I should have known the 2015 Craft & Hobby Conference & Trade Show (2015 MEGA SHOW) was going to be huge when I saw it took place over the span of 5 days, not the typical 3 that I’m used to when it comes to beauty shows. So to say the least, this show was huge, so much so, that I wasn’t sure the one day I had allotted would be enough to see everything.

The CHA was held at the Anaheim Convention Center from January 9th - 13th and since I’ve decided to expand my site into including more DIY and craft tutorials, the timing was great! I grew up in a household with an artist mother so we were alway creating something with clay or paper or paints and using them in a lot of non-traditional ways, so it's only natural for me to include what I do on the side in this blog. So expect to see more in this cateogry.

Anyway, back to the MEGA SHOW!! The show floor is comprised of 400+ exhibitors and 140+ distributors in the craft and hobby world and they covered the pretty much every category you can think of – paper crafts and scrapbooking, polymer clay, paint/spray paint, yarn, craft organization, cake making/cake making supplies, beads, glues/adhesives, jewelry supplies and many other categories. And they also had exhibitions, special guests like authors and known crafters and some companies had hands-on workshops where you could make your own item using their product. 

 

What I was most interested in was paint and spray paint, polymer clay, embellishments, beads, crystal, and I for sure wanted to pick up the Crystal Katana from the Crystal Ninja (tool made specifically for picking up flat back crystals). 

The booth creativity presented by these companies was so delightful to view, so before getting to some of my favorite products, here are some of the highlights from the booth displays and I've listed the website of each in case you want to get more info about any of them. 

4 foot high cel phone cover made of yarn by Lion Brand Yarn Co. @ lionbrand.com.

cute dress by The Beadery. @ thebeadery.com. 

10 foot tall fall inspired dress (not sure which company created this). 

A fully crystal'd suit n' sneakers created by, who else, the Crystal Ninja! @ crystalninja.com.

blinged-out phone by craftchica.com chica Kathy Cano-Murillo.

folkArt by Plaid paint display. Gorgeous!

Dinosaurs are so hot in the craft world (check out Pinterest) and I love these on canvas! @ Plaid booth

I think my favorite booth displays were from Plaid. They had so many set ups for their different brands and each was so inspiring! And no one else had a dancing glue bottle at their booth that I saw! Visit them @ plaidonline. 

One of the most unique companies I stumbled upon was Vasic Floral. It’s a vase that looks like a bouquet holder, which I guess it is, but what's unique is the sponge in the bottom of the vase, which you soak in water prior to sticking flowers in.

There are different colors and styles to choose from and they claim the flowers will last 50% longer when used. All I could think of was, well, first how crystals could be glued on them and then how huge these will be for weddings! Kind of an odd place for this brand to be seen but I guess you got to hit all avenues when you first come to market with a product. Read more about them @ vasicfloral.com.

Moving on, some other standouts were Krylon and their new Sea Glass collection of spray paints coming out this quarter (at Michael’s and Joann’s) as well as new colors for their Chalky Finish spray paint. Visit them @ krylon.com.

And who doesn’t love to talk storage and organization? Well, Creative Options does! They make storage containers for scrapbooking and sewing like the above wicked fun Grab 'N Go multi-tiered box. See more of their products @ creativeoptions.com.  

I got quite excited when I saw the e6000 brand! It’s been my holy grail of glue for the past 10+ years and they were rolling out their new Allure brand (launches in May or June 2015 but I see it already on their site but not for purchase).

Allure is a dimensional adhesive paint that can be used on fabric, glass, plastic ... pretty much everything! Like most booths, they had an action station where we could try the product. I got all caught up in a glue conversation with one of their specialists so I didn’t decorate the canvas bag. Read more @ eclecticproducts.com. 

I really wanted to make something at one of the action staions but nothing was catching my interest but I know I wanted to play with clay. So when I stumbled upon the Makin's Clay booth, I sat right down and created a cool Mason Jar with a design in their clay on top.

Makin’s Clay is a super-soft-outta-the-packaging, no bake clay, and it was really easy to work with. Usually you have to really knead any polymer clay to make it soft and workable but like I said, with this one, it’s like they already did that for you and then then packed it up. Do you like my design on the jar? Read more about them @ makinsclay.com. 

This Lapdog lap crafting tray looked really useful! The company is from the UK and they were at the show looking for distribution. Seems like they have a winner on their hands! Check out more info about them @ lapdogtray.co.uk. 

How fun are these scented tapes from Duck Brand? Yup the bubble gum really smelled like bubble gum! They are called Duck Tape Scents and come in six different scents in all - Cupcake, Grape, Lemon, Mint and Orange Cream. Read more about them @ duckbrand.com. 

By the time 5pm rolled around, I was exhausted. I felt like I had been in a Las Vegas casino with all the stimulation! So while I did skip some of the categories like paper and cake decorating, I think pretty much covered the stand outs at the show. 

Did you see anything you will be picking up? Do tell in the comments!