Trend watching from CHA

CHA was an absolute blast! Hard to complain about sunshine, temps in the 70's and 80's and palm trees! It truly was wonderful to see friends and new products! (and eat out and not have to cook...) I thought I would share with you the trends I noticed at the show. And I will be back soon with all my favorites in another post. Well, these are all on that list too, but I have even more cool things to share!

1. Gold, gold, gold!

From washi tape, to vellum, to gold foil papers! It's all about the gold! Watch for other metallics sneaking in too.

Gold Doilies-Studio Calico

Washi tape-Little B

Foil papers-Fancy Pants

Gold bows-Maya Road

Vellum-WR Memory Keepers

2. Pinks
Bright and intense, pale and soft, and everything in between, pretty much everyone had a shade of pink.

Bright-American Crafts Amy Tangerine Plus One

Basic Grey-Highline

In the middle-Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine and Polka Dots

Chickaniddy-Twirly Girly

Sorry, my photo was awful.

3. Black as the neutral. 

We have watched this move from kraft to grey and now black.  All the vivid colors being shown this time around are really popping against the black.

Pink Paislee-Hello Sunshine

Simple Stories-DIY Boutique

Basic Grey-Highline

4. Brush script or handwriting

Love this trend. Its stemming from the chalkboard trend. Which moved us into using handwriting and drawn fonts. I love this. Big time.

Basic Grey-Highline 

This is a background stamp, but there is the same design in the patterned paper from the collection.

WR Memory Keepers/Lifestyle Crafts-6x6 Embossing Folder

American Crafts Amy Tangerine Plus One

Technique Tuesday stamps

5. Chalkboard

Yay! So happy to have this one continue.

Penny Black

My Mind's Eye-Chalk Studio

Melissa Frances

American Crafts-DIY Shop

There is so much more goodness in this line!

Martha Stewart-these are new reusable silk screen stencils and washable chalk paint, simply wipe away with water and add your next design!

6. Shaped enamel dots and gems

Fun ways to expand your basic dot collection!

Basic Grey-Spice Market

Basic Grey-Capture

My Mind's Eye-Now and Then

7. Stencils

By far the biggest trend I saw. Everywhere. Used with inks, sprays, modeling pastes, and a million more creative ideas.

Hazel and Ruby-repositionable stencils! Peel, use, remove, use again and again!

Jillibean Soup. Again repositionable, but they also have coordinating stamps!!

Mod Podge/Plaid Crafts

Heidi Swapp/Pink Paislee-mini stencils! How cute!

Other observations:

• Washi tape-metallics, shaped, sheets for die cutting
• Arrows
• Dies for everything
• Lots of basics-stripes updated with diagonals and thick stripes, and polka dots updated with hearts
• Pocket page scrapbooking-tons, loving the die templates from Technique Tuesday to make your own cards
• Home decor-chalkboards, pallet wood for altering, canvas items
• Woodgrain-real wood sheets, decoratively cut 12x12 wood sheets, wood 3x4 cards, woodgrain papers, stencils, stamps

There you have it. My look at the trends from CHA. See anything that looks fun? Anything you cannot wait to get your hands on? Stay tuned for more paper crafty goodness!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Flower Soft CardMaker Magazine blog hop

Welcome to the Flower Soft/CardMaker Magazine blog team blog hop! Today we are featuring cards with animals and Flower Soft’s unique product!


Flower Soft adds great dimension to your stamped images! Apply liquid glue to the place where you would like the product to be. I chose the spikey side of this cute Penny Black hedgie. Sprinkle the Flower Soft generously and burnish it gently with your finger. Tap off the excess. Because of the small image on this card and the detailed location, I chose the Ultra Fine version of Flower Soft.

You should have arrived here from the fantastic Linda Beeson and be sure and head over to see what Stephanie Lee has in store for you!

Also be sure and visit the Flower Soft Blog for more ideas and inspiration.

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

CardMaker Blog Hop:Escaping the Comfort Zone

Today’s CardMaker Magazine Blog Team hop is all about getting outside of our comfort zone. I don’t know about you, but I always tend to make the same style of card. Its just easier to grab the usual supplies and create the familiar.

Now this card isn’t too far outside my zone, with the Spellbinders and patterned papers, but I don’t usually grab images that need to be colored. Which is silly, because I teach Copic classes locally, but its not my comfort zone.



This hedgehog from Penny Black has long been a favorite character of mine and I knew he would be perfect to use. (Coloring with my hands does not work these days, so thankfully I had this image laying around from one of the classes I teach.)

Copics: E29, E37, E11, E13, W1, W3, W5, W7, Y15, YR04, R11, R27, YG11, YG13, YG17, B32, 0

Be sure and check out the inspiration from the rest of the team. I know that I cannot wait to see everyone’s projects!! :)

• CardMaker Magazine Blog
• Kimberly Crawford *you are here*
• Carolyn King
• Colleen Schaan
• Anya Schrier
• Trudy Sjolander

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly