Did you miss these at CHA Summer?

I *adore* the new Crate Paper... absolutely stunning. The colour palette is always muted enough to be usable without getting TOO grungy. Grunge is definitely a has been trend, and colour is king.

It is nuts how much GOOD stuff you miss at a show, because you are visually overloaded with new at every turn. Not hard to see how consumers are hard pushed to negotiate their way through it all... especially in purse tightening times!

...still, how beautiful are these Hambly prints?

A girl can NEVER have enough storage - and the boys on top of the pile in that regards are Advantus (aka Cropper Hopper.) Always been a firm fav in my book (and my shed attests to it!)

Trend News

I somehow managed to miss Fancy Pants at CHA (although off topic, if you plug Fancy Pants into your web browser you end up with some pretty fancy tennis knickers... ;) Somehow the whole of CHA was Halloween mad - which didn't bode well for us mundane Brits who shrug this *holiday* off with our "chin up" approach to anything slightly schmaltzy and gimmicky...

I was browsing and spotted their new CHA products - and loved the hot pink take on a Christmas red. Long gone are those splotches of paint; hallelujah! Not sure if their style is something I can spot a mile off, or whether it merges into general design (much like Yellow Bicycle...) My test for new product is IF I can put the brand name to it, with just looking at the designs... that is when you know you have your own style.

So what trends can we continue to see in 2008? Well it seems like we cannot get enough of online tutorials. Anyone spotted Moo Vision yet? It's so bad, it's sooooo gooooood..... It is the UK take on those TV Weekly mega workshops - but with way less budget, but all the finesse you would expect from crafty lasses!!

I have never caught the HOTP webisodes, but I am always up for some online entertainment, especially whilst my delightful brood have control over the remote (...survival of the fittest ;)

Love changes everything...

Spotted: So more to consider with the "Love Machine" - although you have to wait until after October to play.

THEY SAY: Benefits of the LOVE?
SIZE: With its 9"x13" opening, the LOVE is the largest format electric machine in the industry. Think of all of the amazing things you can do with a platform that is 9 inches by 13 inches. You can cut up to 24 2x2 dies, 6 4x4 dies, 4 border dies, or you could even cut a newly designed 9x13 Quickutz die.

CONVENIENCE: With no handle to crank, the Revolution LOVE basically cuts itself. If you have customers with health issues that impede them from mustering the strength to power a cutting tool, just give them some LOVE!. Simply get the cutting pad started and let the powerful motor do the rest!!



...earplugs on the prototype only ;)

Show Goodies up for grabs...

I have a We R Memory Keepers CHA Summer 08 show t-shirt up for grabs... it is size medium (so be warned!) A fetching yuletide green and printed both sides.

Just leave a comment on what you are most looking forward to from all those sneak peaks - and the winner will be picked on Monday!

CHA Summer 08 - Day Three

Spotted: Ellison/Sizzix (yep, I am a little confused too...) have launched a *new* electronic feeder die cutter - called the Big Shot "Express". It is the basic Big Shot with a motor... so slightly heavier (but not like lugging a sack of potatoes around!) What is really exciting (and one blog watcher asked for these pics!!) is the Hello Kitty licence. Although it is for the US only at the mo (and Kristen is working on the UK and EU...) it is a girl wonderland of kitten cute. Does my 5 year old love Hello Kitty - well... hello?!! I have a Kitty lip gloss sat next to my toothbrush - and my little princess is all about pink, bows and cutesy. She will be up for all of this!!

Jo & Abbie playing...

When you see what Core'dinations cardstock does up close - like that shading on the US Flag?!! it is easy to see why card makers are going nuts for it. The 'Angel' pic is die cut vintage cardstock... and I am pretty certain this cardstock is going to give you a reason to get that dusty die cutter off the shelf, and back on the desk ;)

I did get tickled by big G at Quickutz for saying their tool was a nut cracker - so hands up, I had failed to mention it was a prototype, and the real one is going to be a sleek mean love machine (try and say "my love machine" to any non-scrapper with a straight face.... ;)

Anyways... here is a new perspective from someone I really like...

"Keep in mind the 'Love Machine' is $10 less than the Ellison/Sizzix offering and it is true it may be a little larger, I believe the expression you used was a "little heavy on the hands" but I would think consumers would appreciate a tool that offered a little more versatility, and a whole lot of LOVE! Oh and come October, there will be no "nuts cracking" just a whole lot of happy consumers using the one machine that does it all."

Sounds like we need a road test challenge!!! You all agree right?

A night out in Chicago...

...you have to look at these from the bottom up (I uploaded in the wrong order!) but it is a pic record of a pretty cool night out on the town... 95 floors up the John Hancock Tower eating Alaskan King Crab (seriously delicious - like out of this world ;)

Me and the lovely Hayley (we go WAY back... ;) from Sassafras. I managed to gwap at their lickable designs before smooching the gorgeously {singly} Hayley. She was one of my very first suppliers (back in the Pebbles Inc. and early ScrapGenie days...)

Saw the 'Build-A-Book' stand and thought what a great idea... although I doubt I will ever find it greeting me in a UK shop - just no space. Still *love* the personalisation concept that means I can create my own book - no cheesy words thrust upon me...