I recently attended the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show in California and came home eager to try many of the things I saw there. This show is considered the World’s Fair of crafting, with over 900 booths and 20,000 people attending. Two of the highlights of this year’s show for me were attending the Keynote presentation by Martha Stewart and seeing the World’s Largest Scrapbook, with over 4000 pages highlighting children’s wishes. 3L donates money from each Scrapbook Adhesive product sold to the Make a Wish Foundation, and I like knowing some of the money I spend on my hobby is helping children.

Thankfully, the show is divided into sections, with scrapbooking/papercrafts being the largest section by far. Many of the trends, techniques, tools and new products I was introduced to at the show will be featured in upcoming editions of this site. Chipboard is still hot, both for scrapbooking and cardmaking. It can be painted, chalked, stamped, stenciled, die cut, and embellished in countless ways. Color stories were jeweletones, such as sapphire, emerald and ruby, or pastels like aqua, peach, lavender, and mint. The Creative Hotmarks Tool from Walnut Hollow heats up to 750 degrees and has 15 interchangeable tips to add a new dimension to papercrafting. Did you love paper dolls as a child, like I did? Mrs. Grossman is taking us down memory lane with her line of paper doll stickers. The 36 colors of Adirondack Paint Daubers from Ranger Industries will be perfect for applying color to stamps and foam as well as paper. Vintage lines were especially popular. Retro papers included designs I remember from my childhood. The favorite color combinations all seemed to include shades of brown - bright aqua and chocolate brown, peach and mocha, pink and espresso. Black, white and shades of gray created very dramatic looks. Texture is very big, either from embossing, dimensional paints, or other methods of adding depth and interest. Glitter, jewels, and all kinds of sparkles showed up everywhere

Since many of us have a favorite designer, several companies were adding designer lines to their offerings. One of my favorites is l Brenda Walton’s Dollhouse Line for K & Company. Tim Holtz’s classes were sold out immediately – I called as soon as I received my catalog and was already too late! New products abounded. All My Memories introduced pocketbooks with cut outs for your favorite photos (or quotes, autographs, etc.) Crayola has a battery-operated cutter for kids. Sulyn Industries “ Cookbookin” line of papers, albums and embellishments continues to grow. Plaid’s Paper Couture™ line of jewelry is spectacular. Fiskars new Squeeze Punches are easier on the hands, so I can punch more shapes to add to my projects. I have to have some of the Great Big Brads and Rub Ons from Hot Off the Press! So many products, so little time…….