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This was the first year that I paid much attention to the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show.  I usually just wait to see it all hit the store, and see what other people do with the new goodies, and then decide what I want to order.  But this year, thanks to Two Peas in a Bucket’s winter CHA online social, I got caught up in the excitement and watched the videos, followed the blogs, and picked out my favourites well ahead of time.  Living in Canada, who knows when I’m going to get my hands on any of this stuff, but here are my favourites from the show:
By far my favourite was the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection.  The Dear Lizzy collections by American Crafts have really grown on me with each successive release.  I was not a fan of Neapolitan (too pastel for me) with the exception of the cute polka dot velum.  5th and Frolic didn’t appeal to me right away but after playing with a bit of it in a Studio Calico kit, I bought the collection and have been loving it.  I also picked up the Elizabeth Kartchner signature series book and absolutely love her sense of style.  
So I was excited to have a look at her new line, called Lucky Charm.  The following pics are shamelessly snatched from the American Crafts website:
I love everything about this collection, especially the navy blue accents.  My favourites are the multi-patterned chevron arrow, the handwritten papers, the yellow heart paper, the pink ombre, the umbrellas… and are those bottom three vellum???  Sign me up for dozens of them!
These are the embellishments- I won’t be getting the clothes pins, flair, stamps, or tags, but I’d love to get my hands on some of the stickers and other little bits.
The only other collection that caught my eye was Maggie Holmes’ collection with Crate Paper.  Although I love Crate Paper for their awesome border and label stickers, I usually like several papers from most of their collections as well.  But I love pretty much every page in this collection:
I love the colours, the neutrals, the patterns, everything!  The few pages that I don’t care for (the birds, some of the florals) have amazing B sides!  Here are some of my very favourites:

Finally, although I couldn’t find a picture for it, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Amy Tangerine stitching templates (the letter ones).  
You can find more info on any of these lines via the American Crafts website (links to the brands at the top and links to each blog on the brands’ websites).  
Also, Elizabeth Kartchner has one of the most beautiful blogs, with gorgeous photography and amazing  crafting projects with her own and other lines.

 That’s all the free advertising I care to do for now.  I’ll be back here soon to update this blog with lots of my recent layouts and a few other things!

Mercy Tiara

Mercy Tiara

You may be wondering who is Mercy Tiara, and why the name? MercyTiara is an anagram of my first and middle names, Tracy Marie. I discovered this name in the 90's in grad school when we were all coming up with alter egos for one another in a lab one day. I've used it ever since, but you can call me Tracy or MercyTiara, or anything you want... just don't call me late for supper!

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