Trends – Gia Aloha

Scrapbooking Trends Top 10

Trends in scrapbooking are something I have always had an interest in following. I have been told that I kind of have a knack for recognizing and even predicting the biggest trends that will go viral in the scrapbooking world. This being the case, I thought I would start doing more trend posts on this blog for all of my scrappy crafty friends! So here we go…

Number 10:

Swans are in. Also spotted but completely unrelated are Peacocks and Flamingos. Especially in scrapbooking if you work for Crate Paper and your name rhymes with Baggie Gomes.

Number 9:

More random animals of a furry rather than feathered variety such as llamas, giraffes, and my personal favorite the sloth.

Giraffes have recently been spotted in the newest Dear Lizzy collection from American Crafts!

Number 8:

Boho style and anything with Tassels or Pom Poms! They just give everything a pop of color and je ne sais quoi ! Tassels are also still trending !

Number 7:

Mandalas have been making more appearances such as in collections by Jillibean Soup and in digital die cutting files!

ooooooooh! Pretty!

Number 6:

Black backgrounds! Everybody loves a pretty floral, but a pretty floral on a black background…now that is something else all together! In scrapbooking, look out for layouts on a black background also. Amy Tangerine’s latest Shine On collection is one to look for where black is definitely the new black!

Number 5:

Holographic materials. These have started showing up in everything from alphabets to accents on embellishments and papers. I’m thinking about Shimelle’s recent collections!

Number 4: The colors blue and purple and especially blue and purple together! Pinkfresh Studios Indigo Hills 2 and recent Cocoa Vanilla collections illustrate this trend perfectly.

Number 3:

Modern slang phrases! Here are some I love–

cool AF (where AF means As F@*&$)

Lit up = awesome

Low Key = Kind of sorta

FOMO = Fear of missing out

I know sometimes it’s like a foreign language but it isn’t just for teenagers and snapchat, unless you’re a total NOOB ( that means beginner or newcomer)

Number 2:

Hand lettering and calligraphy. You don’t even have to be that good at it- thanks to lettering stamps, outline hacks, and kind of cool markers.

Number 1:

Buffalo Checks/Plaids! And they are not just for Christmas anymore. Thank you Joanna and Chip for this Magnolia/Fixer Upper trend which seems to really, really be sticking around!

Now it’s your turn to tell me what you think of these trends! Please comment and share your likes/dislikes and any trends I have missed!

-xGia

Trendy Tuesday: I Love Indigo

Did a little trend stalking while shopping at Anthropologie this weekend. I have also noticed this trend in home decor and fashion. It’s indigo blue! There is something so appealing about it and it reminds me of elaborate china patterns and rich looking textiles. Of course scrapbooking paper patterns will not be far behind! This trend was the inspiration behind my layout today using the June Clique Kits kit called La Dolce Vita.

To make this layout I cut my title using a file downloaded from the Silhouette Studio shop from a sheet of white cardstock that I had prepped with white gesso and then painted with blue watercolor paint. Gesso helps to make a clean cut after the cardstock has been painted as long as it is sufficiently dry. I also liked the effect of some of the white showing through and giving it a distressed look.

Here is a close up of some embellishments added from my stash of leftovers from a previous Clique Kit. There are some of the January and February kits still available in the shop, along with some of the Amy Tangerine washi tape!

Using indigo in this layout featuring my daughter in that blue shirt was a no brainer! I love how it came out!

I hope to see you back tomorrow for the Clique Kits monthly pep rally!

-xo Gia

Mojo Monday

Aloha! I just realized that almost 2 months have gone by and I still have not posted about one of the craft and hobby industry’s biggest source of mojo! The CHA winter show was held for the last time ever in Anaheim, California this year from January 8-13th. This year the entire Clique Kits leadership team was able to attend, which was even more inspiring since we were able to combine our own company retreat with the industry’s largest trade show. What was even more inspiring to me than seeing all of the new products and all of the “celebrities” was just hanging out with and watching the Clique Kits leadership team in action! We have evolved into a well oiled machine over the past two years, and yet still continue to grow and improve!

Here we are approaching the Anaheim Convention Center to get registered and then head out to Disneyland, California for some food, drinks, and heart to heart discussion of our progress and goals as individuals and as a company! Some people may not realize that the Clique Kits founders and leadership team work together from many different zip codes and time zones. How is that possible? We use the internet of course and video teleconferencing technology. So meeting up face to face to is a once a year opportunity!

Time for some Mexican food!

Fresh guac-Nom Nom!

One of the things I love about working with a team of girl bosses is that we started the company with the intention to empower each other, not have power over each other. Like any good team, with each player in the role where their strengths are used to the team advantage, everyone thrives! Sometimes stressful situations can pull even the best of friends apart. Basic tenets of communication and preventive maintenance are key in this situation. Some of the things the CK girls do to maximize team work are:

Chat every day in our Clique Kits leadership chat group!
Meet regularly starting with a monthly “check-in” just to update each other on life outside of the company!
Back each other up. We are each able to step up to fill in for each other in any task if needed to help each other when we need to step away “offline” for family or personal situations. We give each other breaks-whenever asked!
Communicate effectively. We know how to give and take constructive criticism. We are able to express ourselves freely with no fear of retribution. If anyone finds anyone else hard to take, we don’t ignore it. We clear the air right away!

Here we are at Downtown Disney- yummy macaroons for dessert!

Back at our hotel suite-we had two adjoining rooms for the 5 of us. Sandy was our special guest as a design team member she was able to shoot lots of video for the Clique Kits and her personal You Tube channel covering the sights and activities we shared at CHA! Every night was basically a slumber party- we stocked the room with food & drinks and talked into the night making plans and going over the day’s events.

Nicole took this picture of me because I have been kind of obsessed with Zebras lately. LOL

Echo Park company had a map to pin an Instax picture to your location on- I also loved this collection of all of the states-especially my favorite state- Hawaii.

It was really neat to see the Altenew booth again-this year doubled in size! Last year we were so excited to order the stamp set we included in our Clique Cards Spring Edition 2015 and got to see the cards the Altenew owner created with the kit which featured the first My Mind’s Eye On Trend collection by Jen Allyson. We decided to do an encore performance and order the second On Trend (On Trend 2) for Clique Cards: Spring 2016 which is on sale now for pre-order! This time, we found another cute stamp from Hero Arts that coordinates with it perfectly! There are also NEW Altenew stamps available in the Clique Kits store, along with the amazing inks we tried out ourselves, and highly recommend for crisp,clean stamping perfection! (Ugh so many exclamation points- but I can’t help it.)

Another product we will be bringing to The Clique this summer- possibly alone or in a kit, are these really cool watercolor powders which contain a mixture of colors by Cosmo Cricket. They were super fun to play with giving a multitude of cool effects!

Recently the Clique Kits leaders have opened up a heart to heart discussion about heading in a direction away from doing business with large monopoly corporations in the industry, and moving in a direction favoring working mostly with smaller companies with whom we have built trusting, mutually rewarding relationships in our first two years of business. We realize this is a major step, and may disappoint certain people who continue to covet the products controlled by certain conglomerates. On the other hand, with these products widely available elsewhere, skipping over them for Clique Kits would enable us to focus more on exclusive products, and again, allow us to network with and nurture our relationships with smaller companies and newer start up companies we could easily overlook otherwise. This is not to say we wish to boycott, or in any way put down large corporations in the craft and hobby industry. It is simply the topic of discussion and the Clique Kits leadership team is interested in hearing what other think. Clique Kits is still and always will be committed to supporting small businesses, indie artists (Etsy and handmade items,etc) and huge fans of fair trade sourcing products that give back to communities around the world! I would love to hear of sources to check out-so please feel free to make recommendations and comments!

-xo Gia

Trends to try!

Hey, what’s up? I love this mug. I saw it at Target and it inspired the name of an upcoming Clique Kit…oops spoiler alert! One of the things I love to do on a bloggy catch-up weekend is grab my coffee and talk trends. So let’s do it!

Trend 1 Marbleized surfaces:

paper by Me and My Big Ideas

Marble and marbleized surface design on paper is a really really old technique. But it has re-surfaced as a modern pattern in everything from stationery to fashion to home decor. Italian bookmakers and handmade paper makers actually invented over a dozen specific patterns of marbleizing, but my favorite is freeform. I especially love when metallics like gold and copper are mixed in. I have seen more and more marbleized paper appearing in scrapbooking recently from patterned paper collections from Dear Lizzy to Crate Paper to Maggie Holmes and even a whole monochromatic marble line from Bazzill basics. I think we will continue to see marbleized paper through several more seasons!

Trend 2 Plaid Patterns:

I think this trend was especially apparent at Christmas time when black and red and sometimes gold were very hot, but get ready for Spring when pastel colored plaids and tartans are going to be just as big a hit! I am especially enamored with some patterns I saw from Photoplay paper company and Lawn Fawn!

Trend 3 Wild Things:

Animal Prints, animal faces, geometric animal illustrations, and more…we seem to have developed a fetish for our furry friends- whether wild or domesticated, cute and cuddly or not so much! Some trends have been around in fashion and have always made a bold statement, like giraffe print and zebra print. What kinds of wild looks do you like?

2015-Fall-and-Winter-Women-Fashion-Cute-Animal-Cat-Face-Pattern-Print-Loose-Plus-Size-M

Pictured above is an ipad cover with a non traditional zebra print spotted at Target, a We Are Memory Keepers Clearly Posh acetate print in gold cheetah, and a cat face sweater!

Trend 4 Tassels and pom poms:

I have been seeing tassels and pom poms everywhere. I don’t know about you. They started out as something I saw mostly as party decor-banners made up of fringy tassels made from crepe paper in pastel colors and even gold. Now I am seeing accesories and key chains and even techie gear like the item pictured made from classy leather tassels. Small tassels are pretty embellishments on mini albums and planners. I remember making pom poms in summer camp once- I never thought it was something I would look up again, but I couldn’t help myself. Here is a link to a super easy fork method of making pom poms and a tutorial to make this adorable and trendy pom pom bracelet!

Jewelry-DIY-ideas-pompom-bracelet-designs-to-make-6

Trend 4 Brushstrokes and Painterly Effects

This is defined as patterns where the artist’s hand is visible in the strokes of paint-whether watercolor, ink, acrylic, or oil, or even splashes- there is evidence left behind of the process of the artist. We are loving this look lately-from monochromatic to bold splashes of colors- and even florals! There are some amazing collections that have come out incorporating this style for scrapbooking by designers like Dear Lizzy, Amy Tan, Ashley Goldberg, Paige Evans, Shanna Noel, and many more! I can’t wait to get these in my upcoming Clique Kits (oh no-more spoilers)

pencil_skirt,x1055,front-bg,f8f8f8.2u2 — Mariko Brushstroke Painterly Pencil Skirt

Trend 5 Geometrics

These designs are really popular right now and really make an impact on any space-like this bedroom wall. I love geometric patterns on paper and geometric renderings of animals likes bears and foxes. They look really cool in scrapbooking too. Keep an eye out for dies, stamps, wood and acrylic shapes, die cut pieces, and paper patterns incorporating geometric designs.

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Trend 6 Neon Pastels

This is more of a color palette trend but I have seen a lot of this especially in fashion and it also influences paper and embellishment collections in scrapbooking we like, planner colors along with accessories. I really like to add pops of neon and gold to my pastels-so feminine and pretty for Spring!

pastels and neon

Trend 7 Succulents

How about those cactuses (plural cacti?) And their cousins the succulents? These have become the houseplant to have lately, and naturally, images of them are a popular motif in stamping, cards, and paper patterns. I was given one as a gift and with my black thumb I managed to…never mind. It’s too sad. I do have a really nice thriving one outside on my front lanai.

I probably missed some new popular trends, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind! I hope you enjoyed my trend talk- please let me know your thoughts!

-xo Aloha! Gia

#Sakuralala Haul

Hey! Let’s go shopping, shall we? I’m super excited about this haul I just got from my friend Eri’s really special little Honolulu based online shop called Sakuralala! I met Eri at last years CHA when she was helping “Mommy” ( Amy Tan’s mom who likes and follows everyone on Instagram with such authenticity it is truly a gift of love) and we were like (whoah- insert surprise emoji here) it’s you the Sakuralala girl- it’s you all the Clique Kits girls:-) gotta love it! In the mean time Eri is the one rubbing elbows with Amy Tan and Kelly Purkey and bringing them to teach amaze balls workshops in Honolulu! Wow! A lot has happened in the past year! These workshops were grade A++ quality in every category from what I have heard- the environment, the kits, and of course the company. There will be another one with Kelly Purkey in November! I’m on it!

Now back to the business of showing you what is in my Sakuralala shopping cart. I’m not gonna lie- I picked this stuff out like Sunday night- and it arrived already yesterday! Lightening fast for us locals.

Sakuralala is a shop that takes advantage of the owner’s ability to do commerce with Japan and the U.S. in order to carry the best quality of washi tapes out there. Yes washi tape has been discovered and imitated by many manufacturers now and there are great designs out there- but it is hard to find the proper wispy translucent quality and let’s not forget the stick! Tape is supposed to stick people! So if you are a washi tape fan, you will love the selection of quality washi brands she carries like MT tapes, Nami nami, Icco nico, and some I have only recently learned about.

Here are some of the items I purchased:

Washi tapes:

To-Do-Crayon2-350x350 — This one is called “To Do” and comes in different sized boxes and in crayon or pencil outlines. Perfect for planners to add lists! I bought the smallest size in both pencil and crayon.

City-Honolulu-Map1-600x600 — This wide MT wash tape with a Hawaii theme is going to be perfect for me. I love all of the Honolulu city landmarks and icons.

These happy clouds are so adorable. I also picked up some hedgehogs in the same style.

Coleto Limited Edition Pen Set in Marine

This pen set is really neat. I chose the design with the little beach designs and sea life on it. The pen holds 4 refill inks and the set comes with the whole set of 10 different colors to choose from. The best part is, they write in a smooth gel ink and the colors are sooooo pretty.

Last but not least, I bought some Frixion self-inking stamps. These stamps are very small and come in fun, bright colors perfect for planners. I fell in love with the heart, sun, and other adorable designs.

The store also carries some products from Hero Arts and American Crafts and does carry bigger ticket tools like stamp sets and dies. I really love Sakuralala! I also saw on Instagram that Sakuralala is looking for a design team!

Hope you are inspired to check out Sakuralala!

-xGia