Craft Trends of 2019

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Creativation 2019, here we come! Tomorrow the showroom opens at Creativation, where the craft trends of 2019 will be revealed!

I used to own a craft store and one of my favorite things to do was attend the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA)’s semi-annual wholesale market. It used to be in Anaheim every January (except one year when they moved it to downtown LA) and then a different venue each summer. My mom, sisters and I would trek to Anaheim on our annual roadtrip and have the best time! What could be more fun than wandering through a big convention center, through aisle after aisle of booths full of craft supplies!

When I closed the store I stopped going to the show but now they’ve moved the show to my home town (Phoenix) so how could I not go check it out!! There have been some changes. It’s not CHA anymore. Now it’s AFCI (Association for Creative Industries) and the show is called Creativation. It’s also much smaller. The first show we went to was in 2008 and it was huge! Nearly 800 vendors! This year there are around 260 vendors. Still alot but nothing of the size it used to be.

The showroom opens tomorrow so mom, sis and I are ready to go! I will be back with updates on all the latest and greatest crafts coming to your online and local craft stores in 2019. Stay tuned. I can’t wait!

January 19:

Wow! I just got home from Day 1 of Creativation and it was so much fun! Confession time… I am a tote junkie. Part of the fun of going to Creativation is nabbing all the free totes you can get your hands on. This is today’s haul. 🙂

I have lots to share with you and I’ll start with my favorite booth of the show so far. I’m always looking for new surfaces to play on and today I hit the mother load! If you’re a scrapper or card maker you may already be familiar with Jillibean Soup and Hampton Art.

Jillibean still has their scrapbook paper and supplies but these two companies have teamed up to create the most amazing surfaces! And my favorite thing about the framed pieces is that the center is removable! So if you want to use a fabulous Chalk Couture background image you just remove the insert and chalk away. Then just pop it back into the frame and it’s done. You never have to worry about getting chalk on the frame!

They also have a beautiful tobacco basket that many of the surfaces fit inside:

And oh the variety of wood surfaces!

I loved the trays on the second shelf!!

And these galvanized pieces! Love!

More tomorrow!

January 20

Day 2 is done and I believe we have officially visited every booth in the show! We just got home…with a few more fabulous totes! 🙂

Overall the show consisted of about 3 major categories: Scrapbook Paper/Embellishments, Stamping/Die Cuts and Fiber Arts (Yarn/Quilting) with some mixed media and food related crafts thrown in. I’m pretty schooled on the first two categories but the Fiber Arts is definitely not a strength of mine. I can’t knit, quilt or crochet. I’ve tried. It’s not pretty. My sister is great at all of these.

I’ll break down some of my favorite things by category…

Scrapbook Paper/Embellishments

I used to be a scrapper but my interests moved on to stamping/card making several years ago. I think card making is really relaxing. And what better way to begin the design of a card than with pretty paper! I have a few go-to brands like Echo Park, Doodlebug Design, Simple Stories, Bo Bunny to name a few… but that is by no means a complete list!

Here are just a few of the lines at the show that spoke to me…

Bella Boulevard, which is now partnered with Doodlebug Designs has a great new 4th of July paper line called Fireworks and Freedom that I loved.

My Mind’s Eye had a really beautiful black and white line called Gingham Farm. Really nice plaids, stripes and gingham patterns.

Echo Park’s Dots and Stripes line has a new Gingham for Spring and Summer that I loved! So great for backgrounds in card making and crafting.

Echo Park also had an adorable I Heart Crafting line…

And Easter Wishes…

And Let’s Party, which would make a great birthday card!

Simple Stories had a striking line in blacks and bright yellows called Spring Farmhouse…

One more brand and then I’ll move on to other things. Doodlebug has always had the best booth in the show in my opinion. It’s fun, bright, eye-catching and just makes you want to enter!

And they had some adorable new Easter paper called Hoppy Easter…

And a fun and bright line called Simply Spring…

Doodlebug Design also came up with some new stamp/die cut combos called Doodle Stamps and Doodle Cuts. So great for stampers!!

I think that’s a great transition for the next category.

Stamping/Die Cuts

Two-Lips Stamps has been around since late 2014 and they remind me of one of my favorite stamp companies…Riley and Co. If I’m sending someone a lighthearted, humorous card these companies are my go-to. Here are some of the sayings displayed in the Two-Lips booth. Warning: there are some inappropriate ones!

Art Impressions is a favorite stamp company of mine. I’ve made many cards with their Girlfriends and Golden Oldies line of stamps. Here are some new ones and then some that I already have that just make me giggle…

My sister has a bit of a hedge hog fetish so this one is for her…

These aren’t new…just funny.

Stampendous is another favorite stamp company. They have introduced matching die cuts, which seems to be a big trend right now.

And who doesn’t love House Mouse!

This meadow die cut has endless possibilities for card makers! Love!

My very talented friend Jennifer Dove is the queen of Copic markers and a designer for LaLaLand stamps. Here are a couple of their new stamps colored by her in their catalog. (She also has her own line of stamps at Whimsy Stamps!)

Their new theme is Once Upon a Time

Love this new die cut!

This Lawn Fawn die was adorable!

And Brother, known for their fabulous brand of sewing machines has thrown their hat in the ring and created their own die cut machine! I’d love to get my hands on one and check it out!

Fiber Arts/Quilting

Though I’m not a fiber arts girl, there was one trend that caught my eye. It’s called loop yarn and just about every brand has their version of it…Lion, Premier, Red Heart… It’s a yarn you knit with your hands instead of knitting needles. It actually looked really easy to use. I might even be able to do it!

CutterPillar has come out with lit cutting mats and my sister really liked the idea of using something like that for cutting quilt patterns.

Fabric Editions has these new pre-cut kits for the most adorable backpacks! They have tons of kits, all pre-cut fabric.

And a few more notables…

Sort of in the scrapbook category but not really are these great new planners from Carpe Diem — who by the way had the best totes! 🙂 They had a Budget Planner and a Home Planner that were so detailed!! And they had coordinating stickers to help with the organization. I loved them!

We R Memory Keepers is worth mentioning just because they are a company full of gadgets and I am a gadget girl! The ones that stuck out in the booth were an awesome typewrite in multi colors…

a candle maker!…

and organization bins that attach to the ever popular rolling carts you can get at Ikea, Michaels and…We R Memory Keepers!

And speaking of gadgets, Fiskars has come out with a DIY line of tools that I must have.

Such a simple idea and I’m sure there are already many versions of this I didn’t know about…but this is a nail holder. It holds the nail in place so you don’t have to use your thumb!

I love to bake but I’ve never really been a cookie decorator. A company called Sweet Sugarbelle had these interchangable cookie cutters that were brilliant! The mouse and the crab are the same cutter, the pig and the turtle…you get the idea.

Krylon has a new vintage finish spray paint I can’t wait to try!

And this little product made me giggle but it’s also kinda brilliant! FPC is coming out with a 3 ft long glue stick! How many times do we have to stop in the middle of a project and change out the glue stick!?