Paper Crafting Trends for 2012

We noticed many trends at this week's Craft and Hobby Trade Show in Anaheim. Here are a few and we'll try to bring you more in another post.
Take a look (click on photos for a bigger view) and let us know what you think!

1DECORATIVE TAPE  (Washi, Masking, and Paper ) was introduced last year and is sticking around with many new colors & patterns.  Use it just like tape, but let it show for a fun embellishment.

  

PENNANT BANNERS are everywhere and have expanded with garlands made from other shapes. We’re also seeing flags made of single pennants on little sticks.

 TWINE continues to wrap its way around the crafting world. It can be added to most any project for

 SMASH Books and other mini “junk” binders are fun places to collect your thoughts, photos, memories, etc. They don’t have the rules or boundaries of traditional scrapbooking and are very doable. Coming soon from Smash, Simple Stories, & Amy Tangerine.

 

 

   VINYL for die cutting is now available in many colors and in single sheets, including glass etching.  It’s great on walls, but trending to smaller projects, including cards & layouts.

 

ART JOURNALING with stamps, sprays, paints, & markers. (Watch for our Katie's Copic Art Journaling Class at Memory Bound.)

 RETRO designs bring nostalgia to paper crafts and give us that warm feeling of yesterday. They just make you think, "Oh, I remember that."

Other trends to watch for: home decor projects, items for parties, honeycomb, kraft paper, and they just keep on going --- bling, flowers, buttons & ribbon

Click here to see our photo album from CHA.

Photos from CHA!

Tim Holtz demos his new Distress Markers at the Ranger booth at CHA

Dawn & I just returned from the Craft and Hobby Trade Show (known as CHA) in Anaheim, CA! Hundreds of vendors set up creative and exciting booths to show their product lines - we try to visit them all and this is where we write orders for the store. Can you imagine how much fun it is to shop for product for Memory Bound!!

Here is the Bo Bunny booth - lots of action!

Yes, our feet get tired; and yes, it's sometimes hard to decide what to buy -- but it's all worth the fun, laughs, and inspiration we get! And we love seeing people we know like other store owners, vendors, and industry people. It's really fun to see others from Iowa like Betsy Flot and Matt & Ryan from Reminisce!

Betsy's book INSPIRATION STATION was a hit at the show! (If you don't have a copy, stop by and get one!)

 The Reminisce gang traveled from Iowa to set up their booth. Their new release is awesome -- we had it all ordered before we got to the show!

Inspiration is a big thing we take home from the show -- so many projects & ideas we see! We wanted to share that with our customers so we've posted over 300 photos in our CHA Winter 2012 Album on FaceBook.

CLICK HERE to check out the photos and enjoy!

CHA - Another favorite: Oct Afternoon

Dawn and I are sitting in the airport ready to come home and thought we'd let you know about another company release that we liked: OCTOBER AFTERNOON. We loved their Cake Walk and 9 to 5 collections!

We know you'll love the new lines!

 

Click here to see more from the October Afternoon booth  -- and many additional CHA photos -- on our Facebook CHA album!

Kellie

CHA - Day 1

Dawn & I spent our first day at the Craft & Hobby Trade Show (in CA - beautiful weather with 80 degrees!) finding all kinds of fun product for Memory Bound.  Our feet are tired but our minds are excited with INSPIRATION!  Here's a few things we saw today in the Canvas Corp booth. We hope to make a sample of this adorable Easter wall hanging. We also ordered all colors of their fabric flowers.  We're adding more pics to our FACE BOOK page, so check there later.

I

 

  

Fun at the Memory Bound Staff Crop - Part 1

The Memory Bound gals had a staff crop last Sunday. As you might imagine, a good time was had by all! Of course, I came armed with my camera so that I could document the fun. In fact, I took so many pictures that I'll have to share the rest in Part 2 later this week!

You all know Diane, our store manager. But did you know she is one of the most productive scrapbookers you'll ever meet? Her new grandson was just born a week before the crop, and she had already finished one mini-album for him and was starting on a second! I'll share more about her mini-albums, as well as pictures of her Halloween book, in Part 2.

I sat next to Diane and Diana, hoping their extreme productivity would rub off on me. :)

Diana works in the store and also teaches our Scrappin' Kidz After School classes each month. She is also super-productive! This was her third straight day of scrapbooking, as she had attended our store crops on both Friday and Saturday.

Right now, Diana is making albums for her granddaughter's graduation. We all loved this page with the string "spaghetti"!

Here are two additional layouts she finished of Paige as a little girl. These will be so fun to share at her open house!

And here's Amanda with an adorable layout of her baby and husband.

Amanda was making several pages with this October Afternoon line. Love the flowers!

Dawn and Kellie ran the store that day so that the staff could crop. Thanks, Dawn and Kellie! But before the store could open, Dawn had to fix her apron! 

Voila!

Maggie brought card-making supplies to the crop. I immediately noticed her little accordion file of scraps and asked her about it. She told me she bought it at our recent garage sale. I burst out laughing -- because guess who sold it! ME! And prior to that, I had bought it from Sharon Willard, one of our long-time customers, at another garage sale! We all had a good laugh over that! This little accordion file has certainly made the rounds. We THINK it has now found a permanent home with Maggie, but keep your eye open for it at the next garage sale! LOL

Maggie made several cards that day and has already used a few of them!

Katie was working on her son's Kindergarten album. She uses an 8.5x11 binder and page protectors to house his school papers.

She sorted through a lot of papers and kept the really special ones.

I was intrigued by Katie's process because I have a hard time parting with school papers. I brought my daughter's old school papers to sort and Katie even had to help me throw a few things away. Thanks to Katie, everything fit in my accordion files! :)

Here are Bonnie and her daughter Brittany. Bonnie was working on a UNI layout and Brittany was making a decorated frame. Aren't they adorable?

And here's Betsy with a sneak peek of her Christmas album. I will share photos of this album in Part 2. It's beautiful!

And here is Mindy who was just finishing up her December album. I took several pictures of her wonderful mini-book which you will see in Part 2.

As you can see, we all had a great time working on projects, snacking, and sharing fun stories. We can't wait to do it again soon! Watch for more pictures coming later this week. :)

Janet

Got Farm Pictures?

I've been checking out the new products arriving at Memory Bound. The new Cock-A-Doodle-Doo line from Kaisercraft caught my eye right away!

Being from IOWA, many of us have farm or fair pictures to scrapbook. Do you have photos from the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit at the Iowa State Fair? This line would be great fun for those pages! Many of the papers would work well for your pumpkin patch pictures, too.

The barn is a large shaped element that could be used on a scrapbook page, or even for party decor or a classroom bulletin board. There are several patterned papers and die cut stickers, too. And of course TWINE is the perfect embellishment!

I love the stitched letter stickers! They are versatile enough to use on most any type of layout.

So grab your farm pictures and head on over to Memory Bound.  You'd best MOOO-ve it for the best selection! ;)

Janet