American Crafts Acquires Pink Paislee, Heidi Swapp Brands

American Crafts announced today that the company has purchased Pink Paislee, including its Heidi Swapp brand. The deal is effective immediately.

Pink Paislee, founded in January 2008 by Rebecca & Barry Cross, is based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company is known for its detailed feminine designs and licensing collaborations with high profile designers, most recently the Heidi Swapp signature line.

Pink Paislee Snow Village

Rebecca Cross, who serves as Pink Paislee's CEO and Creative Director, and husband Barry Cross, who is the company's CFO, will be relocating from Missouri to run Pink Paislee's operations out of American Crafts' Orem, Utah headquarters. The move will put them in the same location with Heidi Swapp to continue their collaboration more closely on her line of products. As Heidi noted in the announcement on her blog, "we are excited about getting so much done once we live in the same city!"

Founded in 1994 as a pen manufacturer before transitioning to becoming a scrapbooking manufacturer, American Crafts has been growing by leaps and bounds the past five years. This is the company's second acquisition in 2013, following the acquisition in July of Imaginisce. 2013 also saw the debut of the Maggie Holmes signature line for Crate Paper, and the huge debut of Becky Higgins' Project Life as a wholesale product under the American Crafts umbrella. Crate Paper was acquired in 2011, along with the licensing rights to Studio Calico's products, and the launch of Amy Tan's signature line Amy Tangerine also made a huge splash that year. In 2010, Elizabeth Kartchner launched the popular "Dear Lizzy" signature line for American Crafts. The string of expansion started back in 2009, with the acquisition of Pebbles.

In the announcement, Rebecca Cross said that the acquisition is a good thing for Pink Paislee. “American Crafts is the right company for us to partner with for greater exposure and continued growth. We’re really happy about joining American Crafts and taking Pink Paislee into the future.”

Rebecca expanded on the Cross's motivation for selling to American Crafts on the Pink Paislee blog:

After having a record breaking year and growing at a rate of over 20% annually we knew we couldn’t keep up with just (4) in house employees. We kept saying over and over: “we need more people. we need more resources. we need a bigger warehouse.” Basically we knew we had to prepare for changes in 2014. Then…something happened. Fate stepped in and gave us the opportunity to become a part of something bigger.

Heidi Swapp is also excited about what she described as "a little more help" on her personal blog. “I just love meeting new people, teaching them new techniques, and opening their eyes to what they can accomplish,” she said. “American Crafts is a great home for the Pink Paislee and Heidi Swapp brands – I’m excited to see what comes next.”

American Crafts President Jeff Mitchell described the future of Pink Paislee at American Crafts:

Pink Paislee has done an amazing job of making really inspiring products. The company’s designs are pretty and feminine and have a strong appeal. This purchase lets us offer another strong collection of products to retailers. American Crafts, Pebbles, Crate Paper, Imaginisce, Project Life, Studio Calico, Pink Paislee and Heidi Swapp are all brands that scrapbookers know and love. We’re committed to keeping each brand distinct and focused on what made customers love them in the first place.