My HSN show is coming up next week! July 19th at 3pm eastern. I thought I would mention it here in case you don’t get our email blasts. (to sign up – http://www.annagriffin.com/rsvp.html). There are lots of fun new things in the line up…new tote bags, a new instant scrapbook and really beautiful new lace clear stamps. Make sure to watch! It’s my only hour until September.

It’s about time I posted pictures of our International Quilt Market booth in Minneapolis this summer. Every show is a chance to express creativity and visually delight buyers.

Our new Cecile Collection was the perfect wardrobe for a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

The five foot tall antique engraving cut outs were outfitted in bow ties and dresses that made the characters come to life.

They were so adorable, the booth won the Creativity Award! Many thanks to Joanie and Melanie of Tailormade by Design for their incredible skill and enthusiam for my crazy projects!

Happy Summer everyone!

This is the time of year where I seem to be running hurdles, jumping from one big event to the next. We just finished our 17th consecutive National Stationery Show in New York and tomorrow the International Quilt Market opens in Minneapolis.

The Stationery Show was fantastic…full of long time friends and customers. The show energy was positive and our 100 new products met with rave reviews!

Our newest line features handmade all occasion greeting cards – soooo pretty!

There was work and then there was play… creativity was all around us. These are pictures from my Saturday stroll down Madison Avenue.

The windows were as incredible as the merchandise inside. This one, the back drop is made out of candy. No doubt inspired by the movie “Up.”

At Henri Bendel the dresses were made out of hair rollers, rock candy, cupcake wrappers and even feathers!

At Bergdorf’s they must have known all the paper people were in town because all of the dresses were made of paper.

Fantastic paper folding! A crafters dream…

I sure love my iphone camera! Next up, Quilt Market…

I’ve been cleaning out over the last few months and asked myself how on earth did I collect so much stuff?! I came by it honestly, growing up in a family of collectors… there were antique furniture collections, car collections, Victorian Valentine collections, perfume bottles and the list goes on! Lucky for me, my Mom collected “me” too. She saved every creative piece of my childhood. When I tell people that I have been crafting since I was 7 years old, Mom saved the cross stitch sampler to prove it. A couple of months ago, I went home to North Carolina and was cleaning out a closet in my old room. Low and behold, I found the treasure of all treasures…my first scrapbook!

What a blast from the past! 12 x 14.5 must have been the scrapbook size in 1978. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the back for who made it…CR Gibson…the logo stamp says Norwalk, Connecticut. This design should be resurrected from their archives. Funny that I would be licensing design to them 32 years later.

Here are some things that you didn’t know about me and I have not thought of in years…I was quite the photographer with my Polaroid camera…I learned to sew in 4-H (you have to be from a small town to know what that is!)

I was an avid roller skater with many certificates to prove it…I had red and blue tennis shoe roller skates, I had white leather ones with pink and gold pom poms and spent nearly every Sunday afternoon “shooting the duck.”

Once upon a time there were airlines called Eastern and TWA that I flew to Egypt with my Grandparents. Notice that I threw in my roller skating medal with my travel memorabilia…

I remember riding a camel and seeing the pyramids, taking a cruise to the Greek isles and mostly I remember not liking the food. Glad that changed!

The photo in the top right is of my Grand Dad and I sitting on the edge of the Parthenon…can you still do that?

Cheerleading and dance classes occupied my after school hours…

Would you look at all that hair!

I must have been quite the certificate collector. I even had one for my braces…smile!

And finally…the pageant…all southern girls must partake in at least one pageant in their lifetime. I, however did as many as I could! Note the journaling, you have a former Miss Congeniality on your hands!

Many thanks to all of you who tuned into to HSN on Monday for my first Today’s Special! It was such an amazing success. Even after talking about it for 2 straight days I am still enamored by the idea of a scrapbook that is made for you. The time saving, the money saving…it’s all just perfect! Here’s to all of us creating at least 1 book this year! Many thanks to everyone involved in making such a big idea come to life!

You should know that HSN is one hundred percent behind developing craft programming and I couldn’t be happier about that. If you haven’t noticed this already, the products are loaded on their website as soon as they receive them. You can get a jump on ordering! www.hsn.com

My sincere thanks again for your enthusiasm and support! I read all the message boards and wanted to say “we hear you!” Now, there’s no rest for the weary. I am off to work on what is next… Any suggestions? Any requests?

4 Gift Shows, 2 HSN Shows and 1 CHA Show later… I finally get back to this Blog. Whew! January came and went in about 20 seconds flat.

We’ve just released the most product we’ve ever done. It’s “go big or go home” time! There are 12 new patterns in our fabric bags and accessories, there are over 150 new stationery and invitation items and 4 brand new scrapbook collections. We are shipping like crazy – check your local retailer!

Here’s a pretty picture of our booth at CHA.

The only thing prettier than our new Cecile Collection was the flower arrangement from Jason Kenneth Designs. They are one of our Invitation and stationery accounts in Costa Mesa California. Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see what they come up with next year!

That’s me standing in front of the giant paper flower display I made for my Dynamic Store Displays class. I haven’t taught a seminar at CHA in years, but I was inspired to teach by all the wonderful things retailers were making out of paper to showcase their products.

This is a photo of the 50 retailers folding and cutting. It was a sea of white petals!

We made a giant Valentines Day back drop complete with flocked paper hearts from our new Valentina Collection…

Spring has sprung with our new Isabelle Collection. We made 3-D paper butterflies – what fun!

Last but not least, the beautiful white display is for a wedding window. I love working on a giant scale, the bigger the better!

A good time was had by all…talk to you later!

Thank you to everyone who watched my HSN debut! You all made the launch a great success!

I promise to get the hang of looking at you in the camera by March – after all of this time on TV, it still makes me incredibly nervous! I couldn’t have been happier with those of you who called in to talk. Thank you for being so generous with me.

HSN was such a great experience and I look forward to going back. It was like a great big hug, everyone there wanted us to succeed!

I took a few photos to show you the behind the scenes…

Tracey and I back stage setting up the tables. Everything at HSN is white and every detail counts in HD. I really liked how the broadcast glowed. The lighting made the projects look fantastic.

This is our cute buyer, Danica. She and our supervising Producer, Erin stayed up most of the night to be with us. She’s on the set with the 3Birds Today’s Special overstuffed card kit. It was fun to meet Donna Stork and everyone involved with that innovative brand.

There were many things that made us feel special – the first was our very own Green Room. It was nice to have a place to relax and watch the craft presentations.

The second was the salon – wow, they give you the works!

Lastly, they made us a set complete with our paper patterns lining the drawers of the cabinets. HSN went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks everyone! Now on to the celebration…

We celebrated by going to Bern’s Steakhouse – (See my post entitled What to do with Frequent Flyer miles). Above is a photo of a wine our table neighbors were enjoying from 1899. We actually got to taste it!

As a special celebration, Tracey, Danica, Laura and I enjoyed a Chateau Mouton Rothschild from 1994. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

That just about wraps it up. In case you missed the debut, you can shop HSN online for our items all the time. I noticed that they even loaded the show days before I went on. So if you want to get a jump on things next time – bookmark my crafts store on hsn.com.

I’m back on March 15th with a Today’s Special that you are going to love. Here’s a hint – I made a scrapbook for you!

It’s time to prepare for
Christmas Day…
The postman will soon
be on his way…
Handmade cards make one
squeal with glee…
Come create your holiday cards with me!

I finally had the card making party that I’ve wanted to have for years! I have always waited until the last minute to send out my cards. Not this year! They went out the first week of December!

It was so fun to fill my dining room table with friends and half the contents of the craft room from work.

I made a disposable table cloth out of a roll of kraft paper. I jazzed it up with oversized scalloped edge scissors.

One of the party favors was this gorgeous bag filled with crafting supplies. The bag is from my friends at Punch Studio that I found at Home Goods. Love it!

Here we are in action! What a beautiful mess.

A good time was had by all! Happy holidays everyone!

Today is the day.

It’s the big announcement!

Are you ready?

Where am I?

HSN! Yes, that’s right – my new craft show will debut on HSN January 12th at 1am and 4pm. I couldn’t be more excited! I hope you will watch!

Did you know that HSN loves crafts? They have dedicated craft programming every single month! This March they even have crafts on the weekend so you won’t miss out during the week. They are really dedicated to bringing you the best of the best in every shopping category.

This move means that we will have more opportunities to bring you great products. I’ve been working for months developing new lines many of which you will see first on HSN. They give you great deals on shipping and have a huge selection of crafts on their website that you can buy anytime.

I have had such a positive experience going to Tampa for meetings, having a glamorous photo shoot and even guest training. Believe it or not, they want me to look at the camera! Seriously though, I could not feel more at home.

Mark your calendars for January 12th. They are counting on me to bring my fans! Help make my debut on HSN a smashing success!

Just in time for Christmas crafting…

Calling all card makers…

I thought that we would finally give this a try! As of 10 am today, you can purchase our first ever kit club kit, made just for the holidays.

For the last 20 or so years, I have waited until the last possible date to make and mail my handmade cards. Of course, I only make a few, but that’s another story…this year I resolve to get busy, have my friends over and have that card making party that I have always wanted to have!

Above is a photo of everything you get. You can celebrate while you decorate this holiday season! The exciting, jam packed kit includes an assortment of gorgeous papers and embellishments. I have even included card stock and envelopes plus some luxurious ribbon trims for extra sparkle.

There are lots of great project ideas posted in our craft gallery as well as an idea sheet included with the kit. I’m sure there is something there to inspire you!

(Want to buy now?, click here.)

Happy Holidays (early)! – Anna

I just got back from the International Quilt Market in Houston where our new fabric collections for Windham Fabrics made their debut.

I thought you’d like to see our booth. It was one of the most serene places in the show. Both collections are really muted and felt like a breath of fresh air amidst the vibrant color and patterns competing for attention at the show.

This the Calisto collection. It’s my version of the beach and the experience of vacation. My Mom’s seashell collection looks right at home alongside my fun props. This group is in quilt shops now and stay tuned, as is will hit scrapbook and gift stores in the new year!

This is the Georgette Christmas collection. It’s subtlety and elegance are hard to see in this picture, but take my word for it, it’s beautiful! The quilts hanging here are the first of my design as far as traditional quilting goes. I’ve designed a lot of quilts, but their focus has been on three dimensional sewing techniques instead of true quilt squares. I love how they turned out and love Joanie and Melanie of Tailormade by Design for making them!

On my travels around the market, I happened upon these cut outs in the Moda booth and couldn’t resist! Now this is the best I will ever look in a bathing suit. Holley on the other hand, looks just like this even after having 2 kids!

Finally, a bad photo of sample spree where we sold our bags made from the Anna Griffin quilting fabrics. I thought our first happy customers were worth noting. My friends Arlene and Jan, got us off to the right start by scooping up multiple bags! They even helped me figure out our credit card machine. Thanks to everyone that made our first spree an outrageous success!

Stay tuned everyone – the launch of our first kit club is just around the corner….Thanks for reading! -Anna