Editors note: The NSA exhibited at CHA. NSA member Eileen gives her first hand "experience"......another membership benefit!
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Hi everyone,
Last week I was fortunate enough to work the National Scrapbooking Association's booth at CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Show. Because it's an industry show and I'm just a consumer, I was never able to go. But, when Scott put out the call for volunteers, I jumped at the chance. Before I get to the cool stuff at the show I have to thank Scott, Veronica, and the rest of the people who were in the NSA booth. I had a great time there. They were friendly, laid back, interesting to talk to, and very helpful. I would highly recommend volunteering to help out the next time they put out a call.
As exhibitors we weren't supposed to go to other exhibitors' booths and distract them from "paying" customers. Because I was trying to keep a low profile and because there was just so much to see, I didn't even venture into some booths. And there is just so much that it is hard to remember everything you looked at! So having made that disclaimer...here goes!
My first impression when I came in the door was, "WOW!" It's a crafter's paradise. I love all types of crafting: rubber stamping, scrapbooking, knitting, crocheting, etc. It was like being a kid in a humungous candy store--with no money, though, since I couldn't buy anything--that was a bit of a downer, but I got over it. :-) Scrapbooking definitely was the star of the show with more booths than any other sector of the craft industry. I was there for two days and it was impossible to see everything.
First, there was scrapbooking paper everywhere. I remember seeing a lot of 12x12 on display. In the new exhibitor's room I noticed a lot of the paper had bright colors with bold designs. There were many pre-packaged page kits, too. All the major manufacturers were there. I had to chuckle when I saw SEI's booth. I remember years ago when I first saw them at a scrapbooking show. They didn't have any paper at all and were selling only their iron-on products. Now they have one little rack of iron-ons and a floorful of papers (which I really liked).
Creative Imaginations had a ton of people waiting to do their make-n-take of one of their boxes that looks like a purse (I'm sure you've seen them in the stores already). One of the new exhibitors who had a lot of people at their booth was Mema Designs. They had the prettiest purse albums, tag books, and accordion albums. I really liked their big letter albums. Hard to describe here, but you can see all their products on their web site: www.memadesigns.com
Die cut machines were very popular, too. Sizzix, Ellison, AccuCut, Cri-Cut, Pazzles, Xyron's Wishblade...They were all there. Ellison had their "House of Style" where they used their products to decorate a dining room and living room (e.g., decorating candles with their die cuts). Sizzix is coming out with an alphabet that has loops on either side of each letter that allows you to string them on fabric or paper ribbon.
Rubberstamping was well represented by Tsukineko, Ranger, ClearSnap and other ink and stamp companies. Unmounted stamps seem to be gaining ground over the wood mounts. (I'm slowly converting my wood mount stamps to Sunday International's EZ Mount system--takes up less room.)
Ribbon and flowers were prominent as well. I can't remember the manufacturer, but someone was offering ribbon that had words and shapes die-cut into them. Other embellishments like brads and eyelets were there, too.
If you're into clay, you wouldn't have been disappointed. I visited the Fimo and Makin' Clay's booths. Makin' Clay is cool because it's air dried. Kato Polyclay was down in the first-time exhibitor's area. I got to meet Donna Kato who has been on Carol Duvall many times showing her polymer clay projects. It's amazing what they can do with clay. As scrapbookers, we can use polymer clay that has been rolled out on the "7" setting in the pasta maker, bake it (I forget for how long), and cut images out using a Sizzix machine. Pretty cool!
Lots of scrapbook organizers were on display as well as paper cutters. Purple Cows had a cool cutter that had a rotary cutter on one side and a guillotine cutter on the other. EK Success has a new 3-D cutter that helps you cut out square, rectangular, and circle boxes. They were demonstrating how to make little boxes using 4x6 pictures.
Celebrities were everywhere, too. I saw Tim Holtz, Donna Dewberry, Vicki Howell ("Knitty Gritty" host), Dee Gruenig, Carol Duvall, and Mary Englebreight. I heard Martha Stewart (keynote speaker) had been roaming the aisles, but I didn't see her. There was also a fashion show at the Lion yarn booth featuring Vanna White. It was amazing to see how many MEN were interested in the knitted fashions she was modeling. <wink wink>
Anyway, that's about all I can remember. Details are fuzzy, but overall I had a great time, saw some really neat product, and recommend that you check out your local scrapbook stores to see what new product they ordered while they were at the show and to volunteer at the NSA booth the next time the opportunity presents itself!
Eileen
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