Archives for January 2013

Winter 2012 – 2nd Day of Exhibition

 

The show was a little more crowded today than it was on Saturday, but it was still easy to navigate through the aisles.   Our first stop was at a booth where a line of people had formed.  I figured there was either a really cool demo going on or a celebrity was in the booth.

The booth was Electic Products and they are the makers of E6000 Craft Adhesive.  They are introducing a new spray version of E6000 that has no odor.  In their booth was author, designer and TV host Mark Montano signing and giving away copies of his newest book, The Big-Ass Book of Bling.  Of course hubby and I had to stand in line, and we both got an autographed copy.

Mark

Mark2

Book

It was funny because when Steve (hubby) first found out what we were standing in line for, he grumbled a tad.  But while we were in line, they handed out some sample tubes of E6000.  Steve started talking to the representatives about their various products and asked if they make any industrial adhesives.  He found they may have an adhesive that will work for his latest project at work.  Then he was a happy camper.

I went  back to Jinger Adams’ booth to get some more information on her Over-the-Door Armoire.  Her booth was pretty busy this morning.  I found out the retail price — it is going to be $250.

I also asked where it will be available for sale.  Kristy told me tthat the initial plans are to sell it first on HSN and then have it available in stores.  She said to keep an eye on Jinger’s Facebook page and blog because they will make an announcement when they know for sure.

I found a couple of cool new tools today that I am excited about.  The first one I found at Craftwell’s booth.  I wanted to try their new eBosser machine and they had several out to demo.  The nice thing about the eBosser is that it is automatic — no handles to crank.  I got to run some cardstock through it with one of their embossing folders.  The machine makes a nice, deep impression.  Since the embossing folder I used makes a card, you can also see it makes the score line to fold it.

Card

 

Here’s a picture of the eBosser and some felt flowers that were cut with the machine using a die:

eBosser

After I did the demo with the eBosser, the lady showed me a prototype of Craftwell’s latest goodie — it’s an airbrush system for crafters, the eBrush.  The nice thing about this is that the air compressor is the base of the unit — and it’s very compact.  There is a spot in the top to hold the airbrush.  It will take up little space on your work area.  She mentioned a fun use for it — using food-safe colors to decorate cakes.

AirBrush

AirBrush2

My second fun discovery was in the Zutter booth — they make the Bind-it-All, among many other products.  They are introducing the Bow-it-All, a nifty tool to make bows of many styles and sizes.   It is a board with metal pegs that you move around to make the sizes and shapes.  The extra pegs and tools store in the sides of the board and it comes in a pink bag.

Here are 3 photos of the large display showing the Bow-it-All and many of the bows it makes.

BowItAll

Board

Board2

Stacy, the lady who did the demo, is also the designer of this neat tool and I’m sorry to say I didn’t get her face in the photo.  She is working with a black one —  the pink version is what is going to be for sale and it will come with a pink case.  The board measures 8″x 13″ and it comes with what she calls “helping hand” pegs.  They are for holding the piece of ribbon in the back, if you are going to wrap it around a card or scrapbook page.  There are little clips that go around the two “helping hand” pegs to secure the ribbon while you make your bow.

Oh, and the way you tie the bow off — Stacy said it forms a “C” shape in the back — ensures that the bow will not come untied.  You can tug on the tails and the bow stays tied.  That is a great feature.

Demo2

PinkBIA

BIACase

Stacy made two bows while I was there, a small one and a larger double loop one.  She made the small one with seam binding and it measures about 3/4″ — look at how pretty that tiny bow turned out.  She did not put the extra piece of ribbon in the back of this bow — you will notice on the larger bow that it has the extra piece to wrap around. The ribbon on the large bow is 1 1/2″ wide and the bow is about 3 1/4″ wide.  I got to bring both bows home with me so I photographed them on a piece of floral cardstock.

SmBow2

DoubleBow

The suggested price on the Bow-it-All is $24.95 and they will be available in the spring.  This is going to be another must-have tool for me.  I love pretty bows and while I think I do a decent job of tying a single bow, the ability to make such a variety really appeals to me.  And to be able to make such nice, tiny bows — that is exciting.  My arthritic hands won’t be struggling with tiny loops.

We ended our day back at Craftwell’s booth.  They were having drawing and were giving away an eBosser.  They started by giving away four embossing folders first.  These are large folders, 8 1/2″ x 11″.  The lady standing in front of me asked me what would a person do with the folder if they don’t have the machine and we both chuckled.  Then her name was called as a winner of a folder and my name was called next!  It must be a sign that I need to purchase an eBosser at some point.

Winter CHA 2013 – First Day of Exhibition

 

Today, CHA’s winter exhibition opened in Anaheim, California.  I do not believe the show is as large as previous years, but there is still so much to see and do.  I took a lot of pictures so I can share some of the excitement.

First up, I will show you Die Cut With a View’s booth.  They always have an outstanding booth — I can’t believe their display this year.  To sum it up, you certainly can’t ignore the elephant in this room:

Elephant

Elephant2

 I found out they made the elephant by using a topiary frame.  They covered that with newspapers and then added their own paper on top.  The blanket is gorgeous — it’s made of what looks like a turquoise quilted lame fabric and the embellishments are all done with beads.

Blanket

Beading

Beading2

I had to take a pic of the tail too:

ElephantTail

They also have a cobra in their booth — made of jewelry findings and chain.  He is just amazing.

Cobra

Here are some of the stacks that are featured:

Stacks2

And finally, some framed art on the outside of their booth:

Butterflies

Our next stop will be Jinger Adams’ booth.  She is in the new exhibitor’s section and it was good to see both her and Kristy today.

JingerBooth

JingerKristy

Display

And here is Jinger’s over-the-door Craft Armoire that is getting a lot of attention.  The first picture shows it closed and the second one shows it open.

Armoire

ArmoireOpen

As usual, Graphic 45 has a stunning booth:

G45Booth

One of their new collections, French Country:

FCCabinet

FCTop

FCMiddle

FCBottom

FCPapers

Another new collection, Secret Garden:

SGCabinet

SGTop

SGMiddle

SGBottom

SGPapers

I made it a point to stop at We R Memory Keepers’ booth to check out their new Envelope Punch Board.  I watched a demo of it and was even able to make one myself, along with a card.  This is a really neat tool and after using it, I will definitely be purchasing one.

Booth

This is what the Envelope Punch Board looks like:

EnvelopePunchBoard

Measurements for envelopes are listed right on the board and it tells you what size paper to cut and where to place your paper on the board.  There is a punch at the top that cuts out the little areas where the score lines meet.  It is so much easier than trying to snip that little piece out with a pair of scissors.  Once you score and snip it all the way around, you then fold and assemble your envelope.

FoldingEnvelope

ApplyAdhesive

It also has a corner rounder punch on the back of the board so you can round the corner on your flap.

CornerRounder

CompletedEnvelope

For the card, I got to use one of their Lucky 8 punches.   I used it in conjunction with a doily border punch and ended up with a fancy oval to attach to my card.  Sorry about the blurred hand in the background.

Lucky8Punch

DoilyBorderPunch

Doily

I folded the doily in half and added it, along with some embellishments, to my card.  I think it turned out cute.

Card

In the new exhibitor section I found another neat tool — it’s called a Laser Square.  It has a mat that is magnetic and you place your paper on it.  The paper is held in place by magnets.  They are strong magnets and can hold several layers of paper, so if you do a lot of matting your page will stay in place.  The laser is powered by a 9 v. battery and it enables you to line up all your work on your page.  They said it helps line up your paper for stamping too.  I think it will also work great with cards.

The company is called Kellycraft and the man said his wife came up with the idea at 2 in the morning — I guess she woke him up to share her idea.  They also make Laser Skins so you can customize your Laser Square.

LaserSquare

LaserSkins

The Copic booth and some of the cards on display:

CopicBooth

Card1

Card2

Card3

Card4

The Prima booth:

Booth

One of their new lines, Hello Pastel.

HelloPastel

HPDisplay

Another new collection, Sunrise Sunset:

SunriseSunset

Some layouts on display:

Display

Layout

Layout2

And look at this gorgeous work of art:

MixedMedia

Prima and Leeza Gibbons have teamed up and she has a collection called Wishes & Dreams.

LeezePoster

Wishes&Dreams

WDDisplay

WDDisplay2

WDDisplay3

WDLayout

Leeza was in Prima’s booth today.

Leeza

Another new exhibitor is Farm House Paper Co.  They have a great display and a nice product line.

FHBooth

Layout1

Layout2

Layout3

Layout4

BoBunny’s booth was very busy when we walked by.

BoothFront

This is the back of their booth, with close-ups of their displays:

BoothBack

Display

Display2

Display3

I spent a little time watching the demo in Purple Cow’s booth.  The lady was showing how to use their craft iron and encaustic wax paints.  She cut a piece from an old silk necktie and was coating it in wax on a piece of paper.

PCDemo

PCBegin

PCEncausticWax

PCTie3

PCDisplay

PCDisplay2

Here are a couple of finished pieces that were on display:

PCCover

PCCover2

This picture shows a napkin with a picture of Queen Elizabeth on it and how the lady incorporated it into her cover:

PCQECover

I plan on going back to Purple Cow’s booth so I can learn more about this technique.

I haven’t knitted in years, but this display using Bernat yarn caught my eye.  The afghan was so soft.

BunnyBear

Bernat

I have a lot more pictures to post, but for some reason it is taking forever to upload them onto my blog.  I have been working for several hours now just to get these up.  Since I want to be back at the show when they open in the morning, it’s time to call it a night.

My final picture will be of my one purchase today.  I hadn’t planned on buying this, just knew that I was going to at some point.  I had my dear hubby at the show with me today, and when we stopped in the booth to look at Klic-n-Kut’s Zing die cutting machine, he must have noticed me drooling because he said to go ahead and buy it.  The lady said they brought a machine with them and it is at their hotel.  She is bringing the machine to the show tomorrow and I can bring it home with me.  I am very excited!  It will be a week or two before I can play with it though — I have several embroidery orders I have to get out first.

Zing