CHA Winter 2012 :: Creative Imaginations
I have to be honest and say I miss the days when Creative Imaginations was producing the Narratives line of scrapbooking products and since that line went into an indefinite hiatus, nothing there has really inspired me to craft.
However… because something totally kooky caught my eye, I decided it was worth a look around and I ended up taking more photos than I expected.
Of things like a brand new range of 4-H branded papers.
4-H will make no sense here in England, but as someone who grew up in Kansas, I can heartily put my hand up and sing along with ’4-H, for youth, for America, 4-H!’ How do you describe 4-H? Like scouts but it’s girls and boys together? With an emphasis on farming rather than camping? But also on all things handmade, with projects that teach you to bake and sew and craft. And every year’s learning leads to the county fair, where you enter what you’ve created or grown or taken care of all year long and hope to win a prize ribbon. The 4H idea stands for head, hands, health and heart, but that doesn’t explain anything. Basically, it’s a homegrown youth organisation that is most popular in areas with lots of agriculture but has grown to cover all sorts of special interests. Does that make sense?
And long story short, there are now special 4-H themed papers for scrapping all that goes along with the 4-H experience. This is smarter business than many might realise, as the end-of-year assessment book that 4-H members put together to win awards is essentially the first way I scrapbooked. That’s one way to sell a lot of scrapbooking paper to people who don’t know they are scrapbooking!
There is also this doodle line, which is mostly black and white and designed to be coloured in to suit. We’ve seen this come and go over the last fifteen years of the industry, but I think this is the first time we’ve seen it in a very youthful style.
As an aside, it reminds me of a pair of shoes I had in the sixth grade that came with special colouring pencils. A pair of shoes that may have landed me in trouble for colouring on my feet when I was supposed to be listening to a lesson on cell walls in plants. Why oh why do I have remember the details of such things? Moving on.
Wait, wait: what’s this?
Why yes: it’s an Alice in Wonderland collection! It’s under the IOD Designs label and ships in March.
Admittedly, I have a drawer full of Alice in Wonderland party pictures and I’m still not sure I could use every single thing in this collection, but it’s so pretty and dreamy. It’s nice to see an Alice collection that is light and airy – I have found a few other Alice-themed designs to be very dark or very cartoony, so this is a happy medium.
The same artist also has a Raggedy Ann and Andy line, at which point the Creative Imaginations booth really started to do crazy things to my mind, as my bedroom as a toddler was decorated entirely in Raggedy Ann and Andy, so between doodle shoes, 4-H papers and this, I was a little overwhelmed in memory land!
And then I was brought back to the modern day with butterflies. Hurrah.
But are you ready for the real crazy? This was the line I would ask people if they had seen yet and they would just look at me in amazement and say ‘surely not’. But yes. I bring you a scrapbook collection based on… Awkward Family Photos. A website entirely based on laughing at old photos that now seem very strange. And the collection looks like this:
Somehow… I’m not convinced. I mean yes, it’s a funny idea. But I’m not convinced.
And then there’s the ultimate scrapbooking gag gift:
Yes. A premade album ready for you to add your own collection of awkward family photos.
Complete with themed divider pages with excerpts from their book/website.
The baby themed divider? Includes a baby posed with head in hands who just happens to be throwing a rather rude gesture toward the camera as a result. Seriously? For scrapbookers? Exactly what kind of store is going to stock this item? It seems like the sort of thing you would find in a joke shop… but joke shops don’t really attend CHA. And I think it would take a special kind of scrapbook store owner to stock many of these alongside supplies for the serious crafter.
So points for making me laugh? Yes. Dollars for making me order? Not so much.
Now you’re all going to send me one of these for Christmas, aren’t you? I can see it now: Journal your Awkward Family Photos 2012.
Sigh.
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9 February 2012, 10:01
Not one thing I like there. Creative Imagination hey…hmm! :)
9 February 2012, 10:03
Wow, I’m underwhelmed. Not one thing from this release appeals to me.
9 February 2012, 10:27
I’m really not inspired by that range I’m afraid. sorry Creative Imagination but you won’t be getting a post CHA order from me
9 February 2012, 10:29
hmmmm, not so sure about this one – kinda intrigued by Alice…
9 February 2012, 10:41
Love the AiW stuff, but I fell off the Awkward Family Photos train a while back.
9 February 2012, 10:41
I agree. Not so inspired. Anyway, I don’t have any money left after all the purchases from all the other companies you’ve highlighted this week!
9 February 2012, 10:56
Ahh – now I’m a Brit that looked twicw at the 4H centre as I visited one briefly while on a trip to America. You have reminded me of it. Thank you so much :0)
9 February 2012, 10:58
Uh, OK that awkward family photos thing is just plain weird and an odd way to use precious booth space….
9 February 2012, 11:09
I also love Alice in Wonderland products…just never know what to do with them either way…
the gag gift… hmm… i dunno, it’s just weird. I’m too interested in other stuff to pay attention!
9 February 2012, 11:19
Loved some of the previous IOD papers and bought them several times over so looking forward to trying the Alice ones. The raggy dolls don’t so anything for me though. I have seen the awkward photo site and book on the Graham Norton show, so may be it will be recognised by more people than you think. Having said that, I doubt if I would buy it!
** Kate **
9 February 2012, 11:40
The only thing that inspires at all is The Alice in Wonderland….I might use some of that on cards or mixed media…not scrapbooking.
9 February 2012, 11:45
Like you I loved the Narratives products. This latest round from CI doesn’t really appeal to me though. To each his own I guess.
9 February 2012, 11:56
I’m going to be different and say I love the Awkward Family Photos line. What fun! I had a miserable time taking CHristmas Pictures last year… oh the Awkward family photo LO I could make. I’m also a little partial to the Raggedy Ann and Andy… mostly to have paper that is themed in a way that works for my young girl and in colors that are almost always themed for 4th of July or Boys. This isn’t what everyone else is doing and for that I think it’s smart. Yea to have a product line that isn’t trapped in the balloons, chevrons, hexagons, Kraft paper rage of the day that everyone else is doing. BRAVO!
9 February 2012, 12:05
Perhaps this 4-H youth group is somewhat akin to the Young Farmers here in the UK?
9 February 2012, 12:34
These are a bit too themed for my stash.
9 February 2012, 12:46
Yay for the new Alice line, boo hiss for the very strange awkward family photos line.
9 February 2012, 12:53
Ummm, wow… (but not in a fabulous way!)
9 February 2012, 13:24
hi Shimelle~thanks for all the updates from CHAW~I new I could come here and see them. Lots of nice things being said about you over on 2Peas and I couldn’t agree more!!!
9 February 2012, 13:30
Not many positive comments on the Creative Imagination stuff. Overall I wouldn’t say their stuff is my favorite, but the 4H stuff definitely hits a niche and the Raggedy Anne & Andy is really sweet. I, too, had the dolls as a young girl. The doodle line is fun and playful.
9 February 2012, 13:34
I like Raggamuffin! cute! I really just want to say a HUGE thanks Shimelle for all the detailed posts from CHA! it has made me making my Wish list for this season a breeze!!! I am always so excited to see you have a new post with commentary – great stuff! thanks again!
9 February 2012, 14:44
Love the 4H products for my daughters album. I have photos that would definitely fit in an “awkward” album but not sure I’d buy papers saying that. Funny though!
9 February 2012, 14:48
I love the Anne and Andy stuff as I also had a bedroom full of those characters so I will be looking to get that collection. I can see maybe a page or two of the AFF line but that might be about it. The other stuff does not really appeal to me but again you might find a gem or two in the collection that could work for something.
9 February 2012, 14:49
Fun stuff.
9 February 2012, 20:07
wow. some of this company’s products take the prize in my mind for weirdest scrapbook supplies ever. I have to admit, the 4-H products are pretty classy compared to a lot of theme-y products along those lines.
P.S. your comment on coloring your shoes during a lesson on plant cell walls totally reminded me of one of my middle school memories— getting yelled at because I was doodling as I listened to a social studies lesson. I will maintain that it helped me listen better, and to this day, when I look back on certain art/craft projects I can remember exactly what I was listening to or thinking about while I worked on them! And clearly, that lesson on plant cells is fixed in your mind! :)
9 February 2012, 20:39
Hooray for Alice in Wonderland
10 February 2012, 05:29
I like the Alice theme but to be honest nothing catch my eye with this brand
10 February 2012, 08:17
Well, hmmmm. I think there are bits that might find their way into a kit or two that I get, but overall I don’t feel it this time.
10 February 2012, 08:22
Raggedy Ann and Andy-LOVE!!
10 February 2012, 08:23
I pinned the Raggedy Ann and Andy collection!
10 February 2012, 14:33
Not one of my favorite collections but my cousin would love the Alice in Wonderland line she had that as her wedding theme.
10 February 2012, 17:51
I love your honesty Shimelle, these albums are hilarious – unpurchasable but hilarious.
10 February 2012, 19:34
I loved reading your thoughts on 4H-it makes me reminisce! I grew up in the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin, where my friends all lived on farms, but I did not. For some reason, I was so embarrassed that I was in 4H with no animals-just homemade aprons, pillows, and my homegrown tomatoes. It was my first scrapbooking too! (I might have to dig those photos out…)
10 February 2012, 22:09
Yeah- as I saw all the sneaks on PaperCrafter’s corner a few weeks ago, I could not believe my eyes. Narratives was beautiful. Harry Potter and Star Wars were a good idea. Most of what they are releasing now make me whince and scratch my head wondering who will actually buy it – esp the AFP stuff
10 February 2012, 22:59
I’m login the 4H line!
11 February 2012, 07:59
I love the Raggedy Ann and Andy line. My girlfriend would love that 4-H line to scrap her son’s involvement this last year, and both her kids next year.
12 February 2012, 20:27
OK, I’m too much a city girl to do much with 4H, but like you, I had a childhood fling with the Raggedies :)
Also, I wish the Awkward stuff was better-designed, because I love the idea!
13 February 2012, 11:01
I quite like some of the Alice papers as well. And I’m with most of you on the AFP line – Seriously?!?
1 March 2012, 06:11
Hi Shimelle, have you heard of shops who are picking up the Alice line, preferably in the UK?
thanks ** Kate **
5 March 2012, 01:00
lol