Field Trip: Winter CHA 2014 Part 1

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, Collage, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Glitter, Jewelry, Mini Album, Mixed Media, Papercrafting, Rubber Stamp, Rubber Stamp, Scrapbooking, Tags

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Artist Trading Blocks, arts and crafts, authentique, brenda walton, card making, card making trends, Carolyn Peeler, cha, CHA 2014, cha 2014 booth, cha winter, CHA winter 2014, craft, craft and hobby association, crafting, eileen hull, Everyday is a Holiday, Jenny and Aaron, Jenny Holiday, jo packham, Julie Weller, melissa frances, mixed-media, Mixed-Media Masterpieces with Jenny & Aaron, Petaloo, scrapbookimng, scrapbooking, scrapbooking trends, sizzix, Susan Shintaku, The sweet life, tim holtz, Where Women Cook

Living the creative life is an extraordinary experience but sometimes you have to work for it. Luckily for me, I only had to work a little bit (and had a lot of fun), in order to attend the Craft and Hobby Association Winter convention (CHA) this year. CHA is the big show where scrapbook store owners, designers and instructors get to see all of the new craft products from the manufacturers.

Thanks to one of my friends, I was able to work for a while in the Melissa Frances booth and the Petaloo booth. And, I also had time to walk the show floor and take pictures of the new products and say hello to friends.

Melissa Frances

I started my day in the Melissa Frances booth. I LOVE Melissa Frances products. Her product line includes gorgeous, vintage-inspired papers, trims, sparkling embellishments, miniature cloches and now chalkboard canvases. The time went by so quickly and I wish I’d been able to spend some time getting to know Carolyn Peeler. Luckily for me, Jenny and Aaron of Everyday is a Holiday were in the booth and we got to talk a little bit in between chatting with customers.

I’ve known Jenny and Aaron of “Everyday is a Holiday” since I met them at a creative event in 2011 and they’ve become two of my favorite people. Not only are they super talented, but they’re down to earth and have really big hearts. I’m so happy for them that despite having a tough year they’ve persevered and have created some awesome opportunities for themselves.

Recently, they released an amazing book, “Mixed-Media Masterpieces with Jenny & Aaron” which I ran out to buy as soon as it hit the shelves.

They also designed a line of hand-painted (vs created on a computer) product for Melissa Frances called The Sweet Life. I can’t wait until their scrapbook papers, journaling cards and other coordinating embellishments are in my local scrapbook store!

Are you ready for some Authentique Papers?

After my quick shift in the Melissa Frances booth I had a couple hours to walk around and see the new products from my favorite crafting companies. My first stop was at the Authentique Paper booth and they had some gorgeous papers and projects on display.

Next, I hit up the Sizzix booth.

Designer Eileen Hull has some wonderful new dies to create Artist Trading Blocks (like Artist Trading Cards, but with more dimension!).

And I always love to see what designer Tim Holtz has been working on. (And I figured out why I can’t find vintage trophy cups in vintage shops anymore! They’re all in Tim’s displays!)

Designer Brenda Walton has added 8 enchanting new dies to her collection, including flowers, leaves, a butterfly gift card, cupcake stands, a heart pendant, and also some textured impression embossing folders. I met Brenda for the first time at the French General Soiree on Sunday evening and she is a lovely, talented artist!

The latest news in the Sizzix booth is the line of incredible dies from Jo Packham, the editor of “Where Women Create” magazine and an amazing, modern renaissance woman. I had a chance to chat with her about her new line for Sizzix, “Where Women Cook”, on Sunday night at the French General Soiree. I’m excited to see how crafters will use her new dies to create gifts, favors, party supplies, and packaging for their home made baked goods.

Petaloo

Next, I had the opportunity to help CHA attendees create some beautiful Make and Takes in the Petaloo booth. If you haven’t checked out their beautiful blooms in your local scrapbooking store, you must! They have every size, shape and color you could ever want to embellish your projects! We started off making beautiful bracelets featuring gorgeous Petaloo silk rose petals and blooms and ended the day creating some gorgeous vintage-inspired mini valentines.

My friend, Julie Weller, worked the shift before me and our friend, Susan Shintaku, happened to visit the booth while we were both there.

Thank you so much for joining me for this field trip. I’ll have more pics to share soon!

xo,

Christine Barker

Field Trip: The Art of Craft at French General

14 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Mixed Media, Papercrafting

≈ Comments Off on Field Trip: The Art of Craft at French General

Tags

antique trims, art and craft, art of craft, beads, brenda walton, brocante, cha, charms, craft and hobby association, ephemera, fabric, france, french, french general, jo packham, julie baxley, Julie Weller, kaari meng, los angeles, milinery, millinery, molly meng, pam keravuori, vintage ribbons

Each year Kaari Meng hosts artisans from near and far at her delightful and inspiring shop, French General, hidden within the ordinary humdrum of Los Angeles. The Art of Craft event featured talented instructors, amazing projects and a bevy of beautiful and creative souls ready to learn.

From the outside, French General is a lovely peach building with a simple sign and striped awning, but once you step inside you enter the world of a French Brocante, resplendent with miniature religious icons, bolts of beautiful fabric, vintage ribbons, millinery, beads and charms, and antique trims and ephemera brought back from the countryside of France.

Surrounded by this extraordinary collection of goods, you start to feel the inspiration to create and what better setting than at a table filled with good friends and a class taught by the very talented Molly Meng? After a morning filled with pancakes and catching up, my friend, Julie Weller, and I, joined our friends to create a shrine, made from vintage books and ephemera, waxed flowers, vintage photos, gorgeous beads and magical, miniature gold rings.

Later that evening we were joined by a creative society of guests for the Soiree, including some of the students from earlier in the day and Kaari’s friends who were in town for the Craft and Hobby Association convention that was happening the same weekend.

Enjoy some of the moments from this wonderful day!

Julie and her new gnome friend

French General

Vintage ribbons in pinks and reds

Vintage ribbons and trims

Jewelry Kits

Religious icons

Kaari’s line of Fabric

Inspiration Boards

Hand stitched and beaded pillow made by Pam Garrison

Inspiration

Shrine Kit

My completed shrine

Julie, Kaari and me

Julie, Molly and me (or I, however you like to say it)

Jo Packam and me

Me and Julie Baxley

Sweets for the Soiree

Julie, Pam Keravouri and me

Me with Brenda Walton

Brenda Walton’s latest creations made using her new dies with Sizzix

xo,

Christine Barker

Field Trip: CHA Winter 2013, Part One

17 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

a place to bark, arlene baker, art, artist, be aware foundation, cha, cha winter 2013, charity wings, claudine hellmuth, craft, craft and hobby association, craft designer, crafter, elaine hull, Elena Lai Echeverry, embroidery, fiber, french general, glitter, graphic 45, jenn mason, jo packham, kaari meng, laura mccollough, mixed-media, quilting, ranger, scrapbook, scrapbooking, sewing, suze weinberg, suzi blu

I was really hoping to go to the Craft and Hobby Association 2013 Winter Conference and Trade show (CHA) this year. As a major art and crafting fiend, it’s marvelous to see all of the new products that the craft and hobby manufacturers are creating before they’re available in stores. I wanted to be a part of it so much that I put an offer on my Facebook page that I would be a slave at CHA in exchange for a badge. I was willing to build a booth, promote products, do a demonstration, lead a make and take, whatever it took to get me to Anaheim so that I could be a part of the Craft and Hobby Association Conference and Trade Show.

The last time I went to CHA I did product demonstrations and before that I had experience doing everything from building the booth, meeting manufacturers for advertising in a publication, promoting product and tearing down and packing up the booth. I was really hoping that someone would hit me up and tell me that I was going and I was infinitely disappointed when I didn’t get any bites. Imagine my delight when I saw that Elena Lai Echeverry of Charity Wings posted on her Facebook page Monday morning that she needed a couple of volunteers to help out in the Charity Wings booth and was there anyone available to help? I jumped on it immediately and enthusiastically, like a girl with new glitter kind of excited, and sent her a message. I was so truly happy when she called and asked me to come up and help. You’ve never seen a girl get dressed so fast!

It was so exciting to walk through the hall and see all of the vendors new products on display. I love to see the new scrapbooking papers, stamps, embellishments, as well as new products from the sewing, quilting and embroidery companies. There is really something for every type of artist, crafter, and hobbyist, from scrapbookers to mixed-media artists, and from model builders to fiber artists.

After I got familiarized with the details on Charity Wings I got to share their mission with the CHA attendees. Charity Wings is a non profit organization that hosts and sponsors scrapbooking crops, online raffles, mixed media events and fairy fly by appearances. From their Facebook Page, “Charity Wings is a 100% volunteer run organization whose mission is to raise money and awareness for noble causes through unique scrapbooking and crafting events and to coordinate and promote “creative” opportunities for crafters to give. We raise money for the worthy causes we support.” These causes include “A Place to Bark” no kill shelter, Hurricane Sandy Victims, the Be Aware Foundation and many others.

I had so much fun being in the booth! I got to see people I’ve met through the years, meet the owners of scrapbooking stores, chat with art and craft designers, and giggle with my friends who work in the art and crafting industry. People who came by the booth included Jo Packham, Jenn Mason, Suze Weinberg, Arlene Baker, Laura McCollough, and Kaari Meng. Artist Suzi Blu worked in the booth on Saturday and Sunday painting “Live” and stopped by on Monday to drop off her finished work of mixed-media art.

During my lunch break I ran from booth to booth quickly snapping pics of some of my favorite new products. Among my best loved companies is Graphic 45. I always love their unique and amazing designs! I also stopped by to see Claudine Hellmuth doing a demonstration in the Ranger booth. Another of my favorite lines of products is from Tim Holtz for Ranger, I can’t get enough of the Steampunk/Cabinet of Curiosities theme! One of the highlights was meeting designer Elaine Hull for the first time. We’ve been friends on Facebook for a little bit and it’s always fun to meet people in person after you’ve had a conversation online!

Here are some of the snapshots I took. I’ll be posting more photos that I took on my second day of CHA so come back to check those out. I’m also going to be posting pics and talking about my experience at an event I went to over the weekend. The Art of Craft is held at one of the most special places on earth, French General, in Los Angeles. Kaari Meng is an incredible event organizer and I met some really talented and genuinely nice women. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

In the meantime, enjoy these pics that I took at CHA.