pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

Several new releases from K & Company at this show, and two that I think look superlovely. First is Handmade, which is already available to buy. It just arrived at Two Peas this week.

So many fabulous embellishments, including ephemera packs and peacock feathers. Loving this woodgrain alphabet and these border strips.

These papers are a bigger size – 12×24 inches. Big enough for decor projects, covering albums, that sort of thing. Could be cool!

And here’s my must-have for this collection: this is a fabulous paper set! There’s a ton of stuff in there and it’s not all flat paper — there are die cuts, embossed papers and other specialty finishes. I love the colours and patterns in this set.

A couple more photos of handmade for inspiration:

If you like Handmade, you’ll probably like Serendipity too — it has a similar flair but a brighter colour palette. It’s already available for purchase but I just didn’t snap any pictures of it on the show floor.

Later this spring, the PoppySeed collection will hit stores. I loved the turquoise colour palette and lots of designs with simple swirls and squiggles that remind me a bit of Heidi Grace and some earlier KI collections.




How cute are those tiny layered flowers? They will be great in the middle of larger blooms or in a row on their own.

Click here to shop for K & Company products!

xlovesx

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Pink Paislee has three new collections with a lovely air of sophistication plus additional new products that have really caught my eye as something new on the floor. And I have so many pictures to show you!

The Bayberry Cottage collection, filled with rich turquoise, a plum-toned fuchsia and electric green. These papers are much brighter than they appear here — not my best job of coping with the lighting in the hall!

Each line has paper, stickers, journaling papers and so forth. Two things worth a special note — the pleated ribbons are a thick twill that has been sewn into place. It’s a lovely combination of sturdy and delicate. Love it! And the bling brads are big rhinestones but they are opaque, so they have a unique pearlescent look. They don’t try to look like real gems at all — they are a bit more kitschy but definitely cool. They will look fab at either end of a ribbon, just for starters.

The 365 Degrees collection features primary colours with damasks, mixing juvenile with mature. It’s a cool twist. The name makes my brain twitch a little bit. Like a full circle but then a little bit more? It’s clever though…it’s my fault that I like geometry and linguistics to live in different parts of my head. Also, it has nothing to do with actual scrapbooking, so I’ll let it go.

The Queen Bee collection has caused quite the stir on the floor and I think you’ll see this one everywhere very soon as so many stores were coming to check it out. Elegant and very trendy with the grey and yellow combination that has been popular in decor and design but quite limited in its scrapbooking availability thus far. Very pretty, and I think it will match well with other lines if you want to adopt grey as your new black. Always good in my book.

These Artisan Elements look like ceramic or resin or something, but they are actually a flexible polymer. They come in white and can be painted, inked, misted and whatever else to make them the colour you want. They are also very lightweight, so although they add dimension to your page, they won’t make your page heavy.

And here is my Must Have: the Artisan Albums. These are canvas covered chipboard with chipboard pages. They come in 4×8, 6×6, 8×8 and 6×12. The smallest one comes plain and the others are printed with a lush damasked pattern. I am really excited to make things with these!

And here’s a look around the rest of the Pink Paislee booth:

All of these collections are schedule to hit stores in early spring.

Click here to shop for Pink Paislee!

xlovesx

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Studio Calico started as a kit club but recently expanded to selling their papers and embellishments to stores as well. Their first collection, Home Front was one of my favourites this winter and I used it here and here.
Their new line is called Anthology and it’s a winner too. Probably even more versatile than the first collection, so definitely worth a look!

Anthology includes papers, letter stickers (top right — the other letter print is actually a patterned paper), journaling stickers, journaling cards, and Fabrips — fabric strips that are printed with the coordinating patterns.

My must-have: these rub-on designs! Woodgrain, doilies and typewriters? Colours that are rich but just slightly vintage? I’m in love.

They also have clear stamps, and I’m very happy to see that alphabet on the left there. It’s like the Roosevelt stickers that were recently retired at American Crafts, and I have loved those stickers for years. Now it will be stampable.

Anthology will be in stores in a matter of weeks and look for the stamps and rub-ons to follow shortly thereafter.

Here’s a look around the rest of the booth:

Click here to shop for Studio Calico stash!

xlovesx

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Advantus (who have brought all sorts of things to the industry, like Heidi Swapp Inc, Cropper Hopper storage solutions and many Tim Holtz products) have a brand new division at this year’s show: Girls’ Paperie. Designed by Margie Romney-Aslett, it’s filled with luscious vintage pinks in one line and a richly coloured (but always balanced) line inspired by world travels. Even if you haven’t known Margie’s name before, you will know her designs: she designed for Making Memories and had a hand in many of their top collections.

Paper has been a pretty quiet thing at the show this year — lots of other things getting more attention. But I still love it! This is my must-have from Margie: die-cut paper with postage stamps that is just lovely up close! Can’t wait to work with it on a travel project.

I’m also really excited about her tiny paper rosette embellishments in the girly line. Here’s a look around the beautiful Girls’ Paperie booth so you can see all the pretty!

According to this tweet, Girls’ Paperie will be coming to the Two Peas shop soon!

xlovesx

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So excited to see this line in person — and excited to share too! It’s the new Dear Lizzy collection from American Crafts, designed by the always adorable Elizabeth Kartchner in beautiful tones of pink, aqua, yellow and brown. With bicycles, handwriting and bunting galore!

Chipboard and glittered Thickers. Yum!

Plus Flair, clear stamps, layered stickers, rub-ons, ribbons, papers, die cuts, chipboard…oh my, oh my. There’s even fabric paper in there, with a beautiful printed canvas texture. It’s so perfectly spring and very happy. It’s definitely girly, but it will work with lots of family pages too, just to get started. I think it’s a line cardmakers and compulsive-party-decorators will also love.

My Must-Have: this gorgeous, gorgeous ribbon. Words fail me. I am in love! Sigh!

Here’s a look around Lizzy’s tea party at the American Crafts booth…

Dear Lizzy will be in stores very soon.

Click here to shop for scrapbooking supplies from American Crafts!

xlovesx

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When someone asked what it was that I did, Technique Tuesday said “she makes cool stuff”, which made me smile and giggle. But more importantly, Technique Tuesday? They make really cool stuff. Especially if you love to stamp. Cool stamps and cool stuff on which to stamp. Cool stuff abounds!

The vintage camera image in the set above by Ali Edwards definitely qualifies as cool. Excited to stamp with that set!

Another new set by Ali, with a love theme. Also cool.

The tiles are a very cool white material that is like chipboard and yet not like chipboard. Similar thickness and weight, but it does very pretty things with ink and stamps. There are several new additions to the existing line up, including a set of all different border strips, a set with scalloped circles and squares and some very cute sets that are the size of a card. Another cool thing: the die-cut shapes are all nested so every piece is part of the design and there’s no waste like you often get with a sheet of chipboard shapes.

This wins the clever idea of the day award: a set of polka dot stamps is cool enough on its own, but there is something purely genius about this set: a separate extra dot in each size that appears in the pattern. So you know when you stamp and the pressure isn’t quite even and you end up with a dot or two that’s faded and you’re really nervous to put the entire stamp right over the top again because what if you move by the tiniest smidgen and it ruins everything? No more of that, because you have a single, individual dot! So you can just stamp the dot that didn’t appear rather than the entire design again. I love this idea so very, very much! Super simple and yet super…cool.

Here are some other goodies around the very cool Technique Tuesday display:











These last two are from a range of class kits available to stores so you can make these pages with step-by-step instructions and some of them include stamps you can’t buy outside the kit too.

All the new additions are shipping soon after the show.

Click here to shop for cool things from Technique Tuesday!

xlovesx

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Starting off the CHA report, there are heaps of beautiful things from the ever-classy Jenni Bowlin Studio. So much pretty!

My must-have: these Embellished Butterflies. So very pretty with pattern and just a bit of bling in the classic butterfly silhouette.

The Homespun collection mixes florals with farm prints. The polka dot die cut paper is supercute and the journaling card set is my favourite in this collection. This line will be in stores soon.

The Red/Black Line Extension II collection has more butterflies plus small vines and large floral prints, plus a gorgeous red damask circle paper. This line is available now.

New stickers include the classic labels given a cute twist with plenty of colourful polka dots and bunting sticker sets that include the bunting banner pieces in different colours to coordinate with the collections and an alphabet that sticks right onto the flag, all on the same sheet. Love these!

Also gorgeous reproductions of Jenni’s favourite vintage buttons. Is it wrong that I actually want to sew plenty of them on my clothes as well as my scrapbook pages?

The buttons, stickers, butterflies and also pretty stick pins will be in stores very soon.

And here’s a look around Jenni’s inspiring booth, with projects from the Jenni Bowlin Studio design team.

Click here to shop for Jenni Bowlin Studio products!

More CHA photos to come, of course!

xlovesx

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Greetings from beautiful downtown Anaheim! (Well, not quite downtown. Convention/Disney town is more like it. Apparently downtown Anaheim is on the other side of the motorway. But this is much closer to beautiful downtown Burbank than I usually happen to be, so I am just going to go with the beautiful downtown thing and let it be.)

Over the last two days I’ve said the same few sentences over and over again as a few hundred ladies made monogrammed luggage tags with me and my favourite butterfly punch. We’ve talked about all sorts of projects they’ve been working on and we’ve shared pages and all sorts of fabulously good crafty energy. And apparently I’ve also decided to wear gigantic necklaces.

Tomorrow everything shifts gears as the public show is now closed and the trade show opens in the morning. That’s when all the new releases will be seen and all the super exciting stuff happens! Watch for lots of blog posts over the next few days as I’ll be posting pictures and sharing my new favourites from the show!

xlovesx

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