Once upon a time I really took notice of the trends in the paper crafting world, I was often inspired and let them guide me at times as well. These days? Not so much! I don’t think it is so much that I don’t follow them as much anymore. No, rather I think they’re just not as big and bold anymore. That said I do see a few things up and coming so I wanted to kick off 2015 with a trend report.
1. Fancy Planners
When I say fancy, I mean over the top, kits and products made for this, almost an art journal/project life hybrid intense deal. You won’t see me touch this one. To me and in my world a planner like this would be 100% procrastination. Don’t misunderstand – they are absolutely beautiful. It’s just not for me. If you want to see some of my favorite planner “so pretty” inspiration check out happiescrappie and livelifeandcreate over on instagram.
2. “crafters/makers of all kinds welcome here”
We’re all making in our own ways, and I think we’ll continue to see this trend of people being less specific in the definitions they give people and what they make. Instead of “card makers” and “quilters” and “scrapbookers” and everything else in the world there is more of a push for a creative lifestyle in general – to make whatever you’d like and embrace others too. I LOVE this – and I am fully embracing this concept this year as you’ll soon see.
3. Embellishment only kits
I don’t just mean paper crafting kit clubs. I mean that we’re seeing smaller, totally cohesive fun little kits that don’t involve patterned paper as a staple. Freckled Fawn has a lovely embellishment only kit. This Maggie Holmes jar ‘o fun just hit the market and I think we’ll see more of these embellishment kits popping up this year. At least… I hope so!
4. Sequins and shakers
I dislike shaker windows/boxes on my crafts because way back in the day (when beads were totally the in thing) I went wild with making them. So now that shaker boxes are back, well, I’m sitting this round out. What I do endorse though is the use of sequins both inside shaker boxes and in general. These things seem to be on the rise (independently and together) including a line at Simon Says Stamp and shops like Pretty Pink Posh that specialize in sequins. With the better selection and personal die cutting and all the other advantages that today’s paper crafters have I believe this will be a much better round for the shake-happy crafters.
What is on the rise? What things on the decline? I will find out for myself as I travel to Anaheim next week for CHA – the annual Craft & Hobby Trade Show where most all of our favorite brands will be to sell their newest stuff.
I will be attending as press- which means yes I fully intend to share many photos and reports from the show right here on my blog.
I agree. I’m not going anywhere near the planners. Yes they are pretty, but I’d never get any memory keeping projects done. I am so looking forward to your reports from CHA. And what you have planned for 2015. I’ll keep watching. And I’ll have to check out some embellishments only kits. Interesting. Happy new year, May. Michelle t
Great post! I adore the “fancy planners” and this year I will try to keep one. I bought the Heidi Swapp memory planner one my myself and one for my oldest who just turned 16. Hope it will be our mother/daughter project for 2015. I was actually looking last night at the Freckled Fawn kit and thought that I would subscribe to a small cute embellishment kit. FF is not in my budget. And lastly, I am glad to see the shakers coming back. I always liked them 🙂
Great post. I’ve always felt uncomfortable labeling myself. I like crafter/maker much better. I just love to create. Hmmmm, I’m on the fence with the shaker cards. Love the sequin idea. The dies coming out do make it easier. Looking forward to your reports from CHA.
Yeah, not so much with the fancy planners for me — one needs an actual life to make proper use of a planner 😉 Tell ya’ what though, the embellies from Heidi’s new planner line (Hello Beautiful) are just lovely and I’ll be scoring a few of them for my Project Life album, cards, mini-books and all the usual projects that I hoard embellishments for.
I love FF’s kits too, ’cause I’m an embellishment junkie, but I can’t afford them with the Canadian dollar at 85 cents to the greenback. What I don’t like about them, and the same can be said for the Maggie Holmes embellishment jar, is the over-packaging: it’s stupidly wasteful and just adds to my already considerable shipping costs.
I was just saying “no” to shaker pockets too (been there, done that) until I realized that dumping a whack of sequins into a 3X4 pocket and sealing it up with 1/8 inch wonder tape was a great way to get rid of sequins and make a trendy, see-through pocket in the process. I figure shaker pockets will die out when sequins does but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that yet.
So May, have an awesome time at the American Crafts Trade Show. Uh-oh, sorry, did I say that out loud? 🙂 Go forth and find the lovely in amongst the dreck and report back to your loyal followers, for we are longing for some vintage, some funky, some artsy and — most important of all — some fun!
Although I love the IDEA of the fancy planner, I would just page through it and admire it instead of actually using it. (I still have a smashbook I haven’t used because I just like looking at the pages!) My plain old filofax keeps me on task – not much to look at, just the facts. I dream of some day using one of those fancy planners to chronicle my days, using it like a scrapbook.
So much to look forward to in 2015! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, May.
I too went wil with shakers once upon a time, but I do love sequins. I was happy with the Polaroid shaker cards in the SU My Paper Pumpkin, but I’m likely to stop there.
Embellie only kits are what I need!!!
Have fun in Anaheim!
Thanks for the overview and I am looking forward to your perspective on the CHA show. I love hearing you say “this isn’t for me” because when something new comes out the pressure is always there to jump on it. It’s so freeing to say, yes that’s very cool but not for me. Thanks for your perspective because it helps me stay true to *my* focus!
Love the idea of embellishment kits. I have looked at the Freckled Fawn kit several times but with postage and the exchange rate it makes it harder to justify. Love sequins but like you, I am not so keen on the shaker boxes. I am doing Heidi’s Capture class over at BPC so we will see where that leads. I have a small Kikki K planner which I am intending to use to jot notes in at the end of each day. Love the variety of planners around but it’s too easy to get carried away with the prettiness when I know in reality it’s something else I won’t keep up with. I am starting small with basic intentions to make PL easier, I hope!
Can’t wait to see what you discover at CHA.
A blinged up planner? Really? Then I would have to beat myself up for not using the stupid thing. I don’t need the pressure……as a matter of fact, I agree with the rest of your list too.
Can’t wait to see what’s up at CHA!
I love the idea of a fancy planner and still have a Filofax … now with a 2007 diary in it – that’s when I started using iCal! Once I got an iPhone a paper planner was just too bulky to carry around. But I don’t think I’d use the planner at all – as much as I love looking at them!
I really like the idea of embellishment only kits – what a fun way to use up old paper stash by combining with cool new embellies.
Can’t wait to see what you get up to at CHA!