What's hot !

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to go to the paper craft industry trade show at the NEC and take a sneak peak at some of the fabulous new stuff for this year. No matter what brand or medium ( stamps/dies/paper/embellishments), every where you turned you would be seeing the birds, especially owls!And, boy, are they cute - this year's must have!

clear acrylic stamps

 Another hot trend is for cute little Japanese geisha girls and Russian dolls (the fatter, the better!)

There are some wonderful ranges of die cut paper and cardstock in all colours and shapes.

This is an amazing line of very detailed dies available only
from Once Upon a Stamp http://www.onceuponastamp.co.uk/index.php
They are very similar in style to Quickcutz dies  but so much detail is included. They are not going to be cheap but I loved them.

Just look at some of the projects they had done with them!

This is new from Sizzix, The Eclips! It can't be denied that they obviously took some inspiration from the Cricut Expression.

They are so alike in many ways but Keven Corcoran, the guy who has designed and developed this really has taken it to another level.

It operates with it's own hand held device, just like a play station pad, and effectively is like having a Cricut with a built in Gypsy. The peripherals (mats/ cartridges/ baldes etc) are going to retail cheaper than Cricut too. One exciting feature is that instead of having to use Cricut markers to draw with, you will be able to ANY pen! How cool is that? Right now it is still a prototype but is due for release this summer.

Another cool feature is the red laser light function that allows you to test run and see clearly where the blade will cut and so you can adjust your blade position and really save paper.

Sizzix have really worked hard to keep ahead of   all the markets and the new(ish) product that
absolutely had me enthralled was the Sizzix
Bigz popup dies. I mean it, as we walked
around the show I kept  saying,"Wow, I
love those popup dies!" They have been
designed by Karen Burniston. here is a link
to some youtube videos and to her website. She was great, and her
work was out of this world!

It was ingenious how Karen used the same die and transformed it into other creations. She often used the original die cut in clear acrylic and used it as a frame to hold another piece. She also combined her dies with Tim Holtz dies as seen on the popup birdcage.

The onlydown side for me is they are too big for my Cuttlebug!
However, I was told some exciting Cuttlebug news, but if I told you I would have to kill you, (or maybe they would kill me!?!) Anyway, I can't wait for it!  Sssshhhh!

The popup house also makes a doghouse,

gingerbread house or a bird house!

 

How cute is this? And best of all, everything folds completely flat and can fit into a regular sized card.

Here is the snowman die transformed into
Jack Skelington. This caused me to give a great
 big "Ooooh aaaw!"

Popup cake die with Tim Holtz sign post...and this
all folds flat!



We are  going to have so much fun with all the wonderful new products that are either on the shelves now, or will be by the late summer!


At the very end of the day, I bumped onto an old friend,...actually she is really the girl who first got me introduced to scrapbooking, and it was great to catch up with her again. Jayne Bentley, from Colour my World had such a cute line of stencils. http://www.colourmyworld.co.uk/

She also has a fantastic download site, The Papertrail Company. http://www.thepapertrailco.co.uk/  for papers, toppers, cards, tags, mini books. Watch both there and this space as there are some fabulous products coming this spring.

The whole thing was a blast!