Winter CHA 2012 In review...

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Craft and Hobby Association trade show and explore what is up and coming in the crafting world. This years show there were sever come backs to the industry that have been lying low for the past few years. Heidi Swap is back with new papers and embellishments following her classic patterns but with new twists. One "twist" was her line of mistable papers and embellishments that can be misted, inked, chalked, etc to make fun multi-color custom papers and embellishments. These items were a standout for me from her collection. I'm always looking for multipurpose scrapbook supplies that are versatile... and being able to pick my own colors is fantastic.

Something near and dear to me with my love of my Cricut, was Provo Crafts releases... they had 3 major things that were notable to me: 1. A new cartridge "tags, bags, boxes and more #2", 2. A scoring blade/tool 3. Gel pens with holder. These three items may not seem like anything too special, but it's the combination of them that make them spectacular! The TBBM2 cartridge has been designed to work with the scoring blade and gel pens! The cartridge will ask for the scoring blade/tool thing to be installed during the cut, it will then scoring the folding lines into the images, instead of those silly slits that had been previous included on cartridges where the item was to be folded. This will allow us to make far superior boxes and bags. Additionally they have added some fonts or perhaps they are just sayings... I didn't get this clarified, but either way you can have hand written looking messages on your products right from the cartridge! It certainly adds a personal touch.

Here is a look at the scoring "blade" as I call it, though it doesn't cut it only scoring...

A quick peek at the gel pens... these look strikingly similar to products that have been on the market from 3rd party companies for quite some time.

Thank you for taking a look. I have lots more to come, but it has been a long day!