this week i want to share some highlights from the CHA2015 show starting with the ranger booth. as you know lots of prep goes into the show overall, but for ranger, that means spending much of december making colorful swatch boards for the various products we display. i love the look of the ranger booth when it all comes together with splashes of color scattered against the black backdrop, and as you can see from this set-up photo, there are many products to feature…
one of the most exciting announcements at the show for me, was the introduction of the “year of distress”! ranger is releasing 12 new colors throughout 2015 – one color each month. instead of focusing on a specific product category, we are launching the new color in the various products including ink pad, reinker, marker, stain, spray stain, and paint. the new color for january is called cracked pistachio, a bright retro green, that compliments the rest of the distress palette…
each month, the participating stores will receive a cool display featuring the products as well as a fun poster to add the new color to each month. here’s my favorite part…the only people who know the new palette are myself and the chemists at ranger. the first of each month, the new color will be announced and then shipped out to stores so our creativity has something new to look forward to every single month, all year long…
i had a great time demoing the new color and how it can be used with other colors of distress. there was lots of buzz about this at the show, and i’m sincerely thankful for all of the kind comments about this new release. check out these demo videos from the ranger booth (thanks scraptime.ca)…
the day before the show i taught a workshop to 80 students/retailers called “the evolution of distress”. we created a project using the new idea-ology flip frame showcasing the various uses of the new distress color. it was really great to be able to surprise my class of 80 students with not only being the first to hear the announcement of the new distress colors, but each received a set of the new cracked pistachio to use and keep. thanks to my team of early morning helpers for getting the classroom all set up and for assisting in the class…
you can see the tables were piled high with product – thanks to the sponsors ranger, idea-ology, and stampers anonymous for providing everything we needed. here’s a look at the finished flip frame project…
for the past 10 years, ranger hosts an annual “CHA designer challenge” we display in the booth. each year, we feature a different ranger product and ask the signature designer of that line to come up with a versatile surface as well as a selection of basic components they would like used by each participant. the designer then selects a group of artists to challenge, we then send out kits along with an assortment of the featured product, and ask them to create whatever they wish using those products on that specific surface. the artists have no idea what anyone is doing until they are all displayed at the show so the creative versatility is certainly inspiring. this year the designer challenge was using dina wakley media line on a 9″x12″ canvas panel incorporating her paints, stamps, and stencils. here is my project below, but be sure to visit ranger’s blog here to see all of the participants of this year’s challenge…
so how about a chance to win a set of the new cracked pistachio distress products for yourself!!! simply post a comment here on the blog and share your favorite distress product and what you use it for. we’ll choose 3 winners on tuesday at 12:00noon MST and post them here on the blog. the lucky winners will each receive one set of the new cracked pistachio distress products that include: ink pad, reinker, marker, stain, spray stain, and paint – good luck…t!m
