CHA series on my blog this week

Thanks for the posts, showing products from two lines that I have not seen any videos or sneak peaks on before. Keep the posts coming.

Thanks! I'm off to check it out

Interesting to see one of my local companies reviewed from CHA. Thank you! Disclosure: I am not a fan of their stuff, I took against them for their pricing policies a couple of years ago. In short- when our currency was weak then (it is truly in the doldrums now) and the retailers here slowed imports, they presented themselves as an affordable local option. Fine. Well done. However,when the currency improved a bit and the retailers loosened up on imports, they hiked their prices and were charging more per sheet than USA stuff! I am a paper snob, so if I see a mainstream imported paper cheaper than my local and I prefer the quality/ design of the imported stuff, I vote with my wallet.

The dressforms with the papers decoupaged onto them are a staple of their stall. The first time they exhibited at CHA they brought them home and put them up at our local show (March). Incidentally, that year they won a CHA award for their press pack but in their ads in our local mags they didn't say it was for the media pack, they made it sound like it was for the products and booth. I have followed CHA for years so I wasn't fooled but I think this was disingenuous at best, downright dishonest at worst. I WANT to be proud of a local manu making good, but this behaviour does not sit well with me.


Interestingly, we have a new local manu setting up in competition to them (and to all imports, obviously, see the currency thing alluded to) whose third paper release was accompanied by a stencil which is a direct copy (slightly different size and shape) of a Tim Holtz branded one by Stampers' Anon. Tim's is "Splatters THS009" theirs is "spilled coffee". For example, to illustrate how close a copy it is, if you look at the intersection of the two coffee cup rings there are three tiny dots of exactly the same shape and configuration. Also part of one of the coffee rings is an angular little figure-of-8 cutout. Exactly reproduced. And so on. I suppose there is a possibility that they have permission to copy and no doubt they will say they were "inspired by" but I somehow doubt they have permission. If it is a cynical copy, I am beyond disgusted. Maybe the two competitors deserve each other! What do you think?

Hi there- quick correction: the coffee splats copying is not FabSc... but a company which has been making great chippies for ages, has now branched out into paper and the copied stencil/s. Our market here is abuzz and not in a good way- there are apparently more copies, not just the coffee one. I can only speak with certainty about the coffee one- I bought it over the Christmas break so I could judge for myself. I will not mention the name of the offending company on here today as I believe things are about to escalate OR they will be ethical and do the right thing. We shall see what they are made of very soon. I hope they do the right thing.

On the contrary! One of the designers is his "BFF".... but as I say there is identical reproduction / cloning involved, this is definitely not in the grey area of "inspired by".

Another South African here who apparently knows more about the intrigues of the US scrap scene than her own... so am also looking forward to seeing what develops with this story *waves to ScrapontheRocks*

Not unlucky 13 at all! Thanks for the series.

Thank so much, very cool to see it all. I especially love looking at the Heidi Swapp pics!