Write. Click. Scrapbook.

CHA Armchair Attendee Week: Write. Click. Scrapbook. Team Members' "Must Haves"

Welcome to the last day of CHA Armchair Attendee Week! I hope you've enjoyed our week this week - I had a lot of fun checking out all of the sneak peeks, pics and video from the CHA show floor, and sorting through all of that to find the key trends I shared earlier this week.

For today's post, I (Vivian) asked Write. Click. Scrapbook. team members to tell me what their top "must have" is from this set of CHA releases. The only parameter I set was that they had to choose a product from a manufacturer whose design team they are not on. Some team members had an easy time doing this and were able to instantly name a favorite. Others took some time to think it over. Some of us had a really hard time and listed more than one product since our top "must have" was, in fact, a tie amongst several "must haves." Some are still thinking about it. Some lines were pretty popular amongst the team, as you will see below.

Without further ado, here, in alphabetical order by team members' last names, are our "must have" products:

Francine Clouden: Studio Calico Abroad Thickers and Alpha Stickers

Paula Gilarde: Crate Paper Storyteller Collection (especially the chipboard)

Donna Januzzi: Simple Stories Documented Mix & Match 6" X 8" Album

Vivian Masket: Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Date Stamp and Echo Park This & That Charming Collection

Lisa Ottosson: Pink Paislee Prairie Hill Collection (12 x 12 papers)

Christa Paustenbaugh: Crate Paper Storyteller Collection and Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Collection

  
Diane Payne: American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook Collection, in particular, the Remarks Pigment Stickers (the set at the far right)

Katrina Simeck: Lily Bee Double Dutch Collection

Celeste Smith: Studio Calico Abroad Collection (the papers, in particular)

Amy Sorensen: Bella Blvd Sopisticates Collection High Five Alphas

Emily Spahn: Heidi Swapp Instaframes and Bella Blvd Designer Tape

Keshet Starr: October Afternoon 9 to 5 Collection and Studio Calico Take Note Collection

Erin Sweeney: Studio Calico Classic Calico Vol 2 (especially the chevron mask and the washi tape) and Take Note Collections and the Crate Paper Storyteller Collection

 

Feel free to share your "must haves" in the comments below - we want to know what's caught your eye, particularly if we've missed seeing it!

I hope you've enjoyed CHA Armchair Attendee Week here at Write. Click. Scrapbook. this week! I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait until some of this new product hits stores!

Right now

First things first: that is how Emma sees me through the lens of a camera. Yep, photo courtesy of my five-year-old while waiting in the doctor's office. And with that, hello and welcome to Saturday and what I'm doing right now. Well, not right now this very second, that would be watching the news and drinking a Dr Pepper. But rather what I'm doing, what I'm loving, and what's on my wish-I-had list.

Pinterest. Have you tried it? Love it. It's a great way to keep track of your scrapbook inspiration as well as other crafts, home decor, fashion and more.

Now that I have a boy, I need to start acquiring scrapbook supplies that aren't pink, purple and sparkly. Enter Crate Paper's Toy Box line. My favorite? The chipboard embellishments. I need them.

 

I'm still loving border punches. Have you seen American Crafts new Knock Outs border punches? These two are on my need-to-buy list:

the Pinking punch

 
and the Ric Rac punch

 

For inspiration, I'm stalking reading Keisha Campbell's blog, A Bit East-coast. I love her photo placement, mixture of patterned paper and use of embellishments. I think I'm drawn to her style because it is so opposite of mine.

 

 
 

I'm scraplifting myself. Which I realize seems a bit of a contradiction to my post yesterday about stepping out of your comfort zone. But I was recently looking through my girls' albums and saw some pages I really loved. So I pulled them out and am using them for inspiration.

I made this page back in 2007

 

And tonight, I made this

 
 
Obviously it's not exactly the same. But it gave me a starting point and made completing this page easy and quick. I actually ended up with more journaling than I'd left room for, which meant no room for a title. Easy solution - a sticker. This page is now titled Live Out Loud. Granted, this not at all what I'd planned on titling it, but out of necessity I'm going with it. (Actually, I just noticed I didn't tile my older layout either, although I'm guessing that was because I couldn't think of a one. I'm terrible at them.)

That layout wraps up my week. Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to know what's on your Right Now list, leave a comment and I'll be sure to check it out.  

Happy scrapping!

The products - our picks

What would a report about CHA be if we didn't mention product. We’re going to wrap up our week of posting with out top 5 picks from the show. Here’s Paula's list in no particular order:

Bo Bunny’s Whoo-ligans. How cute is that name for Halloween papers? I really liked the cute patterns but what appealed to me even more is that only one side was theme-related – the B sides had more geometric patterns and could be used for any theme. I also really liked that they introduced blue into a Halloween color palette. Such a fun line.

Bella Blvd’s One Fall Day. Loved the color palette here too – I especially love the teal. As in my previous pick – I could see myself using the geometric patterned b-sides a lot. 

Jillibean Soup’s Pasta Fagioli: I’ll admit that I have a bias here, because I got to play with this line before the show but the colors and patterns of this line are so versatile. The red script and hounds-tooth  are perfect for Christmas layouts and cards (speaking of which, I didn’t see any Christmas line that blew me away this year). Thanks to Summer Fullerton for the photo:

Studio Calico’s Documentary line – what’s not to love? Great colors, subtle patterns (map paper) – I am definitely going to use this for scrapping my summer travels this year. Thanks to Marnie for the photo:

Crate Paper: The Restoration line was very pretty, subtle patterns –beautiful stuff and the booth layouts were stunning. Snow Day was cute, cute, cute and my favorite Christmassy line at the show.

But wait, there’s more! I have to also mention American Crafts City Park and the KI memories Sew Happy papers. Maybe I should have gone with a top 10 list! I didn't even get to mention some of the cool tools that I saw, in particular WeR Memory Keepers Sew Easy. Even though it was a small show there was plenty there to keep me interested!

Emily: Paula covered most of my favorite lines (both of Studio Calico's showings, the Crate Restoration line, One Fall Day from Bella, and Jillibean Soup's Pasta Fagioli line), so I'll add some of the other things I fell in love with at the show:

The Jenni Bowlin mini school alphas: Give me a Jenni Bowlin alpha and I'm happy. Give me a mini Jenni Bowlin alpha and I'm giddy. Give me a whole bunch, and well, I'm over the moon. Talking to Jenni's husband Jared, he said he wasn't sure why they didn't do them earlier, the larger ones had been such a huge success. I can only say I'm just glad they did them.

KI Pockets and Sew-Cute Calendars: KI has returned to it's roots and I am thrilled. I started scrapping when they released their Grateful line. I loved the Grateful Stripe. When it was discontinued I bought the last 10 sheets my on-line store had. I still have 6 or 7 :) I loved KI. Then things changed up a bit and I struggled to love. But this new release, Over the Rainbow is awesome. I love it. But I really love the cute new pockets and the Sew-Cute calendar paper is fabulous. Best part? The other side looks just like the calendar side, sans calendar. VERY good idea.


These MM flowers are just happy.


You love punches? You're in trouble. EK Success has put out a bunch of new ones, the punched areas are about an inch in size, so dang cool. I love the scallop w/ the circle. My overflowing punch basket is in trouble.


My favorite paper of the entire show? Well it would be this one from the BG Wander line. It's called Metropolis and it's very whimsical. BG really hit it out of the park with the Wander line, I love some of the Jovial pieces as well. Go BG!


and my final pick ( I know, I went over...) but how cute are these pink felt flowers from Pebbles?


Like Paula said, the show was small, but over all the manufacturers really gave us some great things to drool over. Every time I go to a show I think they won't top themselves. 9 times out of 10, they do.

We hoped you enjoyed our reports from CHA. We're off to catch up on some sleep!

  and

My random week ends with favorites.

We all have our favorites - food, shows, book, all-things-scrapbook-related, Dr Pepper and Bon Jovi. And that's what today's post is about. All my current favorite scrapbook goodness. Here we go!

Scrapbookers

I'm sure you all have your go-to scrapbookers when looking for inspiration. You know the ones, whose layouts are like eye candy. Two of mine are Susan Weinroth and Stephanie Howell.

I love how Susan designs her pages: the colors, the pattern paper, the embellishments. She makes me want to scrapbook 12x12. Which I totally would do if my pages would look like this:

 

Added bonus - she quilts. Fantastic quilts. And not only are the front of the quilts beautiful, the backs super fun, too. I need to learn to quilt.  A couple other favorites are this ruffle card and this pillow. I also really need to sew more. For more of Susan's work, check out her blog.

Two things Stephanie does on her pages I love? Her handwriting and the way she can just sprinkle embellishments (love the butterflies) over her page and it just flows and looks so good.  I tried it once. It didn't turn out nearly as cute.

You can see more of Stephanie's projects on her blog.

Actions

For Mother's Day, I upgraded from Photoshop Elements 4, to Photoshop Elements 8. Which means I can now use Actions, and that is very exciting. Well, at least to me, it is.  I immediately downloaded Pioneer Woman's Actions for Elements. And I immediately had a favorite - the Seventies action. Which I used on this photo of Mackenzie.

And then this one, of Emma and her friend Bree.

 

Seriously fun, and it makes me want to make every photo look like it came from the seventies.

Products

Have you seen the new Jillibean Soup line, Summer Squash Soup?  Oh how I want it. Love the colors and patterns - I already have pictures in mind to scrap with it.

Colors

I tend to use the same colors when I scrap - bright  shades of blue, green, yellow and pink. Kind of like these dresses I found at Target for Emma and Mackenzie.

I need scrapbook paper that looks just like that. In fact, how about an entire summer line built around it? Yes, please!

Border Punches

I love border punches. I use them on almost ever page I create. Two of my favorite punches are these:

Binding Edge

 

Scallop Edge by Stampin' Up

There are quite a few on my to-get list, including:

Bubbles by EK Success

Round Binding Edge by Ek Success 

Open Scallop by EK Success

Bumpy Road by EK Success 

Layouts in our Flickr group

I am loving these pages recently posted in the WCS Flickr group:

My Truck Story by TaraMcK 

I love how the colors just pop off the page, and the stacked Polaroids are so fun.

Target by sherrystamps

Because who doesn't love Target? I love that Sherry turned the tape that gives toilet paper a handle in to a scrapbook accent. Hee hee.

Layout 24 by A.N.D.R.E.A. (Just a link, couldn't get the photo to post - sorry!)

Beautiful page. Love how the photos are linked together.

And with that, my week is over. Thanks so much for stopping by this week. I've got one last question for you before I go - What are your favorites? Share some blogs, tools, Actions, layouts, products and more - let us know what you are currently loving in this oh-so-addicting hobby of ours.

Brought to you by the letter T.

My husband is the electrician at a large resort.

When he arrives at work and opens his locker, essentially all of the tools he will possibly need for the day are on the shelves in front of him.

Some of those tools are important enough that he carries them on his person.  But he doesn't do this randomly.  He keeps his essential tools organized in four pockets in the exact same order every day.  On particularly hectic days, if he accidentally puts a tool away in the "wrong" pocket, he's very likely to spend some time backtracking to look for it.

Within that group of important tools, there are a few which he would replace with the exact same brand and model should they break or go missing.  No shopping for the best bargain or trying something new.

Sound familiar?

T is for Tools: Making the Most of the Essentials

As a scrapbooker, I can relate to my husband in many ways.  Within my creative space are all the tools and supplies I need in order to scrapbook, but there are some that I must keep out in the open and near to me because I will reach for them often.  And within that group are those items to which I am brand-loyal.

Making the most of basic tools starts with discovering which ones are the best fit for you, making sure you always have those items on hand, and storing them in a way that allows you to use them with ease.

I asked the Write. Click. Scrapbook gals What are the 3-5 tools you cannot live without?  and How do you keep them close at hand? As I compiled their responses, I found many areas of overlap as well as plenty of uniqueness.

The most popular responses were trimmer, adhesive, pens, computer, ruler, and punches.  No surprise, but there was a lot of variety within each answer.  If you're still experimenting to find your favorite in a certain category, perhaps some of the specifics will be helpful:

trimmer: Rotatrim M Series Rotary 15" (on the spendy side, but not as expensive as a Genesis, and cuts exceedingly straight, according to Celeste), Tonic Guillotine, Quartet brand guillotine-style paper cutter, Fiskars 12" Rotary Trimmer

adhesive: Herma Dotto, Scotch double-sided tape, 3M Scotch wrinkle-free glue sticks, dimensional adhesive (such as Diamond Glaze), pop dots, Scotch ATG Gun (direct quote from Celeste: "OK, if you aren't using an ATG gun you are paying too much for adhesive."  I agree!)

pens: fine point Sharpie (including the newest version that doesn't bleed through paper), American Crafts pens, black Pilot G2 05, black Micron, .03mm pen

ruler: cheap plastic T-square, metal ruler, retractable tape measure

punches: corner rounder, butterfly punch, heart punch, WRMK Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper

Some other tools worth mentioning include x-acto knife, paper piercer, adhesive eraser, bone folder, sewing machine, needle & floss, Undu, cutting mat, sandpaper, and distressing tools.  Three people consider white cardstock to be a necessary tool, since it's so foundational!  Elizabeth can't scrap without her iPod, Sara puts Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to good use as well as a sketch journal, and Candice is always pulling out paper with lines for journaling.

The most unique responses?  Tina uses tweezers from a suture removal kit for removing stickers from their backing and for placing those stickers onto layouts, as well as for fishing brads out of their jar.  Clever.  And Elizabeth uses an awl she stole from her husband ten years ago (her words!) for poking holes, because it's sharp and doesn't drag. 

As far as keeping tools within reach...

USA Jody has a huge 4' x 6' table in the middle of her studio where everything she needs is basically at arm's length.  Beth keeps all of her essentials in a tray in the middle of her work table.  Others keep their tools in baskets or drawers near their workspace.

Aussie Jody has a Making Memories Carousel Organizer for all her tools, but at the moment her favorite items are in a Cropper Hopper Photo Case because she's found it easier to transport to craft events away from home.

Tina up-cycled a couple of soup cans by covering them with cute October Afternoon patterned paper and filling them with necessities.

Since I'm such a vintage nut, I enjoy using this old tool caddy for storing the things I use the most.

I hope this post has motivated you to decide on and centralize your favorite tools and organize them in such a way that you never have to think about where they are or work to get to them.  Maybe you've even found a new tool to try out.  I know I have!

See you back here tomorrow to wrap up the week with Y!

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!