all are so busy with our everyday tasks, businesses.....doing all those things that we have to do......but seeing this sunrise reminded me how blessed we are and how thankful we need to be everyday and we should try to keep in perspective what is important, really important. The Craig Bachman Imports showroom is a huge place and the employees there are so gracious and helpful. We enjoy every visit getting to meet more of them and seeing the some of the same faces each visit. We spent some time, more than once, with Craig and he was most interested in comments we had about the products. We told him about the Facebook post on the Trendy Tree page and he wanted to know about it all! One of the first things we talked about was the Navy Mesh. We're asked all the time, why we can't get Navy with foil so that was our first question and he explained it. The navy with navy foil had been tried, but the rolls came out too dark, almost black, so it just didn't work out. We were so disappointed, the navy has been so popular we just knew it would be ready for this season. He then asked if we had any suggestions.....so we looked at the foil options from his list and talked about the possibility of Navy with Royal Blue foil.....sounded like it might be a possibility since the Burgundy with Red Foil does so well for more of a crimson color. He said he would check into this and let us know. Before the end of the day.......we were given a SKU number for Navy with Royal Blue foil......and it's ordered!! I felt like if we hadn't accomplished anything else....this was worth it! New Christmas mesh styles for 2013 (arriving in June) will include some apple green color combinations, turquoise with fuchsia, black and lime just to name a few and some different textured mesh, a basket weave. Alabama fans......you're going to love this one.....and you can probably thank Herman, one of the CBI salesmen, from Georgia who has a fondness for anything Alabama or Georgia related))) This new mesh had a great feel, nice texture and the white is white. One thing we found out during our visit to CBI was that CBI mesh products use no recycled plastics in their mesh/foil colors. This adds to the color clarity and shades of their quality mesh. Another thing we discovered when we talked about mesh or ribbon having a short end or pieced together on a roll of ribbon was that this occurs when the machines have to be reloaded, which of course they do.....but Craig said anytime you have a roll in two pieces, you get extra length on that roll....whether it be mesh or a roll of wire edge ribbon that has been pieced together. So, that was good to know. The new Houndstooth Basketweave mesh will be stocked in 21", 10" and 4" at Trendy Tree. Speaking of Houndstooth, we also added a Houndstooth table topper, scarf, a Houndstooth ribbon with a glittered "A" on it and some elephant ornaments. And one of our favorites....the Houndstooth hat ornament will be back in stock. The basketweave will also be available in red/white; red/lime/apple; hot pink/black; cream/gold/silver; and lime/gold/apple. My goodness....I didn't realize we had gotten that many styles! We'll have it in several sizes too. Think we sort of leaned toward more of the 4" mesh this year versus the 2.5" ....it just seems to make more of a statement on wreaths than the 2.5" But we restocked many of the 2.5" too....we're not phasing it out or anything. There is a new version of the black and white stripe along with a version of black and white with a bit of red foil....and new Halloween styles. Bold striped mesh in brown/beige combination really got my attention. Purple/turquoise/fuchsia and a hot pink/turquoise/apple/lavender style.... A new version of red/white/blue. The previous one will still be available, but now also comes in a 10" width. Several new two tone styles will be coming in and they have names! Strawberry Cream....Purple Haze.... Pink Lemonade....Raspberry Lemonade....Bluegill.....Yellow Fire....Aquamarine.....Salmon Pink ....Periwinkle....Violet.....Copper Moss......wonder if we could talk Craig into doing a special color and naming it Trendy Tree! Can't wait to get some photos on the website! We spent an entire day in the "mesh room." You would think this would be a relatively simple thing to do, reorder mesh....but so many styles are available with new ones added each season.....and the assortment of products....you just can't imagine. Poly Burlap......colors we had this past season ALL were popular.....so we re-ordered almost all the colors we've had I believe and added In the Work Products, there is now a Metallic Chocolate Pencil Wreath that we'll be adding and one of the most exciting things is the 12" Work Ball. Doesn't look like a ball you say? Well....this is great news, it comes folded flat! This will be great for shipping and storage, all you have to do is stand it up, spread out the sections and places the little metal cap and press the edges down to hold the shape. These aren't great photos I know, but once they come in we'll do a picture tutorial at least and do a better job. They will be available in all the colors of the regular Pencil Wreaths and I also saw red, lime and silver or white in the regular Work style twist. We'll stock every color they make them in. There are two larger sizes, but due to the overall size once the mesh or other material is applied, felt like this would be the most popular size to stock. Not sure on the pricing yet as that had not been determined at the time of our visit. The Pencil Wreaths have a "new twist." One or possibly both ends of the twists will have an additional burst of sparkly tips that show once you have secured your mesh. Picks and sprays are not always easy to add to wreaths and this may cut down on the number your might need, or you might not need any at all. It will sure add some extra bling either way. They showed us how this Deco Poly Mesh poinsettia was made......and it looked easy enough))) We have the twists with balls used in the center coming in shortly. When they get here we'll get a tutorial done and post it. The ball twists are about a 6" piece of wired metallic tinsel with a ball attached to each end. You can use them to attach items....or just for decoration. There is a pinecone twist too. We have a couple of colors coming in along with a snowed pinecone style. Another new product that we really loved was Velvet Roping. It was a wired, lumpy, irregular roping about the same length as the Glamour Rope and about the same width. It will be available in several colors and we ordered them all! You can see the orange, blue and green in this photo. The yellow is a Glitter Glamour Rope that is already in stock. Here's another style of roping we have coming in. It's almost like a blanket material, also wired and in natural colors. Lots of natural looking burlap decorations again this year. Still more to come......but will have to wait until later)))