CHA SuperShow • Winter 2010

Due to the resounding success of its very first consumer show in Orlando this past summer, the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) organized a second consumer show which preceded the trade show in Anaheim this month. Supported by manufacturers, local retailers, chain stores and even designers, the show is an opportunity to educate consumers about products and teach crafting techniques through Make-It Take-Its (MITIs) and demos. I taught two free workshops on the show floor for example: a Spirelli (string art embellishments) workshop and a Brushstroke workshop. There was a workshop every hour for both Friday and Saturday. There was lots of excitement on the show especially at the Cricut booth. Since the consumer show was before the trade show, it was the consumers who saw the Cricut Cake first and boy were they excited!!

It was busy everywhere, but for me the most exciting area was the KidZone. KS Productions, the company who has been bringing "Hands On Crafts for Kids" to PBS stations across the US for over 10 years, worked hand in hand with CHA and manufacturers to have MITIs for our youngest crafters. I spent all day Friday helping little ones make Monkey bookmarks. I can't put into words what a thrill it was to watch those tiny hands paint and glue, so here are some photos to share. There are no names, of course, but I did ask each parent for permission before taking these photos! If you are a manufacturer reading this, these will be your customers in the not too distant future, so please remember this when asked to support a childrens program of any kind.
















Future Arts & Crafts Teacher! Tara Smith and Keri Cunningham from CHA

Boys and girls, moms and dads even grandparents had so much fun making ants, octopuses, bracelets, necklaces, bulletin boards, pencil toppers, frames, sand art, bookmarks and more. In this hi tech era of computers and hand held games, etc. let's not forget how much fun it is to craft!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

California Here I Come!

Next week at this time I'll be heading for Anaheim!  God willing and the creek don't rise that is.......  The creek rising is a distinct possibility around here.  It rained so much one year the water almost reached the back fence and the road to and from the area was flooded in both directions.  We had no power for almost 4 days.  The stove is gas, so I could cook, but we had no water since we have a well and, of course the pump is electric.  None of that bothered us too much, it was the huge vultures that sat on the back fence that gave us the "eebie jeebies"........  As usual, I digress.

I've been so busy this month (and yes the tree is still up.  So much for 12th night.)  I'm teaching 2 small workshops at the Craft Academy at the CHA Supershow.  The first is on Friday evening at 7pm. This is a Spirelli workshop.  Spirelli is basically string art and a cool way to make embellishments.  Anyway I'll be showing you how to do it and here's a picture of what it looks like.

 

The second class is all about decorative painting.  Did I say these classes are only 45 mins!  Obviously I can't tell you everything in such a short time, but I'll show you some basic brush strokes and so you'll be able to paint this.  This class is at noon on Saturday.

It's a 4" tile and we'll paint it with Gloss Enamels, so we won't have to worry about prepping surfaces, etc that has to be done with wood.  Did I say already that the classes are FREE, that's right FREE!!

I'll be in the KidZone on Friday then in the Michaels booth for a MITI on Saturday afternoon at 2pm. Hope to see you there!

Yours truly,

Julie  :)

Happy New Year!

I wonder what this new decade will bring.......  the craft industry changed quite a bit over the past 10 years, but that's the nature of crafts - inherent creativity.  Nothing would be happening if things weren't changing.  Seems like the past ten years was the "digital decade".  It was all about computers, digital cameras and social networking.  I love my digital camera and treated myself to the new Canon Rebel for Christmas.  It's great for both photographing projects up close and personal and the grandchildren. Don't really care about the HD movie feature - I like what I call my "Mini Movies" - short and sweet that most cameras can take.  They're good enough for me.  I got a Flip video camera about a year ago, but never used it.  Let me know if you want one.  I'm not very good at the social networking stuff.  I try to keep up, but it's quite apparent that I have a hard enough time keeping up with the blog.  I have so many things I'd like to do do here, but it's so hard to find the time when living a regular life.  I like Facebook, but only to check on friends and family photos.  I don't know how the social networkers do everything that they do.

I'm still working on the projects for the Craft SuperShow in Anaheim.  Yikes it's a little over 2 weeks away!  I'm going to be teaching two classes.  Spirelli on Friday evening and a Brushstroke Workshop on Saturday morning.  I'll also be in the Michaels booth Saturday afternoon showing a line of Woodsie kits I created for Loew-Cornell and later in the afternoon I'll be at the Barnes & Noble for a book signing for Hands on Crafts for Kids - 20 Minute Crafts.  Come see me!  I'll post project photos later this week.

Yours truly,
Julie  :)

New Series of Scrapbook Memories Now Airing!

BYU is now airing the latest series of Scrapbook Memories every day at 1pm CST. DVD sets of the series are also available, so you can watch any time as many times as you want!   Details are on our website, www.scrapbookmemoriestv.com.

This month has been unusually hectic. I won't go into details, let's just leave it with me still shopping for Christmas gifts and only 2 days to go.... Christmas comes whether I'm ready for or not and over the years I've learned to just sit back and enjoy all the hustle and bustle. Okay, I'll admit I'm not too good at the sitting back part. My favorite thing is decorating the tree. It's full of ornaments we've collected over the past 35+ years and each one has its own special memory. It would never win a beauty contest, but it's the best ever.

I've been working on some technique workshops for the CHA Consumer show in Anaheim, California at the end of January, so check back after the New Year and I'll let you in on what's going on!  BTW - they will be FREE  :)

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

The Color Purple? + Wax Ornaments!

Purple, Lavender, Violet........ whatever the shade, it's apparently going to be very trendy (or is already), and, if we follow our European cousins, we'll see it paired with turquoise.  Love it, love it!  Purple and turquoise are two of my favorite fashion colors - for clothing that is, but, sorry, I just can't see myself buying purple Christmas ornaments.  I have to admit, purple did not jump out as being a "hot" color when I walked the Dallas Gift market in January and July this year.  The first time I really saw it as being a possible trend, was in the Christmas aisle at my local Michaels store.  Michaels buyers are very savvy about trends, but I'm going to reserve judgment on this one until I see that it "sold out".  The "proof is in the pudding", as my mum used to say, so we'll see how much purple is left for the after Christmas sales.

My favorite colors for the holidays are red, green, silver and gold.  I'm a die hard traditionalist when it comes to Christmas.  I still love my wooden ornaments from Germany and the old fashioned, colorful glass ornments.  My favorite is a small coffee pot.  It's just like the one my dad bought for me about 55 years ago - yup.... it's all about the memories.  This weekend I'll be unpacking Christmas decorations.  It's a chore getting all the boxes down, but I just love unpacking the boxes of ornaments for the tree.  I usually do this on the 2nd Sunday in Advent.  We decorate outside first, then inside with the tree being the last decoration we put up.  It's not just the wood and glass ornaments, but things we've made over the years that are full of memories - sand dollars sprinkled with clear glitter, clothespin reindeer, oh and RECYCLED candle ornaments!  They're the best.  I had a whole tree full one year.  I melted old red candle wax in a double boiler. Let it cool until it just coats a metal spoon, then used a gravy ladel to pour it into plastic cookie cutters set out on wax paper on a cold surface.  Let the wax harden then pop the cookie cutter away from the wax.  Voilá, you have a perfect wax heart.  The real beauty is seen when they're hung on the tree and the lights from the tree shine thru the wax.  Hangers are easy.  Light a candle, then thread gold thread onto a needle.  Heat the tip of the needle in then candle flame then push thru the top of the was ornament.  Thread a whole bunch at once then tie them off one at a time. I made hearts, stars, moons, and small gingerbread boys and girls.  Oh, and if the wax was perfumed, your ornaments will be too.  Just a word of warning.  Store them in a cool place after Christmas.......  an attic in Texas was not the best idea.  Of course you can always melt them down and re-make them........

Happy Thanksgiving "ya'll"

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Shoebox Crafts - "Card-Ecologist"

Okay, I promised some old, timeless projects from my Shoebox Crafts column, so here 'tis:
(This is a page from Craftworks©/November 1998 magazine, published by All American Crafts.)

"Recycle, reuse, remember and rejoice - it's almost Christmas!"  Sound familiar?  This was 11 years ago. BTW:  Christmas Day is 6 weeks from today.  I digress.......  not sure you can read the text.  I'll check once it's posted then if it's not legible I'll post instructions on my website: www.juliemcguffee.com on the "Projects" page.  Give me a day or two though.............

Hmmm... interesting photo - oh to be 50 again!!

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!  Enjoy.

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Shoebox Crafts

In 1996 I started to write a feature column in Craftworks magazine entitled, "Julie's Shoebox Crafts".  They were all very basic craft projects with a chatty little story, of course, featuring....drum roll please..... things that most people have around the house.  We have a saying in England - "I'm not as GREEN as I'm cabbage looking", but apparently I was already being very "green" by featuring projects that reused, repurposed and recycled. I always was ahead of my time, at least that's what my dad thought.  Craftworks evolved into Create and Decorate a few years ago and the column changed to "Home Remedies" (Home Dec projects), but life got in the way and I had to stop writing the column a couple of years ago.  Some of the projects were pretty timeless, so maybe I'll feature some of them again here and on my website.  I'll have to pull out my old computer for the files though, or maybe I can scan the project photo from the magazine.  I'll have a think and see what I can do.

In the meantime here's one of my favourite photos - taken on my way to the grocery store.  Enjoy!

STEER CLEAR

Isn't he - not exactly cute...   how about "Typically Texan"....  I told you I lived in the country. 

Yours truly,

Julie :)

Scrapbooking - Alive & Well

In 2003 Leisure Arts published "Alphabet Doodles", a book I had written about creating fun and simple alphabets for scrapbookers by combining a variety of markers.  Here's a condensed version of the forward I wrote for the book:

    "Over the past six years or so, photograph albums, scrapbooks, and even diaries have combined and the word "scrapbook" has evolved from a noun to a verb.  Without doubt, scrapbooking has become one of the most popular creative pastimes for the new millennium."

So popular, in fact that capital investment companies took note as they started to see small family businesses grow into multi million dollar enterprises seemingly overnight and decided that buying and consolidating these liitle companies was going to be BIG business.  Now, another six years later the scrapbooking industry has a completely different face.  But, we still scrapbook.  Influenced by digital cameras and online products,  we don't necessarily scrapbook the way we did in 1997 for example, or even 2000, or 2003, but scrapbookers still create scrapbooks

    "showcasing the very essence of our lives".  A scrapbook becomes a perpetual record and helps us to remember those special moments we might otherwise forget."  Whatever your style, scrapbooks are important.  Years from now they will make you laugh, smile and maybe even shed a tear or two, but, most importantly, they will be worth every second you took to put them together."

There are so many industry polls about whether scrapbooking is on the rise, or decline.  Independent scrapbooks stores are now few and far between, each one vying for customers, trying to hold on to their niche in spite of competition from the chain stores and more recently from online stores.  There is constant discussion about why this is happening and who's to blame and there are polls that show this, and polls that show that and "no, you can't borrow my axe because I'm making soup".

Things change.  People change.  The baby in the photos that were painstakingly scrapbooked in 1997 is now 12 years old and we are scrapbooking in different way - sometimes, sometimes not.  We are taking more photographs now than we ever did because we have digital cameras and our biggest challenge today, is to print them!  I, for one, admit to having over 6,500 in iPhoto on my desktop.  Now that's different for a start.  But, I still scrapbook.  I chronicle the important events in our lives because whatever the polls say, it's still all about me and I will always take photos and, even though some of my scrapbooks are a mere iPhoto library on my desktop, they are there for all of us to see and enjoy and are just as important.

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Don't Quote Me!

I LOVE quotes!  I saw one in my "Cheeky Quotes" today that reminded me of one of my all time favorites:

Winston Churchill was at a dinner that was also being attended by Lady Astor.  At one point during the conversation she turned to Winston and said, "Winston.  If you were my husband I'd put poison in your drink".  Without missing a beat Winston turned to her and replied, "and if you were my wife madam, I'd drink it". Brilliant!

Have a happy day!  Only 7 weeks and 2 days till Christmas  :)

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Unsung Heroes

Our business was audited this week - thankfully not by the IRS, but by the state Workforce Commission.  One of the questions we were asked was, "what exactly is it that you do?"  Not an uncommon question and not an easy one to answer to someone who has no idea that there even is an Arts & Crafts industry. I'd just finished working on some kits for a manufacturer and had about a dozen projects in a box waiting to be packed up and shipped out.  I also had a box full of the manufacturer's product that I had been sent to work with.  Using these to illustrate, I explained my job as a designer as follows: 
        The majority of companies provide consumers with a finished item that they can buy then display, or use in a certain way.  In the Arts & Crafts industry, companies manufacture components that the consumer can use to create an item themselves.  Fabric is an easy example.  The consumer can buy a dress, or buy the components and tools to make a dress, i.e. fabric, thread, scissors, pins, needles and a pattern featuring fabric.  The designer's job for manufacturers is to create an item (project) featuring their component (product) to inspire the consumer to buy their product and make the item.   Finished projects with instructions on how to make them, appear in craft magazines, books, on TV, project sheets, websites, or, as in this case, the projects were designed specifically for the manufacturer to create kits.  So why my "unsung heroes" title?  Any time you see projects on packaging, or a header/poster in a store that promote a particular product, they were created by a designer who you may, or may not know.  And, of course,  the products being sold whether they are finished pieces or raw components, were designed by someone. You'll be seeing the kits I designed in a major chain store next year.  Like many other things I work on, there'll be no name attached.  My wish is, that I hope you enjoy making the projects as much as I enjoyed designing and creating them.

Yours truly,
Julie  :)
BTW:  We passed the audit with "no errors"..........

New Series of Scrapbook Memories Airing this Fall!

I wish I could tell you that it'll start on such & such a date and at what time, but.....  here's the kicker.  We produce a series of 13 shows which then go to a distributor for all public television stations.  Public TV stations are independently owned, so each program manager chooses which shows to air and when, so, unlike commercial channels, the shows air at different times and on different days throughout the US.   There is no cost to TV stations who choose to air the show - public television at work.  These are stations that anyone can see anywhere at any time whether they have cable, satellite service or not, so we love the fact that we're on PBS.  If the station in your particular area doesn't air the show (and there are a few), contact the program manager and ask your friends to do the same.  "Squeaky Wheels" do help, especially if they're looking for your support.

For those of you who do have cable, etc.  Scrapbook Memories airs Mon-Fri at 2pm EST and Noon on Saturdays on the BYU (Brigham Young University) channel.  Since there are only 13 shows in a series, it takes just 2 weeks and 1 day to air a complete series, so, like PBS, they keep repeating old shows until they have a new series.  We produce 26, half shows per year and have done for over 12 years now.  That's more than 312 half hour shows making the show one of the longest running of its kind.

KS Productions now has DVD sets available of complete series.  You can check out which ones at: www.scrapbookmemoriestv.com  Enjoy!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Home Sweet Home

I'm asked all the time if I miss "home". The answer is definitely "no" since I'm a firm believer that "home is where you hang your hat" even if most of us don't wear hats any more. I say "most" because there's a whole lot of folks who wear cowboy hats around where I live.

Of course I know they're asking if I miss England. I haven't lived in England since the late 60's and things have changed a lot in the past 40+ years. I definitely miss things like the best Fish & Chips and Yorkshire pudding in the world, but more than anything, I miss the England I used to know. The only constant in life is "change" and, like everywhere else, life there is very different now. We don't even have British passports any more now that the UK is part of the EEC. I do try to go back "home" whenever I can. There are still a lot of places that have stayed the same for hundreds of years and I enjoy being there.   It's "comfort food" for the soul.

Being born and growing up in England however, couldn't help but leave an indelible imprint on my life. It's the early years that have a great influence on who we are and what we become. I've been around quite a while now and even remember when my dad brought home our first TV set. It was black & white, of course, and I remember shows like "Watch with Mother" and not being bothered a bit that Andy Pandy and Looby Loo slept in the same toy box. I remember entertaining myself by reading a lot, writing stories, drawing, painting and making things out of anything and everything that I could find around the house like pipe cleaners, nut shells and even leaves. My favourite supplies were shells and to this day I still have boxes upon boxes of shells I've collected from the past 50 years. It's no wonder that I've become the "itinerant crafter".

So, in answer to the question "do I miss home", I have to say "yes" and "no". On the one hand I am home, but "yes" I do miss the home of my childhood and treasure those memories dearly.

Yours truly,
Julie