Art Venture and CHA Review

Hi there,

Early this month, I got to go to Anaheim again for the winter CHA, and there is so much that we saw and did, but first I want to tell you about what we did a couple of days before the show opened.

Angela Collingwood and I both signed up for the Prima Marketing Art Venture, which ran for two days, just before CHA. What a treat this was. We both came away with six awesome projects by six amazing Prima educators. We got to play with the newest Prima lines and they even opened up a store so we could indulge with more of their new products. Oh, and don't get me started on the many, many packs of flowers I came away with; Prima heaven.

 Amazing 3D layout with Frank Garcia, king of the pop dots.

 Gorgeous paper line that Frank designed. This layout is the funniest.

Beautiful jewel colours on my new journal book.

 My hero, Anna Finnabair Dabrowska.

Vivacious Stef Miller with my notebook cover.

How cute is the girl?

 Rustic vintage wall hanging designed by Nathalie Kalbach. I missed out having a photo with her as she had to leave near the end of the class due to a bout of food poisoning, poor thing.

Had a fun time inking up the flowers.

Incredible artist Jamie Dougherty.

I love this album so much. The girl is a new stamp from Jamie, which I promptly lost. I'm still upset about that.

Look at this pack of goodies that came with Limor Webber's class

This was one that I finished at home as it would have been impossible to get home in one piece. I love this one so much.

On the second day, although I enjoyed every class, I started to come down with the flu and by the time CHA opened, I was a mess. Regardless, I couldn't pass up the CHA workshops we signed up for. We didn't sign up for many, but one of them was Tim Holtz's class. It is so difficult to get into and I was on the wait list, but Angela was very kind to give me her spot, while she did Dyan Reaveley's class. Thanks Ang.  I'd never done Tim's class, so was super excited.

Tim, giving his intro on the class. He's so funny and personable.

Look at these new mini distress inks. One quarter the size of the standard ones. Perfect for taking on crops.

Our first card. I'm officially in love with the distress glitter. Also loved the little die cut bow.

Vintage style gift card holder. 

Colouring with distress markers for our third card and we got to use and keep the new distress marker spritzer. So easy to use and so much fun.

 Look at what Angela made in Dyan's class.

 

How cool is this class photo. They're only holding up one canvas, but in fact, they all had three canvases each.

 This was a Faber-Castell class with Limor Webber. Really fun techniques.

Holding our finished frames with Limor.

These were the major classes that we attended. There was a few seminars and talks as well, basically on trends and new innovations.  After that, we had three full days to look around the show floor and to decide on and order for the HKMC kit club. What fun we had doing that, despite me feeling like death warmed over. I've put lots of collage photos up on some of the things we saw. I'm not going to explain them as it's far too late here and I don't think I could remember half of what I saw, but hope you enjoy looking.

Right, I think that sums up CHA this year. I've been inspired yet again with all the wonderful artworks and layouts that I saw and hopefully, I'll be bringing some of those inspirations to life soon.

Thanks for dropping by,

Finishing Off at CHA 2013

Hi all,

Last night, we decided to end our last evening here with a big meal at The Cheesecake Factory. The ahi tuna starter is to die for here by the way - tuna tartar with avocado in a sesame dressing. Funnily enough, I was so homesick for Chinese food, I went for a hoisin chicken number - not so good. The hot fudge sundae at the end made up for it though. Can I just say - yum!!!

Thick, unctuous hot fudge poured over a mound of whipped cream and cold vanilla icecream. So bad, but sooooooooo good.

So sad to say that this is the last day of the Winter CHA. Our luggage has been packed, we've checked out of our nice hotel, dumped the bags of at concierge and ready to finish off at the show. They close early today, so it's the last chance to put a few more orders in and then that's it. Done for another year. It's been such a fun show and all the new products and innovations that have come out this year has been amazing.

 L-R: Mod Podge love, the creator of Project Life herself - Becky Higgins (hint), Create - a word we crafters live by, the cutest Webster's Pages washi-taped cameras - so darling.

 L-R: cards showing some of the dies and stamps coming out for Sizzix, colour tag charts at Ranger, the sweetest shoes made from Sizzix dies.

Our last workshop, for Angela and I, was a mixed media class run by Marah Johnson. She's one of my favourite educators and so enthusiastic. Infact, all of our worskshops were excellent. One thing we have noticed this CHA is the huge trend of mixed media and how traditional paper scrapbooking is now changing drastically. You will still have the everyday paper layouts, but more and more designs are incorporating artist mediums in every texture imaginable.

 L-R: super cool altered tin can (didn't think of this before, right)?, lovely inky fingers which I'm still trying to clean out.

All in all, this year has been very successful, in terms of how many orders we got done and how many new things we learned. We will be giving sneak peeks when we get back, as to what we will be bringing in, so keep your eyes peeled for all the exciting new products coming in to the store. We'll be posting on the HKMC facebook and website very shortly, so remember to like us to get the news firsthand.

Thanks for following us on our CHA trip and see you back home,

CHA Update - Day 2

Hi All,

It's been another amazing day on the show floor. We finally made it to the stands that we wanted to see and drop of some orders. We're excited for you to see all the stuff that will be coming in the next few months.

 L-R: sample layout from KI Memories, Crate paper layout, the highly recognizable yellow bike, cute party line displays

This morning started out bright and early (it's been clear blue skies for the last few days - but cold), so after getting our venti coffees and hot oatmeal from Starbucks (they definitely need this oatmeal in Hong Kong), we sat down for a very inspirational business seminar at 8:30am. I love it when speakers can hold your attention and convey their message well. At that time in the morning, it's sort of crucial, really.

L-R: Heidi Swapp herself doing make & takes, super giant purple elephant at DCVW, cute layout from Elle's Studio, new circular punches at Martha Stewart

The doors for the show floor opened at 10am, and we were good today. We were focused, we were determined, and we got to all the stands that we wanted to. After that, we could afford a little time to look around at other booths, before I had to rush off for a two o'clock workshop.

Prima warranted a photo collage of its own. There were so many amazing works of art and layouts, you couldn't help but stand and stare at them. Gobsmacking stuff!

This class was a little different. I thought it would be interesting to test my drawing skills, so this workshop demonstrates the art of Zenspiration - to me, artistic doodling. It's a whole new movement in line doodling. I remember covering my school files and notebooks with pencil markings during class when I should have been paying attention instead, but it's not something I've really thought of since. I was attracted to the unique designs and techniques to this kind of drawing. We learned to do dangles, lines and columns and how to fill them with lots of patterns. All in all, I don't think it was really for me, but it was fun to try out something new.

 What do you think of my Zenspirations?

I'm now sitting in the lobby, leeching off the free wi-fi so I can write this while Angela and Erika are in a mixed media class. Bummed I couldn't get in to that one but looking forward to see what they did. After this, it's off for some Vietnamese pho. I think we're all homesick for some Asian food - we've been doing pizzas and burgers everyday and are just hankering for some "real" food.

Tomorrow brings another of workshops and more booths to see, so I'll do another updates then to show you some more yumminess.

Thanks for stopping by,

Non-stop CHA

Hey all,

Goodness me! Has this been one hectic and intense few days or what. We arrived on Tuesday but haven't had a chance to breathe at all. Only now, am I able to find fifteen minutes to sit down and write this while I wait for the others to finish their workshops.  Every night, we've just collapsed into bed and had to wake up to the rising sun to start the day.  To top it off, I thought we’d get away from the cold weather in Hong Kong and be able to soak in some sun. Sadly, it’s been the same weather here and we’re still wrapped up in parkas and scarves. No bikinis by the pool then.

Ready for a summary of what we've been up to during these last few days?

The first day, we trotted down to Coco’s (I know some of you are super jealous, and yes, the pancakes are as yummy as ever). After stuffing ourselves with a full day’s worth of calories in one sitting, we were ready to face a whole day with Tsukineko. That opened our eyes to how many ways you could use the inks and sprays. We left with inky fingers and a pretty new mini album. That night saw us pushing the largest trolley in history down the aisles of Tarjay, stocking up on socks, cereal and eye drops. As you do.

L-R: Sunrise over Anaheim, the convention centre right across from our hotel, that's Disneyland beyond the trees, delicious blueberry pancakes at Coco's, inks and sprays at Tsukineko workshop, us with our finished projects, learning some encaustic techniques, working with Spellbinder's new jewelry line, the new Big Shot coming out soon.

 L-R: the new range of Distress paints, Maya Road album, Maya Road framed tags, Tim at work.

The next day was not so much fun. This was where we strained our buttocks (and brains) with sitting for ten hours as we watched company after company parade their wares and give us lots of sneak peeks before their official launch on the show floor this Saturday and we confirmed half of our orders.  

L-R: such a cool product to rust up everything and anything, copperize anything, a pic with the man himself, an Ideo-logy project.

Yesterday was filled with back to back workshops and seminars, filled with even more products and techniques; starting with a Graphic 45 workshop and ending with some mixed media techniques. Blown away is one word that comes to mind and we are super excited to show you all that we learned.

L-R: Angela with Dyan Reaveley (creator of Dylusions), Teresa Collins layouts, gorgeous holiday altered book at Sizzix, a washi-taped bicycle at My Mind's Eye.

Today, the real madness began. Three and a half days of us oohing and ahhing over all the prettiness. With over four hundred companies exhibiting, it will be hard-pressed not order everything. There are lots of make and takes, lucky draws and give-aways.

 

L-R: a Tim Holtz ideo-logy necklace, Anna Dabrowska work of art, my Tim Holtz make and take which I queued an hour and a half for.

Our first plan of attack was to run for the Tim Holtz booth and do a his famous make and takes. After queuing up for one and half hours, we finally got to walk away with a cute Paris tag. We watched Tim demo his new range of distress paints (love them and have to get them) and took countless photos of all the beautiful samples made with the whole product range. Can I just say that there are some seriously talented artists and crafters out there.

 

L-R: a paper wedding gown at Bella Blvd, cute mini at Authentique, beautiful tag at Ranger.

We then tried (with the best intentions) to place all our orders. If you've been to the show, you will know it's not the easiest task; just because you will stop so many times on the way to the actual booth you want to go to and veer off into one you didn't. Just too many pretty things to look at.

Six hours later, we had only done one-fifth of the show floor. Tomorrow, we will have to put our roller skates and blinkers on and rocket around the rest of the floor.

See you tomorrow, when I will bring you more goodies,

Off to the Winter CHA

Hi there,

Just a short one this time.

One more day before getting on a flight to the winter CHA. As you can imagine, I'm super excited about the trip. I remember last year's show and how it blew me away. The sheer size of the event and all the companies and designers all in one place - this year will be no different, I'm sure. This time, it will only be three of us going for HKMC, but we will keep our eyes peeled for the best of the best and hopefully bring it all back to you.

Most of the brands we love are already sharing sneak peeks online and I can't wait to see them in person. There will also be lots of workshops for us to attend - bringing home new products to try out and techniques to share and I'll not be making the same mistake twice and have my camera charged up, ready to take a ton of photos for you all. 

So, I will hopefully be able to do a daily blog during our time over there, just to give everyone an update on what's happening.

See you in Anaheim,

Back Tracking A Little

I've decided to back track a bit and fill you in on what has been happening in my world of scrapbooking.

I was approached by one of the scrapbook stores, HK Memory Chest, here in Hong Kong to help teach classes. I have known them for a couple of years and was flattered that they wanted me as part of their team.

I started in September last year, teaching a few adult classes and assisting with kids' classes. In January of this year, the company, myself included, flew over to Los Angeles to attend the winter CHA (Crafts and Hobbies Association) convention. Wow, what an eye opener. You should have seen us; like eager puppies let loose. A crafter's dream.

My first CHA show

 One of the workshops I attended

 Peeking over Tim Holtz's shoulder

Amazing paper crafted peacock @ DCVW

February has seen me make use of all that I saw and learnt at CHA and adapting them into projects that can be taught in classes.

I'll be updating on projects and layouts I've done from this year onwards. I may add some of my previous layouts from yesteryear if I feel there is a design or technique I would like to showcase.