Creative Leisure News - Scene & Heard

Reports on shows, trends, and more

Memorytrends Product Report

The show was smaller but....

by Ellie Joos (October 1, 2007)

The Memorytrends show was smaller than past shows due to the upcoming "co-location" with the Photo Marketing Assn. show next January. For attending buyers this presented an opportunity to see new products in a less hectic environment. For me as well; I saw new products that were introduced at this show as well as several things I missed at the summer CHA show.

There are a number of shows that address organization, so organizing products caught my eye:

Creative Options, a division of Plano Molding Company. The colorful, fashion-right colors are smartly designed to appeal to crafters, beaders, and scrapbook customers, as well as anyone else looking for good design in organizers. Stow N' Go(tm) molded plastic systems provide multiple options, as do the soft-sided cloth and faux-leather products in great colors and dot or stripe patterns. www.creativeoptionscrafts.com.

Stone Creek Creations. Creator of the Krafter's Komfycush(tm) a brightly colored seat cushion with multiple pockets for supplies, magazines, etc., introduced the KP Mini organizer, 4"x4" with an attaching spinner bottom, perfect for desk or worktable tops and coordinates with other KP tote products. www.stonecreekcreations.com.

Notions Marketing. Presented Mackinac Moon, a line of organizing products from rolling totes to open-top totes, table organizers, and shoulder strap carriers in trendy chocolate brown accented with pink or blue. www.notions-marketing.com.

New Tools.

Quick Kutz. This industry leader was positioned right up front and generated a lot of activity demonstrating its Silhouette�, digital craft cutter, and Revolution, a sleek, tabletop cutter that can cut 4" dies that easily snap into place on the magnetic platform. www.quickutz.com.

Acme United Corporation. This division of Westcott, which was founded in 1872, introduced the its Blooms(tm) Laser Rulers in several vibrant colors. The ruler has a moveable laser beam that reaches across a 12" layout; perfect for layouts and journaling, it can also be angled and labeled with English and Metric scales.

Memories & Treasures. Presented its new ez Cutter and shape-cutting system, which consists of the ez Cutter, the only swivel knife with retractable blades for safe handling and storage, and unbreakable polypropylene template sheets. www.myezcutter.com.

Marvy Uchida. Offered a super hotwire foam cutter crafting tool that can cut blocks as thick as 5"x5"; the Paper Trimming Buddy(tm) can create decorative edges; and the Clever Lever Craft Punch is now in four sizes for scalloped shapes. www.uchida.com

Zutter Innovative Products. To accompany its Bind-it-All bookbinding tool, is Bound 2 Bind, a special techniques book for additional creative ideas. www.binditall.com.

Purple Cows(r). Offered several great cutters, including the Easy Cutter and Laminator and the easy trimmer and Personal Rotary Trimmer to add the finishing touch to projects, photographs, with a choice of cutting blades -- straight, wavy, and perforating. www.purplecows.net.

Creative Products.

Technologies to Remember. Speakin� Up(tm) is a 30-second voice recorder that can be embellished with paints, inks, and stamps, and stores messages on a memory chip � perfect for personalizing a page, frame, card or ornament. www.mypagestalk.com.

Tilano Decorative Products. The creators of systems to transfer photos to tiles presented Chalk it Up, new chalkboard paint in 10 fun colors that can turn any paintable surface into a chalkboard; the company also presented ChalkBlox Kits and Kids Decorative ChalkBlox Kit consisting of two 8"x8" tiles with paints and brush. www.tilanofresco.com.

Hahnemuhle. This 420-year-old manufacturer of paper products for art and technical applications launched its line of Art Print papers in five textures for the scrapbooking and craft market. www.hahnemuhle.com.

Tim Holtz. Well known for creative products, look for his Grungeboard, "a compressed, flexible sheet of dingy material that can be painted, inked, sanded, hammered, or grunged." www.productperformers.com.

Dezignz by Dezda. A new exhibitor, this former elementary school teacher presented her line of very colorful and artsy papers with swirls, dots, brush strokes, and other stylized motifs. www.dezignzbydezda.com.

My Mind's Eye(tm). The Bohemia(tm) collection in several beautiful, coordinated groupings included many embellishments as well. The Out & About(tm) line is another collection of striking patterned papers with pre-cut accessories sheets and matching accent buttons. Also, the line of transfer titles in 60 new designs in four popular themes. www.mymindseye.com.

S E I. Another leader in gorgeous papers presented the Jolie Chocolat(tm) line of romantic florals, stripes, and allovers in glitter paper, shimmer paper, foil paper, and embossed papers with coordinating rub-ons, stickers, and other embellishments � and new colors and patterns in velvet paper. www.shopsei.com.

Most vendors did report having a fairly good show. One question that came up was of participating in the upcoming shows in January, 2008. Many seemed to be sitting on the fence regarding the new show with its proximity to the CHA show in Anaheim.

(Note: Ellie is president of Ellie Joos & Associates, a marketing, pr, and product development firm. To read Ellie's and others' reports on other industry-related shows, click on the titles in the right-hand column. To contact Ellie call 908-459-9269 or email eleapple@hotmail.com.)

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