CHA Summer 2011 | Ranger, Stampers Anonymous, and Sizzix

You'd better sit back and relax for this post, because I've got more than a hundred photos from the Ranger, Stampers Anonymous, and Sizzix booths to share with you!

Ranger is well-known and respected in the industry for their huge assortment of inks, stains, embossing powders, and a host of other color mediums. Distress inks and embossing powders are a huge favorite amongst all kinds of paper crafters and mixed media artists.

Stickles, whether regular, Distress, or Ice, and Perfect Pearls are available in every color of the rainbow (and then some).

Distress Crackle and Distress Ink re-inkers give crafters an even wider variety of mediums to choose from.

And then there's Distress Stain! It’s been generating a huge amount of buzz for CHA Summer 2011 since Ranger announced that it was being released in the full line of the Distress Ink colors, completing the limited set that debuted at CHA Winter 2011.

Ranger showed off a few new shades of Stickles, as well.

Jenni Bowlin’s line of inks and paint by Ranger have been very popular, and for this show they expanded her line to include three new colors - Weather Vane, Lavender Sachet, and Speckled Egg.

Tim Holtz’s products from his Advantus District Market and idea-ology lines were also on display in the Ranger booth…

...including new Kraft Resist pads in Halloween and Christmas themes!

Tim also has new Halloween and Christmas dies in his Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix collection (more on those in this post when we get to the Sizzix booth).

Fans of the now-retired Suze Weinberg will be happy to know that a series of stamps by Ranger senior educator Dyan Reaveley is now being produced by Stamper's Anonymous and distributed by Ranger.

I absolutely love these banner stamps!!

Here’s a glimpse at Wendy Vecchi’s Art Parts line by Stamper's Anonymous. I’ll share more photos of these along with some stunning projects at the Stamper’s Anonymous booth a little later in this post.

Tim Holtz released several new additions to his cling mount stamp line from Stamper's Anonymous.

Ranger is one of the companies adopting QR codes on their packaging to link customers to further information about their products.

And of course you can’t stop by the Ranger booth without taking some time to browse through the dozens of beautiful sample projects on display.

Tim Holtz himself stopped by the booth while I was there to give a demo of some of the new products, and he brought along one of his new storage boxes! It is designed to hold all of the Distress mediums.

This smaller version is the Trinkets box, and it has lots of small compartments to hold all your tiny treasures.

Tim asked the crowd what they’d like to see demonstrated first, and when nobody spoke up for a few seconds, I chimed in, “Kraft Resist!”

Not only does Tim have Kraft Resist paper, but there's a set of Kraft Resist letters, as well!

Here’s Tim giving a demo of distress stains on Halloween Kraft Resist.

And then he broke out the Picket Fence Distress Stain to show that it’s very opaque when first applied but quickly becomes more transparent as it dries and soaks into the paper.

Picket Fence Distress Stain also softens the look of Distress Inks that are applied on top of it.

Tim also demonstrated a marbling technique using Picket Fence Distress Stain.

And then he showed how ribbon could be recolored with any shade of Distress Stain.

Let’s continue our Tour de Tim at the Stampers Anonymous booth with a close look at his new Halloween and Reflections stamps.

Stampers Anonymous is another booth that’s full of gorgeous projects.

Dyan Reaveley’s “Dylusions” stamp line was well represented by projects in the Stampers Anonymous booth, as well.

Art Gone Wild has a set of circle stamps in their collection that are unlike any designs I’ve seen before.

Inky Antics had some adorable images in their section of the Stampers Anonymous booth, including a cute penguin!

I also found the honeycomb paper packs fascinating - these could be used to make so many cute projects!

Wendy Vecchi’s Art Parts line by Stamper's Anonymous is a huge favorite among collage artists, as are the accompanying Studio 490 stamps.

And, of course, Stampers Anonymous had a generous number of sample projects for this line on hand, as well!

Sizzix is our last stop for this post, and they had some great new products debuting at this CHA!

Framelits are Sizzix’s new collection of nested dies, available in a variety of shapes.

They’re also introducing eight new Eclips cartridges, two of which are pictured below.

Sizzix manufactures Tim Holtz’s “Alterations” lines of dies and embossing folders, and there are several new items on tap for consumers this time around.

This damask pattern is gorgeous, and also a huge trend in the industry right now.

Several popular previous shapes are being released now as smaller "mover and shaper" dies, like the bestselling flower and the jalopy design:

And, of course, there were many, many sample projects on hand. The Sizzix booth was literally a wonderland of crafting ideas!

I personally loved these bright, colorful examples of what could be created with distressing and aging products.

There were so many walls like this one in the Sizzix booth - a complete treasure trove of inspiration!

Here I found another corner stuffed full of Tim Holtz’s Alterations dies, including several new items.

Everywhere you look, there is more sample project eye candy!

Sizzix has also started producing letterpress plates that are compatible with the Big Shot and Big Kick die cutting machines. Keep an eye on Scrapbook Update in the next couple of months as I review these in-depth along with other home letterpress options!

This was perhaps the most gorgeous piece in the whole booth - the entire surface of the table is tiled in embossed (using Sizzing embossing folders) metal sheets!

If this post isn’t enough to satisfy your collage and mixed media craving, Scrapbook Update will be bringing you another roundup of similar booths sometime in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!