Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2014
It is that time of year again: my CHA Trade Show recap! CHA, otherwise know as the Craft and Hobby Association, decided to change it a bit this year by not having a Winter and Summer show but one big mega show! There were so many vendors, new products, demos, make n takes and networking opportunities at this show! I had a great time and met so many wonderful talented people but it was a very busy show! While this is not by far covering everything and everyone I saw at CHA, the following is some of the highlights I was able to take photos of.
This year I was asked to do demonstrations at the Amazing Crafting Products/Alumilite Booth, showing people how to make their own Art Themed Lapel Pins. I finally got to meet, in person, some of the other members of the Amazing Crafting Products design team.
Here is President of Alumilite Mike Faupel, Design Team Leader Susan M. Brown {sbartist}, staff member Carolyn Daly, and I at the Amazing Crafting Products booth.
Here I am demoing Amazing Mold Putty. It was wonderful to find so many people with interests in molding and casting their own artwork.
Artwork from the talented design team was on display at the Amazing Crafting Products booth, showcasing the detail and beautiful pieces they were able to make with the products.
Here is one of the demo tables at the Amazing Crafting Products booth, highlighting products and their many uses.
I got to see again the talented and ever gracious Mark Montano. He was signing his book line at the Eclectic Products booth and doing demos of crackle art frames at the DecoArt booth. I now have all of his books!
At the iLoveToCreate booth showcased several artists’ work in “Creativity Changes Everything” display. Mark Montano’s work was part of this display. He had created a lovely vignette, representing his creative career in home decor and fashion, along with a diary about his creative life printed directly on a dip-dyed dress.
ILoveToCreate booth also had this lovely decopauge piece made from rolled magazines. The lantern was made using Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye, Aleene’s Tacky Glue, and tissue paper!
I stumbled across the Nine Lives Products glue booth and was I glad I did! They make glue out of recycling styrofoam waste. They create three types of glue: Glu6 Nonporous, Glu6 Paste and Nine Live School Glue.
The Glu6 Non-Porous Glue is made from all-natural ingredients that non-toxically dissolve styrofoam waste, shrinking it by more than 30x its original size. The goo left over from this process they turn into non-toxic glue! Styrofoam piece shown in the photo is what goes into one tiny bottle of their glue.
The talented Suzann Sladcik Wilson, book author and CEO of Beadphoria, Inc. was at the Buttons Galore and More booth debuting her beautiful new button jewelry line. Her line of button jewelry kits come in all kinds of different themes, and include everything you need to make lovely rings and pendants.
Suzann was doing some demos at the booth. Here is just a small sample of what she made with her wonderful kits.
Buttons Galore and More also had a great line of miniature buttons for your mini crafting needs. I just had to buy some samples of to play with!
Lion Brand Yarn had a stunning “7 Wonders of the Yarn World” installation created by fiber-artist Nathan Vincent. I only got photos of 6 of the 7 wonders because of the crowds. You can go to the Lion Brand Yarn Blog to see more photos!
The installations that represent the “7 Wonders of the Yarn World” theme stand about 5 feet high or taller!
While doing resin demos I met a very nice lady, Fiona Lin of Linpeng International Inc. Her family’s company Fiona Accessories (named after her) had a bead booth with a wide selection of both loose beads and finished beaded accessories. Their specialty line is a series of hand painted beads and bracelets. While they often sell to museums, gift shops and supply beads for craft stores Fiona was more than willing to sell beads to me for my artwork.
I bought quite few strands of beads from Fiona to make new jewelry with. They had a wide variety of shapes, patterns and cuts of beads I had not seen elsewhere.
While wandering around the CHA show floor I came across this darling polar bear sculpture at the Activa booth. While they had this sculpture displayed at past shows I never got a chance to stop and see the detail. I was glad I did and I found out about all the different clay and sculpting materials they carry. I even ended up realizing I had been using some of their products while in college and had no idea! When they heard I did sculpture and mold work they gave me samples of Hearty, a non toxic air dry modeling clay and CelluClay, a non-toxic papier mache recycled paper medium to try out.
Seeing demos of making perfectly torn paper for paper crafting made me stop by the Perfect Paper Crafting booth. While marketed mostly towards paper crafting I see their tools having wonderful uses in mixed media art. My two favorite tools they carry is the Perfect Airbrush, that turns almost any marker into an airbrush and the Perfect Tears, that helps you make controlled, beautiful, soft, torn-paper-edges.I saw so much more that I didn’t get to photograph but in the next few months I hope to test out and show you all the new products I found.
Until next time, safe travels!
Beadsmith 1 Step Looper Tool review
Happy New Year Everyone! For a crafter like me what better way to start the new year than with some crafting fun? Over the Holidays my husband got me a new jewelry tool, a Beadsmith 1 Step Looper Tool.When I went to the Winter Craft and Hobby Association Show of 2013 I got to see the staff at the Vintaj booth use this great tool. Since many of the products showcased at CHA are often not yet available for shipment until months down the line I had to wait to get this tool, which also meant my squirrely little mind forgot about it until I saw other people reviewing and posting photos months down the line. It had some mixed reviews but overall most jewelry makers liked it. I tried looking for the tool locally but no luck. Again it drifted from my crafter’s mind. Thankfully my husband remembered I was drooling over this tool and ordered one for me!
If you look at the above photo, you will see that the package says Vintaj on the front. No worries, it is still the Beadsmith 1 Step Looper; the Vintaj line tool is still made by Beadsmith, it just has turquoise handles while the one with the Beadsmith name on front has black handles. Even the info on the back of the package is the same. The tool trims wire 26-18 gauge, taking the place of needle nose pliers and wire cutters normally needed to make a looped end to jewelry wire. Here is the official video by Beadsmith about the tool. (YT: 1-Step Looper) (YT: 1-Step Looper) (YT: 1-Step Looper)
Starting with several beads threaded on a 2 inch headpin I threaded the wire through the lower jaw and extending out through the hole in the top jaw of the tool.
I squeezed the handles together and the wire gets cut by the tool. In fact it did it so quickly I was rather shocked at how easy it was and how little pressure I needed.
I continued to squeeze the handles and it curled the wire into a very neat and even loop.
Normally making a loop like that requires me eyeballing the length of wire to cut it in the right area, using a wire cutter, getting a pair of round nose pliers to curl a loop and sometimes squeezing it into place with a flat nose pliers. This can take a minute of so for me and a necklace requiring a lot of loops can take some time. This tool made the loop in seconds.While I was very happy with the results I had heard some complaints that the tool sometimes didn’t always close the loop tight. I tried making several loops and all of them came out with neat closed loops. I started to try out all kinds of beads and wire, finally I was able to reproduce an open loop.
Sure enough when you have a large or odd shaped bead the wire loop doesn’t always loop closed. After looking over what I was doing I realized the issue was the bead shape and/or how close the beads are pushed on the wire to lower jaw of the tool before the handles are squeezed.
Here is the odd shaped rose bead next to a small crystal bead. An oddly shaped bead can prevent the wire from laying even against the tool, and there will be a slight gap in the final loop. This can even happen with more even-sized beads if you are not careful how plumb the piece is. However there is a very nice upside to it not being a tightly closed loop; If you are working with clay, glass or wood beads you can risk the chance of the wire loop digging into if not out right chipping the bead if the loop is made too tightly, but with the loop slightly open you can carefully close the loop with a pair of round nose pliers and have perfectly shaped loops every time. You can also use the slight opening to add more links or rings onto the piece before closing it with pliers. I plan on using the slightly open looping aspect to my advantage with future projects.
I made this earring and necklace set in about 15 minutes using the Looper Tool. I honestly took me longer to pick the beads and thread them on the wire than to use the tool and assemble. It is so easy on the hands if you get muscle cramps in your hands (like I do) or even arthritis this will make jewelry making easier.I would rate this tool as must have for any jewelry maker who makes lots of wire loops and wants awesome results every time.
Until next time, safe travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Create & Connect Conference and Trade Show
Another Craft and Hobby Association Summer show has come and gone! This year it was called the Create & Connect Conference and Trade Show and was held in Las Vegas. While this was by far a much smaller show than the Winter CHA yearly show, it was still a great show to attend. There were better opportunities to talk and network with vendors and designers. There was also plenty of new products and artwork to see! I got there a day late due to health concerns and forgot my camera so I had to take photos with my phone but here is a few of the booths that I just loved and have to share with you.
As per normal Die Cuts With a View (otherwise known as DCWV) had a stunning display of papers, bead, embellishments and artwork! These three lovely shadow boxes were attached to the outside of their booth showcasing some of their products and talented designers.
DCWV had both their Summer and Winter collections up and were doing wonderful make-n-take canvas and necklace art.
Those lucky enough to be there the last day of the trade show and the last few hours had the chance to buyDCWV papers and Blue Moon Beads. Here is some of the items I was able to purchase from them the last hour. 🙂
The talented Suzann Sladcik Wilson, book author and CEO of Beadphoria, Inc. was at the Buttons Galore and More booth doing demos on how to turn their whimsical line of buttons into wearable art!
Here is some of the Buttons Galore and More buttons turned into rings!They have so many designs and styles of buttons that could be used as embellishments in many art forms.
Next we have the awesome Violette Stickers, a small but growing sticker company with some of the most beautiful stickers. They were at the Winter CHA this year but I somehow didn’t see them. I am glad I got a chance to really look at their stickers this time! They have lovely reproduction Victorian art stickers and fun and funky modern art stickers.
Here is some of their sticker selection I bought. The photo does not do them justice. They have vivid colors, sharp detail and some of their lines of stickers have clear backing making them perfect for layering in resin!
I love to Create booth had a wonderful collection of Summer themed art using their line of products. The talented Kathy Cano-Murillo founder of CraftyChica.com was doing demos at their booth of all kinds of wearable art! The Tulip One-Step Spray Dye Kit they are now selling is a no fuss way of dying fabrics. I love the ease of use and vibrancy of the colors!
The ever popular Graphic 45 had a gorgeous booth full of Steampunk and vintage print papers and embellishments. The display of finished art using their products was just beautiful and I love that they are doing more home decor tutorials using their products!In the next few months I will be using all of the wonderful products I got at the show in new artwork. 🙂
Until next time safe travels!
CHA Winter Show 2013
Another Craft and Hobby Association Winter show has come and gone. While there were less vendors this year, I honestly feel this was one of the best I attended. This show was amazing! The classes, networking and show floor events were wonderful. I was able to make new accounts with several vendors and got to meet up with some seriously talented artists.
The wonderful Globecraft & Piccolo had a booth again at CHA. I am proud to be part of their Design Team and a part of product design & development! Members of the G&P design team, Jami Bostjancic (of Accent Allusions) and I were honored to be asked to do demos at the booth for three of the four days of CHA.
Here is some of the cool G&P products we got to demo at the show:
NEW Globecraft & Piccolo UV Resin: It cures in 3 minutes in UV light, scratch resistant, self leveling and not affected by humidity (in fact it can set up underwater). It works wonderful on top of chipboard, acrylic, paper, polymer clay, fabric, vellum and so much more!
NEW Globecraft & Piccolo Acrylic Bezels and Tags: Clear acrylic bezels and tags come in so many shapes and sizes. Perfect for making jewelry, mixed media and card decor! Looks lovely stamped and with paper backings.
NEW additions to the Globecraft & Piccolo Embossing powder line: These powders are specially designed to look awesome on large and small projects. G&P Embossing Powders are made of varying-sized particles that create a unique depth and dimension not available with traditional embossing powders. These wonderful colors can mimic stone, metal, natural elements and aged surfaces. The new colors are Real Rust, Ruby Red Slippers, Shamrock Dreams, Turquoise Lagoon, and Platinum!
New Piccolo Chipboard Elements: Now in many different sizes, great for home decor, card making, mixed media, jewelry and more! From holiday, seasonal, steampunk, animals, swirls, and elaborate corner and edge elements.
The Globecraft & Piccolo booth at CHA.
G&P display showcasing all of their embossing powders and chipboard charm sets. All of the charm sets on the velvet boards are my work. 🙂
G&P acrylic and chipboard bezels samples by the talented design team, the Secrist family (G&P) and I.
Just beautiful card decor work with Piccolos by the design team!
G&P Ornament sets. The lovely mixed media piece on the left is made by the talented Linda Neff (part of the G&P design team) from ornaments and a lampshade.
An overview of the booth.
Some samples of the demo work showing the new UV Resin and acrylic bezels! Pieces by Pat Secrist (Of G&P), Jami Bostjancic and I.The following photos are close up of booth display samples to show you how many new styles and techniques you can use with the new G&P products.
G&P acrylic bezel, G&P UV Resin, mica powder, permanent ink, paper and sticker gems.
Mini oval acrylic bezels with Pure Sparkle Glitter in Gold, mica powder, 3D Enamel Gel and sticker gems. Faux glass technique.
Top left and bottom bezels are acrylic and top right bezel is bookboard. 3D Enamel Gels, Pure Sparkle Glitter in Gold and Silver, mica powder and sticker gems. Glastique Gloss is used to seal each layer. Topped with the new UV resin. Nebula/night sky technique.
G&P acrylic bezel, G&P UV Resin, G&P Piccolo Gears, mica powder, permanent ink, paper and sticker gems. Piccolo layer technique.
G&P acrylic bezel, G&P UV Resin, mica powder, 3D Enamel Gels, Origami foil paper and sticker gems. Faux glass technique.Until next time safe travels!
CHA Winter show 2012 part 1
This year’s winter Craft and Hobby Association show was awesome! While this show was a touch smaller than past Winter CHA shows I can honestly say it was still a great and positive show to attend. There were so many new products, designs, workshops and wonderful contacts; this show sure was a busy one! It was a bit different for me because this was my first time doing demos at the CHA Globecraft Memories booth.
At the last winter CHA in 2011 I had gotten some information about a new company called Globecraft Memories. They had wonderful chipboard frame and globe sets that people could decorate with paper, fabric, paints, stamps or clay and place photos or family treasures inside. I saw one of their globes with a miniature polymer clay baby in it and I felt these would be prefect for my miniature work. I ended up finding out the baby sculpture was from their other company Secrist Dolls, which carries only the best vinyl doll kits, polymer clay doll sculpting tools and doll paints on the market. I left my business card and eagerly awaited the catalog to be sent to me. I ended up being contacted by the owner Mr. Pat Secrist because he had noticed I listed myself as a designer on my business card. They had some openings in their design team and they were looking for some new ideas. We got to talking and I ended up making a few samples for the website. Mr. Secrist then started to get in some new products to expand the line, they sent me and their other designers some to test. I was sent frames to start making samples for the CHA winter show. I was excited to be then asked to demonstrate products at CHA in their booth! Mr. Secrist wanted to show people that the globe kits and frames could be so much more. The idea was to make these frames more than just a card making or a scrapbooking element but something that could appeal to paper crafters, home decor artists and even mixed media artists like myself. The end result was a wonderful line of products designed to make chipboard look like expensive metal wall decor, enameled art and stonework but for fraction of the cost.
I can honestly say I love their new line of products:
New Frame Chipboard Kits: A new line of frames and elements for all interests. Be it for scrapbooking, papercrafting, home decor or mixed media they have styles and elements you will love. They also have a line of Steampunk Airships that are just too cute, which come in Large, Medium and Mini. The chipboard elements before assembling can be put through an embossing machine like Sizzix or Cuttlebug for more texture and detail.
Piccolo Chipboard Elements: Both as mini chipboard elements to be used on frames, paper or card these wonderful little patterns and shapes come in so many styles. From Steampunk gears, birds, cats, swirls, butterflies to delicate corner elements. They also have Toppers that are small tags and elements that would be wonderful for cards, scrapbooks and mixed media art.
Glastique – Flexible Finishing Glaze: comes in Gloss and Matte. This is water based and non-toxic. It can be applied to chipboard, fabric, paper, glitter, paint, it can act as a glue and a clear glaze. In fact, when coated on pieces of chipboard that has been coated in embossing powder it makes the chipboard flexible! I have even put thick layers of the Glastique on rubbers stamps; once dried and peeled off the stamp, I have a clear flexible piece to be added to mixed media work or paper crafting.
Halo Glitter: comes in Gold and Silver. A wonderful fine glitter with several different sized particles for a more reflective effect. Layer it with Glastique and you have gorgeous color reflection.
Mica Powders: They carry so many colors I can’t list them all! Super fine mica powder for all you craft needs, from paper crafting, resin work to even polymer clay. They add no binders to the mica so there is no worries about odd chemical reactions like other products on the market. Layer it with Glastique to get a dichroic glass effect.
Mica Powders with Glitter: Super fine powder and glitter in vibrant colors. Stunning selection of colors for so many uses.
Super pigment rich acrylic paint and glazes: While this is a slightly more expensive paint than your standard craft store bottle paint it is well worth the cost. Their colors are luscious, they dry the same color they are when wet, their metallic paints only need one coat for full coverage and the glazes are just stunning on paper or wood.
Globecraft Memories Enamel powders: These powders are specially designed to cover larger areas such as the chipboard frames Globecraft Memories is known for. The nice thing is the powders still look wonderful on detail elements such as their Piccolos. I love these powders but then again I am a bit partial to them. I ended up making a portion of the new recipes of enamel powders for Globecraft Memories and one of my colors, Girls Night Out ended up being their 3rd best seller at the Winter CHA! These wonderful colors can mimic stone, metal, natural elements and aged surfaces. In fact these powders worked did it so well for the first two days of CHA people walked past the Globecraft Memories booth thinking they were selling real metal and wood frames, not coated chipboard! A sign had to be placed in front to tell everyone everything in the booth was chipboard. 😛
The following is the few photos I was able to take while doing demos at CHA.
Mr. Pat Secrist the owner of Globecraft Memories.
Some of the wall displays in the Globecraft Memories booth, the music sheet, solar, ambers and 4 globe sayings frames are my work.
The flower bouquet and apple basket sets are based on my illustrations and the samples shown are my completed work.
Part of the Globecraft Memories booth at the CHA winter show.
A close up of the sea frame set made into a mirror wall hanging.
Some of my completed airships hanging from the booth. Some of the Piccolo chipboard element packs are on the right.
Close up of one of the completed airships.
The following photos are some the prototype photos I took while making the samples for the show. You will notice in some of the photos the globes are not attached because it is easier to ship without the globes in place. If you would like to see more prototype photos check out my Facebook fan page. All of the frames are from Globecraft Memories.
My music frame that was picked as a booth sample. Classic Grand Rectangle backplate with other chipboard elements and Glastique Flexible Finishing Glaze Matte.
Prototype photo of my version of the seascape frame that was picked as a booth sample. This was before the mirrors replaced the globes for the final sample. Frame is covered in my enamel powder recipes. Seascape Wall Decor Kit.
A saying frame set that was picked as a booth sample. Inner frames are covered in my enamel powder recipes “Mardi Gras” and “24 K gold”. Little Fancy Rectangle, chipboard elements and Glastique Flexible Finishing Glaze.
Vintage airship that was picked as a booth sample. I used the Large Airship and chipboard elements.
Mini airship that was picked as a booth sample. This is a finished piece I used the Mini Airship, the pigment rich paints and Glastique Flexible Finishing Glaze.
Vintage airship that was picked as a booth sample. This is a finished piece. Mini Airship kit, enameling powder and paint.
Apple frame set that is based on my illustration. This version was picked as a booth sample. This is the Apples of My Eye Wall Decor Kit.
Birdcage piccolo that was picked as a booth sample. The globe is not attached in this photo because it is easier to ship without the globe in place. Classic Fancy Oval and Piccolo chipboard elements.
Dino amber frame that was picked as a booth sample. Frame is covered in my enamel powder recipe “Brown Stone”. I used the Classic Grand Rectangle backplate.
Museum frame, this is the first version. I put the label inside the frame and that version was picked as a booth sample. Frame is covered in my enamel powder recipe “Vintage Copper”. I used the Classic Grand Rectangle backplate with Piccolo chipboard elements and Glastique Flexible Finishing Glaze.
Flower frame set loosely based on a illustration of mine. This version was picked as a booth sample. Frame is covered in my enamel powder recipes. Big Bouquet Wall Decor Kit.
Until next time safe travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry