Category: CHA

Best of CHA: Part 3

Time for part three- are you ready?! I have a few (ok a lot) more of my favorites to share… I realize I LOVE a lot of things… can’t be helped!! GREAT releases this show. Here we go:

Let’s get things started with these Delights from American Crafts. I love the layered flower look – and these take out all the work of making my own. So cute.

Amy Tangerine for American Crafts has to be one of the most exciting releases of the show. This new partnership? Made in crafty heaven. I love how Amy’s signature look translates into paper craft supply goodness.

The thickers are in colors and fonts I’m loving, all the fabric elements will be perfect for adding texture and dimension to my projects, and the paper so useful and great colors. Her line with American Crafts was the talk of the show – and for good reason. From the patterned paper to the tapes, I want all of it as soon as possible. Check out Scrap Time for a booth video tour.

 

We also need to talk about this new sheet of Thickers from the “Nightfall” line by American Crafts. The tall skinny font in black is both playful and fun, and I can envision these in use combined with tiny alpha stickers or standing on their own. Thicker letter stickers are so often in my purchases – this comes as no surprise to me! Also? AC is just full of happy surprises like the stickers on the left. Dimensional, adorable, totally ready to accent my every page… so great to see all this new stuff coming from them.

.

Jenni Bowlin has been one of my favorites since I was just a girl managing a scrapbook store… and it remains so. I’ve said many times that I love not just her designs, but the fact that her product is timeless and works with so much, and it never gets stale.


These Doily Flowers from Jenni Bowlin slipped under my “awesome radar” until I saw images on Jenni’s twitter feed of them from the show floor. But better late than never…these lovely vintage inspired bits will be perfect for adding a floral embellishment to any craft project. They’ll be lovely layered with other elements or even on their own, maybe with a rhinestone or pearl brad in the center.

(above photo by Melissa) From her extended line with Ranger (hooray!) to the holiday products released, I’m loving where Jenni Bowlin is going. Also? I have seen some glimpses via twitter of her August Kit – and I am pretty sure I’m going to NEED to buy that one…

.

Oh Melissa Frances, how I love you. Her products are dang near impossible to find (if you  have a source – PLEASE do tell!) but I love them when I can get my hands on them. Now check these out:

You know I’m a little decor house FREAK… so these (which I saw on Christine’s flickr photostream) I was really excited. These tiny houses from Melissa Frances come plain and can be embellished however you please. With their adorable metal tops – they are the perfect DIY Christmas tree ornaments. I can’t wait to find these beauties and play! (oh and I so WILL be finding them)

.

Wendy Vecchi’s Art Parts both terrify and enchant me. They are such AMAZING canvases for creating art, and the possibilities are endless. I am loving them – and I’m loving the pieces that feel like they could become photo frames/more useful home decor as well. LOVING. Everything she does is so darn artistic and cool – love her stuff and how inspiring she is. I want the heart and the filmstrip ones (shown above) the most. [note: above photo by Melissa]

.

Finally, I’ve got to end this post with Jillibean Soup. Oh for the love of cute!

Honestly? I don’t even quite know where to start. The lines are all amazing from alphabets to papers, buttons and everything in between. I love the colors, the look, and it all looks super useful as well – which is key!  Just check out these alphas…

*happy crafty shiver*

***

Best of CHA: part 2

I’m having a fan-girl moment here. *sigh* Seriously excited about how my favorite companies just keep getting better, and shipping product to stores in the near future. Here are three specific examples:

I need to take a moment to love on Echo Park. The Christmas themed goodies, Victoria Garden, the Halloween line… oh there is so much to love. The *squeals* from me will come especially because they are taking it out of the paper realm and into brads and chipboard accents with this release as well. This extra bonus from a brand that is frequently among my favorites is most welcome! I’m looking forward to these brads in particular from the Holly Jolly Christmas line. I love using decorative brads in so many ways, and these are timeless and for the most part will work on both holiday and non-seasonal pages.

The Crafters Workshop showed us a lot of “WOW!” this show – and their teaming up with rock star mixed media artist Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for some new templates takes the company to a whole new level. With mists, paints, multi-medium, and a number of other ways to use them, these stencils will give added dimension to all kinds of projects. I’m obsessed with getting my hands on the “Punchinella” template shown above in particular. You will be seeing a lot of their templates both in my future classes *and* right here. So in love.

I am a fan-girl when it comes to Webster’s Pages trims as well as most everything they put out. They are always the most amazing on the market, and this show was no exception. With the wonderful textures and colors, variety of widths and materials, I’m always excited to see what’s next. I’m anticipating the arrival of all of the new ones, but most especially the “Western Romance” line trims pictured above.

Best of CHA: part 1

Note: all CHA photos in this post were taken by, and used with the permission of the AWESOMELY TALENTED Melissa aka The Scrappy Jedi. She rocks, and I thank her for telling me to have at her photo collection.

I’ve seen a lot of coverage from CHA which ended just a few days ago in Chicago. Know what? I’ve seen a LOT that I like. So I’m going to break down and share my favorite stuff. Not just brands – but specific products that I’m just totally in love with and want to have and cuddle craft with ASAP.

I must start with Studio Calico, whom I’ve said any number of times… ROCKS. They don’t just rock though, they continue to release new products and lines that work seemlessly with previous ones.

Their stuff is classic – I love it big. I could talk about all the WIN in their booth from mists to masks to paper that makes me want to weep with happy.

The book plate stickers (on left) and stamps (on right) pictured above made me squeal out loud when I saw them. There are few things that I love more than combining book elements/designs into my scrapbooking. Note: Studio Calico has teamed with Hero Arts to manufacture stamps that coordinate with their lines – a development that joins two of my favorite companies into what I think will be a great partnership. This stamp set (shown above on the right) is called “I Love Books”.

.

What makes My Mind’s Eye so incredibly appealing is how useful their product is. From paper to brads, and most especially the buttons shown above – it’s timeless and I know this will be a great addition to my scrapbook stash. The “Lost & Found 2” line is sure to be a hit – I know I’m anxious to play with it.

 The buttons are my top pick – with the great colors, shapes, and detail they will be perfect accents to complete many craft projects to come. But I want the coordinating brads, and most of the paper too. *REAL BAD*

 .

Pink Paislee “Nantucket” Chipboard Tiles shown above, as well as darn near EVERY item Pink Paislee released are high on my “I want it now” list. I see so much possibility for doing some mosaic-inspired craft details, or using them as flower centers, or anything else! I can’t wait for this product to ship and to get my precious…

I mean, send me anything from this Pink Paislee release and I’d be in heaven. From the mistables to the papers, it’s all looking really great. Pink Paislee has once again created useful product that is fun and will work so well in so many of my projects. They’re always a favorite of mine – so I’m glad to see them continuing to rock the releases!

 .

Wraping up today’s “oh holy cute gimme. now. please!” I have October Afternoon. The Sasparilla line is made of pure cute – and I’m saving my Reno Rodeo photos (the few I remembered to take!) for this line. Adorable!! I think it would work great for any number of projects. The miscellany and Little Flyers (shown above) are by far my favorite pieces.

Oh sweet love… don’t even get me started on Sidewalks line from them! It’s SO me!! Adorable. Also think their mists look super cute, but as I’m on a no mist purchasing freeze, well, I’ll just have to admire from afar.

.

What are you looking forward to? This is just the tip of the iceberg for me – so stay tuned for more! Not just picks and favorites, but I’m also going to be sharing more of my CHA projects, videos, and so much more. I’ve got a lot in store – and posts queued up and waiting for their turn…

Idea-ology project #1: Santa Goofy

It was an honor and a pleasure to create projects for the CHA show for the always awesome Tim Holtz. He posted a video tour of his products at CHA that shows a lot – though I want to jump in and grab products! SO much fun stuff. Today I’m going to share the first of nine projects I made:

Almost everything used on this page is from Tim Holtz! The core’dinations cardstock (in peeled paint, I believe), from Idea-Ology I used the new Christmas kraft resist for the background (sprayed with red mist), stickers from the seasonal salvage stickers pack, Tidings tissue tape, new kraft resist chipboard letter (“S”), and a bit of the seasonal patterned paper as well. From Sizzix I used the vintage marketplace die (letters), and of course I used distress stickles to accent the page.

Distress stickles make everything just a little better. Seriously LOVE how they add the look of real glitter without the fuss. I dotted some on my “goofy” title, and outlined some elements with it as well.

Printing out my journaling in strips (as I did on this layout) is one of my favorite go-to tricks. It lets me break up what I’ve got to say, and I love the look.

Tissue Tape (another of my obsessions!) finds it’s way onto this layout in several spots. I am really into cutting the ends of my paper (and even tape) into a banner-like look. Just adds a little something extra – and you know I’m all about the details.

I will be posting all of the projects I made for Tim here on my blog, though I might hold a few of these seasonal ones for closer to the holidays – I haven’t yet decided!

Have a beautiful weekend-

 

CHA: day 1

Loving this photo:

photo by Melissa Stinson aka Scrappy Jedi

Behind Tim *I SPY* two of my layouts!!! I’ll start sharing those in detail here soon. In the meantime, here’s two article links to get the CHA (craft & hobby semi-annual tradeshow) party started:

I played along from home, here’s my favorites from around the web + what I noticed: http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2011/07/19/cha-from-home-day-1/

Melissa has a great article up too – all about Tim Holtz + CHA! http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2011/07/20/tim-holtz-at-cha-summer-2011/