CHA - #1

This was a last minute decision for me.  Someone had an extra pass so I went.  I'm still in limbo with this whole 'do I continue to scrapbook or not?' decision.  As soon as the offer was made to go, something made me go into my scrapbook room and do something.

I cleaned first.  I went through everything and made one HUGE stack of stuff to get rid of.  That felt good.  Then I dug out the bag that contains my December Daily supplies and made two pages.  It felt good.

Then I went to the show.  After seeing a lot of previews online I didn't have the big long wish list I usually have.  I start a Pinterest board for each show with the list of items I want.  I have no list.  I was kind of sad about that because shopping is the best part of this craft sometimes.  The hunt as I call it.  Hunting down the products because you know, not every store carries everything I want so I have to shop locally and online at multiple places to get it all.

I had one day to see the entire show floor and in past years that was not enough time.  This year, it was plenty.  We had so much extra time, we took a long lunch and circled back to see more stuff.  Sad really.

The trends we noticed were:

Gold, gold and more gold.  It was everywhere in the form of glitter and just plain old gold embellishments and foil on papers.  I like it in small amounts so when the entire show floor was blazing gold, it was kind of a turn off.

The other trend I noticed was that the manufacturers moved in different directions this year.  Some booths had little to NO scrapbook product in them.  They have moved to Home Decor and PARTY supplies.  Wha?  There were some booths (Teresa Collins and MME pop out at me) that literally looked like they hid their scrapbook stuff.  Teresa's one line was on the back of the wall where you enter her booth.  So when you walk in, you look at iPhone cases, party supplies, a Teresa Collins Selphy printer and other such stuff.  The scrapbook line was to your back.  And there were no samples.

So while we could make our own tassels and print out pictures and have a Teresa Collins branded phone case - it still shocked me.  The industry took a sharp left turn.  Instead of just downsizing, they went a whole new direction.

With that said, I took pictures of things that *I* personally do want to pick up at some point, even if they are more home decor or party focused.

First booth was We R Memory Keepers.  I've never been a fan of their paper lines but they have some cute embellishments and awesome tools. I could not get to the demo table to see their new Fuse tool (the one that allows you to make your own divided page protectors.  I will however be getting one if the reviews are good.  I like the concept and frequently wish I could do this.  How many times have the divided page protectors been out of stock but you can *always* get the full page ones!

 This is a new home decor/party idea from We R.  I kind of like it, too expensive for me, but I see potential.  These are 24x24 sheets of paper.  And yes, that top one is gold glitter.  You can now purchase templates to cut these large sheets into decorations (see the top picture), envelopes and boxes.  I totally like the box idea because, Hey! its a gold glittered box for your present.  I will not be purchasing this collection just to make gold glittered boxes but I think its a cool idea.

Their new acetate sheets.  Love.  I still miss Hambly and wish they would make a comeback.  I'm still hoarding sheets of that stuff because its just awesome.  I use it sparingly.  But these sheets are pretty cool and I will own some in every color except pink.

Next was Chickaniddy Crafts.  Totally love Heidi Sonbuls work but never really been a fan of her papers.  Too feminine and pastel for me.  But one of her new lines - 365 is a must have!

 Yes, there is a gold sheet in there.  I told you it was everywhere!  But there is teal, woodgrain and black and white stripes.  Ah, some of my personal faves.

 Her other line is a bit girly and thats fine.  I saw a few sheets I would love to have in that collection as well.

 But it was the enamel products that caught my eye.  Did someone say 'RAD'?

More enamel products from the 365 line,  The keys are cool but I really like the triangles.  And the months.  They pointed out that the months are not joined letters, each one is separate.  So you can use them as shown OR use them to make titles.

Teresa Collins was right behind this booth so I popped over there.  As stated above, it was not what I was expecting.  I did see her entire family and after everything she's been through, I love to see that.  Her kids surrounding her.

 More screen prints.  Gold of course.

 She had a line of label booklets with sheets of labels.  Woodgrain ones will be coming to live with me.

 iPhone/iPad cases.  Cute idea but.......  And those gold bags.  More gold.

 This was the one scrapbook line I could see amidst the party and other stuff.  I like it.  A Neutral travel line (my favorite) that you guessed it, contains gold.  I can over look that because its not everywhere in this line.  Just touches of it.

 What I really want is this mini album.  A 3 ring binder for divided page protectors.  I need 100 or so of these.  One for every trip.

 And here we go with the party supplies.  Tassels, tags, letters, banners, and even pre-cut strips to make those rings.  Gold, gold, gold.

So like I said, I can get behind some of the gold stuff because it is a pretty cool color, just in moderation.  But here we have file folders.  In Gold.  My office is so BLAH.  I could *totally* use gold file folders to decorate that.  They would look so awesome against my black desk accessories right?

Moving on.....

Lawn Fawn was in this section as well.  I love pretty much everything they do but I'm so not a stamper.  I wish I was.  But this involves a lot of cutting and coloring.  I was never good in either of those.  But now they have the metal dies for each set.  I spent some money last year on a Cuttlebug and a few die sets and have yet to use them.  So I prefer to sit and stare at all the awesomely cute stamps and cards they make.  Their booth was full of these little cards and I wanted to steal them all.  I daybreak down and purchase a few more stamps sets this year.  I do like them and I've used them on my cards for troops.

Okay, so Heidi Swapp has been around forever and while she has some great ideas, I always question the quality.  I've had some issues in the past.

I stopped to look at her planners.  I do like them, but there are planners everywhere and I can't seem to find one I truly need to have.  I do like the black and white stripes of this one but I don't like the 'guts'.  I will probably buy this and use it as a mini album since I'm all about mini albums these days.

 What I do need are these letters.  Marquee letters.  O.M.G.  I want them for my scrap room.  I've been in it for over a year and the walls are bare.  For a crafter thats unheard of.  I've started hanging things on the walls to make it more personal.  I need something.  My name?  my initials?  Something.  These are smaller than I expected but totally cute.

 She sells her own wash tape stuff to decorate the insides too.  (yes, there is gold....)

 I love the colored lights.  How cool is this?  And my room accent is that blue so it works out perfectly.  I will be getting some of these for sure.

Part 2 of my CHA recap will post tomorrow.  I realize that I found more I 'had to have' once I walked through those doors.  I never should have gone....