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Dear Donna,
Late January was a good time to visit Anaheim
which hosted the 2007 Winter show of the
Craft and Hobby Association. CHA is an
international show with over 3,200 booths
representing 1,100 exhibitors. Over 20,000
people attended the show. Martha Stewart was
the keynote speaker this year. We expected
to hear more about her plans for her new
craft business but, alas, that did not
happen. Three rooms of furniture and accent
pieces from Designer members were showcased
in the lobby of the convention center to spotlight
decorating trends.
Each room showcased a different style: Seacoast
Sun Porch, Retro Tween's Room, and Global Accents
Library. Several Society of Decorative
Painting members had pieces on display. This
showcase underlined the emphasis on
personalizing our homes.
"As daily life becomes increasingly technology driven
and hectic, trend experts predict that consumers will
seek out and cling to products and activities that help
them feel grounded and secure. ... The $68 billion
Home Accents market provides a growth opportunity
for the $30 billion US craft industry as consumers
increasingly turn to crafting for the home as a means
of inspired self expression and creating a comfortable
living space where they can relax." (CHA 2007)
Plaid extended their line of fabric decorating and
launched a new line of fabric paints. A very impressive
new line of decorative paint transfers Instant
Expressions give consumers the ability to
decorate their walls with words and phrases, murals,
and classic home accents that look handpainted.
DecoArt has packaged their popular metallic colors in
a 10 oz. wide-mouth jar as Elegant Finish Metallics
and Antiquing Glazes. Finished projects on display
included boxes and canvas pieces that used
paintable wallpaper elements to provide texture.
"Personalization is an important trend. Groups of
small pictures of your loved ones hanging on the wall
create a secure atmosphere. The hot trends in the art
of wallpapering are metallic and graphics. "
| Five New Colors - DecoArt Americana |
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DecoArt's five new colors of Americana paint
for 2007
were added to provide complete palettes in
the three trends that they identified:
Coastal, Retro and Old World/European. The
new colors are: Mustard Seed, Poodleskirt
Pink, Turquoise Blue, Orange Twist and Tuscan
Red. Unlike Delta, DecoArt did not
discontinue any colors this year.
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| Timeless Treasures |
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VW87-12876 Timeless Treasures with
PermEnamel by Sharon Shannon $12.95
Although the projects are painted with Delta
PermEnamel glass paints, the author provides
a Color Conversion Chart to Delta Ceramcoat
paint making this book a bonus that will
appeal to people who like to paint on
porcelain, ceramic tiles and glass and also
to people who want to paint on wood.
Instruction on using PermEnamels is very good.
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| New books in stock |
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- LA-22626 Mixed Media Canvases by Chris
Thornton $12.95
- LA-22615 Painted Chairs for Tiny Tots by Assorted
Artists $11.95
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| Books: Coming Soon |
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Plaid expects to publish the following books in late
February:
- PLA-9871 Cats & Dogs by Peggy Harris
- PLA-9894 Vintage Posters & Signs by Jill DeMaria
and Maria Grimanis
We are expecting the following books from Northlight:
- NL-Z0054 Guide to Painting Water Scenes by
Robert Warren $24.99
- NL-Z0608 Painting Peaceful Country Landscapes
by Annette Dozier $24.99
- NL-Z0230 Painting Songbirds with Sherry Nelson
$24.99
Jamie Mills-Price will have a new book Christmas
Time Between the Vines Vol 5 in late February or
early March. Pictures of projects are on her website.
We have ordered the book. If you'd like the book as
soon as it arrives, please phone in your order. We will
be glad to call you when we are ready to ship so you
can add to your order.
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| JoSonja's New Gold Dust |
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Gold Dust is a clear gel that contains shimmering
particles of brilliant gold. Use alone or with Jo Sonja's
Artists' Colors to create glittering effects on most
surfaces, including paper, glass, plastic, canvas,
wood, terracotta, tin, fabric, silk or dried flowers. (Not
suitable for fabric surfaces which will be washed.) A
coat of Jo Sonja's Polyurethane Water Based Varnish
is recommended to protect the finish on decorative
items. May be mixed with paint for a more subtle
effect.
- JOS3158 JoSonja's Gold Dust 2 oz $5.24
- JOS3159 JoSonja's Gold Dust 8 oz $8.39
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Manufacturer Cut Backs |
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The downturn in the decorative painting industry has
caused a number of cut backs in addition to the
number of colors Delta has discontinued and will
discontinue as of June 1, 2007. Delta has also
thinned out some of their other product lines to reduce
the number of SKU's.
Robert Simmons/Daler-Rowney has announced they
are discontinuing the Fabric Master and Tolemaster
line of brushes. Please order any brushes you need
in these lines ASAP.
Plaid is discontinuing their entire line of paper paints.
DecoArt is discontinuing Easy Blend Stencil Paints.
Although Delta has discontinued some of the colors in
their Stencil Creme line, we have not heard any plans
to discontinue the whole line. Sorry, we are no longer
able to carry Shiva Stencil Stiks.
Loew-Cornell is discontinuing some products that
weren't very popular such as paint rollers.
Books. Several self-publishing artists have
announced they will no longer publish books. This
includes Maxine Thomas and Linda Lock. Their books
have been popular with our customers so we hope
they might consider publishing with a major company.
Viking Folk Art Publications plans four smaller books
in March with Judy Westegaarde. Each of these
Christmas themed books will contain less projects
but will retail for $9.95. All book publishers are being
very cautious this year due to buying changes by
major chain stores.
There's still a lot of wonderful product available and
we have thousands of books in stock. Quite a few
older books are still available from the publishers.
Membership in SDP is up. There are still lots of
wonderful teachers, techniques missed the first time
around and other resources. But, keep in mind that
scrapbookers are starting to use more paint
(manufacturered by other companies) and other
surfaces like canvas and wood so competition for
customers will continue. Good luck and let us know
how we can help you! - Donna
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