CHA Mega Show 2014 | Trends To Watch

As the CHA Mega Show 2014 sneak peeks will start to come in earnest in the next week or two, I thought I would share with you all a look at the list I've been working on for awhile of what I think will be the trends and styles we will see that should dominate the scrapbooking lines in Anaheim this year.

Wood: Both in its actual physical form and in the form of printed wood grain design, wood has been hot for some time. This will definitely continue in Anaheim with a wide range of die cut wood embellishments being on display. (Is wood the new chipboard? Interesting question...)

Cork: Natural materials (not just wood) in general seem to be on the rise, and cork has definitely gotten hot in the past year. Die cut cork shapes are making appearances in various collections, and consumers are also using die cut machines to cut their own from sheets of cork (like I did for the layout below, which was featured on Season 3 of Scrapbook Soup this past fall).

Home Cooking

(visit original post for supply list and more info)

Transparency: This old trend is making a comeback, long after the demise of the original hip producer of scrapbooking transparencies (Hambly). This is just one of many trends coming out of the Project Life community, and was also popular with December Daily participants this year. In Las Vegas, a growing list of companies introduced transparencies, predominantly in holiday lines (led by former Hambly designer Allison Kreft with her signature line for Webster's Pages) and this will definitely continue with the spring/summer lines, as already evidenced by introductions leaked by the American Crafts group of brands.

Chalkboard: This design element was absolutely everywhere in Las Vegas, and it won't be going away in Anaheim. However I predict a shorter than typical life cycle for this trend as I think the consumer will rapidly tire of what is a pretty specific and dramatic look.

Doilies: An outgrowth of the vintage and kitchen theme trends, doilies aren't going away any time soon. They are an affordable design element, available in bulk if you purchase them in the food section (like I did for the layout above). The rapidly growing use of electronic die cut machines and increasingly detailed thin metal dies is also making it easy for consumers to cut their own. This "trend" is crossing over into staple, it would appear.

Arrows: Another trend that has been born out of the Project Life explosion, arrow embellishments are everywhere recently: stamps, chipboard, and even as all over patterns on paper designs. But as you can see below in one of my cards from the "layouts to cards" segment I did for Scrapbook Soup this year, arrows aren't just for Project Life!

Lawn Fawn card

(view original post for supply list and layout that the card is based on)

Stars: This has been a somewhat sneaky trend. Stars used to be mostly reserved for holidays like Christmas and July 4th, but they are creeping into more everyday use lately. I think we will see a surprising amount of them in spring/summer lines, especially in boy themes and also as icons for use in pocket scrapbooking projects.

Feathers: These have been around for a couple of shows as a sort of edgy look but are really starting to pick up steam as a more mainstream design element. Stamps and stencils, as well as patterned paper, seem to be the consumers' favored incarnation of feathers, as opposed to the real thing.

Internet Inspired Icons/Text:

Rainbow: When industry trends stepped out of the muted tones of vintage and started using bolder color again, some designers went all in on the color and just used it all, creating rainbow themed items and collections. This explosion of color seems to have struck a chord with consumers, as most of the products have flown off shelves. Spring/summer collections are a great time to continue that celebration of color, and I expect we'll see some more of it Anaheim.

Metallic: If there was one color trend in Las Vegas in July, it was most definitely the rise of metallic tones. Gold, silver, bronze, copper, pewter, and pretty much any other metal tone you could think of was on the show floor in the form of almost any product you wanted: embellishments, ink, paper, you name it. While it would be easy to attribute this as a blip caused by seasonal product lines, metallics are actually a popular color trend in fashion at the moment, and so I expect to see this trend continue into the spring/summer lines (which could have some very interesting results).

Watercolor: This trend has been brought to us by a combination of the art journaling craze and the rise of stamping as a dominant sub-market in the papercrafting industry. Watercolor is popular as both a design style for collections (reference: Amy Tangerine) and as a coloring medium for consumers to create with. (Below, I used watercolor crayons to fill in the stamps on a card I made for Scrapbook Soup, season 3.)

Lawn Fawn Watercolor Card

(visit original post for supply list and to see the layout the card is based on)

Nautical: This theme made a surprisingly strong appearance at the Las Vegas show, despite it being dominated by winter product line introductions. I think there is no doubt that it will be back in a big way at the Anaheim show, where mostly spring/summer lines will be shown - the perfect season for getting on the water.

Enamel Dots: These teeny affordable embellishments have been toiling in relative obscurity (so to speak) for years, a staple of a certain style of card maker but largely ignored by the average scrapbooker. But since being adopted as a go-to "finishing touch" by Project Life adherents like former Scrapbook Update Contributing Writer (and current Two Peas In A Bucket Garden Girl) Melissa Stinson, these dots have become mainstream, snapped up by scrapbookers of all kinds. Companies are rushing to fill the demand, creating dots that coordinate with their product lines.

Clothespins: Another trend that has transferred from the card making market to the pocket scrapbooking market, mini decorative clothespins are now seemingly everywhere, whereas even a few shows ago they were the sole jurisdiction of a few specific companies like Pebbles. Clothespins are very compatible with spring/summer themes so I'm sure this will continue through the Anaheim show.

Label Tape Inspired Alphas: These alphabets mostly started out as part of the alphabet "multi sheets" that have been popular at many companies in recent years, but have become so popular (thanks to pocket scrapbooking creating demand for teeny alphabets) that many companies now are starting to produce and sell them on their own. While the traditional color for these alphabets is of course black, that hasn't stopped manufacturers from producing them in every color of the rainbow. Expect to see a lot of these in Anaheim.