CHA Mega Show 2015 | Scrapbook Planner Products
The concept of paper planners is a big trend right now in the world in general. Filofax has suddenly become a hot brand (a scrapbook store near me recently started promoting they are carrying Filofax). Many scrapbook brands have jumped into the market for planners as well, providing planners in their company's familiar signature design style that customers already love.
The current trend to paper planners has been driven in large part by people who wish to create customized planners. In that area the scrapbook companies have an advantage over office supply companies who have traditionally made planners, as they have a lot of familiarity and experience with designing products like stamps, stickers, washi tape and other decorative items currently desired by planner users.
Most of the scrapbook industry planners are set up on a monthly/weekly format. A few, such as the Simple Stories collection, have additional daily organization pages. However, the downside of daily pages is bulk - it makes the entire year so huge that it can't all be carried around at once and pages have to be cycled in and out of the planner.
Perhaps the most excitement of all the new planners has centered around the Life Documented collection by Simple Stories. Created in their signature bright colors, in a 6"x 8" size, the planner is a modular system. Each element can be purchased separately, allowing users to build their own custom planner containing only the elements they wish to use.
One popular feature of Life Documented not seen in a lot of other planners is the meal planning section.
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Becky Higgins' Project Life has dipped its toe into the waters of the scrapbook planner offshoot gradually. They were perhaps the first industry company to introduce a planner last year with their planner pages kit for their 6" x 8" albums. At CHA Mega Show 2015, they were showing a new more sophisticated planner design.
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Also in the American Crafts umbrella of brands, Heidi Swapp was showing a new scrapbook planner at CHA Mega Show 2015. Her planner collection, in the pastel version of her signature palette and with her signature florals, comes with an extremely large assortment of embellishments and tools to accompany it.
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The planner collection from Me & My Big Ideas is called The Happy Planner - an apt name for their bright colored designs. A variety of accessories like stickers are available for this system, which features one key difference from the ones on show at the CHA Mega Show 2015. While the vast majority of the planners on show were 6" x 8" ring binders, Me & My Big Ideas chose a disc binding system for theirs.
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Webster's pages was showing binders that perhaps looked the most like a Filofax, in a huge variety of colors. The planner system is quite simple at the moment but will be being expanded soon with the addition of a Megan Hoeppner-designed "Color Crush" planner. The company is also hinting at the addition of stamps to the line-up in Facebook posts.
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Besides the companies showing planners, there were also companies showing planner accessories. Stamps were a popular option.
Hero Arts has an entire line of stamps coming out in 2015 that are designed for planner and calendar use. (Click on the photo for a larger view.) With four whole sets that include things like months and planner sections, these stamps will make the DIY planner crowd happy.
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Marion Smith Designs also has a stamp set coming to serve the planner fans in the market. This one has an interesting feature - a banner alphabet - not seen in other planner products.
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The DIY planner fans will likely be interested in the new acetate die cut sheets from Bella Blvd. These sheets are much heavier than acetate sheets we've seen previously in the scrapbook market. Although they are die cut, they appear large enough to cut a tabbed divider out of for a 6" x 8" binder, the preferred planner size it seems these days. I foresee many of these sheets being chopped up for planner use!
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