Inspiration

New & Noteworthy: Doodlebug Sweet Cakes

January 26, 2012 By May Flaum 4 Comments

As Valentine’s Day approaches, Doodlebug has released the perfect line literally filled with sweet treats, sugar (glitter), and that sticks to their signature style and colors as well. “Sweet Cakes” is available in stores now, and today I am going to take a closer look at this collection.

I really appreciate that Doodlebug designs are not trendy. They stick to a signature color set, and I know that the colors I have of previous releases such as buttons or rhinestones will always coordinate with the new products as well. This, to me, is such a huge value, and really is great when I want a well-coordinated project. I’m also happy to see that they’ve incorporated their twine (and twine inspired letter stickers) in this collection as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration

Printing Digital Products: Which Paper To Choose?

January 24, 2012 By Steph 13 Comments

Editor’s Note: With this article, Stephanie Vetne makes her debut as a Contributing Writer at Scrapbook Update. We hope that you enjoy her expertise in digital scrapbooking. – Nancy

As a mostly digital scrapbooker, I am often asked about printing options for my layouts and digital supplies. People want to know how I print my layouts, and how to print digital supplies for use in hybrid projects. One of the most common questions I get is “which paper should I use?”

For layouts, the answer is easy – high-quality photo paper works best for printing. Photographs are usually the highlight of any layout, and photographs always look best on photo paper. My personal favorite is a matte or luster finish but I know plenty of other digital scrapbookers who prefer glossy paper. As long as it’s photo paper, any of the finishes are just fine.

But when you’re working on hybrid projects that use a combination of photographs, paper supplies, and digital supplies, you have a lot more options. I print all of my photographs on photo paper but I mix it up a lot more when I print digital supplies. Let me show you why other options work just as well for digital supplies.

Here I started with the journaling cards from Katie Pertiet’s Labeled Journalers No. 4 from DesignerDigitals.com.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Digital, Printing

Sponsor Giveaway | My Creative Classroom

January 24, 2012 By Nancy Nally 107 Comments

Today we’re bringing you a giveaway from one of our sponsors, My Creative Classroom!

My Creative Classroom is celebrating! We’ve been bringing online classes to crafters all over the world for 5 years. In celebration, we are announcing that we will be allowing lifetime access to course content on our site! Most of our classes will be offered for lifetime access! Lifetime access begins with classes taken this past fall and will include classes going forward. WOW! Now you can take a class with the instructor and then refer back to the directions in the future.

My Creative Classroom is an online arts and crafts learning center. Our interactive and in-depth courses are instructor led and filled with wonderful projects and techniques to help you get the most out of your supplies. This upcoming Spring MCC will be offering over 100 courses. From the Cricut to Tombow to mixed media to rubber stamping and scrapbooking we have something for everyone. Don’t miss out on some wonderful classes starting January 23rd, including (you can enroll in classes with links NOW!): [Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Giveaway, My Creative Classroom

New & Noteworthy | Style Essentials by Echo Park

January 19, 2012 By May Flaum 1 Comment

The style essentials paper packs from Echo Park Paper started showing up on store shelves a little over a month ago, and I’m not sure how they flew under my radar, nor why I’ve not heard more about them. These days, less is more in my paper choices, and the simple patterns and useful colors in these packs are most welcome - especially with the holidays now over and my desire for over-the-top at an all time low.

I like the colors used, that the papers are double sided, and that I can easily take them and match them with any number of other brands or product lines. These Style Essentials are classic patterns, yet patterns that are also very trendy right now in paper crafting. I love that about them – and for that reason I am featuring them in New & Noteworthy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Echo Park

Valentine’s Day Scrapbooking Paper Lines Roundup

January 6, 2012 By Melissa Stinson 30 Comments

The scrapbooking world is emerging from a barrage of Christmas projects just in time to start crafting for the next holiday: Valentine’s Day! Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about what paper line(s) you’re going to use for your Valentine’s Day cards, since the big day of all things pink, hearted, and mushy is a mere six weeks away! Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to shop for your supplies and make your cards without feeling rushed.

After my roundup of Christmas scrapbooking lines went live here on Scrapbook Update, I received many, many requests to do a similar article for each holiday. I can’t promise that I’ll do one for every special day on the calendar (there just aren’t that many paper lines for Talk Like a Pirate Day, you know?), but when there are enough themed lines to warrant a roundup, I’ll be sure to post them to keep you all informed!

As with the Christmas roundup, I’m listing all the Valentine’s Day paper lines that were released either at or after CHA Summer 2011 and have scoured the vastness of the interwebs to bring you representative photos of each. They’re listed in alphabetical order, and, since there aren’t nearly so many of them as there were Christmas lines, I’ll also give a little commentary on each.

Ready to start seeing pink? Let’s get going!

Basic Grey – Kissing Booth

Kissing Booth is a mix of basic patterns (I spy doilies and herringbone in the mix) and sweet watercolor images. This line uses brown as a contrast color and is one of the few cream-based collections in the roundup.