2011 March

Thank you to our March sponsors!

March 31, 2011 by Nancy Nally 2 Comments

Scrapbook Update would like to say thank you to this month’s sponsors, who help bring the site to all our readers:

Designer Digitals: Creative. Innovative. Fresh. Digital.
The Daily Digi: daily dose of digital scrapbooking.
Addicted to Scrapbooking: One stop shopping with super-huge selection.
Simon Says Stamp: We stock over 100,000 items.
Digiscrap*apalooza: Get away…to Las Vegas!
Panstoria Artisan: Get to what matters – your memories.
Stampavie: Stamp your feelings.
My Creative Classroom: Online arts and crafts learning.
Hydrangea Hippo: Papercrafting kits & supplies by Jennifer Priest.
Art-Full Horizons: The only all-inclusive weekend scrapbooking experience.
LeatherScrapbooks.com: Specializing in handcrafting personalized scrapbooks.

Thank you for your sponsorship, and for helping make Scrapbook Update possible!

If you’d like to become a Scrapbook Update sponsor, our ad sheet are available by contacting us at advertising@scrapbookupdate.com for more information, or learn more by visiting our advertising page.

Filed Under: News

Paperclipping Roundtable #62: Not That Deep

March 31, 2011 by Nancy Nally Leave a Comment

Donna Downey and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer joined Noell, Izzy and I this week to talk about the lighter side of art journaling!

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The Panel

Sponsors:

Big Picture Classes! Big Picture Scrapbooking has a new name! Click here for a promo code for Paperclipping Roundtable listeners to use to save 10% on any one class at Big Picture Classes! (Don’t forget that you can still use the link to support Roundtable even if you’ve already used the one-time discount code.)

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Picks of the Week

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Filed Under: Play Tagged With: Donna Downey, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Paperclipping Roundtable

CHA Winter 2011 Make & Takes: Educational & Enjoyable (Giveaway)

March 29, 2011 by Betsy Burnett 266 Comments

Having the chance to sit down and make projects with a manufacturer’s “latest and greatest” allows CHA attendees to see first-hand why they need what the manufacturers are selling. For retailer attendees, there is another benefit – to bring home creative samples to display using the product that will soon be in their store. For educator/demonstrator members of CHA, make-and-takes not only provide some hands-on time with new products, but a chance to work with a company’s designers to learn specific tips and techniques.

Betsy Burnett of Scrapbook Update and Wendy Russell of "She's Crafty" making a felt clutch purse at i love to create

At some companies’ booths at CHA Winter 2011, their make-and-takes were offered in sort of a classroom setting, with attendees even needing tickets to attend. Prima Marketing sent out email invites to retailers a couple of weeks before the show offering sign-up for a full assortment of classes from altered canvas bags to mini albums. Pink Paislee did something similar issuing email make-and-take tickets to attendees a week prior to the show, as Rebecca Cross (owner and creative director of Pink Paislee) explained: “Although there were some people who didn’t make their time slot, it was still a very successful way for us to make sure the make-n-take time slots would be filled and it kept store owners from having to stand in long lines during a busy show.”

One of Pink Paislee's five different make-and-takes (photo courtesy of Pink Paislee)

At those companies that didn’t require tickets, attendees normally had a bit of a line to wait in. Most lines, however, appeared to be less than a 10 minute wait. Projects ranged from mini albums (created using the Creatopia system by Xyron), to stamped pendants (at Rubber Stamp Concepts). One popular stop for attendees, Bottle Cap inc, was making a bottle cap necklace project and long time CHA make-n-take favorite Quick Quotes was creating decorated canvases.

"Family" canvas make-and-take from Quick Quotes

Some make and takes showcased a new line or concept. At Bo Bunny attendees were met with a table full of elements from the company’s “Crazy Love” card kit and given the chance to create a valentine or two for their sweetheart. Best Creations showcased their St. Patrick’s line – there attendees had a chance to take home a 12 x 12 page ready to add photos onto.

Bo Bunny "Crazy Love" card kit make-and-take

Many companies worked together to showcase their products. Unibind and Fiskars worked together to create mini albums, using Fiskars punches to decorate the pages and the Unibind system to bind the mini purse albums. Also at the Fiskars booth, Simplicity/Burda was there making a fabric bracelet using Fiskars scissors and Spoonflower fabric.

Ever popular with attendees are what could be called the “free for all” tables. Here attendees were given a “base” for their project and an assortment of other trinkets and treasures to create with. At the Everything Mary booth, attendees were given a choice of catch all and then told to have fun decorating. Gemstones, flowers, foam and felt shapes and a hot glue gun were all provided to create a finished tote. At Westcott, attendees could decorate their own scissor holster in a similar manner. At the Tombow booth, there was a full assortment of their dual brush pens along with some simple instruction on ways to use the pens on an embossed tag. The i love to create booth featured several of these types of projects as well, including reusable lunch bags that became a canvas for a variety of painting techniques.

A zentangle inspired lunchbag from i love to create

On the last day of the show, Ranger Ink designers did something a bit different for their “make and take.” Instead of having a project for people to do, they provided attendees with their full range of ink colors to make swatch cards of several of their most popular lines, including the new Distress Stains from Tim Holtz. During the make-and-take, Holtz was in the booth talking to people about the product and signing the swatch cards for retailers to display in their stores. In answer to the question, “why swatch cards?”, Holtz explained: “By this point in the show most of us retailers, manufacturers, everyone… is tired and their brains are suffering from “crafting overload.” Who needs to do a project when you are like this? Creating a swatch gives retailers a tool to take back to the store with them. When customers ask “how dark is this color” they won’t need to open up stock to give an idea as to the actual color.”

Tim Holtz creating swatch cards at Ranger

So…would you like to win an assortment of make and takes from CHA? We have an assortment of finished projects and kits to create with to give away!

How To Enter: All you have to do to be one of the lucky winners is leave a comment on this entry before Midnight U.S. eastern time on Sunday night, April 3rd. Make sure you include your email address in the line reserved for it on the comment form (for your own protection, don’t put it in the text of the comment, where it will be visible to the public – just in the line labeled “email” in the form where only Scrapbook Update staff can see it). We will need it to notify you if you are a winner. Winners will be drawn by random drawing from all eligible entries. One entry per person. U.S. mailing addresses only please.

Scrapbook Update would like to thank the following companies for donating items for this giveaway: Best Creations, Deco Arts, Feltables, Epiphany Crafts, Everything Mary, Fiskars, GCD Studios, i love to create, Ranger Ink, Rubber Stamps Inc., Simplicity/ Burda Style, Spoonflower, Quick Quotes, and Westcott.

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Filed Under: CHA Tagged With: Best Creations, BoBunny, CHA Winter 2011, Fiskars, i love to create, Pink Paislee, Prima Marketing, Quick Quotes, Ranger, Simplicity/Burda, Spoonflower, Tim Holtz, Tombow, Unibind, Westcott, Xyron

Manufacturers Call For Designers

March 28, 2011 by Nancy Nally 3 Comments

The lull between shows is a great time for manufacturers to refresh their design teams and several manufacturers have calls out right now for new design teams! Here’s a summary of the calls, arranged by due dates:

Stampavie

French-based stamp company Stampavie is looking for four designers for their design team. Design team applicants must have a blog, be willing to supply a minimum of four projects per month to Stampavie, and also be willing to provide physical projects for use in trade show booths and for other purposes. Team members are not restricted from doing other design team work. Stampavie will provide its team members its future collections for free.

Applying for the team is simple – applicants are requested to post a link to their blog in the comments of the Stampavie design team call page. The deadline for applying is midnight GMT on April 9th.

Core’dinations

The company known for their textured cardstock is looking for 8-10 members for their design team. The call is for a one year term on the team, to begin in May 2011.

Core’dinations Design Team members will receive free Core’dinations products, and payment for publications and trade show/catalogue work. The design team’s required work includes providing 3 projects/month for the company’s blog, submitting projects for publication and promoting the company on the designer’s personal blog, and completing projects for exchanges with Core’dinations partner companies.

To apply for the Core’dinations team, applicants need to create a post on their personal blog that includes three projects focusing on Core’dinations products, and supply the link to that post to Core’dinations. The application deadline is April 15th at 4pm EST. For more information and full application instructions, visit the Core’dinations design team application page.

Fiskars

This is the first time that Fiskars has held an open call for its Craft Design Team. They are asking for papercrafters, sewers and quilters with excellent writing and photography skills. The call is hiring designers for a one year term on the team that begins June 1st, 2011. Successful applicants will be required to “Refrain from participating on other design teams or work for any other tool manufacturer that is in direct competition with Fiskars Brands, Inc.” Specifics of compensation will only be revealed to finalists for the team.

The call is requesting a complex application, including the submission of 3 projects. One project is to be accompanied by a step-out, one is to be accompanied by an article of explanation, and one sample project is supposed to be an example of a “unique and innovative” tool use.

The deadline for applying is April 19th at noon CST. For more information and to learn how to apply, visit the Fiskars Design Team application page.

Kaisercraft

Kaisercraft is looking for for a large number of people – 12 contributing design team members and 3 community team members. The term of service is for a year, beginning in July 2011. Design team members will receive Kaisercraft product, and compensation for published projects. Kaisercraft is seeking design team members that can create a wide range of papercrafting projects, and that have solid writing and photography skills, and the ability to create step-outs and materials lists.

To apply, designers need to post an entry on their personal blog containing at least 8 projects containing Kaisercraft products. From these applications, 25 finalists will be chosen to move to a 2nd round of the selection process. The deadline for applying is midnight AEST on May 1st, 2011. For more information and application instructions, visit the Kaisercraft design team application page.

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Filed Under: Jobs, News Tagged With: Coredinations, Design Team Calls, Fiskars, KaiserCraft, Stampavie

Pantone Forecasts the Hot Colors of Fall 2011

March 21, 2011 by Melissa Stinson 14 Comments

Pantone released its Fall 2011 color forecast in mid-February during New York Fashion Week.

Honeysuckle, Pantone’s 2011 color of the year, is still the major player in this palette, but unlike the near-pastel hues of the Spring color forecast we now see it matched with deeper tones that add more contrast to the overall palette. Neutrals in this collection shift noticeably away from the grays of 2010 toward rich browns.

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