Ten Things on the Tenth... CHA faves

Hello all!

I'm back with another 10 things on the Tenth, if you want to join in the party then head over to Shimelle's blog!

I was totally caught up in the CHA excitement in January. It's the first time I've really followed all the sneak peeks of new releases while they were happening, and listened to chat / watched videos about what things are 'hot' right now. At the end of this post I'll list some of the sites I've been stalking for CHA news in case you want to take a look!

So for my 10 things I thought I'd share what I liked best from all the bits I've been spotting. I couldn't choose whether to show my 10 favourite collections, or my 10 favourite items from them, so I'm going to do both! Read on to see what things you could be spending your money on over the coming months... (all the 'titles' are linked for more information on a collection):

1. My Mind's Eye - Follow Your Heart

I could quite easily have chosen another of MME's releases ~ Miss Caroline, but as I've just received a parcel of that (now available here at SJ Crafts!) and will be able to show you some projects using it soon, I thought I'd go with 'Follow Your Heart' which is equally beautiful.

This collection is designed by Rhonna Farrer, and I love how pretty it is. I especially like the 'Be Amazing' colourway because of the teal and yellow - a colour combo you're going to see again on this top-ten list! My must have item from the collection are the brads, check out the 'enjoy the journey one', and the yellow polka-dot one!:

2. Pink Paislee - Spring Jubilee

Ooh, how bright and happy and full of sunshine! I thought all the Pink Paislee collections this release were gorgeous, but the striking colours of this one really caught my eye. I'm planning to have a big party this summer for my 30th birthday and I want to base all the invites / decorations on this collection!

The design team's samples on the release post were all stunning too. I can't wait to get some of this collection and put it to good use! My favourite item is the illustrated manilla tags - they'd look good on invite cards (or almost anything else!):

3. Crate Paper - Story Teller

Again, I loved both their lines this release, so check out Pretty Party too. But this one swings it for me because of the ecclectic mix of icons with a traveller / note taking theme. And I really love this cork-board effect paper:

4. Studio Calico - Take Note

I don't think I own anything Studio Calico. Not because I dislike their stuff, just because it wasn't on my radar at first, and then it was too expensive for me to subscribe to their kits. But I've seen their items popping up in some UK stores now, and I know when this collection hits our shores I'll have to buy some of it! Even if all I can afford is this woodgrain Fabrip. I want to bind a mini album with it:

5. American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Neapolitan

Photo Credit: Shimelle Laine

Okay, again I had trouble choosing my favourite collection from a manufacterer (so much I want to buy!), as the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection is also lovely and bright. But the delicately colourful Dear Lizzy collection won in the end, mostly because I adore these stamps. The jar one is just so cute, and could work on so many projects, and the date stamp has uber-sweet phrases as well as the usual dates. These will definitely be in my shopping basket:

6. Echo Park - Graceful

At first glance I thought the Echo Park 'This and That' collection was pretty, but I didn't think I 'needed' it. And then I saw lots of gorgeous DT samples using it and I was sold! These papers will look really lovely with photos of my daughter, though I think they'll come in handy for other projects too. And I adore this sticker sheet:

 7. Lily Bee - Buttercup

Lily Bee isn't a manufacterer that I was particularly looking out for. I think their papers are lovely, but they don't usual grab my attention enough for me to actually buy any of them. So I didn't hear about this collection until Shimelle posted about it here, and I was definitely grabbed by this colour scheme, yellow, aqua, and grey? Stunning! And I desperately want this sheet of ABC stickers, so many colours on one sheet, I'll always have the perfect one to match my project:

8. Basic Grey - What's up

 

More aqua, this time with soft pinks and purples. I'm not actually sure if I'll buy this line - when I buy Basic Grey it tends to sit in my stash and not get used. But I shall have to buy this one sheet with all the hot air balloons on, possibly just to frame it as it is and stick it on my wall:

9. Simple Stories - Documented

I'm re-discovering my love for mini-albums recently, so this system by Simple Stories caught my eye. It seems like it will be so easy to customise and play around with, I think it would be perfect for a travel journal / album, or for creating a gift album for someone. The page protectors for it are fun, with different stitched segments like Project Life:

10. Heidi Swapp - Memory Files

This is a cool system. I'm starting to get annoyed with the amount of page protectors I need to buy to keep all my 12x12 layouts safe, and I was thinking of other ways to create pages (hence my re-discovery of mini-books!), and then Heid Swapp came up with this collection. It's so fun, I have seen her create albums like this before and it's great to have an easy way to follow her lead. The photos don't really do it justice, so watch this short video for a real idea of how the system works:

So there we go, a list of my favourite releases! I hope you've seen something that intrigues you and wants to make you investigate further - sorry if you're upset that I've made you want to spend more money on lovely new stash!

If you want to check out more CHA releases then here's the sites I've been stalking for information:

• http://www.shimelle.com/ - Shimelle takes fabulous photos from CHA and gives business info as well as product info, so it's really interesting to read her posts on the subject.
• http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/ especially the forum for CHA winter 2012 here. I joined in with some of the chats and challenges that were taking place while CHA was on, and it was great to hear other's views on what was 'hot', and you could win prizes by joining in. The prize draws are closed now but there's still links to videos showing the new prodeuct, and the chats are still there so you could go back and read what everyone was talking about!
• http://www.paperclipping.com/ has lots of free videos that were filmed at CHA so you get to see a bit of the booths as well as the product. Also check out the 100th podcast recorded at CHA here. 
• http://www.scrappyjedi.com/ has lovely photos of the booths at CHA.
• http://www.scraptime.ca/ Has demo videos, and booth photos.

Otherwise it's just the manufacterers blogs. If you know of any other great sites for CHA info then let me know so I can stalk them next time around!

So have you been keeping an eye on the new releases? And if so, what's your one, must have, can't wait to get hold of it, item? Go on, make me want to spend more money! x

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