NAMTA-Creativation Trade Show 2022

 

                The creative world continues to change.  The trade show that was once HIA, became CHA then AFCI when ACCI and CHA merged with their annual trade show known as Creativation.  AFCI Creativation merged with the National Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA) in the fall of last year, bringing general arts & crafts and fine arts together. The first combined show was held last weekend at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The names of the associations may have changed over the years, but creativity remains constant.

                I've been attending arts & crafts trade shows since 1991 and always look forward to seeing well-known and new exhibitors, new products, new techniques, new ideas, etc, as well as catching up with long time industry friends and meeting new ones.  For those of you who have followed my "walk thrus" in pictures over the past few years, grab a cup of tea, coffee, or whatever you enjoy (it's 5  o'clock somewhere), sit back and enjoy!                                                                             

 

New Products coming soon!

Deco Art Marbling

Artesprix Iron-on Inks and Paint

Tim Holtz Distress Foundry Wax

Medea Thread Sealer

Stencils and Stencil Butter from the Crafters Workshop

Bob Ross Kits for Kids

There were quite a few more, so keep in touch with your local and online stores.  

        Now here's a look at the exhibitor booths, starting with DecoArt's water marbling acrylic program, demonstrated by Sandy McTier, plus Impasto and Wax Effects.

 

For those who love to braid fabric, Clover brings us a folding tool to make it easier.

 

 

 

This is a company from Italy...

For those of you who love to create with T-shirt yarn, no more visits to thrift stores!

 This company saves you time by doing it all for you......  a prime example of a manufacturer who sees a need and develops a product to fill it.

Art Venture is one of a handful of manufactures bringing mechanical, laser cut wood kits to the hobby market.

Check out this assembled, wind up, motorized spider! So cool....

Artful learning kits for kids!  So important for our industry. In a hi-tech world, children need hands on activities, plus they are tomorrow's customers.......

 

Craft Express for sublimation blanks and tools. 

More laser cut wood craft kits

Paper Rose

Sue Eldred demoing for Style Tech (vinyl)

Demo Alley where designers and manufacturers demo'd their products.

 Above,Designer Tanya Ruffin demo's sublimation paint for Artesprix and 

below Kassy Laurence demoing for Grafix

This manufacturer travel teaches and developed these disposable paper paint palettes.

Here's Erin Reed demoing Edding paint markers.

had to stop and say hello to Ken Oliver...

Winsor & Newton, one of the fine art companies I'm familiar with from over 60+ years ago!

Leisure Arts, familiar to us all for the their wonderful publications, now sells product!

3D Printers and organizational product

Zuri Designs - molds for clay, wax, chocolate, etc

 

Love this! Fabric trim patterns created with Gel Press!

Golden Acrylics

So cute to knit and crochet!

Silver Creek Leather

Royal Talens. This booth was always packed, probably because Mark Montano was demoing! 

Have you heard about his new show, "Meet Your Makers Showdown"?  It's airing on Disney Plus.

Sewing Center

Grafix

Here we (Ann Butler and I) are relaxing at the end of the show.  Hope you enjoyed this quick walk thru. I probably only got photos of half of the exhibitors there, but maybe it will give you a little taste of the arts & crafts trade show world.  If you would like to see more, my friend, Erin Reed shared a video tour of the entire show on her YouTube channel.  Be sure to subscribe to let her know you watched...

https://youtu.be/_bdfcZ83QZ0

Yours truly,

Julie 💝

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Spring Blooms

 It's Spring and flowers are the perfect “pick me up” to brighten anyone’s day.  Nothing says “I love you”, “Thinking of You”, or “You are Special” like a gift of flowers..

You will need:

• Joy® Iron-on Embroidered 4” letters – O x 2, B L M
• Kunin® Classic Felt, 9” x 12” – Baby Pink, Lemon Frost, White and Apple Green
• Kunin® Premium Felt, 9” x 12” – Kelly Green 
• Mod Podge® Ultra Spray - Matte
• Zots® clear adhesive dots - singles
• 12” x 16” Wood plaque*
• 10” Embroidery Hoop*
• Tacky glue & lo-temp glue gun
• Canvas cloth (drop cloth)

*Choose a plaque to suit your particular needs and an embroidery hoop large enough to fit on top as shown.  Embroidered letters are also available in different sizes.

 

Instructions:

1.  Cut 4 pieces of canvas cloth to cover each section of the wood plaque then, following manufacturer’s directions, spray the wood liberally with Mod Podge Ultra. Press the cloth pieces on top then set aside to dry.  Rinse the spray nozzle when finished to avoid clogging. 

2. Glue the hoop in place on top of the covered plaque with lo-temp glue. Peel the backing from the embroidered letters to reveal the adhesive, then press firmly in place as shown.  TIP: Always start by placing the middle letter first, then adding letters to the left and right for even spacing.

 

3. Cut 7, 2" x 1" oval felt shapes for each medium rose and 7, 2 ½” x 1 ¼” ovals for a larger rose.  Cut 16, or more 2” and 2 ½” leaves from 2 shades of green using the pattern below. If you have a Cricut® Maker, you can easily cut the ovals using the shapes feature.  

Download/or print the leaf pattern here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZgEKMdFvnT8_hiAv3AKNEySPJQPxIeBV/view?usp=sharing

 

Make the Roses as follows:

4. Using adhesive dots, attach 7 ovals together in a slight curve. Press the felt firmly onto the adhesive dots.

 

 

5. Starting at one end, tightly roll the linked shapes together to form the rose.  To prevent unrolling, squeeze together at the base then secure by spreading lo-temp glue across the bottom.

6. Create rosebuds by tightly rolling 3-4 shapes together. Position roses, rosebuds and leaves on the plaque at the base of the hoop, then glue in place. With so many pretty colors of felt to choose from, you’ll be creating bunches of felt bloomers in no time! 

 

Happy Spring everyone! Enjoy......

Yours truly,

Julie 💝

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Joy® Iron-On embroidered letters, Kunin® felt and Mod Podge Ultra Spray products used were provided by the manufacturers.