This is the company’s second acquisition in less than two months – Canvas Corp purchased 7 Gypsies in December 2011 from Ultra-Pro. They also purchased BagWorks, a fabric cut and sew company, in the summer of 2011. BagWorks offers canvas and burlap products that are produced in a facility in Springdale, Arkansas, where Canvas Corp is headquartered. That acquisition, Canvas Corp says, “allows us to offer a wider range of blank items.”

Tattered Angels was founded in 2006 by Wendy Senger, who developed the company’s signature “Glimmer Mist” in her kitchen. “Glimmer Mist” is a water-based dye ink in a spray dispenser that has been widely copied by other companies in the papercrafting market. Although the product was initially a huge success, the huge rise in competition for Glimmer Mist dampened the company’s fortunes the past few years as the company has not been able to duplicate the success of Glimmer Mist’s debut.

Springdale, Arkansas-based Canvas Corp was founded in 2006 by Randy and Christine Meier. The Meiers had previously founded DMD Industries in the mid-1990′s. (That company is now a property of ANW/Crestwood after being sold to them in February 2010 by the now bankrupt Westrim.) Canvas Corp sells products under the name Canvas Home Basics to the scrapbook, craft and home decor market. Although it produces popular patterned papers, the company is perhaps best known for creating products from materials besides paper: burlap, corrugated cardboard, and its namesake canvas. The company also purchased the popular 7 Gypsies brand in December.

Tattered Angels founder Wendy Senger will continue at the company as Tattered Angels’ creative lead. Tattered Angels TV and the Tattered Angels education and design teams will also continue their work for the company. Operations for Tattered Angels will move from Fort Collins, Colorado to the office facilities of Canvas Corp in Springdale, Arkansas. Canvas Corp says that it intends to begin shipping Tattered Angels’ CHA Winter 2012 releases from its Arkansas facilities the first full week February after a two week transition between facilities.

Tattered Angels founder Senger was upbeat about her company’s future with Canvas Corp:

I am excited about joining forces with the Canvas Corp family. Having a huge support team and so many creative people to share ideas with has opened a whole new chapter of my Tattered Angels vision possibilities.Tattered Angels will become the amazing company I have always strived for. In my heart I know it will be amazing!

Randy Meier, co-founder of Canvas Corp, explained the reasoning behind the company’s recent group of acquisitions:

We are in the business of creativity and the team of people and the collection of products that we have brought together is a great platform for the creativity to ignite.

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7gypsies, which was founded in 2001, had been part of Ultra-Pro since 2004. The company is known for its eclectic vintage style. Its bestselling signature products include the Binderie punch, printer trays, vintage image clear stamps, and paper tape.

Springdale, Arkansas-based Canvas Corp was founded in 2006 by Randy and Christine Meier. The Meiers had previously founded DMD Industries in the mid-1990′s. (That company is now a property of ANW/Crestwood after being sold to them in February 2010 by the now bankrupt Westrim.) Canvas Corp sells products under the name Canvas Home Basics to the scrapbook, craft and home decor market. Although it produces popular patterned papers, the company is perhaps best known for creating products from materials besides paper: burlap, corrugated cardboard, and its namesake canvas.

“Our focus is to bring creative ideas and people back together,” said Christine Meier, Co-Founder of Canvas Corp. “and the fit could not be more perfect with the 7gypsies team, design esthetic and core philosophy.

Ultra-Pro’s other scrapbooking brands, Chatterbox and Around the Block, were also included in the sale to Canvas Corp. Chatterbox was purchased by Ultra-Pro in 2007, and Around the Block was purchased in 2008. Both brands were retired in 2009. The inclusion of these brands in the Canvas Corp transaction divests Ultra-Pro of all their scrapbooking assets and returns the company to its core business creating protective storage items for collectibles such as baseball cards and sports memorabilia.

7gypsies’ operations will be moving from California to Canvas Corps’ headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas. The 7gypsies sales office in Utah will remain open and their contact information will not change.

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Tsukineko is the first stop on this little tour, and the Scrapbook Update team found several things here to be excited about, including new shades of their Fireworks craft ink spray.

Scrapbook Update editor Nancy Nally took some time to play at Tsukineko’s make and take table and found that the Fireworks sprays not only give great coverage, but they also dry very quickly!

Tsukineko’s Goosebumps texture spray is now available in two new finishes- matte and shimmer. Both of these new formulations and the original Goosebumps spray dry quickly and can be used to give your art projects a slightly “bumpy” surface.

Delicata is a new formulation of gold ink that dries quickly on porous papers (the smudge in the sample image is due to a non-porous surface being used, but I was told that a heat gun will set the ink on a slick surface) and is advertised as never losing its luster or tarnishing.

Tsukineko introduced two new colors – Ivory Black and Roast Coffee – to their popular StazOn Opaque collection at this CHA show.

Brush Stix are also new with this release. These brushes have firm, slightly flexible dense foam tips and are perfect for those who want to paint with their inks.

Art supply giant Faber Castell introduced several new items at the CHA Summer show, as well as expanding several existing lines.

Their “Mix & Match” system allows artists to mix mediums easily by providing samplers and kits that have been specially selected to coordinate.

Faber Castell’s Stamper’s Big Brush Pens will be popular with scrapbookers, cardmakers, and anyone looking to color directly onto their stamp before making an impression (versus using a traditional ink pad).

Faber Castell introduced a new Neutrals set to their PITT Artist Pens.  These India ink pens are archival and can be used on a variety of surfaces, including canvas and wood.

Art GRIP colored pencils provide rich pigment color to any project – these would be absolutely perfect for art journaling!

The PITT Artist Pen Writing Set from Faber Castell provides the same great features found in the regular PITT Artist pens, but with an unltra-fine nib perfect for journaling.

The next stop on our mixed-media blitz is The Crafter’s Workshop, home of plastic templates in a huge variety of styles and sizes.

Scrapbook Update carried the news earlier this year that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer was signing on with The Crafter’s Workshop to bring her signature designs to their line, and both she and her new templates were on hand in the booth for a make and take session. Nancy Nally took part in this project and spent some time using the templates and a variety of mediums to create a tag (I admit that I hung back solely because I was afraid of getting paint on my shirt!).

Canvas Corp’s huge range of kraft papers caught my eye as soon as I walked into the booth.

The reason I wanted to include their booth in this roundup post, though, was because of the sheer variety of canvas items they carry- perfect for all your altering and mixed media needs!

Eventually the kraft paper pulled me (and the camera) back, though, because if there’s anything that all of us at Scrapbook Update can agree that we love, it’s kraft!!

I can see these kraft clocks being used in a Week in the Life album.

This damask pattern is set on black paper instead of kraft, but I couldn’t help including it in all of it’s fuzzy flocked glory.

Canvas Corp had Halloween kraft on hand…

…and Christmas kraft as well!

Post card motifs are a hot item right now.

Aren’t these damask and text patterns simply elegant?

Canvas Corp. also offers plain corrugated sheets. These have so many uses – mini album covers, die cutting, and even layout backgrounds!

I spotted a festive Fourth of July kraft set in one corner of the booth.

These tissue paper sheets are full of possibilities, too! We inquired, and they do take ink well, meaning they can be stamped or distressed.

Even though I visited on the last day of the show (and in the afternoon, no less), the Basically Bare booth was so packed that I could barely get in to take photos. This was one popular place at Summer CHA!!

It’s no wonder that they were so busy – just look at all those awesome shapes, including an adorable set of cupcakes!

These chipboard gears will satisfy steampunk and grunge fans.

Basically Bare had a great selection of chipboard and corrugated die cuts following the home arts trend we’ve been seeing the last several CHA shows, with buttons and dress forms in several sizes and colors.

The pennant banner trend is still going strong, if Basically Bare is anything to judge by!

And, of course, the booth was filled with lovely sample display projects.

Did you see anything in that mixed media feast that caught your eye? Anything you think will be a hot trend, or that you personally just have to have now? Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re thinking! We’ll be back later – there are still many, many booths to share with you!

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(These trends shouldn’t be confused with design trends, which will be addressed in another article. This article just deals with what types of products are being introduced, not what style they are.)

So, in no particular order…here’s the first five of the top ten product trends from CHA Winter 2010:

1. Banners

This trend is actually a product and a design trend. Banners were everywhere at CHA Winter. They were for sale as products, and handmade ones were used as booth displays to show off new products. But here, we’re only concerned about the products. There were canvas banners, banner board books, banner stickers & paper, and banner stamps:

Clockwise from top left: Canvas Home Basics, Canvas Home Basics, October Afternoon, Maya Road, Webster’s Pages, October Afternoon.

2. Decorative Tape

Tape has been around for awhile in a limited sense – I personally own a huge collection of the Heidi Swapp and Making Memories designs and love using them on pages and cards – but now tape is popping up everywhere. There was even a new exhibitor at CHA Winter called Love My Tapes that sells nothing but tape.

Tape is appealing for several reasons to both buyers and sellers. It can sell at an affordable price point for a large quantity. It also has use to a wide range of crafters, from scrapbookers, to cardmakers and beyond.

Clockwise from top left: Love My Tapes, Pink Paislee, Pink Paislee, 7 Gypsies, Tim Holtz idea-ology, Making Memories.

3. Felt

Felt has been around for awhile as well but it is becoming increasingly commonplace. The retro craze has made it especially popular. It’s being used for a wide range of sticker-type embellishments, as well as by companies like Queen & Co. for ribbon-style borders.

Clockwise from top left: Prima, Making Memories, Dear Lizzy by American Crafts, BasicGrey, Kaisercraft, Queen & Co.

4. Artist Trading Cards

ATC’s have been on the fringe of the paper crafts industry for awhile but lately they’ve been growing in importance as companies like 7 Gypsies have been releasing products aimed squarely at that activity, and stampers and scrapbookers look for more things to do with their supplies.

At the CHA Craft Supershow in Anaheim, one booth was doing brisk business in selling ATC card blanks from specialty papers by Strathmore. At the trade show, companies as diverse as Tim Holtz and Making Memories both introduced ATC supplies. Many stamp designs were being sold that were obviously influenced by the ATC aesthetic, which is infiltrating mainstream scrapbooking.

The bottom example here is of the most importance in illustrating this trend. It is of the Shabby Chic version of the new Tim Holtz idea-ology paper pads. It includes pages that are 12×12 as well as pages that are designed to be cut into smaller sizes. There’s some 6×6, some tiny squares, and then some pages that are a combination of ATC’s and borders. This is a big development in the market, selling a product that is designed assuming that most buyers are interested at least somewhat in ATC’s as well as more traditional scrapbooking and card making.

5. Unmounted Rubber Stamps

The use of acrylic stamps has been exploding in the scrapbooking industry. There are several reasons for the growth of unmounted rubber: Concern about the design limitations of clear stamps, a desire to attract hardcore rubber enthusiasts as customers, or the need to compete with the price of clear stamps.

Clockwise from top left: Eco Green Crafts, Hero Arts, Stampendous, Lizzie Anne Designs, Stamper’s Anonymous, Unity Stamps.

Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!

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]]> http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2010/02/02/top-ten-product-trends-at-cha-winter-2010-part-1/feed/ 10 http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2010/01/16/winners-canvas-home-basics-giveaway/ http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2010/01/16/winners-canvas-home-basics-giveaway/#comments Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:38:12 +0000 Nancy Nally http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/?p=6739 It’s time to announce the winners of the Canvas Home Basics giveaway!

Package #1 - Lori on January 14th at 2:37pm:

Wow, what awesome products! The possibilities are endless, thanks for sharing!

Package #2 – Melinda Wilson on January 15th at 10:57am:

Yes! I would love to win either of these great giveaways!

Congrats to the two winners! Keep an eye out for my email asking for your contact information!