Seth Apter's Blog, page 48

CHA 2016: The People

What makes CHA special for me every year are the people. Creative, hard working, energetic. You can feel the excitement in everybody when the show opens and the exhaustion when the show closes.

Spent a lot of time in the Spellbinders booth, surrounded by the Spellbinders crew...
with Tammy Tutterow
Donna Salazar
with Becca Feeken
with Debi Adams
with Denzil Quick 
with Kim Hupke 
with Stacey Caron, founder of Spellbinders
Spent time in the Impression Obsession booth as well
with Mitra Friant, founder of Impression Obsession Stamps
Also had time to share moments with fellow artists, designers and other industry peeps
with Traci Bautista
with Andy Skinner :-)
with Jeannine Stein and Roberta Wax
with Ann Butler
with Dina Wakley
Lisa Kettell
with Marjie Kemper
Jordan Burnier
with Eileen Hull
with Dyan Reaveley
...and so many more without pictures

Tricked-out Platinum

As part of this years CHA Mega Show, all the designers for Spellbinders were given the opportunity to trick-out a Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing Machine. 
This is the before shot...
At first it was a little daunting to start but once I slapped on some gesso, I couldn't stop.
And here is the after...








Everyday at CHA, each one-of-a-kind machine, altered by each designer, will be raffled off.

The Week Links: 84

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week. Earlier posts in the series can be found here.

And here is Week 84...


1. Anca Gray shares her (poetic) words on information overload in the present time and shares her (gorgeous and serene) artwork as well.

2. Stunning photography from a best-of-2015 post from Richard Bernabe.

3. Try to imagine the process behind these pieces from Kim Keever and then click here to see if you were right. 


4. Stephanie Hilvitz reminds us of the power of words.

5. This is what a Paris apartment abandoned for 70 years looks like.

6. Stampington shares their top 10 Instagram posts for 2015 including this beauty from Colleen Attara.


7. Cloth Paper Scissors unveils a new website - and it highlights techniques and tutorials.

New Stamp Hop and Giveaway

My newest rubber stamp designs were just released by Impression Obsession and will be on display at the CHA Mega Show later this week in Anaheim, CA. For those of you at the show, I will be demoing at their booth #521 on Saturday 1/16 from 2-4pm. See my entire collection of IO stamps here.


Impression Obsession is celebrating all their new releases with a blog hop and giveaway of a $25 gift certificate to their site. See the list of participating blogs and check out all the details on their blog.

Join me at CHA

I am now on the west coast for what has become an annual adventure for me: The Craft & Hobby Association Mega Conference & Trade Show. Manufacturers, retailers, designers and bloggers come together for 6 days of buying, selling, education and networking. It is the time of new product releases and the first opportunity to see the trends in craft and art that will be in stores and on the Internet in the coming months.


The Conference is only open to CHA members. For those of you attending, I am looking forward to seeing you there and have included my schedule below. For the many of you who will not be attending, I will do my best to bring the experience to you with posts on this blog and more frequent updates on my Facebook Page and Twitter Feed. And, if all goes as planned, I will be sharing live video on Periscope for the first time - @alteredpage at periscope.tv. 
To get a better sense of what the Show is all about, check out the video highlights below from 2015.

I am especially excited about attending this year as I will be exhibiting two of my own product lines at the Show for the first time.

Spellbinders Creative Arts
My debut line of products with Spellbinders will finally be revealed and will be available for purchase beginning in February. It is the first of many releases with the company and includes dies, rubber stamps, embossing folders and a unique book/journal kit. I shared a few of the new products here and previously posted teaser shots  of artwork that I made for the booth using my line. Here is a shot of the artwork right before it was packaged for the trip.


So very eager to share the entire collection - and all the artwork - with you online beginning later this week.
Spellbinders will also be sharing live feeds from their booth and the workshops, hosting giveaways, and posting on their social media sites. To be part of the fun, sign up for updates here and watch the following video for details.

----------------

Impression Obsession
I am also thrilled to be exhibiting my third collection of rubber stamps with Impression Obsession. I recently highlighted the first two releases here and am very excited that the newest designs are already available for purchase at the IO website and in my online shop. They will soon be in retailers and online shops as well. These are deeply etched, rubber stamps available individually in cling or wood mount and in the following cling sets.
Alphabet Scramble
 ConText
 Journal Coins
 Journal Frames
------------------For those of you attending the show, you can find me here:

Friday 1/15 8:00am-10:00am - Mixed Media Mashup Workshop (full)3:30pm-5:30pm - Spellbinders Forte Workshop (full)
Saturday 1/1610:00am-12:00pm - Live demo at Spellbinders Booth 17352:00pm-4:00pm - Live demo at Impression Obsession Booth 521
Sunday 1/1711:15am-1:15pm - Live demo at Spellbinders Booth 1735 
Monday 1/181:30pm-3:30pm - Live demo at Spellbinders Booth 1735 

New Stamps Just Released

Impression Obsession
It is with great excitement that I share with you my third collection of rubber stamps just released by Impression Obsession. 

These 12 new designs bring my total collection with Impression Obsession up to 42 stamps. All of the designs were hand drawn by me and manufactured in the United States. The stamps are high quality, deeply-etched red rubber and can be purchased individually (wood mounted or cling) and in 4 cling sets.   
Alphabet Scramble

Word Salad
Alpha Centauri
 Letter Press

 ConText
Word Chain
Happenings
Secret Code

 Journal Coins

Dreams
 Open Door
Endless Chains

 Journal Frames

Memories
Remember
 Reminisce

These stamps are available for purchase now from both the IO website and my online shop, where I will be shipping orders upon my return from the CHA Mega Show on January 14. 

The Week Links: 83

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week. Earlier posts in the series can be found here.

And here is Week 83...


1. Join Colour Me Positive, a free, year-long online project all about journaling, positivity, and community.


2. For those of you (and I am sure there are many) who miss Robyn Gordon's blog Art Propelled, did you know she has a very active Tumblr page?


3. Excited to attend the Outsider Art Fair later this month in NYC. Hands down it is one of my most favorite art fairs every year. Here are some shots I took from 2015...





4. How often do you create? Hear how 8 artists answer this question on Somerset Place.

5. And speaking of Somerset Place, click here for some art resolutions and project ideas to get you started in 2016.

6. Happy for my friend Julianna C. Avelar who just released her book Jewel Loom Inspirations. And yup...I used one to create an element in my mixed media artwork below.


7.  Reminding you all about my Art Blog Directory, which includes links to 425+ creative blogs. If you have a blog and are not listed, contact me so you can join the party.

As the Sun Sets..

As the sun sets on 2015...

and I look back on my experiences this past year...


I think about...

The opportunities I had to travel across so many different roads...

The flashes of synchronicity that seem to seek me out...

Those moments when it seemed like all I did was go round and round in circles...
All the helping hands that reached out to me...
The losses that still hurt...
All the doors that opened for me...

The periods of stormy weather...
The hills I have climbed and how sweet the view was after the effort...
The beauty to be found in the most ordinary things...
The strength I feel despite the challenges...

The signs that have pointed me in the right direction...

The thrill of living in New York City...

The importance of seeing the world with eyes wide open...

How fortunate I am to be able to do what I love...
and all the possibilities that have yet to unfold...
Thank you all for continuing to be such a big part of my journey this past year. I look forward to all the adventures we will have together in 2016.
A happy, healthy, and creative new year to each and every one of you!

IG: The Best Nine

Nathalie Kalbach recently posted a mosaic of images that were her top nine posts on Instagram in 2015. She got it off the site 2015 Best Nine, where you can find the top 9 posts for any Instagram account. As Nat notes, there are a lot of pop up ads on the site - so be prepared to be a bit annoyed if you head over.

My Best Nine

Top 15 of 2015

December is always a time of reflection for me. At the end of the last two years, I have looked back over the previous year's blog posts to see which were the most popular based on hits. This not only lets me work toward creating a better blog but helps me to take the pulse of the art community. If you want to look back, click here to go to my top 13 posts from 2013 and here for the top 14 of 2014..

For 2015, I am counting down my top 15 blog posts from 2015 based on hits. The most popular posts are mostly connected to trend watching, giveaways, online collaborative art events, art tutorials and my product line releases.


#15New Stencil Release & Giveaway
#14Mixology 101.5
#13CHA 2015
#12Spellbinders CHA Roundup - Day #5
#11The Artists from the Pulse Project
#108 Years and a Giveaway
#9My Own Mixed Media Line
#8Living with Art: 2
#7Revealed: My Own Stamp Line
#6Life: Documented
#5A Look Back: Studio Table
#4Living with Art: An Online Project
#3See You at CHA! Blog Hop: Sneak Peek and Giveaway
#2Top 10 Trends in Mixed Media
#1Trends to Watch