Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show

Yesterday, I attended the Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show at the Anaheim Convention Center. Holy Cow! I can honestly say, I’ve never been to anything like this before. I had a Press Pass due to my blogger status, but if I had known about this years ago, I would have gladly gone on my own.

To make things clear, I am NOT a crafter. I do like to craft and my crafts of choice are scrapbooking and some DIY home decor. I’ll occasionally work on some other projects I find on Pinterest, but I’m certainly not in the “crafter” league. After spending the day at this particular show… I wish I was.

The show is mostly geared towards buyers and serious crafters, the ones who spend the most amount of money. You can place orders at the show if you sell retail and some of the show deals are pretty awesome. If you don’t have a retail store, the ideas are around every corner. Many of the exhibitors also provide make & take crafts that you can do right there at their booth. We did a Swarovski crystal craft that I’ll share in another blog post. SO MUCH FUN!

The amount of amazing craft supplies, plus the unbelievably creative ideas that hit me at every turn, made me want to run out to Michael’s and Joann’s and every scrapbook store I can find. The highlight of my day was meeting the Master Crafter from Elmer’s. Seriously… they have a Master Crafter on staff. This woman, who is just the sweetest, loveliest person we met, was hired to do nothing but simply craft projects using Elmer’s supplies. I’m thinking this might be one of the best jobs EVER.

Kudos to Elmer’s for not only creating amazing projects (who doesn’t love Elmer’s?), but for sharing all their project ideas. Did you know they have foam core board with a chalkboard side… and ones with a cork board side? Love, love, love, love. The picture below… the fence is made out of foam core board. Unbelievable!

I don’t think I realized how truly big this show was until I was there. This lasts from January 11 - 14 and is filled with craft labs, business sessions, seminars, workshops, networking events, and of course, the EXPO. It isn’t called the “Mega Show” for no reason. Attendees come from all over the United States AND Internationally. Crafting is big business, people. BIG!

Other than Elmer’s and Swarovski, I was also completely blown away by the Krylon booth. Krylon has a new Looking Glass Paint Spray where you can make anything look like vintage mirror. And you wonder why I suddenly want to repurpose everything I see? The ideas kept flowing. And my brain hurts.

Some of my other favorite finds were stickable stencils that can be re-used over and over again, patterned felt with adhesive backing, ECO-friendly tote bags with plastic fronts, chalkboard everything… stickers, paper, paint… I am so into chalkboard everything right now. And the amazing canvas and burlap craft projects I saw are high on my to-do list.

The show is so large that when you walk into the EXPO Hall it is a little overwhelming. Pick a side and start from one end or you’ll never figure out if you saw all the booths or not. I did that and still didn’t realize how many booths I missed until almost the end of the day. There is something for everyone, if you scrap, bead, make jewelry, use multi-media, paint, paper craft, stamp. What am I forgetting? I think people love to craft because it’s completely all-consuming. Once you start, it’s hard to stop.

So, I told you I’m a scrapbooker and DIY crafter. What types of crafts do YOU do? And if you have a Pinterest board with your craft projects, I’d love for you to link it up so I can make sure to follow.