Some trends from CHA and a Winner and a new prize!

 Winner first - Petrii (Dawn Winslow), you are so lucky, you have been randomly picked for the journal prize and that's your second win this summer. Congratulations!
Yes, folks there will be more prizes through August. Comment on this post for a chance at a $25 gift certificate to Big Picture Classes.
Check them out at http://www.bigpictureclasses.com

I had hoped to post more when actually at the Craft and Hobby convention in Chicago earlier this month. It did not happen. CHA is fun but tiring, even though I used a scooter for getting around, I was exhausted. Life has been a whirlwind since I got home. Well, for me, it's been a lot. Better that than bored. A lazy day of doing almost nothing yesterday and I'm feeling quite refreshed.
It has been helpful to mull over the experience of CHA. Even though this was a smaller show, there was a lot of lovely product to take in and process.
Of course, the fall and winter seasons feature prominently in this shows collections with lots of Halloween, Christmas, Winter and Valentine designs.
Christmas was interesting in the choice of greens. While some traditional greens can be found, for example the Christmas themes from Webster's pages, SEI and Little Yellow Bicycle, in others the yellow-greens predominate. Not so much lime/chartreuse but moss/asparagus/olive tones that transition well from fall. (I know that olive green is technically a shade of yellow, but it does register as green to the eye.)
In patterns, there is pretty much something for everyone. Chevrons do remain a strong trend. I did notice a number of soft romantic designs and several collections featured small tile prints in brighter colors on a  white background.
Banners, particularly the rectangular ones with the V notch on the narrow end, were often seen.
Small journal cards that would work well with project life or layered designs showed up in most collections.
Mini books are another trend. Several seem to follow the idea of a combined Smash book/project life with themed printed pages and pocket pages that are bound with rings to make them customizable. Check out Simple Stories and Studio Calico for these.  I like this idea - covering chipboard with patterned paper is a mini book chore.
Feathers are a new trend. It may just follow the popular bird trend that still remains popular, a trend following art. This past year, Traci Bautista was a teacher in the Stathmore Artist Papers' free classes and she likes to use feathers in her work http://www.strathmoreartist.com/workshop-reg.html.We cannot forget Grace Lauer and her wonderful creation for Charity Wings that Elena Etcheverry wore at the last CHA. Grace fashioned her wings with masses of hand crafted feathers made of book paper on a wire base and she fringed the edges.

 If you like that look; but, are not as crafty as "Tish", you may purchase a similar ready made feather from Jenni Bowlin's collection.
Speaking of Jenni, she has some new punches for Fiskars that feature designs perfect for card making. These also work with the small embellie clusters which people are using in the trend of small photos and embellishments and lots of white space on designs. Card makers were definitely a consideration in most collections with scaled down 6x6 paper packs everywhere.
Lots of pretty stuff coming to your LSS in the next few months!
Please check out http://www.charitywings.org for info on the show and definitely watch their videos on you tube. So many generous companies that helped us raise money for A Place to Bark http://www.aplacetobark.com/. It was fun to explore their products with the featured designers.
I hope you are all watching Craft Wars on TLC. Cathy Filian and Steve Piacenza were the producers. Several crafters   at CHA gathered at a nearby bowling alley for a group viewing of the show. Cathy and Steve were there, as well as some folks who have competed on the show, most noticeably, Andrea and Lisa who were on the episode we watched. So fun! They did not let on at all that they had won. Even the regulars who had been watching the Cubs game came over and joined us and cheered Andrea and Lisa on. Too bad we do not get to see all the crafters compete in both challenges. I think some very good artists just need more time. That pop craft just is too fast for some. Thank goodness, we home crafters only rarely need to craft under time pressure (usually because we procrastinate, LOL!).
One of my personal highlights was getting my photo taken with Shimelle Laine. She was studying the booths intently and I think has some very informative posts on her blog.http://www.shimelle.com Thanks to Shimelle for being so gracious to stop for a fan photo.