Introduction
Welcome to Day #1 of CHA Armchair Attendee Week! If you haven't followed this feature before here at Right Side Up, here's the process in a nutshell (if you want more detailed info, see here):
- In the weeks leading up to the Craft and Hobby Association's (CHA) trade show, I religiously follow manufacturers' blogs and papercrafting websites and pin new releases to my CHA board on Pinterest.
- I look for trends, patterns, new and interesting products, and products that fit my style.
- I blog each day of the trade show, sharing my thoughts and takeaways and lots and lots of product images and links.
Every show I do this a little differently, so here's my plan for this show:
So, let's get this started!
Day #1: Trends
Every show there are trends that are a continuation from previous trade shows. Every show there are new trends that emerge. I am going to address these separately in a "Continuing Trends" section and an "Emerging Trends" section. If I do my work correctly, what I predict are the emerging trends become the continuing trends in the next show. If you want to see how I did, check out this post from my Summer 2013 Armchair Attendee Week.
Please know that my aim here is not to be comprehensive, but to select a few key trends and showcase a few key examples of each. If you see other examples of these trends or trends you wish I'd blogged about, feel free to comment here and link me up to product images!
Continuing Trends
1. Basic Lines
We've seen manufacturers do this in the past, where they come out with a line that has very basic patterns, each available in a rainbow of colors with tone-on-tone prints. These lines are so versatile, as they can be used on their own, mixing and matching colors to create bright and fun multicolored layouts, or they can be a "go to" of sorts for when you just want something red (or orange, or yellow, or...you get the idea). Given my clean and simple colorful style, these lines really speak to me. I am so excited to see how many of these are out there this time around! There's really been an explosion in this category. Let's look at some examples of what I'm talking about:
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz
Bella Blvd was really the pioneer in this category, with their Sophisticates collection a few years back. This time around, they offer us a new and fun twist with Lucky Starz. What I find fun about this line is that, in addition to tone-on-tone stars in eleven colors, there is also a multicolored star pattern (and lots of fun patterns on the back of each paper as well!):
Lawn Fawn Let's Polka
I so love the fun name of this line! This line offers a great mix of larger-scale and smaller-scale polka dots, diagonal stripes, and tiny hearts, each with a fun additional pattern on the tear strip.
This line holds a special spot in my heart because they have taken this trend and done it with...wait for it...words. How cool is that?! Please forgive me here, as Lily Bee isn't yet offering a composite image online and I want to show you each of these amazing papers. Be sure to check out the B sides as well for all of the fun patterns offered there:
A clear winner in the embellishment category here! Sure, they are doing cardstock (including woodgrain..bestill my beating heart!) as well, but it's the embellishments that really stand out. Again, bear with me, as I want to show you all of the fabulous and colorful embellishments available:
2. Ampersands
Last year ampersands started to pop up a couple of places outside of alpha sets. Here are some of the ways this trend is being interpreted this time around:
Maya Road Classic Ampersand Clips
This interpretation is in the form of a paper clip - love the 3-D interpretation here.
Simple Stories DIY Boutique
The "Outside the Box" paper from this line offers sixteen different takes on the ampersand - a great mix of fonts, colors, and patterns.
Lily Bee Everyday
One of the papers from this line features different colors of ampersands scattered across a grid background. There is also a coordinating sticker set featuring ampersands.
My Mind's Eye Now & Then Izzy
This product puts two other continuing trends (mustaches and geotags) together with ampersands. I love the beautiful font used here.
3. Metallics
Like ampersands, we've seen this trend start to creep in and now it's ubiquitous. Lots of great examples out there.
This line combines gold, black, and white for a stunning and elegant look.
Metallic on vellum. Need I say more?
This line combines vibrant colors in some basic and fun patterns with gold for a fun take on this trend. If you are hesitant about metallics, this collection would be a great way to get your feet wet as you can experiment a bit without having to fully dive in.
This line offers a variety of embellishments sets - some that incorporate gold and some that are all gold.
Emerging Trends
1. Brush Script
We've seen watercolor explode as a trend recently (and I could have included it in the continuing trends section above), but I am finding this trend, which I see as an offshoot of the watercolor trend, intriguing. I was first alerted to it by an ad for a class Studio Calico is offering, but then "got it" when I received my new issue of Bon Appetit magazine, which used it on the cover and in every article in the magazine. Here are some ways this trend is being interpreted:
Basic Grey is featuring brush script in this collection on papers and embellishments:
and on stamps, including this very cool background stamp:
This line also offers brush script on papers and embellishments. Unfortunately, I can't find individual product images here, but if you look closely at the papers you'll see that the third paper from the left in the third row down features blocks, each with a different word. Fun!
This line offers papers and embellishments plus American Crafts' popular Thickers in brush script.
Again, we have paper and embellishments, but what's unique here is the die cut take on this trend.
2. Social Media
Sure, we've seen texting abbreviations on papers here and there for a while now, but as more and more social media platforms emerge there is more and more interest in products that coordinate. I find this trend a bit amusing, as we are using social media to document our lives and now we're using social media-themed products to document how we document our lives. I am fairly confident in saying that we are likely to see more and more products in this category in the near future.
Jillibean Soup is clearly on the cutting edge here with this line. I particularly love the Taste of Texts patterned paper that uses a network diagram to connect icons.
Bella Blvd Max Collection and Molly Collection
These examples hark back more to the texting-themed trend, but with the hashtag and "friends" creeping in there is certainly some crossover.
I am noting Pink Paislee here as an antidote to this trend. While other manufacturers are forging ahead with lines themed around technology-based communication and social interaction, Pink Paislee has two new lines that hark back to an earlier era, Pen Pals and Switchboard:
Phew! If you've gotten to the end of this post, thank you for reading all the way through! I hope that you've enjoyed my take on the latest trends and, along the way, found some products that speak to you. I know I have!
Remember to stay tuned as I continue to Armchair Attendee Blog across the next three days.
