The blog post earlier today was authored by Alison Kreft Abad, who was the company’s Art Director for over 8 years. She states that she is no longer with Hambly because of the company’s intent to produce no future Hambly Screen Prints product, and that she is transitioning to new opportunities.

Santa Clara, California-based Hambly Studios has been in business for over 35 years. The company is known in the crafts industry for its graphic styled screen printed products such as transparencies, and for its rub-ons, washi tape and prismatic stickers, but it also produces other products that include wall decals, notebooks and calendars.

UPDATED: Allison Kreft Abad indicated in a post about the closing yesterday on her own blog that one of the new opportunities that she is working on is designing a new collection for Echo Park Paper Company.

The biggest announcement this week arguably came from Becky Higgins, and it was about Project Life, of course. Details of the announcement are a bit sketchy because Becky’s announcement video is currently unavailable for viewing. However, the brief summary points that she posted underneath the video indicate the following big changes are coming soon to the Project Life core kits:

• Project Life core kit production is being shifted to the U.S. from overseas. This will cut down on out of stock time as production is much faster, and the print and paper quality will be much better.
• Packaging is changing to a large flat package that includes a plastic tray in which all of the cards will lay flat. All of the new packaging is 100% recyclable.
• Kit contents will be changing: There will now be 500 journaling cards in each kit, with “filler” designs on the back, plus 40 bi-fold cards (up from 24). The title cards will be horizontal designs on the front and vertical on the back (the same designs, just shifted in orientation).
• Another change that is coming to the kit contents: stickers are being eliminated, for now. Becky says it is too expensive to produce them here in the U.S., so they are eliminating them from the core kits, and looking at options to produce them as a separate item that can be purchased as an add-on for Project Life in the future.
• The original Project Life kit is coming back! As part of the new U.S. production, all of the Project Life core kits are being reprinted: Clementine, Cobalt, Amber, and Turquoise – and the original kit is coming back as well! It will be called the “Cherry” edition.

Looking for great ideas on how to use Tim Holtz Distress Markers from Ranger? Here’s two tutorials that will help!

The first is from the blog of Ranger Senior Educator Wendy Vecchi, and shows a great technique for coloring her cream colored Blossom Bucket Trinkets with the pens.  The results are amazing, and the possibilities for creating custom embellishments are endless!

Next up, how about a video from Jennifer McGuire? Jen shows a great technique for using an embossed stamp with Distress Markers and Perfect Pearls to create a very colorful card in a short amount of time.

(Also, I want to say a big congratulations to Jennifer McGuire on her adorable new production! Baby Lila Grace made her debut on, of course, Mother’s Day. She is absolutely beautiful! Head on over to Jen’s blog to get a peek at the little cutie and share your congratulations with the family!)

Maya Road has announced their early summer 2012 releases. There’s a selection of chipboard, including elements, an album and some 3D items, but the most notable is perhaps Maya Road’s joining the ever-growing hexagon trend sweeping the industry:

Another notable piece from their new slate of introductions is the Limited Edition Antique Treasure Buttons, which will be available in Onyx and Diamond. The diamond are pictured here:

There’s new twine cording, embellishments, and stamps, too!

Here’s a treat for digital & hybrid scrapbookers – the Designer Digitals Quarterly sale is going on now! Every item in the Designer Digitals store is 30% through Tuesday, May 22nd.

Anyone who is a fan of 6×6 paper pads (like me!) should check out the American Crafts blog this week. They’ve been doing a whole series on things you can do with 6×6 paper pads! My favorite is the tutorial about how to create this gorgeous layout by Michelle Clement:

There’s lots of cards and layouts – and even a canvas – to get inspiration from in the series. So check it out and then be prepared to head to your favorite store to load up on pads to play with!

If the new art journaling trend intrigues you and you want to learn more, there’s some really great education to be had on Jule Fei-Fan Balzer’s blog this week! On Thursday she showed about a dozen different things you can do with a single wood parquet stencil design. In her “The Things You Want To Learn” piece on Wednesday, she provides an encyclopedia of resources to learn the basics all about various Mixed Media techniques (and even explains the definition of mixed media).

Have something new & noteworthy to share in our weekly noteworthy column? To be considered for next week’s column, email Nancy at nanally@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

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The company had previously announced on April 20th that the 60 year old Menzer was hospitalized in stable condition, but they declined at that time to indicate the cause of his illness. Today’s announcement, the first update on his health situation from the company since that day, indicates that Menzer suffered a stroke last month and is in stable condition but is expected to be absent from the company for an extended period of time. The announcement says that the Board of Directors will reevaluate Menzer’s status periodically. Menzer has been CEO of Michaels Stores, Inc. since 2009.

Menzer has been in the news recently for the role he held previous to his tenure at Michaels, as Vice-Chairman of Wal-Mart. That company is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for the alleged payment of bribes by its Mexican subsidiary during a period of rapid growth in that country. The New York Times named Menzer as one of the key players in the U.S. company’s cover-up of those alleged actions.

The new Office of the CEO at Michaels Stores, Inc. will consist of Lew Klessel, who is Managing Director with Bain Capital Partners, LLC, and Charles “Chuck” Sonsteby, who is Michaels Stores’ Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Klessel has also been appointed to the newly-created position of Interim Chief Operating Officer at Michaels. Klessel and Sonsteby, as the Office of the CEO, will temporarily assume Menzer’s responsibilities as CEO, and will report directly to the Board of Directors.

Klessel is the executive at Bain Capital who manages their investment in Michaels Stores, and he also serves as the Bain representative on the Michaels Board of Directors – which means in his new role in the Office of the CEO that he reports, at least partially, to himself.

It is a sensitive time for the company’s CEO to be absent, as the company recently announced plans at the end of March to launch a $500 million IPO offering of company stock. The company’s private equity ownership stressed in the announcement their confidence in the interim leadership:

“First and foremost, the thoughts of the entire Michaels family continue to be with John and his family during this difficult time and we are all hopeful for his full recovery,” said Matt Levin, Managing Director with Bain Capital Partners, LLC. “By establishing the Office of the CEO on an interim basis, we will ensure ongoing leadership continuity for the business.”

Peter Wallace, Senior Managing Director with The Blackstone Group L.P. added: “The senior management team has been instrumental in developing new strategies and initiatives to drive the company’s growth performance and we are completely confident in their ability to continue to drive business results. Lew is a seasoned executive with extensive management and operations experience who, together with Chuck in his expanded role, will ensure the execution of the company’s strategic plan.”

A holding company controlled by The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital currently owns approximately 93% of Michaels Stores stock.

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Studio Calico announced a new line this week called “Hey Day”:

The line also includes a huge assortment of embellishments – including mistable Thickers and shapes, wood veneer shapes, and an assortment of Thickers, diecuts and other stickers. There’s also new Mr. Huey’s mists and a template. You can check out the whole collection on the Studio Calico blog. I have to admit – I usually despise anything orange (or tangerine) but this collection has such beautiful color combinations and patterns that I cannot wait to try it out. Way to go Studio Calico  - you’ve made an orange out of me!

Hey Day will be shipping to retailers in June 2012.

AC sister brand Crate Paper has also been busy. They are joining the wave of recent baby-themed releases with two lines of their own. They hinted about the new lines on their blog today; Full previews are coming next week, but you can see them here first!

Little Bo Peep, the line for baby girls, is full of soft florals and soft pink, mixed with brighter tones of pink and teal.

There’s also a little boy version, called Little Boy Blue:

Both lines will be accompanied by full selections of embellishments – Thickers, brads, stickers, chipboard and other Crate favorites. To see the full line, visit the Crate Paper blog next week!

The entire American Crafts family of brands unveiled new websites this week. The websites for American Crafts, Pebbles, Crate Paper, and Studio Calico now share a coordinated look. The sites have tabs along the top menu bar that link them together, and a big new feature: an ecommerce store.

To check out the new sites, visit the American Crafts home page and click through the tabs!

Looking for something to do? The Great Lakes Mega Meet is this weekend in Novi, Michigan.  The Mega Meet is one of the largest scrapbooking events in the country every year, and this year features appearances by Melissa Frances, Jill Yegerlehner, and Jenni Bowlin.

Down south in the sunshine state, the Orlando Scrapbook Expo will be taking place next weekend (Friday & Saturday) at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Looking for last-minute Mother’s Day inspiration? Check out this lush card by Gloria Stengel on the Hampton Art blog!

The card combines the Graphic45 Fashionista collection with Hampton Arts’ Hydrangea Collage stamp. I love the layered arrangement of the blocks and the delicate use of the green and purple as highlight colors!

Making Memories has announced that they are having a warehouse sale at their warehouse in North Salt Lake, Utah on May 15th-17th. For the hours, details, and location (their warehouse has recently moved – please note the address!), visit their blog.

Ever wondered what goes into actually printing your favorite paper lines? Jill Yegerlehner from Jillibean Soup gave a great peek on their blog behind the scenes at a press check for Jillibean Soup‘s latest production run of some of their papers this week.

It’s a very educational look at the process and will leave you impressed with the effort that goes into creating a seemingly simple piece of paper!

Pink Paislee has been running a fabulous series on their blog all week about the new trend of using ombre in design.

To quote Pink Paislee’s introduction to the topic, “Ombre is a French word meaning “shadow” or “varying shades of a tone”, like a graduation in color.” Want to learn more about how to use it in your scrapbooking? Don’t miss the fabulous Pink Paislee design team’s beautiful and educational series!

And finally…don’t forget that Ali Edwards’ 31 Things workshop starts next week at Big Picture Classes! From Ali’s description of 31 Things:

31 Things is about capturing life right now but will be much more in-depth on a single daily subject than the documentation you might be used to with projects like Week in the Life or Project Life. This is an opportunity to get more specific pieces of your story told with the goal of going more in-depth; get those pieces of your life documented with words.

31 Things starts on Thursday, May 17th and the price is (of course) $31. Don’t miss it!

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The announcement was made via a post by editor Michelle Rubin to the magazine’s blog. The blog posting said the closing decision by Meredith was made because “due to the longer term business forecast for the franchise and the industry, the corporation has chosen to cease publishing within this marketplace.”

The final issue of Scrapbooks Etc, August 2012, will go on sale June 19th and be available through August 14th. The magazine’s website will continue to offer content through that time period in support of the print issue.

There is no word from Meredith at this time regarding the fate of unfulfilled issues on subscriptions, but it is standard industry practice in magazine publishing that a publisher will either sell the subscriptions to a rival magazine title to be filled, or fill the remaining issues of subscriptions with another title from their own portfolio.

Meredith stressed their continuing support for the crafts market in the announcement by plugging their upcoming publication “Make It Yourself” that is launching this fall and also their selection of quilting titles.

Rubin addressed the magazine’s readers in the announcement on behalf of the entire staff:

On a personal note from the editorial staff, we are grateful for your support through the years. We could not have asked for better readers, and we have loved seeing your scrapbook pages and craft projects in our inboxes, on our website, and on our Facebook page. You inspired us in our mission to give you the ideas and information you wanted to preserve your memories and express yourselves creatively, and we hope that we in turn inspired you to create great pages and projects.

This announcement now leaves the Creative Crafts Group titles – Creating Keepsakes and Paper Crafts Magazine – as the sole “newsstand” class of magazines in the scrapbooking & papercrafts industry, an outcome that seemed highly unlikely only a few years ago when CK Media owned them and teetered on the brink of bankruptcy before the sale to New Track Media and the formation of Creative Crafts Group.

The Creative Crafts Group titles still have competition from the specialty titles from Northridge Publishing (which publishes Scrapbook Trends, Cards, Cricut Magazine, Signature Series, and a host of other titles) and Stampington (which publishes Somerset Memories, Somerset Studio, Stamper’s Sampler, Where Women Create, and Art Journaling, among others). These titles sell for prices that rival books for each issue (averaging around $14.95/issue), and thus operate under a totally different business model than the $5-$6/issue newsstand magazines.

Update: Creating Keepsakes Editor-In-Chief Jennafer Martin shared her thoughts with Scrapbook Update about the industry’s loss of Scrapbooks Etc. magazine:

We at Creating Keepsakes magazine are saddened by the closure of Scrapbooks, Etc.. It is a fantastic publication, and its quality has challenged CK to be better in order to stay competitive. We’ll miss it, and we tip our hats to the editorial staff there for years of inspiring, quality publications. Creating Keepsakes will continue to work hard to provide content that connects with and inspires scrapbookers to preserve their memories creatively.

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