Fads are things that are around for a season or two, trends on the other hand, can define a generation….RayBan sunglasses, rolled peg-legged jeans, and big, overly highlighted, teased, hair…. can we say 1980’s. Catch my meaning here? I remember when folks said “scrapbooking” would be a fad and that people would not really spend the time or effort to “scrap”….whoa nelly were they wrong. Scrapbooking or Paperarts as some folks call it, grew exponentially into a multi-billion (with a “B” folks) dollar industry over the past decade and, what’s more, it has influenced crafting as we know it as well.
So, while wandering the CHA show, I noticed some interesting fads (those pervasive little things that kept showing up…again) 1. CUPCAKES…. Crafty Chica had Cupcakes, Pentel was putting Cupcakes on little onesies with their ultracool fabric pens, Maya Road had Cupcakes (Awesome cupcakes…I so love Maya Road anything), American Crafts had Cupcakes, Pink Paislee had cupcakes, and Crafty Secret has had cupcakes for quite sometime…. as well as Etsy being littered with the baked loverlies in all sorts of amazingly creative ways. Cupcakes are totally cute, amazingly addictive and completely harsh on my thighs but, a FAD nonetheless. Underlying TREND to pay attention to….homemade. The concept of Homemade, Handmade, Back to the Basics and Comfort is something we see a lot of in uncertain times but, this time it is a bit different. With the recession hitting folks hard, they are once again heading home and being more frugal but, there is also an underlying current against things that look too manufactured as well. People are gravitating towards things that are handmade over store bought and, scrapbooking is not being overlooked here either. Look for hand made textures and paper and a DIY vibe to more and more of the mainstream lay-outs as well as scrapbooking products being used in untraditional ways (like this coaster from Maya Road….).
hello and hugs!!!
i think cupcakes are timeless. i know johnny cupcakes revved up the interested a few years ago with his “drop cupcakes, not bombs” clothing line, but i’ve been a cupcake slave all my life! i had no idea they were so popular recently. i am going to share this on my blog soon, but i’ll post it here too :-0
the reason i have a cupcake in my line goes back to second grade, my family had a full-on cupcake fight at the dinner table. it was hilarious! so much that i shared the story with the entire second grade during show-n-tell the next day. when my parents went in for parent-teacher conferences, they were horrified that all the teachers knew about it and joked with them. my dad told me i had a knack for storytelling. he had frosting in his ears for months!
my cupcake patch is a little inside joke for my family. it brings up so many happy memories and it is my way of letting my parents know i’m happy for all the funny adventures i had as a kid!
little did i know cupcakes would become so popular!!! i think they are classic and timeless!
sending love!! i am still laughing about our crafty mystery from this week! hope your car is better!!!
xo,
kathy 🙂
also, i think the whole concept of “dessert crafts” is supa cool – from stuffed felted cake slices to apple pie stickers! oh no, now i am getting hungry!!!
So let it be know here that I stand corrected… I got an email from a very close relative about my post and she informed me that cupcakes have been my favorite food since birth and that something that has been around for at least 34 years ( shhhhh don’t tell anyone how old I am) is not a fad but, tradition. So I guess I need to renig on my statement a bit. My point is, you know the one even my relative thought I missed, is that trends are timeless and things we invest our time in to create are worth doing right. If you love cupcakes, use them and invest in the companies that create cool stuff that you can be proud of years from now. I personally have always been more interested in the story and the people. Crafty Chica drove home this point better than I ever could by sharing why she wanted to make sure cupcakes were in her line. One of things I am humbled by is how much thought and personal experiences go into the things designers think up and manufacturers make for us to use in documenting our memories preserved for posterity. When you think about it, it is pretty darn cool. That is a trend I hope continues for a very long time.