CHA Highlights: Spellbinders

Spellbinders® always has a delicious booth at the CHA MEGA Show, but this year’s entry was a delightful mix of artistic styles that gives the company a fresh appearance, with something for everyone.

There are also some cool new tools, including the Platinum™ Die-Cutting & Embossing Machine, billed as Spellbinder’s most powerful machine to date. I’ll post more on the new tools later.

There was a decided Southwestern look to the booth, with lots of clean, simple geometric shapes – all very on trend.

“We’re looking for a modern, contemporary (feel) while staying true to our roots,” said Spellbinders CEO Greg Tipsord. And that they did.

The company teamed with some of my favorite designers to create these fresh looks. “Creativity is more than selling a lot of products,” Tipscord noted. “Designers are a big part of who we are.”

Here are a few of the designers, including some new (to Spellbinders®!) faces:

Mixed media artist Seth Apter’s first release with Spellbinders® includes dies, embossing folders, stamps and a journal/planner/artist book set.

Here is a closer look at his display:

Tammy Tutterow, whose blog is on my “must visit” list, also joined the Spellbinders® team with dies, designs and embossing folders perfect for her shabby chic style:

The third designer added to the team is Debi Adams, who created the Quite Contrary™ collection with her signature clean and spritely style. The collection includes stamps and beautiful steel rule die flower shapes.

Don’t those flowers make you say “Yay, Spring!”?

Here’s a closer view:

I’ve long been a fan of Becca Feeken’s stunning Amazing Paper Grace line (and blog), so I was immediately drawn to her display of the Amazing Paper Grace Wedding Collection with its gorgeous array of elegant, delicate, swirling die designs.

Here she is with designer Donna Salazar, who brings a load of new dies and stamps to her “Girlie Grunge” style, including my faves, Cascading Butterflies die and Flower Bouquet, a stamp/die flower combo.

Spellbinders® founder Stacey Caron has gone all out with a gorgeous, elegant selection of Art Deco dies, which I covet! But we’ll have to save the rest of my Spellbinders® report for another post.

Stay tuned for more on Spellbinders®, including a look at some of the samples seen at the show!

 

 

Fabulous Finds: Elizabeth Craft Designs & Technique Tuesday

A bit of industry news:

Elizabeth Craft Designs is amping up the creativity with a new designer and 14 — yes 14 — new YouTube videos by company founder Els van de Burgt.

Artist and illustrator Bianca Petroschi is the team’s fourth licensed designer, with some lovely realistic birds and animals. The first collection from the Petroschi Designs by Bianca line has both cling-mounted deep etched red rubber stamps and also some clear sets.

Check out her cute hedgehog card, for instance, or scroll through her blog.

The company also has introduced a new Soft Finish Cardstock. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but according to the company, the cardstock is “velvety to the touch, with just a tad of surface texture. Available as 8.5″ x 11″ sheets in two heavy and substantial weights, the Soft Finish Card Stock is sturdy, porous, and used easily with inks, paints, markers, spray mists etc. It absorbs color and holds its shape without tearing.”

Sounds like a great surface for mixed media, card making, die cutting and embossing. I’ll be eager to test it.

Technique Tuesday also has a new designer — the talented Cath Edvalson. Cath was early in the card making scene with her first business, Cards by Cath, selling handmade cards. But most of us know her best as the former editor at Paper Crafts Magazine and the Moxie Fab World blog (one of my early blog addictions! How I miss that sassy blog!) I miss Moxie Fab, so I’m delighted Cath is back, both designing for Technique Tuesday and with a new blog, Hip & Hooray.

In her first stamp and die release, Cath found inspiration in lace, stained glass and good old fashioned New England folk art.

Here’s a link to a video showing this month’s release, including Cath’s first stamps and dies. Glad to have you back, Cath!

I’ve also been playing with one of Technique Tuesday’s beautiful Greenhouse Society designs — the pretty camellia. You’ll see how crazy I got when I post some cards — LOTS of cards! — this week. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:

Thanks for stopping by … and stay tuned!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Sweet Celebra’tions™

Spellbinders® Paper Arts has a fabulously fun new collection called Celebra’tions™, designed by Richard Garay. The collection includes stamps, dies, 3D folders, paper, ink and linen thread.

The collection is, indeed, all about celebrations, with fresh, bright ink and paper colors to match the happy mood of the dies, stamps and folders.

Some items that quickly caught my eye:

The Sweet Treats die and stamp set lets you create cute gift tags ready to hang on a bag or box.

Party hat? Ice Cream cone? This die does it all! Check out the nifty texture plate, too.

And don’t forget to pair it all with the brightly colored cardstock, including this patterned set:

Sweet stamps include Sweet, a collection of celebratory images, and a cute gift-bearing elephant. Need a quick element? Check out the pinwheel dies. There’s also a build-a-tag set and 3D embossing folders that offer everything from a fabric to a canvas look.

I’ll have more next week, but in the meantime, join the celebration at: www.spellbinderspaperarts.com.

What’s New?

News and notes from around Stampville:

Yes, I spend way too much time cruising the ‘net, but hey, a gal’s gotta keep her finger on the crafting pulse, right?

Every so often I will gather some intel and dutifully report back. Here are two items worth checking out:

I’m sorry I was late seeing this new stamp set from Technique Tuesday — it would have been perfect for Father’s Day. The Mister Man stamp set is perfect to give your guys a little love. But it’s never too late, right?
I love the larger words (dude, guy, man) and how well you can mix-and-match with the rest of the sentiments. Plus the ties and the ‘stache are too cool.

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Spellbinders® Paper Arts has 19 new Die D-Lites and eight In’spire die templates for your cutting pleasure. I’m crazy about the Delightful Tree, the fox and hedgehog are pretty darn cute, and I think I need some “Wellies.” Check out Spellbinders’ June Jamboree to be inspired by some great projects, most with video instructions. Delightful indeed.

What have you seen that’s new?

Fabulous Finds Friday — Crafty News

Today, some news from the craft world.

We R Memory Keepers, makers of such great tools as the Crop-a-Dile, Envelope Punch Board and much more, has purchased the Lifestyle Crafts brand. Lifestyle makes the Evolution machine, which does letterpress, die cutting and dry embossing.

To celebrate, We R is having a giveaway. Check it out here.

Next week, I’ll show off some new dies. Have a crafty weekend!

Hot Hobby Trends

Wondering what’s hot and trendy? Want to get a look at the nifty craft items already making their way to stores, or still to come? My exhaustive report from the Craft and Hobby Association’s summer trade show can be found on the Crafts ‘n things magazine blog. Simply go to the site, hit the blog tab and then scroll down until you find the CHA Hot List report. It is posted in two parts, as a Great Finds Friday feature: Aug. 16 and Aug. 30.

Here are some snaps that didn’t make it into the story: (please note, there are sneaky advertising links inserted here NOT by my doing. I am trying to figure out how to remove them. In the meantime, be aware of links that have double lines underneath — I have NOT inserted those!!!)

I have already admitted that I am loving all the dies available today. So it’s no surprise that I’m wild about this Christmas tree die set from Elizabeth Crafts. Is this fun or what? What other ways could you use the dies? I may have to put this one on my personal wish list.

And Dreamweaver, one of the first companies to offer great stencils, now has stencils and dies…oh my! Check these out:

These sticky notes from Little B are just the start of the cute items they have, from labels to decorative tapes.

Stay tuned for more!

Fresh from CHA

Here are some great finds from CHA:

Fabulous Finds Friday — Crafty News

There’s so much craft goodness around… here are some Fabulous Finds:

I don’t use a lot of stickers (hey, I’m a stamper!), but Jolee’s has two new dimensional sticker collections that I find enticing: Around the World and Steampunk.

Around the World includes borders, frames and titles highlighting European travel (especially London and Paris.)

The Steampunk designs are inspired by Victorian-era industrialism and made to look like polished brass, iron, wood and leather.

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Advantus – whose  company brands include Cropper Hopper, Tim Holtz Idea-ology and Sulyn — has acquired Cosmo Cricket, the paper/embellishment company started in 2006 by Julie and Eric Comstock. Check out their wares at www.cosmocricket.com.

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C&T Publishing has a  new website, PatternSpot.com, where crafters can buy and download project  patterns for fabrics.

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Lifestyle Crafts (owners of QuicKutz dies and the letterpress machine) has some new holiday dies, including this cute feather and headband set (which of course can be used for non-holiday projects!):

And this witch set:

 Thanks for stopping by! I’ll have a mid-week treat (no tricks!) for you, so pop in again for some Halloween cards.