Betsy Burnett of Scrapbook Update and Wendy Russell of "She's Crafty" making a felt clutch purse at i love to create

At some companies’ booths at CHA Winter 2011, their make-and-takes were offered in sort of a classroom setting, with attendees even needing tickets to attend. Prima Marketing sent out email invites to retailers a couple of weeks before the show offering sign-up for a full assortment of classes from altered canvas bags to mini albums. Pink Paislee did something similar issuing email make-and-take tickets to attendees a week prior to the show, as Rebecca Cross (owner and creative director of Pink Paislee) explained: “Although there were some people who didn’t make their time slot, it was still a very successful way for us to make sure the make-n-take time slots would be filled and it kept store owners from having to stand in long lines during a busy show.”

One of Pink Paislee's five different make-and-takes (photo courtesy of Pink Paislee)

At those companies that didn’t require tickets, attendees normally had a bit of a line to wait in. Most lines, however, appeared to be less than a 10 minute wait. Projects ranged from mini albums (created using the Creatopia system by Xyron), to stamped pendants (at Rubber Stamp Concepts). One popular stop for attendees, Bottle Cap inc, was making a bottle cap necklace project and long time CHA make-n-take favorite Quick Quotes was creating decorated canvases.

"Family" canvas make-and-take from Quick Quotes

Some make and takes showcased a new line or concept. At Bo Bunny attendees were met with a table full of elements from the company’s “Crazy Love” card kit and given the chance to create a valentine or two for their sweetheart.  Best Creations showcased their St. Patrick’s line – there attendees had a chance to take home a 12 x 12 page ready to add photos onto.

Bo Bunny "Crazy Love" card kit make-and-take

Many companies worked together to showcase their products. Unibind and Fiskars worked together to create mini albums, using Fiskars punches to decorate the pages and the Unibind system to bind the mini purse albums. Also at the Fiskars booth, Simplicity/Burda was there making a fabric bracelet using Fiskars scissors and Spoonflower fabric.

Ever popular with attendees are what could be called the “free for all” tables. Here attendees were given a “base” for their project and an assortment of other trinkets and treasures to create with. At the Everything Mary booth, attendees were given a choice of catch all and then told to have fun decorating. Gemstones, flowers, foam and felt shapes and a hot glue gun were all provided to create a finished tote. At Westcott, attendees could decorate their own scissor holster in a similar manner. At the Tombow booth, there was a full assortment of their dual brush pens along with some simple instruction on ways to use the pens on an embossed tag. The i love to create booth featured several of these types of projects as well, including reusable lunch bags that became a canvas for a variety of painting techniques.

A zentangle inspired lunchbag from i love to create

On the last day of the show, Ranger Ink designers did something a bit different for their “make and take.”  Instead of having a project for people to do, they provided attendees with their full range of ink colors to make swatch cards of several of their most popular lines, including the new Distress Stains from Tim Holtz. During the make-and-take, Holtz was in the booth talking to people about the product and signing the swatch cards for retailers to display in their stores. In answer to the question, “why swatch cards?”,  Holtz explained: “By this point in the show most of us retailers, manufacturers, everyone… is tired and their brains are suffering from “crafting overload.” Who needs to do a project when you are like this? Creating a swatch gives retailers a tool to take back to the store with them. When customers ask “how dark is this color” they won’t need to open up stock to give an idea as to the actual color.”

Tim Holtz creating swatch cards at Ranger

So…would you like to win an assortment of make and takes from CHA? We have an assortment of finished projects and kits to create with to give away!

How To Enter: All you have to do to be one of the lucky winners is leave a comment on this entry before Midnight U.S. eastern time on Sunday night, April 3rd. Make sure you include your email address in the line reserved for it on the comment form (for your own protection, don’t put it in the text of the comment, where it will be visible to the public – just in the line labeled “email” in the form where only Scrapbook Update staff can see it). We will need it to notify you if you are a winner. Winners will be drawn by random drawing from all eligible entries. One entry per person. U.S. mailing addresses only please.

Scrapbook Update would like to thank the following companies for donating items for this giveaway: Best Creations, Deco Arts,  Feltables, Epiphany Crafts, Everything Mary, Fiskars, GCD Studios, i love to create, Ranger Ink, Rubber Stamps Inc.,  Simplicity/ Burda Style, Spoonflower, Quick Quotes, and Westcott.

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

The winner of the Unity Stamp Co. stamp “Love is Everything” is…Sabine SR @ 5:04am on 9/16:

how cute ist that stamp. I love stamps a lot, they are so versatile, so could I win this one please, I will be nice and friendly with it 

Congratulations to Sabine and many thanks to Unity for their giveaway help!

But we’re not done…there’s more…

The winner of the Quick Quotes kit is…Sara Grafton @ 9:34pm on 9/18:

Kits are great and I love the colors in this one.

Congratulations to Sara and many thanks to Quick Quotes for their generous donation to Scrapbook Update’s giveaway!

If you are one of the winners, please email me at scrapbookupdate@gmail.com from the email address you supplied with your comment. Include your mailing address so you can receive your prize!

Entries for the last round of giveaways–the Little Yellow Bicycle Autumn Bliss collection prize packages–close tonight (Friday at midnight)! Don’t forget to enter!

So if you love text, you are in luck! Thanks to the generosity of Quick Quotes, you can win this collection pack as part of our birthday giveaways at Scrapbook Update.

This collection pack includes more than 100 pieces from Quick Quotes, including 10 pieces of double-sided paper and 19 die cut pieces.

All you have to do to be the lucky winner is leave a comment on this entry before Midnight U.S. eastern time next Tuesday night, September 22nd. Make sure you include your email address in the line reserved for it on the comment form (for your own protection, don’t put it in the body of the comment, where it will be visible to the public – just in the line labeled email in the form where only I can see it). You will need it to verify your identity if you are a winner. One entry per person. This giveaway is limited to U.S. and Canadian mailing addresses only.

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

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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