CHA Mega Show 2016 | Succulents are Hot!
The CHA Mega Show is a great place to distill scrapbooking trends and craft trends, with so much of the industry and its products in one place for the show. Walking the show floor, patterns and themes become easily apparent - trends!
One thing that kept popping up as I walked the floor of this year's CHA Mega Show was succulents for crafts! This trend, an outgrowth of the general 1970's trend in crafts, fashion, and home decor, started to manifest in 2015, but really became prevalent at this show.
Several companies were using real live succulents in their booth decor as a touch of green:
Webster's Pages planner display with succulents
Webster's Pages planner display with succulents
Succulents in the Crate Paper booth at CHA Mega Show 2016
Succulents in the Crate Paper booth at CHA Mega Show 2016
Crate Paper booth display with succulent mixed in
Crate Paper booth display with succulent mixed in
But the greenery was just a tip of the iceberg! The CHA Mega Show was also full of actual craft products that were themed with succulents for crafts.
Since the succulent theme comes largely from home decor, it's fitting that we start with Cosmo Cricket, where Julie Comstock has brought succulent imagery to her 5" x 7" Just Add Watercolor Art Deck. This pack of watercolor resist sheets is designed to be used with watercolor and other mediums (like Cosmo Cricket's own Pixie Paint or Swatch Sticks) to create custom gallery wall art.
Cosmo Cricket Just Add Watercolor succulent
Cosmo Cricket Just Add Watercolor succulent
Cosmo Cricket Just Add Watercolor succulent wall art
Cosmo Cricket Just Add Watercolor succulent wall art
At Spellbinders, their new Tammy Tutterow signature line includes steel rule dies (a first for that company) that cut two different styles of succulents. Since they are steel rule, these dies can cut a variety of materials in addition to paper.
Spellbinders Tammy Tutterow succulent dies
Spellbinders Tammy Tutterow succulent dies
Beautiful samples on display in the Spellbinders booth made from the Tammy Tutterow succulent dies showed them created out of felt.
Spellbinders Tammy Tutterow succulent die samples
Spellbinders Tammy Tutterow succulent die samples
Spellbinders Tammy Tutterow succulent die sample
Spellbinders Tammy Tutterow succulent die sample
There was another set of succulent dies on the show floor. They went with the woodblock succulent stamps available from Hero Arts - perfect for cute cards.
Hero Arts succulent stamps and dies
Hero Arts succulent stamps and dies
Trendy stamp start-up Waffleflower has been showing multiple sets of succulent stamps and dies since last summer's show season, and has retained these designs (pictured at the SPC show in 2015) in their catalog for 2016. These designs are also notable for including a second trend as well, layered stamping.
Waffleflower succulent stamps
Waffleflower succulent stamps
Altenew, another popular new stamp start-up, also has a succulent stamp set that is targeted at cardmakers. It includes hospitality and congratulatory sentiments, including a retirement sentiment that is difficult to find.
Altenew succulent stamps
Altenew succulent stamps
For many in the over-40 crowd, the trend of succulents for crafts is a nostalgic one. I personally remember my mother growing a whole host of succulents on her huge lighted plant stand when I was a child. They are notoriously difficult to grow, and expensive as house plants go, but now a new generation is taking on the challenge. Like in so many areas of the craft industry lately, everything old is new again!
