Update | Pantone, Etsy, Pinterest, Jobs, Calls & More!
The summer shows are over, and it's hard to believe it but the industry is already ramping up for Christmas and winter shows. Where did 2016 go?
Consolidating. Canvas Corp has announced that the 7 Gypsies and Tattered Angels brands have been consolidated under the single company of Canvas Corp. The three brands were previously separate companies. All of the brands will continue to be marketed, but can now be ordered together from one company.
HOME by Becky Higgins logo
Expanding. Project Life founder Becky Higgins has announced the launch of a new brand called "HOME by Becky Higgins". The lifestyle brand is launching with an initial product offering of four designs of all-occasion premium wrapping paper. Although she's known professionally for her work in the scrapbooking industry, Becky's popular blog often features her home and her style is frequently the subject of admiring comments and questions from readers. Higgins' move is not unprecedented - it takes place against a backdrop of a changing scrapbook market in recent years that has sent many of the major scrapbook segment companies (such as My Minds Eye, Teresa Collins, Heidi Swapp, and American Crafts) looking for new markets in markets like stationery, party goods, and lifestyle products.
Launching. Ali Edwards will be launching pre-orders for 2016 December Daily kits on September 1st. The designer reveal will begin next Monday, on August 22nd. (Hmm, maybe I should finally finish that 2013 album....)
Mobilizing. Pantone has launched a new iOS app called PANTONE Studio. The app takes mobile the ability to build and share color palettes using Pantone color tools, and apply colors to various designs and surfaces as a visualization tool. Users can also access Pantone trend information. A free limited version of the app is available, or the full version can be purchased for $7.99/month or $59.99 for an entire year.
Linking. Etsy is partnering with Intuit to offer a special Etsy version of Quickbooks Self-employed. Etsy storeowners will be able to download their Etsy sales, as well as transactions from other providers such as Square and Paypal, directly into the accounting software. The software will be available the first year for $5/month, or for $12/month with a TurboTax bundle.
Curating. Pinterest announced some feature changes to its site design today, including a new preferences setting that will allow users to stop the presence of "Picked for You" pins in their feeds. Pinterest, in their announcement, said this feature was added at the request of users. Personally I find the "Picked for You" pins to be a great way to find interesting content, but it seems that a vocal segment of Pinterest users disagree. If a large portion of Pinterest users take advantage of this new feature, it could impact site traffic and account growth for users whose pins are favored by the Picked for You engine.
Changing. Instagram's new Stories feature has a lot of users wondering what to make of it. Abby Glassenberg of While She Naps has an interesting perspective on exactly how disruptive Stories is to the direction of Instagram.
Sharing. I'm pleased to announce that I will be serving another term on the design team at the Layout-A-Week blog run by Jennifer Priest. My first layout of the new term is a summer garden layout featuring Simple Stories and Quick Quotes products.
in the garden layout preview
Events, part 1. Registration is open for the Designer Day portion of Bella Blvd's event in Milwaukee on October 20th. Workshops may be purchased ala carte from a schedule that includes Shanna Noel, Jill from Jillibean Soup, and Julie Johnson.
Events, part 2. Prima is launching a planner line, and they are having an event in Temecula, California to celebrate. Tickets are $120 per person for the October 15th event, and include a goodie bag with a planner, a workshop, lunch, demos, and more.
Events, part 3. Altitude Summit, the popular social media and blogger conference for creatives, has a call for speakers out for its 2017 event. The conference will take place in Palm Springs, California from January 31st to February 3rd, 2017, a week after Creativation (and overlapping with Creativeworld).
Returning. The Craft & Hobby Association is advertising a list of previous exhibitors that will be returning to the winter show (now named Creativation) after a break that includes Darice, Walnut Hollow, Coats and Clark, Springs Creative, TrimCraft, Modern Store Fixtures, Prym Consumer USA, and Crescent Cardboard.
Jobs. The following craft industry positions are currently advertised as available:
Stampin' Up! - Bilingual DS Agent French Speaking (Riverton, UT)
American Crafts - Cashier/Sales Associate - Part-time (Lindon, UT)
Calls. The following calls for designers are currently open:
Moving. My company Nally Studios has moved business locations and has a new address. Please contact me by email at nancy@nallystudios.com if you need our updated address information.
