I am thrilled to have had a layout selected for the Reader's Gallery in the fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. I have a long been a fan of this fabulous magazine and this issue is no exception. My hard copy arrived in the mail earlier this week and it's full of fabulous work by many of my favorite papercrafters. Be sure to check this issue out, and look for me (and Seth, and some pumpkins, and some stunning mountain views) on page 65.
Let me preface this post by saying that I'm not doing that much papercrafting anymore. I haven't made big announcements, but I've let all of my industry commitments go. I am still creating and submitting here and there, but work and family have taken up more and more time each year and it became harder and harder to keep up. I don't know where I will head in the papercrafting industry from here - I may continue to dabble, I may jump back in with two feet - but I do know that it will continue to play a role in my life.
That having been said, I am not making a big wishlist since I am still working through my stash of products from the winter releases. I will share here my top five must haves, in no particular order. Some of my top five must haves are entire collections, while others are individual products.
Without further ado, here is my list: Pebbles Home + Made Collection Home + Made is everything I want in a collection: bright and neutral colors; a mix of bold, small-scale, basic, text-print, woodgrain, and fun patterns; sans-serif, all-caps text; and perfect for both cards and layouts.
Check out this video, from A Cherry on Top, that showcases this collection:
Gossamer Blue On My Desk Badges These badges are a fun mix of script, serif, and sans-serif text, and I love the colors (and they will play nicely with the Pebbles Home + Made collection above). This is such a versatile set - it could be used for travel, everyday, birthday, and school-themed projects.
Bella Blvd Halloween Magic Collection This fun Halloween collection combines cute and sophisticated patterns, mixing bright colors in with more neutral gray, white, and black.
This is a great mix of sentiments with a varied and unusual holiday color palette. The sticker set can be used for Christmas, New Year's, winter, and everyday projects. It could also be used for "Frozen" projects. :)
What's on your wish list? What did I miss that I should add to mine?
For several years now, I have blogged while "armchair attending" the semi-annual Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) trade shows. In a past life I used to go to the shows, but it's almost as much fun to attend virtually. If you haven't read one of my armchair attendee blog posts before, I will cut and paste the info for you below. If you've already read my previous armchair attendee posts, feel free to skip down to the "Trends" section. A quick note about this summer's armchair attendee process: As you can tell from the date of my last post (May 23), I've been a little busy of late. I am blogging after the trade show this year instead of during it and am condensing all of my armchair attendee blogging into two posts: this one (trends) and another one tomorrow (my wishlist). There have been some recent shifts in the industry, resulting in a much smaller summer show and many companies staggering releases across the year rather than having two big releases a year. However, there's still a lot happening and it's fun to watch it unfold!
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. A good
website for this is Scrapbook Update. I also 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 product reveal websites (like Scrapbook.com's video from the show floor).
I use Pinterest to grab images that catch my attention, posting them to a CHA Summer 2014 board.
I start my process by looking for any new and unusual products, and then, as the sneaks accumulate, pore over them for continuing and emerging trends.
I finish my process by making a wishlist of the products I want to be sure to buy.
Trends
From the armchair perspective, I didn't see a whole lot in terms of new trends this year. My speculation is that that's due to the shrinking of the industry. Companies that are still in the game are likely playing it safe, building on what have been big sellers for them in the past. That having been said, I did spot some interesting things.
Let's take a look at two trends I am noticing. One is ominpresent, the other is smaller.
Trend #1: Big, Bold, Colorful, Diagonal Many manufacturers are moving away from smaller-scale patterns and are including big, bold, colorful prints with diagonal lines in their collections. Here are some examples of what I've seen: 1. My Mind's Eye Jubilee Wild Berry
Trend #2: Diamonds I am not talking here about metallic gem stickers, but about images of diamonds. This motif trend follows on the heels of the bling-it-up trend. There's been a huge and successful surge in metallics the last year or two so why not add another facet of bling into the mix? Let's peek at what I'm seeing appear.
Back after two days' worth of tornado warnings and sirens and calming down anxious children. Thankfully, our part of the city was not directly affected, and the parts that were affected suffered only minor damage, hail damage, and flooding.
I love this vintage New York map-print patterned paper and
used it in two ways on this layout. One use is obvious: the two blocks of
patterned paper. As for the less obvious use: I die cut an apple from the paper
and inked it red. If you look closely you will see that I die cut the apple
stem from woodgrain patterned paper and the leaf from the same green
ledger-print paper I used to die cut the Statue of Liberty. I used American
Crafts hemp baker's twine in solid red and green on the kraft DIY Shop tags to
balance the color across the two halves of the layout.
Next up is my "Let's Go Fly a Kite" project, which is a framed 8" x 10"
art piece:
I recently rectified a
parenting fail by showing my kids "Mary Poppins" for the first time.
The kite song got stuck in all of our heads. Here, I used my die-cutting
machine to create a kite image. I first die cut the diamond of diamonds from
scrap cardstock and placed it over dictionary-print patterned paper, inking
each of the diamonds a different color. I adhered the inked patterned paper
behind the diamond shapes on the cardstock I had run through both my printer
and my die-cutting machine. A black twine kite string is adorned with burlap
bows inked to match some of the diamonds. A small key detail here: the center
diamond contains the word "fly," and yes, that was intentional! :)
My "Travelers"
layout is a simple layout with a fun twist: map-print patterned paper dolls:
This is one of those layouts
that evolved slowly. Initially, I die cut the paper dolls from the background
patterned paper, backed them with the map-print patterned paper, and had color
photos, all with Thickers geotags anchoring them to the layout. The layout
wasn't sitting right with me so I let it sit. Three "a-has" struck
that improved the layout. First, I die cut the paper dolls again from black
cardstock and laid the strip of cardstock over the paper dolls on the layout,
making the colors in the map print pop. Second, I changed the photos to black and white to create
a more uniform look, correcting the clash of colors between photos and between
photos and paper dolls. Next, I varied the "anchors" for the photos,
keeping one geotag, but swapping out the other two for a clothespin on its side
and a chalk badge. My edits made for a more cohesive and visually pleasing
layout.
I had a lot of fun creating a
card with this line:
I used five different
patterned papers here: a whitewashed text collage print (it comes printed with the whitewash effect - isn't that cool?!), a woodgrain print, a dictionary print, an airmail strip
print, and a denim print. I die cut or punched all of the elements, elevated
the heart with a foam adhesive dot, and finished the card with more of the
twine.
Last up is my most meaningful
project. When you look at it you will see why:
I would recommend buying the
DIY paper pad for the family tree diagram paper alone! It is the perfect size
for writing names (even long ones - there's a Tabachnick side in my family!)
and is a great document to either fill out on its own, or, as I did, to use as
part of a two-page spread. I documented our ancestry in general on the left
side of the layout, creating a collage of some of my favorite family photos
going back to my great-great grandparents and my husband's great-grandparents.
(Don't worry, none of those are the original photos - all are printed from
scans!) I added pops of color and a "who's who" key by punching stars
from colored cardstock and adhering them to the photos, with circles punched
from the same colors of cardstock adhered to the family tree page. I don't have
the entire family tree filled out - still missing some great-grandmothers'
maiden names, but I plan to finish filling that information in once I can track
it down.
I had the honor of guest designing for American Crafts for this week's Vintage Week feature. I had the privilege of working with their fabulous DIY Shop collection. DIY Shop includes a great mix of vintage-print papers with embellishments in neutral colors and materials (black, kraft, burlap, cork, etc.). I had a lot of fun working with the papers and embellishments from this line!
While I am sharing my projects here, please be sure to check out the American Crafts blog for additional information. I'll be sharing additional information here about my projects later this week as well.
"New York" layout:
"Travelers" layout:
"Memory Ancestry" layout:
"Let's Go Fly a Kite" art piece:
"Hello" card:
Be sure to head on over to the American Crafts blog for more information and to check out the rest of Vintage Week!
This layout celebrates important friendships in my son's life. There were some tough times for him in elementary school when it came to friends. Initially, Eli gravitated towards friendships with girls and all was well. Once he started branching out and forging friendships with boys, however, things got a little more complicated. Unhealthy competition entered into the fray, as did kids who were growing up too quickly, making Eli feel uncomfortable. I was so glad that Eli settled into this trio. A good reminder for us that it works out, especially given that Sadie is navigating some of this now. I know she will come out stronger on the other side of things.
First up is my "Breakfast with Shel" layout (fun title, no? :)), which uses the Grey Street main kit and the Blue Ridge add-on (love those Elle's Studio Everyday Moments Bits & Pieces die cuts!):
Next up is another layout that combines the main Grey Street kit with the Blue Ridge add-on (and the fun "So Much to Love" sticker that came on one of the bags in my kit box):
Next up are two cards I made. The first one combines the Grey Street main kit with the Emerald Isle add-on:
My last project is a card that uses the main Grey Street kit and the Blue Ridge add-on (still love those Elle's Studio Everyday Moments Bits & Pieces die cuts!):
Be sure to check out all of the Cocoa Daisy design team members' awesome work with this month's kit and add ons here! :)
