Yes, I am going out of order :) Here's what I thought was HOT, what the trends of the show were.
DIY and Customization were in! Here's what caught my eye:
Custom stamps— I took a certification class with Photocentric, the makers of the Teresa Collins Stampmaker, on Sunday before the show and learned a ton! Not only can this machine create custom stamps from just about anything (including from diecuts), it can create stencils and embossing folders. It is on the forefront of the new “customization” trend. Here's a stamp we created in the class:
Epiphany Crafts had a strong show with even more new products to add to their line of custom button and epoxy tools. Rings, metal settings, charm settings, and new shapes were a HIT at the show!! I heard so many people talking about them, especially jewelry artists.
Dyeing and fabric also hit the booths. Lots of diecut and natural canvas pieces were available for you to ink, stamp, and mist to custom match your project. Tools for this, like masks were a BIG hit too — Prima, Crafter's Workshop, Hampton Art, and Pink Paislee all released new stencils and masks for use with spray inks, paint, and more to create custom patterns on any surface.
Resin and Metal Shapes by Prima–paint ink, dye them whatever colors you want. The designers really showed any kind of media you could dream on these babies. I ordered the metal birdcages and the resin birds so we'll be using them in a class soon!!
Make it Yourself Jewelry – The Ruby Violet line by Prima is all about jewelry pieces you can mix and match to create stunning cabochon style necklaces for under $10. The kits can also be taken apart and used to embellish mini books, altered art, and home decor. I LOVE this!!
Another Trend: Mini stuff is BIG! My Little Shoebox, October Afternoon, and Cosmo Cricket already had mini alpha stickers (and released new ones in new colors) but they were everywhere in much bigger ( and smaller) ways. KaiserCraft had the teeniest alphas by far!! I think they are not even 1/8″tall!! Echo Park and Crate Paper included tiny alphas as part of their 12×12 sticker sheets and Authentique released more sheets of small alphas to go with their new lines. Prima also had a nice assortment of tiny alpha stickers!! I ordered these ones:
Clover's Kanzashi Flower templates were the talk of the show — use small scraps of fabric, crepe paper, or dictionary paper to make custom, handmade flowers with loads of character and dimension. We are so using these in some classes!!!!
Scrap Bands is another company all about customization. They even won an award as a CHA Top 20 Pick! These elastic bands wrap around your 12×12 album to help keep it closed. The removable decorative sleeve can be customized to your theme. Even brads go through it! I got one at the show can cannot wait to play!!
Another trend was FAST scrapping. Simple Stores had a line of papers that were designed to help you scrap quickly using divided scrap pages. American Crafts added to their line of divided scrap pages but also released some pre-sewn travel journals by Amy Tan. We're going to use those in a class soon!
And a final trend was Jewel Tones. I loved the rich magentas, sapphires, emeralds, and topazes in new papers from Crate Paper (Random Collection), American Crafts (Margarita line), and more. New inkpads by Clearsnap under the ColorBox label with Stephanie Barnard has wonderfully jewel-ish colors!
That is CHA in a nutshell :) Will have more pics tomorrow!
—Jennifer
