CHA Armchair Attendee Week, Introduction and Day 1

The Craft and Hobby Association's (CHA) winter trade show opened today in Anaheim. I'm not there this year, but am happily "armchair attending" from home. If you've missed my armchair attendee blog posts from previous shows, here is my official introduction:

Introduction
Some of you may be wondering what it means to be an “armchair attendee.” How can you “attend” the show if you’re not there? Well, here’s my process.

• In the weeks ahead of the show, I regularly frequent websites that compile manufacturers’ sneak peeks. Most manufacturers “sneak” their new releases prior to the show via their company’s blog, but that can be exhausting to follow without the aid of websites that do the work of compiling sneaks for you. Two good websites for this are Scrapbook Update and The Scrap Review. Each presents the sneaks a little bit differently: Scrapbook Update provides a clickable list by date of sneaks and The Scrap Review blogs sneaks as they appear. I also check message boards on major scrapbooking websites (like Two Peas in a Bucket and Studio Calico) and try to spot sneaks as they appear on Facebook and Pinterest.

• As I look at sneaks, I make sure to check out both official product images as well as any projects showcasing the new products. Often a line or a product that doesn’t grab me at first looks different when I see it on a layout or a card.

• Once the show starts, I watch online for photos and videos from the CHA show floor. Not all companies do sneak peeks or extensive sneak peeks and seeing new products together with projects made with them in the booth can inspire. You can try searching #CHAshow on Twitter, check magazines' and manufacturers' Twitter feeds/Facebook pages/blogs, or follow targeted CHA forums (like the CHA Winter 2013 forum at Two Peas in a Bucket).

• I use Pinterest to grab images that catch my attention, posting them to a CHA Winter 2013 board.

• Most important, I make my wishlist!

The show floor is open for four days, so I'll be posting each day. Here's my schedule of posts:

Day 1: Saturday, January 12 - Trends, Part I: Pattern, Shape, and Motif Trends
Day 2: Saturday, January 13 - Trends, Part II: Product Trends
Day 3: Sunday, January 14 - My Wish List 
Day 4: Monday, January 15 - My Advice to Manufacturers (a.k.a. My Thoughts on the Perfect Product Line) 

So, let's start with a look at pattern, shape, and motif trends. Disclaimer: I am not reporting on every trend, just those that are really prevalent and have caught my eye. I'm going to break this up into categories to help us digest all of this. I don't want to overwhelm, so I'm going to limit myself to 3-5 examples per trend. Trust me, there are more!


Patterns
It is still all about the chevron. Another trend that is up-and-coming is ombre (link there in case for you, like me, this was an unfamiliar term - I think I've only know it for about a year!). 

Chevron  
The chevron in Echo Park's Brothers collection caught my eye because of the mix of solid colors and patterns and the more masculine feel:

Simple Stories' Urban Traveler collection includes this colorful take on chevron:

I love the use of chevron in a television in GCD Studios' Special Delivery collection by Heidi Sonboul:

This one is more along the lines of a basic chevron, but it's an airmail chevron, which is kind of fun (from Lily Bee's Destination collection):

Crate Paper's Party Day collection includes this multicolored woodgrain-patterned chevron:

I will end this category with Studio Calico's wood veneer chevron from their Snippets collection:

Ombre 
I love all the variations of ombre on this piece of patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket's Summer Love collection (the whole line features ombre):

Studio Calico also has an interesting take on this trend with ombre Thickers as part of their Sundrifter collection (this is another collection that features lots of ombre):

American Crafts' Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection features some ombre patterns, including on these tags:

Shapes
 Judging by what's out there this time around, I'd say hexagons are on the way out and arrows and triangles are gaining ground. They are sort of the same trend, if you think about it, as arrowheads are triangles, so I'm going to lump them together. This will be the only shape I will report on this time. An aside here, anyone with me on the theory that the arrow trend emerged from the surge in popularity of the Hunger Games trilogy when the movie was released last year?

Arrows and Triangles
Arrows are a lot of fun - I'm just starting to use them on projects. I love these stickers from Studio Calico's Here + There collection, featuring colorful and woodgrain-print arrows and arrowheads:

 Studio Calico also has this sticker set in their Snippets collection - it features both hand-drawn arrows and arrowheads:

Bella Blvd also has hand-drawn arrows in their Sand and Surf collection:

Simple Stories Urban Traveler collection has this amazing arrow patterned paper with map-print arrows:

As for triangles on their own, how amazing is the triangle-based globe on this piece of paper from Glitz Design's Color Me Happy collection?

I was also struck by this triangles created out of triangles pattern from Echo Park's Oh Snap collection:

Motifs
Lots going on in this category! The triangle shape trend has morphed into a pie chart motif trend. The feathers that started to appear at the last show are back with a vengeance. We are still seeing cameras and speech bubbles all over the place. Geotags, which I see as an outgrowth of the ongoing map trend, have burst onto the scene in a big way. These are the five motif trends that really stand out for me from this show.

Pie Charts
Let's start with pie charts. First up is Ronda Palazzari's stencil for The Crafter's Workshop. I love her fun take on the pie chart, with a mix of patterns, open spaces, and text:

Echo Park has a similar take with this paper from their Sweet Girl collection, which features pie charts with a mix of solids and polka dots:

 
Lily Bee's Pinwheel line features this fun paper with quilted pie charts:

A related twist here are spinners (which, by the way, combine the pie chart and arrow trends). Here's one from Echo Park's All About a Boy collection:

Feathers
I'm seeing everything from feather shapes to actual feathers. I am going to admit that I just don't get this trend. Those of you who know me or my work know that I'm a pretty literal scrapper, so if I'm going to use a feather it has to connect in some way to my story. Not sure how many stories I'm going to be telling that are feather-related. (Now perhaps if I gave in to the urban chicken-raising trend I might have a use for feather products...hmmm...)

I do love the fun colors of the feather stickers on this sheet from Echo Park's Happy Go Lucky Photo Freedom collection:

Studio Calico's Sundrifter collection includes this feather print:

 
If it's actual feathers you want, look no further than Bella Blvd, which is debuting feather embellishments in every imaginable color (and then some):

Cameras
This paper from Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes collection features cameras on the A side, with a bokeh pattern on the B side, keeping it all camera-themed:

Glitz has a camera roller stamp as part of their Color Me Happy collection:

Webster's Pages Composition & Color collection by Allison Kreft features washi tape with camera icons and related sayings:

Maya Road offers another take on this trend with their kraft and transparency cameras:

Speech Bubbles
Crate Paper's DIY Shop collection includes this vintage-y speech bubble print, which is the first non-clean-and-graphic take I've seen on this trend:

Studio Calico is offering a speech bubble mask in their Snippets collection as well as some fun stickers:

 

Echo Park has a colorful take on this trend in their Photo Freedom Volume 1 collection:

Geotags
Studio Calico is doing a ton of these, as you've already seen a taste of in the speech bubbles stickers two images up. They're putting them on flair, patterned paper, album covers and insert pages; cutting them from wood veneer; and, as you will see here, featuring them on die-cut polaroid shapes:

I know I already showed you this piece of paper from Glitz Design's Color Me Happy collection for the triangle globe on the A side, but I'm showing it again for the geotag on the B side:

You Have Now Reached the End of This Post
If you've stuck with this all the way to the end, thank you! Please come back tomorrow for my next installment, which will focus on product trends (types of products and product lines).