Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Love

photo by Tina Cockburn

a bit off topic

i have been scheduled for today's post since early in the week. i was thrilled to share with you my photos and my excitement. i came home with a handful of product that i was hoping to make into layouts for you. but as i stood on the curb at 5:00 am on wednesday, waiting to catch my ride to the airport, i learned that one of my dearest friends had just lost her baby. it had been coming and it was not out of the blue, but still, it takes your breath away, leaving you with a running faucet of endless tears. i tried to still relate my cha story and to create a layout or two, but it all seems a bit lost in the pain.

instead i would like to just simply remind you to love your babies today. to hold them tight, and take their picture over and over and over. then sit down and put those pictures on pages that tell stories about them. about how they held your gaze. about how angry they made you, but you love them anyway. about how you really can't imagine life without them. about school, friends, habits, quirks. about family, outings, adventures, and chaos. about dreams, hopes, and plans for the future. about loss. about love. today i witnessed firsthand the power of photographs and scrapbooks. this is no small craft we have. it is a chance to capture memories and love. i am proud of all of you for the time and effort you put in to your family histories. and proud that we can do this together.

xx marnie

more soon...

good morning my lovelies! it is marnie and i am just popping in to let you know that my official post will be up later in the day. i have a couple of personal items to which to attend, and then i will return to wrap up our CHA experience!

soon....

marnie

Ten Notable Trends at CHA

As I fought off the sleepies at LAX yesterday while waiting for my plane to board, I started a list of things that really stuck in my mind from CHA. I'm convinced that it's impossible to see everything on the floor even if one has a strict schedule and route, but half the fun is building in some wandering time anyway. I like lists of ten, so I worked on my list until I had ten items on it and then I took a little nap. I'm not too proud to sleep in public. : )

Without further delay, here is my list.

1. Hello, Pennant Banners. 

I love pennant banners, so it was especially serendipitous that I saw approximately 8 billion of them at the show. OK, OK, so maybe not that many, but it was exciting all the same.

 

October Afternoon, Making Memories, The Girls' Paperie, American Crafts, AdornIt, Jenni Bowlin, Studio Calico, Canvas Home Basics, Maya Road, Karen Foster, We R Memory Keepers

This is just a sampling. Is there a meeting where everyone gets together and decides this kind of thing?

2. Ohayo Gozaimasu, Nihon. (Read: Good morning, Japan.)

Japanese cute has reached the CHA floor. Are you familiar with the zakka movement? Part of its charm can be found in things that are two parts cute and one part kitsch. A good example of what I'm talking about can be found in the book Cute Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo. Or, in some of these photos.

K & Company, Doodlbug, October Afternoon, Little Yellow Bicycle, We R Memory Makers, EK Success

3. Tools, Reinvented.

The show had a back-to-basics feel to me in a lot of ways, but not in a boring, humdrum kind of way. More in a "what can we do to stretch the functionality of x product or make it more exciting again" kind of way. One such example we found of this? The many new punches offered by EK Success. Just when you thought you'd figured out all the ways to punch paper, they've figured out some more.

This doesn't really do a good job representing how many punches were on this wall, but it gives you an idea. All the miniature lanterns are made out of punched paper.

4. Tools, Improved. 

Another trend we noticed was to take existing tools and make them better. (Well, maybe this isn't really a trend as much as normal business practice. But you know what I meant.) The most noticeable example of this was the new and improved hands free Slice cutting system by Making Memories.

I don't personally own a cutting system, though I have to say I was awfully jealous when Marnie WON one. I might have to get one, too, one of these days. The Slice does some really cool things:

This giant mobile was made with a Slice. I have visions of someone at Making Memories being chained to a desk while they sliced all these butterflies. I have a very active imagination. : )

5. Fabric For All

A number of scrapbooking companies (Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket are the first to come to mind) are turning their delightful patterned papers into licensed fabric lines these days. We saw evidence that this isn't the only crossover on the horizon between the worlds of People Who Use Paper and People Who Use Fabric. Fabric was everywhere we looked—and we liked it.

Little Yellow Bicycle, My Mind's Eye, K & Company, Canvas Home Basics, Claudine Hellmuth's adorable sticky-back canvas purse, American Crafts

6. The Influence of Etsy

There were a few instances where I had the glorious feeling that if I closed my eyes for a minute and opened them up again, I'd be standing inside an Etsy shop. Companies are paying attention to the handmade movement and bringing elements of it to the scrapbooking world. EK Success seems to have really tapped into this phenomena (doesn't hurt to have Martha on your team) but there were other places that are seamlessly bridging the two worlds.

EK Success, Pebbles, and more EK Success. 

7. Staying Home

If I hear one more person start a sentence with "In the current economy" my head might explode. But in this instance, there's only one way to say it: In the current economy, people are staying home more. I saw a handful of travel lines (Making Memories always does this well) but there were far more new products devoted to or inspired by the time we spend at home. Interesting to see how current events shows up in chipboard and stickers.

Cosmo Cricket, Little Yellow Bicycle, a laundry decor sign from AdornIt Carolee's Creations (Marnie is trying to look stern about the laundry rules, not mad that I was taking her picture), EK Success, and a little more AdornIt.

8. Made in the U.S.A.

This was completely an after-the-fact observation, but I had three very interesting conversations with people about how their companies manufacture their products in the U.S. I don't know if this is a trend or not, but it was fun to learn more.

I had a great time chatting with company co-owner Ewunike Jackson and design team member Simone Pursiful of Clear & Simple Stamps. Their stamps are manufactured in the U.S. out of clear photopolymer, and they offer a huge product line. They're a relatively new and small company, but definitely one to watch. Another made-in-the-U.S.A. outfit is AdornIt Carolee's Creations; that's me with my fellow Big Picture Scrapbooking teacher Georgana Hall, the president of the company. It's a family operation—even Georgana's dad is involved; he cut the beautiful metal scrollwork that graced their booth. Finally, I learned from Studio Calico co-owner Greg Foster that their new lines of paper are printed down the road from their office. 

9. Haiti's Presence

It was heartening to see people wearing Craft Hope for Haiti logos on their nametags and lapels, and even more so when we learned that Lark Books is currently editing a book about the organization Craft Hope and was able to rush a chapter about the efforts to help Haiti through their special Etsy store (which, by the way, has raised over $27,000 since the earthquake to donate to Doctors Without Borders). 

We had a wonderful conversation with Nicole from Lark Books, who told us more about the book and showed us a preview (it will be out in August). 

We also spotted a sign at the booth of My Little Shoebox that pledged a donation of every order placed at CHA. Every little bit helps!

10. Friendly Faces and Friendly Atmosphere

Tina, Marnie and I really noticed a friendly atmosphere present at the show this year. Scrapbooking—and hobbies in general—have been shaken up a bit in the past year or two, but we saw example after example of good, solid customer service and old-fashioned friendliness. The people who love scrapbooking and aren't in it just for the money (though of course the money is important, too) are landing on their feet with a thousand ideas of how to continue introducing innovation and injecting creativity into everything they offer. That's the best trend of all, don't you think?

Stay tuned tomorrow for Marnie's wrap-up! Thanks for reading this week.

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Thank you all for leaving your comments and letting us get to know you better. I must admit I was a bit surprised to learn that many of you love digital for the lack of mess it incurs. Now I know that digital scrapbooking doesn't require the room full of goodies and the room to maintain, but I was surprised to see how much of a role that played in your choosing to go digi! Not surprisingly was your love of the undo button. Can't beat that one!

Thank you to Renee and to Tiffany for their generosity! Laura, our lucky number from Tuesday, begins her class today, and now one more of you will join the fun. And that person is . . .

 

Congratulations to Arimacias! Please shoot us an email at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com by midnight Saturday with your contact information! Thank you!

To all those who left comments, thank you! And stayed tuned for Elizabeth's CHA recap!

give.away.day. featuring RENEEPEARSON.COM

Today we have teamed with a longtime sponsor, reneepearson.com, to bring to you

Class Title: The Photoshop Brushshop
Instructor: Tiffany Tillman
Length: 3-weeks starting February 1st

"Grab your smock, clean your digital palette and get your hands dirty for our premiere art class: The Photoshop Brushshop brought to you by Tiffany Tillman.

This is the perfect course for digital enthusiasts who want to explore the Brush tool as well as discover their inner, creative artist. Tiffany will teach you secrets to mixing your brushes, not with paints, but with paths, masks and modes that put digital design on the map! She'll also pull you out of the pixels and into your own paper to digital art studio! My friends—this isn't just a workshop. This is the Brushshop!"

My creative juices got all excited just reading that description! Tiffany is an amazing woman. Not just wickedly talented, but also delightfully funny and solidly grounded. This class will certainly be a fun chance to expand your skills all the while simmering in a creative environment! The perfect recipe for success.

If you would like to be considered for this remarkable class, please leave us a comment telling us your favorite part about doing digital pages. Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST and the lucky number chosen at random, and posted tomorrow. It is your responsibility to check back to see if you have the lucky number before Saturday! Good luck!

lucky number announcement

Stay tuned for this week's giveaway. But first, we need to announce the lucky number for the spot in Renee's digital class that begins TODAY!

Let's put our hands together for . . .

 
Congratulations, Laura, we are very happy for you. Renee is adorable and one of those really great women from whom you learn so much more than the class provided. Thank you to Renee for this happy little addition to our CHA week. Back soon with our give.away.day.!

CHA Eye Candy, Day Three

Hello again from Anaheim! Today is day three and our last day here.  We've had a very busy and productive three days - talking with manufacturers and seeing many friends.  It's always a very full day and we're exhausted, but also very satisfied that we've done what we came to do. 

So, without further ado, below are our ten favorites from today. Sort of like a Ten on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, and maybe more like 11 or 12:

 

We loved these birds cut from patterned paper in the EK Success booth. We've noticed that so many booths have displayed projects and ideas that are do-able and cute and very Etsy-esque. 

And they are releasing a new line of decorating paper sheets for lining drawers or tea trays or shelves. Very vintage-y and a great way to add color to a room.

We had a great time talking with Layle Koncar at Basic Grey and catching glimpses of Kelly Goree doing her make-and-take magic. We loved the Basics line at Basic Grey:

 

Lovely neutral-ish papers in white, cream and kraft. Love the lines and graphs! And this was Elizabeth's favorite paper from today from BG's new Green at Heart line:

 

Doodlebug is one of my favorite companies (my obsession with their Frills is still very strong) and we loved their Feeling Groovy line with all the rainbows:

 
 
We loved meeting with the Studio Calico group in their new booth and the sneak peek at their new Anthology line. Their products are so unique and inspired and their design team knows how to work it:

 

 

And then right next door to the SC people was this tiny booth with a totally awesome product:

Japanese tapes in a variety of colors, patterns and widths. Very delish.

We came across a newer company with a great line of canvas and burlap products for scrapbooking and home decor, Canvas Home Basics:

 
  

(Marnie is our adorable model here. I still can't believe we're finally all here and that our time together is almost up. Trying not to be too sad about that just yet.)

And then we headed back over to the Making Memories booth to make a necklace make-and-take and found out that...

...Marnie won a Slice!  Yeah Marnie!

Then we saw this adorable Advent pennant project at the Maya Road booth and some adorable pennant stamps.  Have we mentioned how much we're loving all the pennant and garland products and projects we've seen at this show? So cute.

Then we saw the adorable Claudine Helmuth at her booth demonstrating some of her mediums and paint products:

 

She also has these packs of sticky-back canvas material that she used to make this purse. She is so creative:

We've had been such a great time here at the show and Marnie, Elizabeth and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We've got a lot to do in the next several months and we're so excited about what's to come.  Here's wishing them both safe travels tomorrow as they head back to their families and catch up on their sleep.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Giveaway Day and for a CHA wrap-up from Elizabeth on Friday.

Cheers!

 

Eye Candy, Day Two.

As is always the case at CHA, there is so. much. to. see. This show is in so many ways so much better than the summer show in Orlando last year - the mood of the show, the number of exhibitors and attendees. There's a kinder, gentler spirit of this show and this was so well represented in the first booth we visited today.

Here's some of Elizabeth Kartchner's new line at American Crafts:

 

 

This line is so adorable, just like Lizzy herself. We can't wait to get our hands one some of this!

And did you know that AC and Pebbles have merged? We loved these 4 x 6 journaling cards for our photo album scrapbooking projects.

 

We loved AC's new inks!

And their new adhesive line reportedly doesn't reported skip, slip or trip. And it's called "This to That" which makes us want to buy some even more.

Our next visit was with one of our favorite manufacturers, October Afternoon:

 

(This is Elizabeth's favorite paper of the show.)

We all love the pennant design elements we've seen on so many projects and decorating so many booths. Definitely a new trend out there in Scrapland.

Another great looking new release from October Afternoon! YAY!

And we loved how some brands were finding new ways to appeal to scrapbookers:

Making Memories has a new line of jewelry products, something we also saw at Scarlet Lime.

We loved Little Yellow Bicycle's new releases and this fun Lucky Me line. Our booth tour guide told us the owner was inspired to design this line because she's always finding four leaf clovers. Lucky indeed!

Did you know that AdornIt Carolee's Creations does more than just scrapbooking? Here's just a taste of what they've got up their sleeves - watch for more!

 

We loved Jenni Bowlin's booth and products, and loved that she's teamed with Co'Ordinations paper to enhance her already darling lines:

Co'Ordinations paper is a color-core textured paper line that has been embossed to coordinate with the patterns in Jenni's papers. Just sand the surface to reveal the layer of color underneath! Several other manufacturers have done the same. We love all these new ways different companies are partnering with each other.

And we saw a bunch of familiar faces along the way:

 

Elizabeth, Aly, Marnie, Angie, Wendy and me.

 

And Stacy!

And last night we had dinner with Emily and Vivian Masket:

We also ran into Renee Pearson...

 

who has a surprise giveaway of a seat in her "Just The Basics, Ma'am" class which begins this Thursday, January 28. Here's a little bit about her class:

"Nearly five years ago, when Renee wrote the first Digital Designs for Scrapbooking, computers were not yet an essential tool for mainstream scrapbooking. As the popularity of digital scrapbooking has grown, so has the need for easy-to-follow instructions. That's why she developed this workshop.

Renee will personally lead you through the fun, fast and easy lessons designed specifically for the beginning digital scrapbooker or crafter. Using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, 7 or 8 and the digital kits and templates provided, you'll be whipping out digital scrapbook pages in no time.

The curriculum is based on weekly lessons including video, pdf and other learning aids. The workshop is designed to gradually introduce new topics and skills, allowing you to master one skill set before moving on to the next. At the end, you'll have a comprehensive set of skills you can use to create your own digital pages."

Leave a comment for a chance to win! And thanks to Renee for such a nice surprise.

Even more eye candy tomorrow!

Eye Candy, Day One.

For car buffs, the Indy 500. For football fans, the Super Bowl. For kids, FAO Schwartz. For scrapbookers and crafters, the semi-annual Craft & Hobby Show. 

We had a full day on the show floor today and saw only a tiny, itsy bitsy part of all that is there.  We're really, really excited about some of the new lines coming out from manufacturers like:

Cosmo Cricket

 

How darling is that cow card?

My Mind's Eye:

Such fun, bright colors! And did you know that My Mind's Eye has fabrics too?

Margie Romney-Aslett's new endeavor - The Girl's Paperie:

Love these totally girlie and definitely boyish lines. 

So now, finally, Elizabeth, Marnie and I are all together in one room for the first time since WCS was hatched. We have a lot of catching up to do.

More CHA eye candy coming tomorrow!