Jules' Picks from CHA

Because of the conflict with our vacation at the beach, I was only able to be on the trade floor for one day. I chose to focus on the newer, smaller companies as I feel very strongly that many of these have the potential to be valuable members and contributors to the scrapbook industry but lack the resources and "old boy network" needed to become known.

I found a wealth of new and some not so new companies out there and will be chatting about them over the next few days, if the net work connection here on the beach cooperates.

One of my new favorites is a wonderful paper company called Mollie and Mac (www.mollieandmac.com). The paper quality is high and the designs lovely. What a great job these two gals have done. This company which produces double sided papers, is owned by two of the friendliest gals and I hope to hear their name again and again. I also hope to feature them on SNR in one of the upcoming issues!

Zutter is not a new or small company but they are better known for their tools like the Bind It All and the Dream Kutter. They have come out with a new Zutter that binds 12x12 albums and pages better but when asked, the one sales person was hard pressed to tell me when the other corner rounder would be sent to lss and on-line stores. The new bags are cute but you can only get one corner rounder in them at a time...good marketing ploy, right? Now you have to by both...well, when ever the second sized corner rounder comes out that is. Also, I asked why the carry case for the Bind it All did not have enough room for carrying coils. He told me to cut my coils down...ahem? He said very few people did 12x12 albums..double ahem! I was sent off post haste to another sales gal who wowed me with the cute little mini album covers. You simply include a plastic (already cut to several sizes) in your papers that you bind and slide it into the provided pocket of the chipboard albums...these come in sizes up to ...you guessed it....12x12. lol

Another impressive new concept is the ribbon binder by Melissa Bickle. Love the fact you can store up to 60 ribbons on the plastic then put several plastic slides onto an o ring. Love it! Need it! Have to have it! (www.ribbonring.com)

and last (for today) is the Build A Book acyrlic system from Prima. While the class was disorganized and a bit 'off', the end result and the concept are wonderful. This is not the book I would have created but creating this one gave me so many ideas for doing a class or a kit that my head was spinning. There are 43 new shapes (hope I got that right) and I can't wait to try out a few different ones than these.

TOMORROW if the internet gods are willing, I'll post an up close look at one of the new lines from Black Market Paper Society. We were all given the 6x6 pieces of the Imported line and I have most of them in 12x12 to create with as well.

Stay tuned.