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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It has been a quiet week around the scrapbook world – no major announcements or huge batches of new products hitting store shelves, but it’s been an inspiring week never the less. I believe that many creative people are gearing up for winter’s end and the beginning of spring, while store owners make room for the massive amounts of new product that may be arriving as I type this.

Yes, with the new CHA goodies hitting store shelves and spring break approaching, blogs lighting up with pastels and Easter ideas and flowers beginning to grow – it’s hard for me not to love early March. Here’s a look at some inspiration for you this week:

On Jenni Bowlin’s JBS Mercantile blog this week designer Ranjini Malhotra shared a how-to for taking metal tart tins and turning them into cute Easter baskets. There are a lot of variations that could be created, and with the holiday being less than a month away now, it’s that time of year to be looking at inspiration!

Rhonna Farrer released a new line of digital elements called Spring Circus, and she also blogged a bit about her creative process and what steps she takes when making new product.

I am always on the lookout for what I’m drawn to…what inspires me. I take inspiration trips to stores, boutiques, Pinterest, my mags/books, & I’ve even been known to get inspiration from random things like: taking the garbage out!

It’s an interesting and inspiring post, and you can see it here.

Wilna Furstenberg is frequently catching my eye with her amazing designs and helpful tutorials – this week she has one at the October Afternoon blog using artist masking fluid to create a hybrid scrapbook layout featuring a digitial design by Ali Edwards. Using October Afternoon’s sprinklers (mist) applied with a paint brush, she creates a really neat look for this layout.

Kristina Werner is known for her MACM (make a card Monday) video series, and this week’s card really caught my eye. Featuring a design that could be used as inspiration on a layout or card for any recipient, the tools are pretty basic and as always I enjoy watching her process.

Finally this week, Pink Paislee has been posting technique tutorials on their blog, and one really caught my eye. Utilizing product packaging and altering it a bit, Mahlin Wiggur created her own stencil for misting on a very colorful and artistic layout. In addition to her homemade misting stencil, she also uses a stencil with gesso and another pattern to add even more depth to her background. It’s a great reminder to play and really look around and use what you have in your stash. The tutorial can be seen here.

Noteworthy is a weekly column here at Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? If you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

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2012 is a leap year, and with that extra February day behind us it’s time to look ahead, and scope out what’s happening this week. It’s March, also known as National Craft Month, so I advise be keeping an eye out for manufacturers and bloggers to get extra inspiring, and perhaps we’ll see an increase in contests and giveaways as well. I look forward to it. Getting the month off to a strong start, here are this week’s stories:

Ali Edwards released a new self-paced online class on her website this week. “Five” is based off of her workshop from Creative Escape last year and is now formatted as an online self-paced classs.

The cool thing about this workshop is that you can really make your album any theme you want: favorite photos from a specific year, photos of a loved one who has passed on, favorite photos from a travel adventure, a collection of photos that celebrate your life right now, etc.

The class is $14, and available for purchase on Ali’s website.

Claudine Hellmuth released a video on her blog this week, showing a detailed look at a new card kit as well as a video for a new dimensional sticker kit that will be coming to HSN on March 6th. The colors, designs, and useful embellishments look like a lot of fun. She has been creating exclusive paper crafting kits with HSN for awhile, and she is scheduled to be on-air on March 6 with three new kits. She will be updating her Twitter and Facebook with exact times as the date approaches if the times change. If you don’t want to wait - the kits are available (as well as the previously released kits) at www.hsn.com.

It is noteworthy that March 6th is going to be scrapbooking day on HSN, so if interested you may want to check their website for schedules and deals coming for that.

The Jenni Bowlin inspiration blog has a beautiful spring inspired bird project posted this week. Team member Leah Farguharsen shares the how-to as well as images of the finished project.

With March approaching, most people’s thoughts in the United States turn to spring. Wouldn’t it be fun to chase away a friend’s winter blues with these sweet spring wishes?

It’s also worth noting here that Jenni Bowlin’s new products have begun hitting store shelves- I’ve spotted a number of items now at 2peas and other retailers.

Ella Publishing has a new ebook out titled Stamping Secrets: 7 Sensational Stamp Sets Used 21 Ways. This ebook features seven stampers and is offered at an introductory sale price of $8.79 until March 7.

In 28 packed pages, you’ll enjoy 21 gorgeous projects, 35 expert stamping tips, 6 step-by-step written tutorials, and 20 minutes of exclusive video instruction—all for just $10.99.

To learn more about this book or purchase it, visit Ella’s site here.

New product is hitting the shelves, and with so many manufacturers anticipating March release dates for CHA products shown, I can only imagine that soon stores will be flooded. Some much anticipated product lines that have been hitting store shelves lately include Jenni Bowlin, Lawn Fawn’s paper line, Echo Park, Tim Holtz distress markers, and Bazzill’s Wayfarer and Vintage Marketplace lines. Check in often to your favorite scrapbook stores – I’m told most places are getting new things daily!

Finally this week, I’d like to point out some excellent blog posts this week.

Stephanie Howell posted a moving entry about being ok with being herself as a crafter, and giving herself permission to do her own thing.

I am not the worlds most complicated scrapbooker. I am not the world’s most inspirational scrapooker-technique wise.   But I put my heart on every page. And i LOVE this hobby.   And I am more than okay with that.

Julie Balzer did a post titled “So you don’t have a Silhouette” that is a great detailed look at using a craft knife to hand-cut designs. Her photos and tips are fantastic.

What’s a girl to do without a Silhouette?  Well, grab her craft knife and get busy, that’s what!

Davinie Fiero posted about how she adds confetti (a super hot trend at the moment) to her projects.

Confetti is running rampant on the crafty front, so I wanted to take a moment and share some tips/tricks and techniques for adding confetti to your scrapbook pages.

Tim Holtz is back with a new “12 tags of 2012″ installment on his blog. As you would expect, it’s a brilliant idea that has a lot of applications, and puts scraps to use too.

 I’ve been inspired by spring, and i think this mini paper mosaic technique will be useful throughout the year on everything from cards & tags to journal covers and more.

Noteworthy is a weekly column here at Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? If you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

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With the beautiful bold patterns and designs, many crafters struggle to figure out where to cut it or how to use Webster’s Pages patterned paper. They are beautiful and over the last few years have definitely been among my favorites, but their surprising new announcement has me excited, and I believe other scrapbookers will feel the same. Webster’s announced this week that they are creating something new – Clean & Simple papers will be “dedicated to a cleaner, simpler version of Webster’s Pages.”

And no, this isn’t a one-time deal. ALL of our new collections will have a corresponding Clean & Simple paper line, the perfect complement to Classic Webster’s. So instead of having 6 papers per collection…we’re now having 12 papers per collection {6 papers Classic Webster + 6 papers Clean & Simple}

I do not think it is only clean & simple style scrapbookers who will enjoy and appreciate this addition to their lines. This takes out a lot of the intimidation factor of Webster’s Pages’ papers, stretches the usefulness of their lines, and gives crafters more options. I look forward to seeing their new release (Sunday Picnic) which should arrive in stores in January, as well as how this new development adds to their future lines.

This looks like it would be a bit time consuming, but for the chevron lover, it could really be worth it for a fun and unique party decoration.  Aimee over at betsywhite.com shares her tutorial for how to make your own chevron streamers through a few simple steps. It looks like folding the streamers would be the time consuming part, but for shorter lengths, vertical hanging, and a truly cool way to make your crepe paper decorations stretch farther and be more exiting this would be a great budget-friendly project.

American Crafts is at it again, this time with a line extension for the popular Amy Tangerine line. The mini book has been quite popular – so much so that they are adding 4 new ones and calling them “daybooks” now. These books as well as the few embellishments that were also revealed yesterday all perfectly match the existing Amy Tangerine line. I have found this line to be incredibly well thought-out and useful for both travel and everyday scrapbooking, and for a wide variety of subjects. Having purchased and used quite a bit of it since it released, I am excited to see more coming out. American Crafts has these products in stock now and is shipping them to stores.

Dina Wakley posted on her blog this week about what to do when you make an ugly page. Having just shared about some recent crafty failures, this really spoke to me and I appreciated the reminders and how she approaches art journal pages gone wrong:

You learn artistic lessons from every page you do. How can you learn and grow as an artist without making mistakes? You can’t make amazing art every single time, that’s unrealistic. If anything, you learn what not to do again. Or you learn when to stop. Or you learn not to use certain colors together.

Her thoughts are inspiring and to the point, and it’s great to be reminded that ugly pages happen. Perhaps more importantly, that it is ok, and they are a part of the process.

A new partnership was announced this week – one that will have Jenni Bowlin fans very happy. On the JBS inspiration blog, it was announced that Jenni is now releasing punches with Fiskars. Featuring lever, squeeze, and border punches, these items will work beautifully and offer some unique designs. Jenni says the new line is a great fit with her existing partnerships and products:

“My goal has always been to stick with what I know best, and partner with great companies on what they know best.  And Fiskars knows punches!  This will round out our existing partnerships with Ranger for Inks and Paints and Coredinations for Cardstock.  Everything works together with the Jenni Bowlin Studio line for one cohesive look.”

The tab squeeze punch, grandma’s doily lever punch, and the jester border punch shown above are at the top of my wish list – though I would love to have any and all of these new punches! According to the blog post these can be expected to ship after the holidays.

A lot of crafters are participating in craft projects such as 12 Tags of Christmas, and there are a lot of interpretations out there. But by far the most inspiring and creative use of the Tim Holtz blog series I have seen is taking them 3D! Richele Christensen is taking the daily tags, and creating a configurations style box for each day. The results are stunning, and I look forward to seeing what she does for every tag. I really like the idea of taking the tag ideas and using them in other ways - and this is sure to be a project to treasure when finished. You can see this project in progress at Richele’s blog.

Noteworthy is a weekly column on Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? If you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

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This week I’m back to rounding up the best announcements, tutorials, and information in general, so let’s get December started:

Pink Paislee has begun their annual 12 days of Christmas series on thier blog, this year re-named “Winter Wonderland” to fit in with their winter themed Snow Day product line that is in stores now. It  promises to be as fun filled as ever:

 Each day we will post a new project from our creative team that includes step by step tips and tricks so you can create along with us; and we will also provide FREE printables and host daily blog giveaways so we can give out secret scrappy gift boxes filled to the brim!

The event takes place through December 12 on the Pink Paislee blog. With the free printables, prizes, not to mention tutorials for projects I am really looking forward to this.

Thousands check out the Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas posts, of course, but also worth watching is the Ranger blog, which promises a daily prize drawing for a box filled with holiday inspired Ranger products during Tim’s 12 tags event. Some of the Ranger staff will also be creating tags inspired by Tim’s daily tag and posting those as well.

American Crafts announced a brand new type of product this week called flutterbys.

Garlands are everywhere these days, from wedding receptions to scrapbooking layouts. We love their versatility, so here at American Crafts we’ve created a new product to make adding that festive touch oh-so-easy. Introducing Flutterbys — pre-made, paper mini-garlands in six fantastic designs!

American Crafts continues to announce new products and introduce lines on a more regular basis, getting away from the more traditional use of CHA to debut all new products. I am interested to see how sturdy and easy to use these tiny garlands are, as well as what will be unveiled by the American Crafts family of companies next month at CHA.

Jenni Bowlin has announced her first online class through JBS mercantile:

Your class fee includes the kit as well as a detailed instruction PDF download and video highlighting various techniques.  You will also get three bonus PDFs from Jenni highlighting some additional “house” themed crafts, a recipe for her favorite Christmas treat complete with packaging ideas, along with some of her favorite holiday decorating ideas.

The kit is available for sale at JBS Mercantile for $42.99, and the main mini-book project would be a great holiday project, or could be made into a more general “home” book.

Ali Edwards announced this week that she is a part of the 2012 Project Life creative team. The team page shows nine crafters, all of whom will be sharing their Project Life albums on a regular basis in 2012. For those who participate, this looks like a great resource for encouragement and inspiration.

Speaking of inspiration and Project Life – Colin Kartchner is back with a fifth episode of his “Crafting with Cleetus” video series on YouTube. This episode focuses on Project Life, and Becky Higgins selected the video as a winner for her 12 videos of Christmas series on her blog. More reader videos will be shared during December, though I doubt any others will feature pockets for beef jerkey in their Project Life binders!

Last but not least, www.designerdigitals.com has started their days of December promotion. With a new 99 cent item each day, and hundreds of items being marked down, it’s a digital and hybrid crafter’s wonderland. I always end up purchasing products to use on holiday cards, gift tags, and more.

Noteworthy is a weekly column on Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? If you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

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