The Hobby Industry Association holds its annual convention each January. The show is geared towards displaying the latest and greatest products introduced to the craft industry. Many of the Scrapbooking.com Editorial Designers were able to attend this past week. And, we found many new products that will interest you.

First, let me tell you a little bit about the size of HIA. They say that if you were to walk to every single booth at the convention, you would have walked over 12 miles. Can you imagine that? 12 miles of products for every crafter. And we were lucky enough to have fourteen of our designers fly to Anaheim to attend the show, learn new techniques, and find the best products to show you in the coming months. Here are a few of the items were we excited about this past week.

Sizzix introduced a tote for their personal die cut system. They also showed off some great new dies, including quilt dies and new geometric shapes. These will be sold separately. You can read more about these at their website, sizzix.com. Quickutz also introduced new dies for their personal die cuts system. These small, easy to transport dies are perfect for the scrapper on the go. Be sure to check those out.

Char McClung, the managing editor of Scrapbooking.com, is quoted as saying "the new Paper Bliss is simply that. Bliss. So be sure to look for this at your local scrapbooking store.

Hailey Jackson, one of our editorial designers was very excited about all of the new embellishments on the market now. There are so many great new fibers, tags, decorative eyelets, etc., coming to your local store. Hailey also mentioned loving the expanded selection of pewter stickers by Magenta. Look for these stickers, which can be cut, trimmed, shaped, etc., to fit the needs of your page or card. And while you have an eye out for these products, make sure to watch for the Quick Frames by Magenta. These card weight stickers are great for stamping up your own frames or using their pre-printed designs. You'll love them. I promise!

Other favorites at HIA include Canson Paper's new metallic line. This is going to wow you with a great selection of 12 x 12 papers.

EK success showed the entire team some great new products. Nicole Cummings, another of our editorial designers, loved seeing the new stamping products by EK success. The ability to use your markers to stamp helps the scrapper break into stamping at a lower cost. You can use your Zig markers to ink the stamp and get great results.

But, if you are ready for stamp pads, you have to try the Scrapbooker's palettes by Ranger Ink. These large pads actually contain four inkpads, in three selections of color combinations: classic, bights, and basic. The ability to have four inkpads in one container makes packing for your crop a breeze! Ranger also brought out new colors of their perfect pearls. These powdered pigments are perfect for creating easy cards with dazzling effects. One of my favorite Ranger products is the selection glitter glues, called "Stickles" and "Ice Stickles". I am amazed at the color variety and you'll love them too. Be sure to check out the Ranger website for more information on the great products by Ranger and even find tips on how to use them!

DMD introduced some great new tags. You can watch for some of these to be featured here at scrapbooking.com. The designers fell in love with the color selection offered by DMD as well as their great new selection of tag styles.

And what did I fall in love with at HIA? Hmm, I saw so much that it is hard to narrow it down. I do think you have to check out the new jumbo Rollagraph wheels by Clearsnap. These are great for creating backgrounds. And the wheels, many of which are designed by Magenta or Toybox, have incredible artistic style in an easy to use format. Check them out at Clearsnap.com.

One of my other favorites is the paper line by Anna Griffin. These lovely papers have a classic, stylish flair to them. You'll find these perfect for layouts, cardmaking and more.

Other papers we fell in love with were the new papers by Cloud 9. They have some great new sets out for us this year. Look for Winter Wonderland, Romance, Seaside and more. And Karen Foster continues to wow our design team with her delightful selection of papers suitable for both scrapbooking and stamping.

Our design team will be using many of the new products over the coming months. Please stay tuned to scrapbooking.com as we continue to bring you the latest and greatest new products. And as always, please feel free to write me if you have any questions about this article. My email address is Bhamilton@shopa-z.com.