I’ve been digging through websites in an attempt to catch previews of the upcoming releases from various craft companies. CHA is at the end of this month and I haven’t been able to hold out. Tim Holtz is clearly not offering any previews. I was hoping, but I’m hardly surprised. 7gypsies has a preview coming soon and I’m very curious.
I did see the new releases from Cosmo Cricket and I’m really excited to get my hands on some of it! They did a great job of creating some new collections. I’d really like to see another Wanted or Gretel come out during the Summer CHA, but these new ones will look great in my crafting for a while.
Snorkel
This new collection is bright a fun, but with far more depth than the releases a year ago. It is vintage Cosmo Cricket, with weathered edged papers and beautifully coordinating colors. I’m not a fan of the beach myself, but I can’t help loving this. I was immediately drawn to the claw brackets journaling tag and the “Current” paper. I’m going to make a lot of use of this paper for punches of color in my projects.
A
Everafter
I love the Everafter collection. Not only will it make for beautiful wedding themed cards and layouts, but would be great as a framed group of papers. They have a smaller pattern than I would normally use, but I still really like the patterns they do have. The best part is that Cosmo Cricket released a collection that is in the colors I am currently using in my home. Greys, whites, oranges, and blues are beautiful together. I look forward to picking up a lot of this paper as soon as it is available.
A+
Lil’ Man
This collection is really just an expansion and revision of Lil’ Boys from the Biography 101 collection. I like its simplicity; it has a wonderfully vintage feel and doesn’t beat you over the head with masculinity. Since Lil’ Boys is an 8×8 paper pad, this 12×12 collection will go really well with it or will look nice by itself. I’m really taken with “Dapper Dan” and “Handsome Henry.”
B
Girl Friday
My least favorite of the new Cosmo Cricket releases, this collection ain’t too shabby. School girls are such an easy scrapbooking subject and this group of papers works well for that very purpose. Whereas Lil’ Man is an expansion of an existing collection, Girl Friday is an entirely new collection. While I doubt I make use of any of the papers in this collection, the Girl Friday Elements are a must-have for my scrapbooks. I will overbuy these as soon as I can.
B-
Along with these new full collections, Cosmo Cricket also is releasing spinner cards, which are kinda fun, and two new blackboard albums. Scarlet is great, but the shape has been done by Basic Grey very recently. The Flirt album is pretty much useless to me. It has a very small surface area and its shape is too funky for me.
There is so much coming in the crafting world. I’m much more excited by what I see than I was during most of 2008. It seems cool is coming back again!
I concur with your style preferences. The Everafter collection is lovely – it’s not too white or girly and wedding stuff so often is…
I raised an eyebrow at the snorkel collection, but, again, it has just a dash of the seaside without being overly “beachy”. The bright, non-primary, colors are a nice touch, too.