How I Spent My Time at the Craft and Hobby Association 2016 Mega Show

My trip to attend the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Mega Show began at 4:00 am on Thursday, January 7. By leaving the house that early, we avoided the Bay Area's morning traffic and the LA area's afternoon traffic. The crazy-early wake-up was worth it to cut so much time from our travels.

The weather in Southern California had been cold and rainy until that morning. I arrived to blue skies and dry pavement.

I took two classes on Thursday, one on crafting trends and one on blogging and search engine optimization (SEO). I'll be sharing more about all my classes in a later post.

My Friday morning started with a 3-hour intensive hands-on boot camp about Google marketing. Then I took my one and only craft-related class, where I learned how to bead on a mini loom.

 

After one more class, I met up with Tanya at the Hot Product Sneak Peek. Here, we got to learn more about each of the Hot Products Nominees. Each gave a brief presentation about their product, then we were able to walk around the room to ask more questions or to try the item for ourselves. Here is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (second from right) showing off her Art Foamies.

We enjoyed chatting with Joy Macdonell. 

 

After the event ended, Tanya and I went together to the Mega Block Party, sponsored by Michaels. We did some crafting, ate some delicious food, and met some really nice people. 

  

 

Saturday morning started bright and early with the Keynote.

Finally, it was time for the show floor to open! I ran (literally) to the DecoArt booth in order to sign up for one of the limited seats for their Mystery Box Challenge. Mission accomplished! I was the first one there.

The challenge turned out to be quite challenging! We each received a paper mâché house and seven bottles of paint (red, blue, pink, yellow, white, black and turquoise). There were make-up sponges, matte medium, gesso, foam plates, chipboard pieces, and tissue papers out on the table for us to share. Notice I didn't mention brushes. There were a few foam brushes, but no detail brushes. I did all of my painting with a make-up sponge and a piece of chipboard that I ripped apart. The 45 minutes went REALLY quickly. Here are 10 of the 12 houses from the challenge. I'm guessing all of you can tell which is mine...

I spent the rest of the day checking out the booths, talking with exhibitors, and doing fun make-and-takes. Here's a fluffy tulle pomander I made using the Bow Genius. What a neat tool! It was really easy to use and a lot of fun. The Bow Genius is a very deserving winner of the Hot Product Award! It's on my must-have list. 

When the show floor closed, I went upstairs to the CHA Business Meeting and Town Hall Meeting. Very interesting and informative! I'd never attended before and now it's going to be on my don't-miss list for future Mega Shows.  

My final activity on Saturday was the FaveCrafts Blogger Network Event. It is a wonderful event that lets bloggers connect with brands who are interested in working with them. I met some great people and look forward to partnering with some of them.

 

 

My Sunday morning started with a breakfast for bloggers that was sponsored by Michaels. Again, great information, some neat potential partnerships, and lots of awesome people.

Before my next class, I met up with Tanya and gave her a white t-shirt with my blog logo. I challenged us both to visit various exhibitors separately and come up with a way to decorate the shirt by the end of Monday. I cannot wait to show you how my t-shirt looks now! Quite a transformation!

I spent the rest of Sunday on the show floor. Even though I don't do needle crafts (yet!), I couldn't resist posing with this giant button, needle and thread in front of walls of yarn.

In the evening, I met up with some of my Fiskafriends.

After my Monday morning class, I headed to the show floor to find out what had won the Hot Products Award. I spent a frustrating 45 minutes trying (and succeeding, thank goodness) to blog with a terrible internet connection. With the post up, I spent the next few hours on my t-shirt, at appointments with manufacturers and doing a lot of make-and-takes. 

During the last hour the show floor was open on Monday, I gave myself a photo-based challenge. I'll tell you all about that in a different post as well.  

 

On Tuesday morning, I headed to the show floor right when it opened, wearing my colorful t-shirt. My plan was to visit each of the manufacturers who had contributed to the shirt's transformation and take a photo. What fun! 

By 11:30, we were on the road headed back north. Bye Mega Show! I had the time of my life.

My calendar is already marked for January 19-23, 2017 when the show will move to Phoenix. Wild horses couldn't keep me away. 

Money Bouquet

CHA posts coming eventually, I promise!

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Here's the latest money-themed gift I gave my nephew, Timothy. Because what 15-year old boy wouldn't want a flower bouquet, amirite? 

I've seen dollar bills used for all sorts of origami, so my plan was to get colorful foreign bills and use those to make flowers. Easy, right? As it turns out, no.

Step 1 was easy enough. I went to Wells Fargo and had the following conversation:

Teller: May I help you?

Me: Yes. I need colorful money. The color of flowers, like pink, purple, orange, or yellow.

Teller: (blank look)

Me: Foreign bills in colors that are not green. Colorful. From different countries. Totaling around $30-50 US.

Teller: Which countries would you like? 

Me: Doesn't matter, as long as they're colorful.

Teller: So.... any bills in any denomination from any country in the world as long as they're colorful?

Me: Yes.

I went on to explain my concept. The teller was so interested that she handed me her card and asked me to email her a photo of the completed project. (Shout out to Leanne and the other outstanding folks at the Wells Fargo on Browns Valley!) She brought me a wad of colorful bills and we worked together to choose ones that would look good together and land in my price range. I ended up with a 10 Euro, a Canadian 10, a Fijian 10, and two Mexican 50s. I added some crisp US 1's to use as greenery and was all set.

I practiced making an origami flower on a dollar bill I had laying around. It's very simple - just fold the bill accordion style, fold the accordion in half, tape the two ends together and then do the same to the other side. It forms a perfect flower....

... unless you're using money that isn't actually made of paper. Which is the case for each of the bills I got. Darn it. These plastic bills did NOT want to fold. When you do an accordion fold on a US dollar and let go, it holds its shape. Here you can see how the Canadian bill behaved after the accordion fold, plus what the Mexican bill looked like after I taped the two ends together.  

Time to get serious. Glue Dots to the rescue! After doing an accordion fold and taping the edges, I added Glue Dots inside all of the interior folds, which I then hid behind a coin. 

I used more Glue Dots to attach skewers to the backs of each flower, then inserted them into the basket. After arranging each flower, I filled in with green paper grass and simple US dollar 'leaves' (each held in shape with a single Glue Dot).

In the end, I'm very happy with how it turned out, even if it did take Timothy 15 minutes to remove all the Glue Dots from just a handful of bills. If I ever make this same project, I'm going to ask the folks at the bank for colorful, paper-based currency... no plastic money. That would make it a heck of a lot easier.

Tessellation Art

Today is my last day at the Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show before making the long drive home. It's been an incredible week. I'll be blogging all about it once I'm back home and settled, with a proper keyboard and a decent internet connection. In the meantime, here's a fun craft tutorial that I prepared ahead of time. It's one of my favorites from my teaching days.

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Are you familiar with tessellations? One of my favorite projects to do with my fifth grade students back in my teaching days was to create tessellation art. Trevor's in fourth grade now, so it was time to share this fun project with him. 

For those who don't know, a tessellation is formed when a flat surface is completely filled in (no gaps or overlaps) with a repeating pattern. Think about tiled floors, countertops, showers, etc. Most of the tessellations we see in homes are squares or rectangles, but tessellations can be made with many shapes. Curved shapes (like circles or ovals) will not tessellate, because there will be gaps or overlaps when you try to tile them. But you can create tessellating shapes that contain curved areas if you follow a trick. As you can see, Trevor's completed tessellation art has curved areas in it.

To make your own tesselation art, you need: an index card, scissors, tape, a pen, white paper, and crayons or markers. 

The secret to making a shape that tessellates is to start with a shape that tessellates and alter it. An index card is perfect. It is a rectangle (which tessellates), so when you cut and tape it correctly, you'll create a shape that tessellates. Begin by cutting a shape from the right of the index card. Curved shapes are fine. Keeping the cut piece in exactly the same orientation as it was when you cut it, slide it to the left of the index card and tape it in place. Then cut a different shape from the top of the index card. Keep the cut piece in exactly the same orientation and slide it to the bottom of the index card and tape it in place. Stop now or keep going. Two cuts are enough to create a really cool tessellation, but more can be fun.

 

I created a very simple tessellation. You should be able to see that I cut a large triangle from the right of the card, slid it to the left, then cut a smaller triangle from the bottom and slid it up. 

When you are happy with your shape, put it on the white paper and trace it. Then slide it over so there are no gaps or overlaps, then trace it again. Keep going until the entire page is full.

When the paper is full, it's time to color. Trevor colored his tessellation in exactly the same orientation as he created it. I rotated mine to see if one direction reminded me of something that the others didn't. Sure enough, when I turned the paper 90° clockwise, I saw faces with big noses.

Here's my finished artwork, complete with googly eyes:

No clue why Santa is clean-cut. Or yelling. Or so pale.

Give it a try! Math + art = fun.

Craft and Hobby Association 2016 Hot Products Winners

Good morning! I'm here in Anaheim, blogging from the show floor at the Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show. I'm having the time of my life. I can't wait to share with you the amazing new products I've seen, the valuable information I've learned, the cool people I've met, and the incredible opportunities ahead of me. And a lot of eye candy. I'll be sharing that too. But first, it's time to find out who won the CHA Hot Products Awards!

(Please excuse any formatting problems. I'm having a heck of a time with dropped connections and other technical problems. This is why I avoid blogging from the show floor, but I knew you'd want to hear about the winners asap!)

Bead and Jewelry:

Bangle Bracelet Weaver Tool by Beadalon

That's what I picked - I'm 1-for-1. It was the clear winner to me.


Cake and Food Decorating:

PenBlade Craft and Hobby Knife by PenBlade, inc.

In my post about the finalists, I didn't rave about the PenBlade. That changed when I got to try it myself on Friday night at the Hot Products Sneak Peek. It felt great in my (left) hand, was very easy to operate, had excellent control, and had a super cool notch for cutting cord, twine, etc. that I hadn't realized was there. That said, I still would have chosen Deflecto's 3-tier dessert stand as the winner in this category.

My score: 1 out of 2.

Fabric and Needle Craft:

8" Tabletop Offset Scissors by Fiskars

I should have gone with my gut. Fiskars products are always awesome. My score: 1 out of 3.

Floral Craft:

PenBlade Craft and Hobby Knife by PenBlade, Inc.

I picked the Scented Gluesticks, which I still love. But now I see why the PenBlade won. I certainly didn't expect it to win in two categories though! My (terrible) score: 1 out of 4.

General Craft:

 

Bow Genius™ by Berwick Offray

I got another one right! Now I'm 2-for-5.

Kids Crafts:

kat & duke by Happenchance

Interesting. I picked Ribb-It's as the winner, my personal favorite was the Buttoonies, yet it was Kat & Duke that won. I'm probably the most surprised about this category. My (miserable) score: 2 out of 6.


Paint and Art:

Craypen by FPC Corporation

Yea! I got another one right (finally). I got to play with the Craypen and it is awesome. It was all I could do not to grab it and run. I will absolutely be buying one of these in the near future. My score: 3 out of 7.

Paper Crafts:

Mega MISTI and Mini MISTI by My Sweet Petunia 

Yep. The MISTI was a shoo-in.

My final score: 4 out of 8. Same as last year! So what do you think? Excited to try any of the winner products? Disappointed about some that didn't win?

CHA 2016 Hot Products Nominees

Each year, the Craft and Hobby Association selects three finalists in eight categories for their coveted Hot Products Award. Last year, I predicted 4 out of 8 correctly. Let's see how I do this year!


Bead and Jewelry:

Bangle Bracelet Weaver Tool by Beadalon

Ergo Texture Hammer by ImpressArt 

iloom by Wooky Entertainment Inc

Hmmm... the bracelet weaving tool looks cool. I'm definitely interested in trying it. The texture tool is also a good idea, but I wonder if the metal stamping trend has come and gone. I'm not seeing nearly as much of it as I was a few years ago. Then there's the iloom. I need to learn more about this and how it works with an iPad. I'd argue that perhaps this should be in the Kids Crafts category, as I don't know too many adults who make friendship bracelets, except camp counselors and chaperones. If the iloom had existed when I was a kid, I would have been all over it. It's quite an improvement from using safety pins to attach my in-progress friendship bracelets to the thigh of my jeans. (Am I old enough to be ranting that kids these days don't know how good they have it? Apparently so!)

My pick... Bangle Bracelet Weaver Tool.


Cake and Food Decorating:

3-Tier Dessert Stand by Deflecto

PenBlade Craft and Hobby Knife by PenBlade, inc.

Lavish Blooms Poppy Die by Tattered Lace

Let me start by saying I've already seen Deflecto's 3-Tier Dessert Stand and I'm in love. It collapses completely for storage, which is awesome. It's easy to clean and goes with everything. It's already on my must-get list. I've seen the Pen Blade too, though not in person. It's basically a craft knife that you hold like a pen, but I am immediately suspicious that it will not work as well for lefties as righties. I don't see this as a huge improvement over the many other craft knives, but I'm open to the possibility that it might be awesome. The Poppy Dies are gorgeous. I can definitely see people using these, but I think it's more of a niche market. 

My pick... 3-Tier Dessert Stand.


Fabric and Needle Craft:

8" Tabletop Offset Scissors by Fiskars

Boye 4-n-1 Crochet tool by Simplicity

PenBlade Craft and Hobby Knife by PenBlade, Inc.

This is a tough category for me, since I don't do fabric or needle crafts. I love everything Fiskars and those scissors would be awesome for cutting fabric, but I don't know whether or not the shape is particularly revolutionary or if it greatly improves on cutting fabric scissors. Maybe! The crochet tool is pretty neat. Again, I don't know anything about crochet, but it seems like this would be really good for travel. I'm not sure how the PenBlade would be used with fabric and needle crafts. Nobody is going to cut yarn with a craft knife, and I doubt many would cut fabric with one either. Is there a different application I'm missing?

My pick... 4-in-1 Crochet Tool.

Floral Craft:

 

Bow Genius™ by Berwick Offray

PenBlade Craft and Hobby Knife by PenBlade, Inc.

Scented Gluesticks by Adhesive Technologies Inc

I haven't done floral crafts in many years; I should get back into it. Bow making was my nemesis, so the Bow Genius definitely solves a problem I have. There are a number of bow makers on the market, but this one seems more versatile and I love the fact that it has a handle. I'm looking forward to trying it out. Once again, the PenBlade seems a bit out of place here. I used a pocket knife to cut flower stems in one swoop; maybe this could be used for cutting individual stems or greens? I love the idea of scented glue sticks. My first thought was that you wouldn't want glue that competes with the smell of fresh flowers, but there are plenty of floral crafts that don't involve living, scented plants. For artificial arrangements or unscented flowers, greenery, wreaths, etc. this would be pretty cool. I probably would have entered them in general crafts, but they're a good fit for floral crafts.

My pick... Scented Gluesticks, but only because the Bow Genius is in the next category also and the gluesticks aren't.

General Craft:

 

Bow Genius™ by Berwick Offray

 

Ribb-Its™ by LC Design Company

Tassel Makers by Clover

I have high hopes for the Bow Genius. It's a great choice for the general crafts category. The Ribb-Its is interesting. It uses a ribbon, clip and two-piece magnet to hang artwork. I'm looking forward to seeing this one up close. It would be great for displaying Christmas cards, children's artwork, and other things like that.  I've been seeing tassels pop up everywhere, so a tassel maker stands a good chance to take the win. On the other hand, it's not too difficult making tassels without a jig. 

My pick... Bow Genius.

Kids Crafts:

Buttoonies by Craft Yourself Silly

kat & duke by Happenchance

Ribb-Its™ by LC Design Company

Those Buttoonies are so cute! They're from the same people who introduced last year's popular Proggy. I like that the Buttoonies are fun for a wide variety of ages and equally suited for boys and girls. Kat & Duke is a fun concept. They're stickers you can add to cardboard boxes for pretend play. The Ribb-Its are a good choice for the kids craft category.

My pick... Ribb-Its. (Although I personally want to play with the Buttoonies.)


Paint and Art:

Craypen by FPC Corporation

übermatte™ by DESIGN MASTER®

ArtFoamies by Balzer Designs

You all know how much I love painting with crayon using my warming tray! The Craypen makes it even easier to paint with wax and build up vibrant colors, with instantaneous drying. What's not to love? Chalk paints are all the rage, so I expect the übermatte paints to do well. They are matte spray paints in trendy shades. The ArtFoamies are fun for art journaling and mixed media, but I don't know that they're revolutionary enough to capture the Hot Products win.

My pick... Craypen.


Paper Crafts:

Mega MISTI and Mini MISTI by My Sweet Petunia 

Silhouette Mint by Silhouette America

TODO by Craft Retail

The MISTI (Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented) has been one of the hottest tools to hit the stamping and scrapbooking worlds in recent years. People absolutely love it and I can see why. The Mint is pretty neat. It lefts crafters design and print custom stamps. It requires a lot of additional items though (stamp blanks, inks, computer), and is a big investment for anyone who would only make a few custom stamps. The TODO is a die-cutting, foiling, letterpress and embossing machine that works on a variety of materials. There are other manufacturers with multi-use machines, so I don't know that this is the most revolutionary of the nominees.

My pick... MISTI.

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Tonight I'll be at the Hot Products Sneak Peek where I'll learn more about each product. I can't wait to see each one demonstrated. I'll be visiting each booth on the show floor Saturday and Sunday to get an even closer look. On Monday I'll let you know which product won in each category. Congrats to all the nominees and good luck!