CHA Armchair Attendee Week, Day 4: My Advice to Manufacturers (a.k.a. My Thoughts on the Perfect Product Line)

Finally getting this post up...apologies for the extended delay! 

My advice is in the form of my perfect product line, explained in words and with examples of products from this show.

My perfect product line...

1. Has A Theme (But Isn't Too Theme-y)
I like knowing what to use a line for. I also like being able to grab any line and being able to use it for an everyday layout. I want clean and graphic or retro/vintage designs. I also want lots of basic and everyday kinds of prints.

This paper from Simple Stories' Urban Traveler collection is definitely travel-themed on one side, but offers a fun basic stripe on the other side. It's clean and graphic on one side and retro/vintage on the other side:

2. Considers Journaling Needs 
This is my biggest pet peeve in this industry. Sure, we have lots of journaling cards at our disposal, but give me lines, give me grids, and give them to me in 12 x 12 so that I can either use them instead of cardstock as a background and journal right on the layout or cut them up appropriately for my journaling needs. Give me more than one of those pieces of paper in your line so I don't have to reach for another manufacturer's product once I've used that one piece of paper but still have the other eleven left from your line. I don't always want to journal on a journaling card. In fact, I tend to journal in 12-inch long journaling strips of various widths. Hey, there's an idea, how about one of those patterned paper strip papers with 12-inch long grid and lined patterns in varying widths? Then I could get maybe 7-8 layouts' worth of journaling out of that one piece of paper!

Crate Paper's Party Day collection hits the nail on the head for me in this category. This collection includes several papers that would be great for journaling, including Tag and Accent Cutouts:

plus this grid paper:

and this masking tape paper:

and this label paper:

and this calendar/grid paper:

3. Is Trendy, But Doesn't Throw Out Tradition
I'm a little cautious sometimes. I'm not usually a trend-starter, but once I get my feet wet I can embrace a new trend and give it my own twist. What makes me happy is mixing the old with the new. Combine staple patterns and products with trends in unique ways. 

Webster's Pages Sweet Notes Mini Bags by Allison Kreft are new. Woodgrain and stripes are not. This gives me a confidence level that makes me want to try this new product:

4. Keeps Cardmakers in Mind
I want greeting options, and lots of them! Pebbles' Basics collection includes these sticker sheets with multiple greeting options available in twelve different colors across six sets. I am so excited about these!

5. Includes Alphas for Everyone
Sometimes you want uppercase. Sometimes you want lowercase. Sometimes you want script. Sometimes you want a clean font. Sometimes you want one color. Sometimes you want to mix and match colors. American Crafts' Amy Tangerine Yes, Please collection understands this fairly well:

Here we've got a serif font with uppercase and lowercase letters, and it comes in several colors:

Here we've got a sans serif font with uppercase letters, and it comes in a couple of different colors/patterns:

Here we've got a script font with both uppercase and lowercase letters, again, available in several colors:

Here's another sans serif uppercase letter set, this time a multicolored set:

And...if you feel like it...alpha stamps (again, sans serif uppercase):

6. Offers a Diverse Mix of Flat and 3-Dimensional Embellishments
Most companies are doing this now, and if they aren't, they should! Sure, a pop dot can do a lot to add dimension, but sometimes I don't want to have to think that through. I love having choices.

My Mind's Eye consistently does a great job of this, as you can see here in their Collectable Unforgettable collection (selected embellishments below):

Layered Stickers (3-D):

 
 Label Stickers (flat):

Chipboard (3-D):

Tiny Word Stickers (flat):

  Pins (3-D):

 

Decorative Brads (3-D):

7. Add In Something Fun, Something That Makes Me Smile
When asked, I describe my style as bright colors against neutral backgrounds, clean and simple, with a touch of whimsy. Sure, I can create my own whimsy, but how about you give me a little bit of a leg up?

October Afternoon's Travel Girl collection has lots of whimsical designs:

So, there you have it: My Perfect Product Line
Combine all of these pieces into one line and...sold...to one Vivian Masket. :)

I'd love to hear from you - what's essential in your perfect product line? 

 

Slight Delay in Today's Armchair Attendee Blog Post

Sometimes, random things come up. Things like suddenly hearing that the window replacement guys can come to replace the windows, meaning that you will take one night to remove all window treatments and move all furniture on one floor of your house to the center of each room, and a second night to reinstall said window treatments and move all furniture back where it belongs (save for in your seven-year-old daughter's room, as she has decided that now would be a good time to try out a new furniture arrangement) and then repeat the window treatment removal and furniture-moving on the other floor of your house in preparation for day two of window replacement. Along the way you are likely to discover shocking amounts of dust hiding on baseboards that were previously hidden by furniture, necessitating equally shocking amounts of time cleaning said dust. 

Therefore, while today's CHA Armchair Attendee blog post is partially drafted, it is not complete. I promise to post it sometime in the afternoon or evening after work, after the windows are in, but before embarking on the next round of window treatment reinstallation, dusting and vacuuming, and moving back of furniture.

Oh, and if she's reading this, happy birthday to my sister! :)

CHA Armchair Attendee Week, Day 3: My Wish List(s)

There is entirely too much that I want this winter. A good thing for the manufacturers out there, but a bad thing for my wallet. I've decided to break this wish list into two wish lists. First, I'll list my top five individual products and then my top five lines (the ones where I'm likely to buy it all). I will not be including either October Afternoon or Pebbles products on here since, well, they are coming my way anyway. :)

Top Five Individual Products

1. Simple Stories Urban Traveler Journaling Cards:

  

2. Studio Calico Here & There Handbook:

3. Jillibean Soup's Fresh Vegetable Soup Stalks of Celery Paper (oh, how I love those shopping carts!):

4. American Crafts' Amy Tangerine Yes, Please Phrase Roller Stamp:

 5. Webster's Pages Composition & Color Mini Bags:

Top Five Product Lines

1.  Project Life Honey Edition. This was made with me in my mind. Of that I am sure:

Well, either that one or Project Life Kraft Edition:

  
2. Simple Stories 24/Seven - This image is representative of the whole line:

 3. Studio Calico Snippets - Again, with images representative of the whole line:

 4. Crate Paper Party Day:

 5. Echo Park Photo Freedom Volume I:

What's on your wish list? 

CHA Armchair Attendee Week, Day 2: Product Trends

(If you missed Day 1 of Armchair Attendee Week, click here.)

Today is all about product trends. I'll address each trend separately and provide a few examples of each so you can see what I'm talking about.

Daily Memory-Keeping
This trend, spawned by Project Life, is taking the scrapbooking world by storm. So many companies are jumping on this bandwagon! I'll pick a few that are new or newer to it with this show:

October Afternoon is launching Daily Flash:

Echo Park launched their Photo Freedom system as a mid-season release this fall and is following up with several new collections debuting at this show:

   

Basic/Monochromatic Collections
I'm noticing an upswing in the number of companies that are offering lines with mostly monochromatic products that mix and match with their other lines. These lines, can, of course also be used on their own. 

Echo Park is one of the companies debuting this type of product, with four different color collections as part of their Mini Themes collections. Each of these four collections offers patterned papers, journaling cards, and stickers:

 

 

  
Pebbles is part of this trend as well with their new Basics line, featuring patterned papers and a variety of embellishments:

Bella Blvd has long been a trailblazer with this trend with their Sophisticates collection. This time around they have added the Freestyle Sophisticates patterned papers:

Paper Bags
I'm picking up what looks like the start of a trend here. These will be fun to use for tucking in journaling cards or extra photos or could be used as mats for smaller photos (or as patterned paper). I'm seeing a surge in mini envelopes and library pockets, which have similar properties/uses, but the bags are a newer idea so I'm going to focus on those.

Webster's Pages' Alison Kreft Sweet Notes and Composition & Color collections include bags:

 

Fancy Pants is also including bags with several of their new collections, including  Trendsetter and Park Bench:

 

Crate Paper's Party Day collection includes these vellum bags and envelopes:

See-Through
This was a huge trend a few years back and it's returning. We're looking through things, whether clear (transparencies, acetate, overlays, etc.) or opaque (vellum). The Crate Paper vellum Party Day bags I posted above are a part of this trend, which includes 12 x 12 overlays, embellishments of all sorts, and alphas. Here's a look at some of what's out there:

Basic Grey has an acetate alphabet set as part of their Hipster collection:

Webster's Pages' partnership with Allison Kreft (formerly of Hambly, which was the center of all things transparency a few years ago) brings us overlays, including this one from the Sweet Notes collection:

Maya Road is showing several different transparency shapes, including these Our Town ones (alongside their kraft partners):

Crate Paper's DIY Shop collection includes these photo overlays:

  
Roller Stamps 
We've seen date roller stamps emerge as a trend in the last year or so (hey, I've got five of them!), but a new addition this time around are phrase stamps. I am really loving this trend, as it means you can have the fun phrases without having to pair it with a date. Here are some of the date and phrase roller stamps releasing soon:

October Afternoon has both decade stamps and phrase stamps coming out as part of their new Daily Flash product line (eagerly awaiting individual images for these!):

American Crafts' Amy Tangerine Yes, Please collection includes this stamp:

American Crafts' Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection features this phrase stamp:

Die Cut for You
With the proliferation of die cut machines, especially Silhouette models, die cut shapes and titles are all the rage in scrapbooking these days. What to do if you don't have a machine or want the look without the fuss? Turn to pre-die-cut shapes, of course!  

KI Memories/Hampton Art has some of this in their Mini Celebrations collection:

Jillibean Soup's Wise Words offer a little bit of a different take on this trend with two sets, each available in four different colors:

Simple Stories has some fun die cut pages for their Sn@p albums, including these from the 24/Seven, Vintage Bliss, and Urban Traveler collections:

Studio Calico has combined a zillion trends with these ombre die cut vellum frames (in case you were wondering: ombre, arrows, and geotags from yesterday's trend post plus vellum and die cuts from today's trend post - polaroids also fit into the camera trend I blogged about yesterday):

 

I'd love to hear about product trends you're noticing, especially if you're on the show floor and have a different perspective! 

Come back tomorrow for my wish list. Or, rather, wish lists. I want it all! :)