Thanks for your patience in waiting for the next installment while I finished up some print magazine work. Today we’ll take a look at new releases from some of scrapbooking’s most popular companies, including Karen Foster Designs, KI Memories and Lil Davis.
Digital and hybrid scrapbooking is all the talk of the industry, and Kaleidoscope Kreator is an interesting program to add to the toolbox of those scrapbookers. With a click or two of your mouse, a digital picture can be turned into a kaleidoscope in varying shapes, and then printed for use in hybrid scrapbooking or saved and used as a digital element. For quilters, the kaleidoscopes can be printed in segments for later piecing.
Check back at Scrapbook Update for a full review of this product at a later date!
This company made a huge release of new products at CHA-Winter, and entered the tool market in addition to its usual supply product lines. Much of what the company did is noteworthy for various reasons.
Karen Foster is one of the major companies that still creates themed products, and fans of those sorts of products will not be disappointed. The company introduced products covering 19 themes, often in unexpected ways.
The new Maternity line with an earth tone color palette of muted purple, rust and green, is a welcome break from the usual pastels of such theme products. The Graduation line is in brown, a switch from the usual black. Even the Wedding collection in a more traditional palette of white, gray and sage, somehow looks different from the usual collections, with a more lighthearted feel.
For the active and outdoorsy scrapbooker, Karen Foster has plenty of new collections to offer: Snorkeling & Diving, Cruise, Water Sports, Bikes & Scooters, Wild Animals, and Fishing. These collections have a more grown-up feel than many collections that share those themes, and contain several text designed papers.
“In the Garden”, “I Like Bugs”, “Easter” and “At the Zoo” are more youth-themed, with a hand-drawn look. These lines also contain several text papers, with the rest of the patterns being bright and busy.
A very special group of papers in the new release are the Public Heroes collection. These four papers, one each for police, rescue, doctor, and nurse, are collages of text in a single color and are perfect for recording community – or family – heroes.
The embellishments that accompany these new lines are fun and would work well with or without the accompanying paper. Many of them, like the new Medical and Emergency license plates or the new Shirt Labels that accompany several other lines, bring a touch of irreverent humor to their topics. Others, like the wood signs and the rub-ons, come with a touch of authentic theming.
And for time-pressed scrappers like myself, why take the time to thread a needle and then glue down a button, when you can use a button brad? Karen Foster now offers four assortments of pre-threaded button brads – just punch a hole, fasten, and you are done!
Karen Foster also launched a new line of tools at CHA-Winter. The core of this line is the Scraparatus, a tool that punches holes, sets eyelets, and cuts small diecuts, all for an MSRP for the starter set of only $24.99. Available in April, the initial release will also include two additional alphabets and two shape sets (tags and other shapes). The dies come with a ring attached to them so that they can be stored on a reclosable ring.
For scrapbookers who love to stand (or instructors who move around the classroom), Karen Foster has introduced the Scrap-n-Stash Apron. In light blue with a doodled floral print, the apron’s front has a multitude of pockets for holding everything from a cell phone to pens, glue and other tools while scrapbooking. It also has pockets specially designed to hold the Scraparatus tool and accessories.
Karen Foster is also expanding their line of organizational products by introducing the Hook Nook, a clear interlocking peg board system. A starter set, which includes 4 interlocking panels of 12″ x 19″ clear pegboard along with 12 pegs, has an MSRP of $24.99. Additional sets of 12 hooks MSRP for $4.99. Ease of installation (and the available pink hooks) may give this product something of an advantage over the traditional pegboard that is popular among certain scrapbookers currently.
Retailer support will be a strong component of Karen Foster’s marketing programs in 2007. Offerings to retailers include free store display layouts and idea pocket books, as well as online offerings of free ready-to-print class materials and previews of upcoming advertising. There will also be strong support of local retailers who want to take Karen Foster products to consumer shows.
Life-altering events as the reason that people start scrapbooking was the underlying theme of KI Memories’ new collection for CHA-Winter, called “Celebrations”.
Fans of KI Memories’ previous collections will love the 7 new acrylic stamp alphabets, which fit perfectly with the style of the company’s previous releases. In addition, there are 17 other stamp sets that include various themes, background patterns, card greetings, assorted words, gift tags, and a calendar set.
The three “celebrations” in the new collection are birthdays (called “Surprise”), “Just Married”, and new babies (“It’s a Boy” and “It’s A Girl”). The extensive sets include 6 double-sided patterned papers each, 3 frosty patterned papers, 3 textured cardstocks, and a wide variety of cardstock stickers, rub-ons, ribbon and chipboard, gel and felt embellishments.
I’d love to tell you all about the debut products of Elsie Flannigan’s new line with KI Memories but they aren’t being very open with information about it. The line’s website so far has only a “coming soon” front page. At CHA, they were refusing to give catalogs to members of the press (and have so far failed to follow-up by mailing the copies they promised afterward since they were “short” at the show). Photography was prohibited inside the booth, only allowed on the outsides of the walls of the faux house that they had set up to display the line.
The best I can do is link you to Elsie’s blog for information since she is apparently the only one showing her new line to anyone:
Elsie’s CHA blog entries – lots of pictures
This Japanese company recently opened a U.S. office to better market its rubberstamp and paper products here. For fans of the Asian aesthetic, take a look at this company’s products! They offer some unique things, besides their line of beautiful 12″ x 12″ archival papers. Their other products include kimono ribbon, gorgeous .59″ wide ribbon made from traditional kimono fabric in vibrant colors and patterns. All paper is made from wood, but how about actual wood paper? Kodomo has it! They sell their fraction-of-an-inch thick wood paper in 5″ x 16.5″ sheets, in packages of 20, for rubber stamping or other sorts of decorative purposes.
The company’s huge rubber stamp collections, designed by both Japanese and American designers, include Japanese, Chinese and American country inspired designs – a little bit of something for everyone.
This company is definitely looking to capitalize on the movement to home decor that was the focus of CHA. They already have a large line of products perfect for home decor projects and added to that with their CHA introductions.
The major new introduction was the new Brushed Metallics spray paints, in four shades. They join the wide selection of metallic sprays that Krylon already has available to make a wider range of metallic finishes available to anyone doing a home project.
In addition to the spray paints, another new addition was paint pens: Brights Paint Pens, in five “extreme colors”. Not for the faint of heart, these pens will add POP to any project they touch!
Besides those two new products, Krylon also updated several of their paint lines with more trendy colors so that crafters can find exactly what they need to complement their home decor.
Acrylic stamps, chipboard, and flowers…Lil Davis jumped into many of the trends of CHA, but with some nice results.
Spring Fling and Endless Summer were their two new collections for the show. Spring Fling featured large floral designs in spring colors, while Endless Summer was more neutral blue and brown with red elements for emphasis. Both collections include a variety of embellishments. For endless summer, chipboard is the rule: alphabets, borders and decorative elements. Spring Fling, on the other hand, includes transparent alphabets, monograms and blossoms, metal embellishments, and flower printed letter stickers. There is also a flower-shaped chipboard album.
Six new designs of acrylic stamps were added to the existing 8 already in the Lil Davis collection. The new ones include a trendy arrow design, flowers, circle designs, as well as several sets of ornate elements.
In addition to adding some designs to their chipboard shape collections (including days of the week and months), Lil Davis added something totally new: Metal Rimmed Chipboard. These shapes are similar to metal rimmed tags except they are made of chipboard. Some of the designs are “naked”, ready to be painted or otherwise embellished, while some coordinate in color and pattern with the two new paper lines released at this CHA.
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