Sunday 19 January 2014

CHA 2014: The Best Bits

Hi bloggers, the past week has been crafting heaven, catching up on the latest products and admiring techniques from some fantastic designers. After watching many videos from Paperclipping.com and Bluemoon Scrapbooking I have rounded up my favourite products for you to be made aware of or to keep your eyes peeled for. So sit back and prepare to get very excited for Vintage Follie's best picks from the winter CHA show 2014.......

As many of you will know, we are massive Tim Holtz fans so naturally Tim Holtz products are definitely going to feature in our top picks, but to be specific there are some products that stand out more than others:

1. Distress Marker Spritzer

This product has been around for quite a few years but sometimes it needs to be redesigned or refreshed to bring it back to life. This new distress marker spritzer from Tim Holtz allows you to use your distress marker pens and other brands of pens (in fact any felt tip pen!) and then just squeeze the top of the spritzer to get an airbrushed effect. This is a must if you plan to work with stencils over the coming months - so effective. Check out the video below where Tim talks through all the new product releases from Ranger, including the distress marker spritzer.



 2. Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Mini Configuration Book/ Collections Folio

When Tim Holtz first released his configuration book I listed it as a must have product and was convinced I would buy it and do it up straight away. However a year down the line and I yet to have even buy one, let alone decorate it so when I heard that he was going to release a smaller book, I thought to myself that this project would be more achievable and I do set out to at least buy one this year and hopefully have a workshop with this product. Another idea-ology must have is the collections folios which are so cute and again great for collating memories, perhaps from a family holiday and make a change from a normal scrapbook. Check out the details below.....


3. Tim Holtz Alterations Shadowpress


These new embossing folders from Tim Holtz are very different as this time round they emboss a shadow around each letter in the word which makes the word seem as if it has been raised from the page - genius! Honestly when you see the video below it will make much more sense - but again the possibilities are endless and I think these will definitely be useful embossing folders for lots of different projects.
 

 As you would have seen from all the Tim Holtz videos there are so many new products and ideas to get you started for 2014 and I have to say my mind is bursting with lots of project ideas, so watch this space.

So that is just one designer and I still have a long list of products to feature in our best picks.....so read on......

The Crafter's Workshop

This collection of products is a new range of products that I have come across this year at CHA and they have a fantastic range of stencils to use for a lot of mixed media projects. One thing I noticed this year is that a lot of designers have been releasing stencils to be used with many different sprays and inks and The Crafters workshop have many different designs to choose from. However one designer that did catch our eye was a range of stencils from Rebecca Meier - watch the video below for a demo and preview of some of her great stencil designs.



Wendy Vecchi

 Wendy Vecchi's embossing pastes are an exciting way to create dimension in your projects and can be used with lots of different inks and paints including the new range of Archival inks with some beautiful colours for the Spring. Watch the video below for a fabulous demo from Wendy Vecchi on how to use her pastes with the new Archival ink colours.


Brenda Walton

For beautiful, pretty die cuts, look no further than Brenda Walton die cuts with Sizzix. Brenda's collections last year really blew us away and were so easy to put together once cut out. A firm favourite of mine will always be the teacup die cut - however that could change with the new collection from Brenda Walton featuring some gorgeous flowers, leaves and a mini cake stand die. Check out the video below for more and be sure to take in the full beauty of her booth!


Prima Marketing






Something that really caught my eye this year from Prima Marketing were a collection of embellishments and vintage pieces from Erin Blegen. Featuring a vintage frame, TV and photo stands, these vintage pieces will definitely make excellent scrapbooking projects for the vintage lover. For a little more insight into some of what Prima have to offer this year, check out the video below.




Brother Scan N Cut

One of the hottest machines at the CHA 2014 has to be the new Scan N Cut from Brother. This machine will scan any image, from a stamped design to a doodle you have created and will cut it out with ease. I found a short video below to give you an idea of how it works but if you have Create and Craft on your TV, keep an eye out for a show dedicated to the machine and as far as I am aware they are the only place you can get hold of the machine for at least the next 6 months.


So thats it - our best bits from CHA 2014. I am still going through many other videos on Paperclipping.com and there are probably many more products from many more designers that will be available over the coming months. More than anything though, I hope this list of videos has inspired you to get creative, even more so than last year.

Happy Crafting!









Monday 6 January 2014

Happy New Year! Welcome 2014


Hi bloggers and Happy New Year! For me, January 6th is the day when the New Year can officially begin. If you are like us and leave the Christmas decorations out until the last possible moment you probably found yourself packing up the last of anything Christmassy last night, looking forward to a fresh start and New Year.

I'm hoping 2014 is going to be an exciting year and I can confirm that we have some exciting projects and workshops on the way.

Looking back at some of my resolutions from last year, I can see that I managed to succeed in one of them which was to bring our workshops to some new venues which included HobbyCraft in Crawley. By the end of the year we had managed to gain lots of new crafters and we are excited to see even more new faces in 2014. We love teaching you the art of vintage crafting and sharing our passion for crafting is something that is definitely set to continue this year!

The most exciting thing about January and the New Year is new craft products are the winter CHA show in Anaheim. As usual we wish we could be there but for now we can only rely on the fantastic videos provided by Bluemoon Scrapbooking.

Look out for our next post which will give you a few of our best buys for 2014 from CHA.