Phew…what a whirlwind of a week we had in Anaheim at the CHA Craft Super Show and the Winter Convention and Trade Show! It took a few days, but I have finally made a respectable dent in the post-travel mayhem of dirty laundry, craft supplies, and snapshots to sort out. I was hoping to post here a few times from the show, but we were on the go, non-stop, 24/7 – no time for sitting at the computer!
For me, the highlight of every CHA show is always the people. Nothing beats connecting in person with friends, colleagues, and customers to relish and rave about all that is new in our wonderful world of craft. Of course, C&T has some new and totally rave-worthy products – the Liquitex® Surface Design Center, Lutradur® Mixed Media Sheets, and our upcoming new book imprint, Stash—Fabric Arts for a Handmade Lifestyle.
So after the first day of the Super Show, we braced ourselves for the weekend masses expected on day 2. We built it and they came! The C&T demo table at the Lisa Liza Lou booth was full all day – Creative Troupers Tina Kay and Joy Lily kept people happy and busy with creative ATC and fabric painting projects.
Joy shows how to paint white tone-on-tone printed fabric with gradient colors of Liquitex paints
Tina shows how to create ATCs with upcycled papers and Lutradur, using Liquitex paints and mediums.
Continue Reading…
Good times! Lots of laughing, prize-winning, making and taking, experimenting, painting, scrapping, sewing, learning…definitely more creative inspiration packed into one place that you could even imagine!
At the Lisa Liza Lou booth, all the C&T surfaces were shining brightly. Our demo table was full all day, literally not one minute passed where there weren’t people learning about new surfaces, paints, mediums and techniques. You can catch videos here on our YouTube channel of the booth before the show opened, plus a quick interview with artist Sarah Hodsdon, who spent the first couple hours of the show at our demo table, painting a Ready-to-Go! Blank Canvas Book that will be auctioned off tomorrow night at a charity raffle.
Danielle shows off her canvas book
Jan paints a board book
Also at our table was the host of the Diva Craft Lounge, Danielle Forsgren. She painted a fabulous canvas book, using lots of yummy Liquitex® Iridescent Medium for extra diva sparkle! And joining them to play was Jan Mollet Evans, author of C&T title “Scrap Your Stuff.” Jan painted a gorgeous pattern on a Ready-to-Go! Blank Board Book. Continue Reading…
One of the things I love most about Lutradur® is that it doesn’t tear or fray. It’s perfect for durable pouches and pockets. I’ll be in the Graphic Products booth #4061 on Tuesday 1/26, showing CHA Trade Show attendees how to make this super easy 4″ square accordion-fold wallet to store or travel with artist trading cards. We’ll be using Liquitex® Matte Gel Medium to collage the wallet covers with beautiful Unryu papers from Thailand, made with strands of kozo (fibers from the bark of mulberry trees), mango leaves, and other organic textures.
Our friends at Walnut Hollow are joining us at our 3rd annual Stay-n-Play Café at the CHA Trade Show. At the Café, each attendee gets a Ready-to-Go! Blank Canvas Book. Then they travel at their own pace between 6 different stations to try new products and techniques from C&T and our partnering manufacturers. People will stay, play and be inspired for two hours, and leave feeling confident with their new skills and ideas to share with their customers, students and colleagues.
C&T author Rebekah Meier has designed this gorgeous canvas book for Walnut Hollow that shows off their super cool Creative Metal™ line of tools and metal crafting supplies. She also used our favorite - Liquitex paints and inks!
If you are attending the trade show, you won’t want to miss this big event on Sunday 1/24/10 at 6pm! Sign up today at www.chashow.org for workshop #0609. It’s a HUGE bang for your buck – lots of free samples, too!
Would you believe this fun little Steampunk Angel was designed using 6 of our wonderful products, plus 2 fabulous products from our friends at Beacon Adhesives? Now that’s packing it in!
For our first giveaway of the new year, you can win a HUGE prize package that includes all 8 of these products! That’s right…one package of each of the four surfaces, one jar of paint, one bottle of ink, and one bottle of each of the adhesives!
To enter to win, leave a comment here or on Facebook telling us whether or not you will be at the CHA SuperShow or the CHA Winter Convention & Trade Show….or if you will be attending CHA vicariously through us, by reading our live daily blogposts and tweets during the shows!
If you are coming to CHA, stop by the Beacon Adhesives booth #3069 on Monday, January 25th at 4:00pm — and I will show you how to make this Steampunk Angel! If you’re not coming, we’ll miss you…but I will post the project instructions for this little Steampunk Angel here on the blog in February.
Comments will be closed at 9amPST on Monday 1/18/10 and the winner will be announced later that day. Good Luck!
I just can not get enough of this stuff—Lutradur® Mixed Media Sheets are ALL that! Like paper, but better…like fabric, but better! We’ll be demonstrating lots of different creative ways to use Lutradur at both the Super Show and the Trade Show.
Here is a lovely Lutradur dahlia, designed by Glenna Valley, that we can show you how to make at the LisaLizaLou booth #758 on Saturday morning, January 23. But if you can’t make it to the show…Glenna provides her instructions at the end of this post.
I also wanted you to see these earrings that artist Heidi Rand designed. She uses her own nature photography in her work—she took a pict
ure of a butterfly, inkjet-printed the wings on treated Lutradur, then trimmed and stitched two wings together for each earring. You can run Lutradur sheets through your inkjet printer straight out of the package if you want a softer or rougher looking image. But if you want a crisp image like these wings, then paint Lutradur first with a clear medium, let it dry, then print on it.
Heidi won’t be at CHA, but if you’re in Northern California, you can learn how to make these earrings and many other beautiful projects with Lutradur in her classes. Continue Reading…
CHA is right around the corner! Formally known as the Craft & Hobby Association Winter 2010 Convention & Trade Show…this event will keep retailers busy for four whole days, exploring thousands of art and craft products in Anaheim, CA on January 24-27.
But never fear, dear general public! You get two days of your own to play and shop at the CHA Craft SuperShow on January 22-23.
We’ll be at both shows with bells on—with a full schedule of demos to show off our new Liquitex® Surface Design Center, our spectacular books, and creative surfaces.
During the trade show on Sunday, I’ll be at the ColArt booth (makers of Liquitex) demonstrating surface design techniques from Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter. Katie’s exercises for experimenting with shapes and lines are invaluable for quilters or anyone who wants to paint their own designs on paper or fabric. I’ll show ways to blend acrylic paints, inks and water to get different colors and effects on watercolor postcards.
Here’s a great way to upcyle those teeny tiny scraps of fabric into something pretty for the tree. Take advantage of the post-holiday sales at your local craft store and pick up a bunch of these empty glass ornaments for a song. Take off the tops and stuff them full of pretty fabric scraps and you’re all set!
Thanks to C&T author Diana Taylor for this timely suggestion. We hope you are having a warm and wonderful holiday!
Who needs to mess with parking, traffic, long lines, and tired store clerks who have been up since their doors opened at 5am? You can shop for lots of post-Thanksgiving bargains this Friday from the comfort of your own home.
Our friends over at www.CraftCritique.com are posting a special Black Friday notice that will link you to lots of online bargains from several different craft manufacturers and retailers. C&T will be there with a great sale on our beautiful gift items—and ONLY Craft Critique readers will get a special Gift with Purchase with an online order from us of sale items and all our regular-price books and products too!
Here’s whatchya need to do:
1. Visit www.CraftCritique.com this Friday to get your special promotion code for your Gift with Purchase.
2. Link to our site, www.ctpub.com, shop ’til you drop, enter your promotion code, and check out.
3. Go on back to Craft Critique and shop some more! Be sure to bookmark them for regular reading. Their reporters give valuable and unbiased hands-on reviews every day for a huge variety of craft products.
So here’s the deal…C&T Publishing will have a wonderful selection of gift items on sale for 4 days only – at 50% off! Stylish and eco-friendly tote bags, lovely note cards, fun playing cards—all featuring stunning quilt images made by our authors. Plus gorgeous blank journals, beautiful pop-out gift boxes, and more.
Visit the On Sale & Close Outs page of our website as soon as you’re done gobblin’ to see it all!
Offer is valid November 26-29, 2009 only for online orders placed at www.ctpub.com. Prices will be marked at 50% off retail; no further discount applies. Resellers welcome.
What I love most about our Fast, Fun & Easy series of books is that because the techniques and projects are so literally F, F & E (aka “foofy” in our planning meetings)…you can easily put your own spin on things. My friend Lorraine made this fabric bowl in her own signature style using the instructions in Fast, Fun & Easy Irresist-a-Bowls.
And guess what? This book will be on sale next week for HALF-PRICE!
Be sure to check the On Sale & Close Outs section of our website every week for new web-only specials.
