Craft stores have such a huge assortment of craft supplies available, from supplies for scrapbooking to supplies for painting, needlework, sewing and quilting, floral and gardening, beading and many other types of crafts. The good part is that you don’t have to figure out what to do with these supplies. There are many design projects available in all of these categories in magazines, books and project sheets as well as kits that include both the supplies and instructions. 
As someone who has been designing for the crafts industry for many years, 23 to be exact, I thought I would give you a little background on how many designers work in getting their designs there for you.
A lot of craft designers are members of The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA). CHA is hosting their Winter Convention & Trade show in Anaheim, CA in February. This is the premier trade show for anyone involved in the crafts industry and is open only to the trade. Manufacturers present their newest and hottest products to buyers who attend from all over the world. CHA has a Designer Section for the designer members and offers several opportunities for designers to connect with manufacturers, publishers and editors.
Designers can set up a table in the Designer Showcase held one day during the show. Designers/artists create a table display showcasing their designs and portfolios so that editors, publishers and manufacturers can view the designs for use or publication. These are many of the designs that you see and use for creating your craft projects.
Another opportunity for designers is to exhibit in the License and Design Section during the show . The designers have a booth space to show their art and designs that are available for creating new products or in using products.
The theme for this year’s show is Fashion Crafting and designers are also showcasing their fashion designs in the Fashion Crafting Display, our version of “Project Runway”.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the designs created by friends as well as myself. The flower at the top is a Gerber Daisy Fabric Sculpture created by Lynne Farris and shown in her newest book “Fresh Felt Flowers” published by C&T Publishing.
The 2 designs embroidered on jeans are from the DenimBroidery embroidery kits I created for Janlynn, a needlework company.
Joan Elliott painted the Jingle Cats Christmas image, which has been licensed on tee shirts, fabrics for hospital scrubs, mugs and cross stitch kits.
Linda Wyszynski designed the embroidered pillowcase for Create and Decorate magazine, using buttons and embroidery to create a floral design for stitching on the pillowcase edge.
Audrey Jeanne Roberts painted “My Heart’s Garden” as part of a digital scrapbook kit for Daisie Company.
Vicki Schreiner painted the sports images which were used to create a scrapbook kit and stickers sold in stores.
I do have some very talented friends!
All the designers that I know who are attending the show, including myself, are now frantically creating new designs to present. So the next time you are using instructions to create a craft or sewing project, it may have come from one of these designers working to create craft projects just for you!
Fashion Embellishment Challenge sponsored by Expo International Inc. at the Craft and Hobby Show in a couple of week. Yikes, its less than a couple of weeks! As you can see from the pile on my work table, I am just getting started. But, I can tell its going to be fun working with all the wonderful trims - I just love beads! Choosing the trims I wanted to work with from Expo was like walking through a candy store and deciding which piece of chocolate I wanted (all yum!!!). 
