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!

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest scrapbook news?

Design powerhouse American Crafts had a massive booth, and introduced several new lines at CHA Summer 2011.

Their popular line of albums got a refresh with some new designs added in with the old standbys.

Popular fashion designer and scrapbooker to the stars Amy Tan made a huge splash with her new signature line called “Amy Tangerine”, generating lots of buzz both on and off the show floor.

I love all the Thickers in her new lines, especially these with faux stitching drawn around the edges – so cute!

American Crafts is known for certain signature embellishments (such as Thickers), and their Mixtapes are fast becoming one of those staples. The “Amy Tangerine” line features several new styles and patterns of this washi-style tape.

Amy’s line is also bursting with extras such as clear stamps, ephemera, and letter stickers.

American Crafts’ “Daydreams” line is a fun, feminine collection that sports a bright color palette and funky bold designs.

The Thickers in this line are smaller than the normal letters that American Crafts produces, making this lover of tiny alpha stickers very happy indeed!

“Night Fall” is American Crafts Halloween/Fall offering. There are only a few strictly Halloween themed papers in this line, and even those sheets have “B” sides that are neutral enough to use for general fall pages.

“Hollyday” puts American Crafts’ signature graphic spin on a red, green, and silver color palette. Clean lines and mod designs make this a fun and cheerful collection!

These candy cane striped Thickers are simply genius!!

American Crafts also offers Christmas patterns in their popular Pow! glitter paper, famous for sparkly stuff that never flakes off.

The “Garden Cafe” line, with its punchy flowers offset by deep browns, has a funky retro vibe about it.

“Margarita” was American Crafts’ mid-season summer themed release and features all the bright, vibrant colors associated with the season.

Webster’s Pages is known for their elegant designs both on paper and in their embellishments.

The “Western Romance” line features a soft country look filled with feminine touches such as painted cowgirl boots and flower covered mailboxes.

Webster’s Pages is also known for innovative embellishments like these delicate feather flowers.

The brightly colored “Let’s Celebrate” line would be perfect for scrapping birthdays.

Webster’s Pages’ “All About Me” line features a pleasing color palette that will “play” well with many different types of photos and layout subjects. With its mix of pleasing patterns and gorgeous illustrations of every day (and some not so every day) objects, I could see this being a great candidate for use in a “Week in the Life” album.

Webster’s introduced not one, but two Christmas lines at this CHA show! “Winter Fairy Tales” is filled with fanciful scenes and a soft color palette, while “Botanical Christmas” features bolder colors and a more traditional Christmas theme.

Let’s round out this portion of our CHA Summer 2011 tour by stopping in at the Fancy Pants booth!

Fancy Pants’ new lines featured some of the most creative color combinations that I saw anywhere at the show. For instance their Christmas line, “Saint Nick”, has a mostly traditional color palette but adds a light shade of purple to just a few prints for added contrast and interest.

Their fall line, “Summer’s End”, has the oranges and browns that you’d expect from a seasonal fall line but also includes a punchy shade of blue-green for an unexpected twist.

And “Oct. 31st”, Fancy Pants’ Halloween line? It includes a bit of bright blue amongst the orange and purple! Not to mention all the lush damask prints scattered throughout.

This piece of paper was my absolute favorite of the whole booth – it totally appealed to the geeky engineer in me!

Fancy Pants was also one of the few companies offering a strictly “back-to-school” line. “Off to School” has been getting a lot of buzz on the blogs lately, and I predict that it will be a big seller this fall.

Fancy Pants’ Brag Books were actually released at the Winter CHA show, but with the huge success of EK Success’s Smash books they were smart to bring them back to the summer show. Fancy Pants’ version of the blank journal trend is less decorative than the EK Success version, giving the scrapper full creative control over the final look of their project.

Have you all been making your post-CHA shopping lists as you read these booth tour posts? I know I’ve been making mine as I write them! Don’t finalize that list just yet, though, because there’s so much more to come!

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest scrapbook news?

Paper Embellishments

There is a massive movement towards paper embellishments in the scrapbooking industry. They are affordable SKU’s for both the manufacturer, retailer and consumer, making them perfect for the current economic climate. Die cut papers, journaling cards & tags, bingo & other game cards, and chipboard buttons are all examples of the current trend towards paper embellishments that are cheaper to produce, cheaper for retailers to stock, and cheaper for consumers to buy. Sassafras, Jillibean Soup, Jenni Bowlin, Tattered Angels, and October Afternoon are some of the standouts in this area.

Sassafras

Jillibean Soup

Cheaper Price Points

The paper embellishments are just part of an overall trend toward less expensive embellishments. As noted in our design trends piece, buttons are back – a relatively affordable alternative to the metal embellishments that were trendy a few years ago. (Metal still exists but it is now a niche market from companies that specialize in a particular vintage look, such as Tim Holtz and 7 Gypsies, instead of everyone making metal pieces.) If you are still a fan of metal, check out Tim Holtz giving a tour of his current line to Noell Hyman of Paperclipping.

Companies are also packaging items in smaller quantities to make the price point lower on the item. Instead of a package of 12 items, you’ll see a package of 6 embellishments. Stamp sets are smaller than in the past. Where there used to be acrylic stamp sets that retailed for $40 from Technique Tuesday and Fancy Pants, now it is rare to find a set that retails for $20. The new e. line from Prima is an excellent example of the new packaging being used by companies. Prima has repackaged mulberry flowers, pearls and bling that were previously sold in large quantities in decorative packaging into small plain paper packages at an MSRP of $1.50 each.

e. by Prima

Why are lower price points important to the manufacturers? With the average ticket price going down for consumer purchases, companies have a better chance of ending up in a consumer’s shopping bag if their price point is lower. They might price themselves out of the market if their high price point requires the consumer to commit their entire budget for the shopping trip to a single item.

Lots of Kits

Kits are great for retailers because they can use them as pre-packaged classes, cutting down their costs for developing and packaging classes. Inexperienced scrapbookers like having everything coordinated and being given instructions. Experienced scrapbookers like the convenience. Manufacturers  can sell a bundle of products to consumers – a bulk sale – in a way that the consumer is almost guaranteed to not get frustrated figuring out how to work with the product. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Technique Tuesday, BoBunny and plenty of others are offering kits for scrapbooking and cards. Quick Quotes is taking kits to a different audience with its wall canvas kits.

Technique Tuesday page kits

Quick Quotes 10x20 canvases

BoBunny Recipe Book Kit

Cardmaking

The holidays that are the focus of product releases at CHA-Summer lend themselves to cardmaking, and many companies are taking advantage of that to try to find an additional market for their products as cash-strapped consumers turn to more affordable homemade cards to save money. Card samples were on display in many booths, even for product lines that weren’t for the Christmas/Valentine’s Day card making holidays.

Quickutz is investing heavily into the DIY stationery market with its new Letterpress product that allows users to create expensive-looking engraved stationery items such as invitations, place cards, and thank you notes.

Technique Tuesday card samples

Little Yellow Bicycle card samples

Quickutz Lifestyle Crafts letterpress kit

Going Green

Some companies were placing a lot of marketing emphasis on how green their lines are. The e. line by Prima (pictured earlier) is being marketed as both budget and eco-friendly. A few paper lines are starting (or continuing) like Cosmo Cricket to advertise the “eco” certifications that they have received. However, Sandylion took it to a whole new level and made their whole booth about how eco-friendly their presence at the show was.

Sandylion's low carbon-footprint booth

Of course, the bonus for Sandylion is that “efficiently transported” means more affordable to transport. This booth is a beautiful example of turning cost-cutting into a feature.

Tools

There seems to be more emphasis on tools in the scrapbooking market than in the past in an attempt to reach consumers who want to feel they are getting more value for their money by purchasing items they will get multiple uses out of. The most obvious example of this is the ubiquity of acrylic stamps, an affordable but reusable tool that are being sold it seems by virtually every scrapbooking company.

Kaisercraft clear stamps

Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels

Inks and other similar products (such as Glimmer Mist) are also getting a lot of attention for the tool category. Where consumers used to pay $5-7 for a package of embellishments, most would now rather spend that amount on a reusable item like an inkpad that they can use to create multiple effects.

For a video demo of an interesting new tool from CHA, a tool from Imaginisce that lets scrapbookers create their own paper topped brads, visit the I-Top Brad Demo video at Paperclipping.

Higher-priced tools are also getting a lot of attention. Where consumers used to routinely drop $100-200 on consumable supplies at a time, now it seems those large purchases are more often a carefully planned and budgeted reusable tool such as die cutting equipment.

Slice by Making Memories

Multiple Holiday Lines

With the increased emphasis on the holidays and cardmaking in papercrafts, some companies are trying to expand their reach in that market by not limiting their customers to one style option. Cosmo Cricket, My Minds Eye, and Kaisercraft were among the companies at CHA-Summer that had multiple holiday lines on display for retailers to choose from, so that retailers could offer several options of styles to their customers.

Colorful Christmas by My Minds Eye

The Merry Days of Christmas by My Minds Eye

Not Exhibiting

One trend from CHA-Summer was not actually being at CHA-Summer. There was a long list of major companies who decided to have no presence in Orlando at all, and a second group of companies who decided that they could get more return on their investment by holding events in conjunction with the show but not actually exhibiting at it. Those companies included Fiskars, who held a 360th birthday party at Epcot with some of their Fiskateers, and Scrapbooks Etc. magazine, who held an evening event at the Peabody Hotel across the street from the convention center.

Scrapbooks Etc. event at the Peabody Hotel