Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that long ago or even quite that far away, but there was no denying that at CHA Winter 2012, the hexagons were back! I’m not quite ready to call this trend a staple yet – it’ll take at least one more show to tell – but scrapbooking manufacturers of all styles have certainly embraced this shape and put their own spin on it. If you want to see examples from last summer’s show be sure to check out my Trend Watch article on Hexagons, Honeycombs, and Lattices from last October, but right now I want to take a look at some photos from the CHA Winter 2012 show floor and look at just what this trend had to offer this time around.

I have to admit that the Jenni Bowlin booth was one of the last places I would have expected to see hexagons at CHA Winter 2012, but she totally surprised me by putting her own signature (and lovely!) vintage spin on the shape. The hexagon paper (from the Magpie collection) and Quilted Stickers shown below are perfect examples of how a company can be trendy and still stay true to their roots.

Ever trendy Hambly showed up at CHA Winter 2012 bearing hexagons aplenty. They took the shape and filled it with trendy patterns such as chevrons and quatrefoils in both their new printed paper line and their new honeycomb screen print.

Heidi Swapp’s triumphant return to the scrapbooking industry was one of the biggest stories in Anaheim in January. I want to take a close-up look at just one paper right now, though. See the print at the bottom right of the Color Magic display? Yes, those are indeed hexagons, ready and waiting to be misted, inked, and colored to your heart’s content!

Lily Bee’s paper lines always feature small, tight, almost quilt-like patterns, so hexagons are a natural fit for this company’s style. Their just-shipped Victoria Park collection includes a multi-colored, multi-layered honeycomb pattern.

Hexagons were all over The Crafter’s Workshop’s new releases. Some of them were in the form of these chicken wire templates, which are available in both positive and negative images in either 12×12 or 6×6 sizes. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer also released a new multi-patterned background template that includes a hexagon pattern among its designs.

Authentique put a fun spin on the honeycomb pattern with one of the prints from their Loyal collection. They left some of the shape’s sides open to create joins between the centers – quite the cool effect!

Rhonna Farrer’s Follow Your Heart line for My Mind’s Eye includes vintage ephemera and pattern inlaid hexagons on some sheets while other prints in the collection feature a more subtle honeycomb design. Even the stamps in this line have honeycombs!

In Spellbinders’ new collections, I discovered this fun hexagon patterned M-Bossabilities folder. This particular folder is called So Trendy because it features another hot design on its reverse side – chevrons!

Little Yellow Bicycle has put hexagons right inside some of the fish on this paper from their Splash collection.

Webster’s Pages new sports-themed line, Game On, includes plaid and checkered patterned hexagons on one of the patterned sheets.

The hexagon paper in Basic Grey’s Plumeria collection is unfortunately right at the very right edge of my photo, but you can definitely spot the trendy pattern!

Echo Park’s new Note To Self line includes a shape that, while not exactly a hexagon, is definitely hexagon influenced. The geometric print below features a six-sided shape with the added twist of having two of the sides elongated.

Tim Holtz also caught on to the hexagon trend and included it not only in one of his Stamper’s Anonymous background stamps, but also in one of his new Texture Fades embossing folders from Sizzix! Unfortunately the folder was a bit hard to photograph in the booth, but you can catch a closer look at it here in my pre-show picks article.

I’ll end our look at hexagons with Studio Calico. Their latest addition to the Classic Calico line, Classic Calico Vol. 2, includes hexagon prints not only on some of the papers, but on one of the washi tapes, as well!

I, for one, am happy to see the abundance of hexagons in the latest round of industry releases. As a scrapper who has trouble working with the more free-form look of circles, hexagons give structure and definition without being completely…well…square! They have a slightly funky vibe that keeps things interesting, and I’m hoping that at CHA Summer 2012 we’ll see that this trend has indeed moved into staple-hood.

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With versatility like this, it’s no wonder that coral made an appearance in one form or another in almost every paper manufacturer’s booth on the CHA show floor. In fact, the color was so popular that I had to narrow down the list of collections to feature here to those that prominently used coral in their color scheme. In reality, there were many more lines that I could have shared that used coral as an accent color, but the range of images and styles shown here should give you a pretty good taste of what’s to come (and is in some cases already available!) from the new crop of collections.

Die Cuts with a View (also known as DCWV) made the color the focus of one of their newest paper stacks. Coral Couture pairs both the orange and pink versions of coral with aqua and yellow to create a sophisticated color palette. The addition of large floral and butterfly motifs give the line a vintage feel. For more on this line, you can visit my blog here, where I spotlight this new paper stack, and May Flaum also took it for a test drive in a post on her blog.

Cosmo Cricket infused two of their newest lines with shades of coral. The sultry and sassy Evangeline collection shows off coral’s pink side with lovely florals, while the funky, fresh Twenty Three pairs up a more muted shade with oranges and yellows.

The always on-trend Pink Paislee included a full spectrum of coral shades in the House of Three licensed Spring Jubilee line. Here again we see butterflies and florals in a coral-dominated line – it’s like the entire industry has spring blooms on the brain!

Hambly Screen Prints mixed up a brand new coral ink to add to their existing color palette. You can see an example of it below in one of their trendy new hexagon prints, and a brighter, pinker version in their new line of printed cardstock.

Two of Echo Park’s new lines - This & That: Graceful and Hello Summer - make use of coral, but in very different ways. This & That: Graceful sports a deeper, pinker shade, while Hello Summer’s version is more vibrant and leans toward the orange side of the spectrum.

Little Yellow Bicycle popped bits of coral into several pieces of their new Hello Spring! collection. Here coral is more of an accent color, but I wanted to include it since it shows up in so many of the line’s embellishments as well as the papers.

Fancy Pants brought two summer themed lines to CHA, and one of them – Summer Soul - is packed full of pinky-coral tones. The shade is just perfect for this summer/beach themed line!

Speaking of beach collections, Webster’s Pages’ new Palm Beach line is also packed with shades of coral, along with bright aquas and oranges.

That wasn’t the only place that coral was to be found in the Webster’s booth, though. Sunday Picnic also includes punches of the trendy color, especially in the omnipresent floral motifs.

Basic Grey’s Konnichiwa collection had me at “cherry blossoms,” and I love how they’ve paired up delicate, ethereal yoshino blooms with vibrant shades of coral.

I spotted a pairing of cherry blossoms and coral again at the My Little Shoebox booth, where the Aiko collection fuses the shade with sky blue for an airy look.

Coral was everywhere in the Prima booth – especially in their copious embellishment flowers – but nowhere was it more apparent than in the upcoming mid-release line, Doodle Deux. Here coral is coupled with a much warmer yellow than seen anywhere else in the show, which really amps up the punch factor.

Both Rhonna Farrer and Jen Allyson debuted new lines with My Mind’s Eye, and both designers made abundant use of coral in their collections. Rhonna’s Follow Your Heart: Be Happy line teams up coral and light aqua with yet more florals, and Jen’s Miss Caroline mega-collection also pairs up those same colors and motifs, but in a more vibrant and varied style.

It didn’t take long to spot the coral influence in the Teresa Collins booth! Spring Fling also makes use of the popular aqua/coral pairing. Though it also uses floral and butterfly images as many of the other lines we’ve looked at so far do, Teresa’s are a much more graphic style than we’ve seen so far.

Elizabeth Kartchner’s latest addition to her Dear Lizzy line with American Crafts, Neapolitan, was perhaps the poster child for coral at CHA Winter 2012. Filled with sweet pinks, yellow, oranges, and pale aquas to offset the lively bits of coral, Neapolitan was one of the biggest hits of the show.

Take Note by Studio Calico (one of their latest collaborations with the owners of former superstar company Sassafras) takes the vintage, eclectic flair that Studio Calico is known for and infuses just a touch of coral in the floral print as well as the journaling card sheet.

October Afternoon brought two coral-heavy lines to the show. Woodland Park teams coral up with peacock blue and animal icons, while the festive Cakewalk collection combines it with greenish-aqua and yellow.

I found coral all over the EK Success booth, as well, including in two new additions to the K&Company brand – Tim Coffey’s travel line and Bloomscape both show off coral’s versatility and range.

Graphic 45 is another company that came bearing coral in more than one collection. Tropical Travelogue, a mid-release collection that was actually available before the show, is a place you’d expect to find coral hidden amongst the tropical and beach themed prints.

What you might not expect, though, is to also find coral in a baby line! Little Darlings for the most part eschews pale pink in favor of a light shade of peachy coral.

Pebbles shows that coral works well in both floral and party themed lines. In fact, they brought one of each to the show in the form of Hip Hip Hooray and Country Picnic.

Popular stamp company Lawn Fawn debuted a new paper line at CHA Winter 2012 and showed that they definitely have their eye on trends. Coral is a major player here amongst the chevrons and touches of hombre.

Simple Stories shows how fabulous coral can be in their aptly named new collection…Fabulous! This collection is the more “girly” of the new Simple Stories collections, so the shade of coral used here is definitely on the bright pink side of things.

Janet Hopkins has returned to paper designs, and her newest collection from Bazzill Basics Paper, Wayfarer, literally puts coral on the map.

The last stop on our coral tour of CHA Winter 2012 brings us to a booth that has something to tie everything we’ve seen previously together. Petaloo manufactures embellishment flowers in every color imaginable, and their collections at this show were designed to coordinate with the top 20 paper lines being displayed on the show floor. With that kind of range, you know there’s a coral shade in there! Indeed, you can find it in the Hyacinth colorway of the Spring Darjeeling collection.

Did anything in that massive dose of eye candy catch your eye? Do you see yourself using coral in any projects in the near future? Chime in and let us know what you think of this new trend!

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The photo above is from the Crate Paper booth, a company that is known for their amazingly detailed and beautiful offerings, and they’ve added some new designs into their mix this show as well.

Here are four new fantastic neutral button sets. Clockwise from top left we have Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 for Blossom Bucket, We R Memory Keepers, Jillibean Soup, and Basic Grey. I really like the unique textures and designs of each set, as well as the fact that they are neutral so they will work with any colors.

Now let’s look up close at a line that is filled with a lot of notions and button embellishments: French General for Jolee’s Boutique from EK Success. I really like that the line is organized by color, and how useful these pieces will be with the French General papers, or with any other brand as well.

Here is a close up shot of the new Dear Lizzy Neapolatin line buttons for American Crafts – I really like the wood buttons and I think it brings a fun texture to the offering.

October Afternoon has some buttons that are solid color, but done in such fantastic colors and with some great floral detail as well which will make them useful for all kinds of projects – and they’ll work with many other brands of papers as well.

Speaking of color, here are some more fun new choices: (left to right, above) Teresa Collins, Doodlebug, and Fancy Pants. All three mix great colors and a good variety of sizes as well in their offerings.

One of the cutest lines on the show floor – and some of the most unique buttons – are from Rhonna Farrer’s “Follow Your Heart” line for My Minds Eye shown above. I really like the trendy patterns and unique shapes used.

We are seeing buttons mixed in with other shapes and embellishments as well. Above is a new dimensional embellishment that in addition to birds also features adhesive-backed buttons with stitching.

Finally, let’s take a look at Buttons Galore & More [photos by Melissa Stinson]  - a long time manufacturer of buttons (and a Scrapbook Update sponsor). They have really great solid and basic buttons in a wide variety of styles. They also have some unique sets and shaped buttons as well.

Overall with a continued focus on vintage, rustic, and whimsical styles in paper crafting products that buttons go so very well with, I believe they will continue to be a popular item. There are some really interesting designs and types becoming available from painted to wood to other materials as well.

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An instant favorite: Melody Ross came out with a line called Homespun Chic (with GCD Studios) and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I was loving it so much in the booth in fact, that I apparently forgot to take photos of the actual papers! (These flowers give you a good idea of the designs I hope!)

When asked about my show favorites, Glitz Design is a company I was both surprised and delighted by. I truly loved every new item in the booth and these rub-ons made me dizzy with happiness.

Every paper from Lily Bee is on my wish list, along with their new chipboard stickers. It’s a beautiful two line release.  I couldn’t stop staring at this particular two-sided paper from the new Lovely line.

Cosmo Cricket’s Garden Variety and Material Girl lines both got smiles and thumbs up from me, and these letters made me squeak aloud with happiness.

I re-visited the Core’dinations booth more than once to see the Core Impressions papers that are new. They have designs from Jenni Bowlin, Jillibean, and Cosmo Cricket that are all specially embossed and so useful in both patterns and colors. I can not wait to get my hands on them and sand, ink, and tear them to my creative heart’s content.

(Above are some of the Jenni Bowlin samples. Below is the Cosmo Cricket woodgrain cardstock.)

Jillibean Soup had a lot of offerings such as new corrugated cardboard alphas, journaling stickers, and papers that are just too cute for words, like this birdhouse design. It is a part of their Old World Cabbage Soup collection.

Adornit had a really large release this show. My favorite are these star stickers. They’re just so happy.

Teresa Collins created a line called chic bebe girl (and in blue, chic bebe boy), and it’s the first baby line in a long time I’ve been excited about. What I love is that almost every design and item in the collection can be used for any subject, making it far more versatile than most themed lines.

My favorite thing about The Girls’ Paperie “On Holiday” line is that while it is vintage inspired, it’s got beautiful reds greens and blues and can be used easily on both travel and any other photos as well. Every paper in the line is worth mentioning, as well as the really incredible alphabet, word, and border sticker set that is available.

My Little Shoebox was filled with color, happy themes, and very usable products. I especially loved their tiny alphabets and the die cut papers like this one.

Hambly makes rub-ons and transparencies that few can match in style or quality. While I want most of their new releases, these swatch rub-ons were just so unique they stayed in my mind and must be mentioned here.

Studio Calico had a simple booth that let their stunning offerings speak for themselves. The “Anthology” line is wonderful, as are the versatile rub-ons that they released that could easily be  used with any number of products or themes. These wood grain and button rub-ons are not to be missed.

Last but not least, BasicGrey released a large line called “Basics”. It’s brilliant. These are neutral enough to work with most any other products. They will truly be timeless and something I can purchase and feel confident about getting my money’s worth from.

If you’re counting you notice I went with a baker’s dozen so I could get one more pick in. I feel compelled to say that there was a lot of lip biting and hand wringing here as I narrowed down my picks. There are many brands that released product that I love, and I look forward to utilizing them in future projects along with these favorites. Stay tuned for more updates here, and for my personal CHA experience and photos that I took including people please feel free to visit my blog.

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1. It’s all about die cutting.

Die cutting, both manual and electronic will be a hot topic at this year’s show. On the manual side, new exhibitor Dies Direct is a die maker (and involved peripherally in the Spellbinders suit versus Quickutz). New exhibitor Scrapping Cottage is also an independent die maker. Sizzix is introducing hotly-anticipated dies by designer Tim Holtz. Several other companies are coming out with embossing folders that there is much buzz about.

The electronic die side is the really hot category, though. Silhouette America, formerly a division of Quickutz, is another new exhibitor. They are there to display their electronic die cutter. Craftwell – yet another new exhibitor – will also be there to display an electronic die cutter. Sizzix isn’t a new exhibitor but they have a new machine coming called the eClips. Cricut also has been teasing a major announcement, and Making Memories has new products coming for its Slice line.

2. We’re going green.

Several companies were promoting their green certifications or initiatives at CHA-Summer and that will definitely continue at CHA-Winter 2010. Everything from eco-friendly production to eco-friendly booths like the one boasted by Sandylion at CHA-Summer 2009 will be more visible. In fact, one of the new exhibitors, Eco Green Crafts, boasts that it is devoted to supplies made from “non-toxic, recycled, and environmentally-friendly materials.”

3. We’re going patriotic.

A few companies were promoting products at the last show as being “Made in the USA.” Even more companies were selling U.S.-made products but not promoting their origin heavily. As the economy has sunk further and further, Americans have become more concerned about the purchasing of foreign products. “Buy local” is becoming a serious movement. Expect to see more companies who make their products domestically using that fact in their marketing.

4. It’s all about stamping.

Stamping is hot, hot, hot! We saw the start of this in Orlando, with stamp manufacturers doing big business, scrapbook manufacturers releasing extensive collections of stamps as part of their collections, and booths like Paper Trey Ink and Split Coast Stampers attracting huge crowds at the Supershow. At least a half-dozen new exhibitors in Anaheim are stamp companies, and many traditional scrapbooking companies will be emphasizing their stamp offerings.

5. Paper is reborn as digital.

In the past several weeks, two major manufacturers have announced initiatives to sell their older paper catalog designs in digital format: BasicGrey and Die Cuts With A View. Over a dozen other companies are involved in ScrapHD, an effort under construction to sell their designs in a digital format.

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