The photo above is from the Crate Paper booth, a company that is known for their amazingly detailed and beautiful offerings, and they’ve added some new designs into their mix this show as well.

Here are four new fantastic neutral button sets. Clockwise from top left we have Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 for Blossom Bucket, We R Memory Keepers, Jillibean Soup, and Basic Grey. I really like the unique textures and designs of each set, as well as the fact that they are neutral so they will work with any colors.

Now let’s look up close at a line that is filled with a lot of notions and button embellishments: French General for Jolee’s Boutique from EK Success. I really like that the line is organized by color, and how useful these pieces will be with the French General papers, or with any other brand as well.

Here is a close up shot of the new Dear Lizzy Neapolatin line buttons for American Crafts – I really like the wood buttons and I think it brings a fun texture to the offering.

October Afternoon has some buttons that are solid color, but done in such fantastic colors and with some great floral detail as well which will make them useful for all kinds of projects – and they’ll work with many other brands of papers as well.

Speaking of color, here are some more fun new choices: (left to right, above) Teresa Collins, Doodlebug, and Fancy Pants. All three mix great colors and a good variety of sizes as well in their offerings.

One of the cutest lines on the show floor – and some of the most unique buttons – are from Rhonna Farrer’s “Follow Your Heart” line for My Minds Eye shown above. I really like the trendy patterns and unique shapes used.

We are seeing buttons mixed in with other shapes and embellishments as well. Above is a new dimensional embellishment that in addition to birds also features adhesive-backed buttons with stitching.

Finally, let’s take a look at Buttons Galore & More [photos by Melissa Stinson]  - a long time manufacturer of buttons (and a Scrapbook Update sponsor). They have really great solid and basic buttons in a wide variety of styles. They also have some unique sets and shaped buttons as well.

Overall with a continued focus on vintage, rustic, and whimsical styles in paper crafting products that buttons go so very well with, I believe they will continue to be a popular item. There are some really interesting designs and types becoming available from painted to wood to other materials as well.

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In the Dear Lizzy line at American Crafts, Mason jars can be found on her paper, stickers, and a stamp as well as in the booth decor.

In Wendy Vecchi’s Studio 490 line for Stamper’s Anonymous, she has a Mason jar stamp and Art Part (chipboard-like material) available.

Here you can see the Art Part jar and stamp (which is the perfect size to stamp on top of it) in use together. The jar is layered in two pieces for dimension, and the back piece is cut out in the middle so that you can actually tuck things into your jar. I love this detail!

Vecchi also has a jar embellishment in her new line with Blossom Bucket as well. It is flat on the back so it can be adhered to any project easily, and it has a hole in the top that allows you to tuck in flower stems (or anything else you’d like) to fill it.

Crate Paper’s new Pretty Party line has a cute mason jar in the chipboard embellishment sheet.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at Jillibean Soup and their offerings.

This cute wreath made from Mason jar lids was displayed in their booth showing off some new papers. They also have paper featuring jars – many with cute tops and sayings on them.

Their Coconut Lime Soup line also has a coordinating stamp set (available through Unity Stamp Co.). Here is a project sample from the booth showing the stamps in action:

Overall I like the idea of Mason jars in crafting. It adds to the homemade, handcrafted movement that is so strong right now and works perfectly with the current trends of vintage, country chic, quilted elements, stitching, and more. I believe when the summer show comes around we may see even more of this shape in paper crafting lines and booth displays.

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One of the most anticipated debuts at CHA this summer was Amy Tan’s signature line with American Crafts. The Amy Tangerine line proved itself not just pretty to look at, but very useful as well. From travel to everyday moments, a trip to the zoo to random shots of my daughters, I’ve created more than a dozen projects with this line already – which is a lot for me from one line! Indeed, I’ve found myself using it so much I’ve purchased seconds of several products.

Now in stores is a special line-extension that perfectly coordinates with the existing line, giving me more use for my leftover bits of paper, tape, and stickers, and giving me fresh project possibilities as well.

Four new “daybooks” (mini-books) were released in this extenstion as well as three new embellishments, as shown below:

I received a sample of the “Off the map” daybook and what I love is that it could easily be a gift for a non-crafting friend. If I provided some adhesive and some small letter stickers anyone could use this to make a little book about their vacation (or other subject if another book from the line was chosen). There are a lot of fun pieces in this book, and lots of journaling room. I believe a stapler and some of Amy’s tape along with a pen would be all I need to make a book with the right ephemera and a few small photos.

The embellishments that were released clearly go with the daybooks. However, I am already finding them useful on scrapbook layouts as well. Although this line features bold color, it is mixed with neutrals in a way that ends up complimentary to many photos, and with enough solids in the mix to work well for me. Here is a layout I just completed utilizing the new embellishments as well as some of the original line. I really like the mixed envelopes – perfect to add another layer and detail to my page.

Supplies used:

If the use of travel icons is not for you, or if you aren’t fond of the plum color the line features then this may not be the line for you. I am a fan of pinks of all kinds – however, I’m very aware that for some that might not work.

If you’re looking for a user-friendly, whimsical, and very mixable line that works well with other brands as well, then take a look at these Amy Tangerine products. I look forward to seeing what new line she comes up with at CHA. Until then these daybooks and embellishments will keep me busy – and help me use the last of my stash of her original release of papers.

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With the beautiful bold patterns and designs, many crafters struggle to figure out where to cut it or how to use Webster’s Pages patterned paper. They are beautiful and over the last few years have definitely been among my favorites, but their surprising new announcement has me excited, and I believe other scrapbookers will feel the same. Webster’s announced this week that they are creating something new – Clean & Simple papers will be “dedicated to a cleaner, simpler version of Webster’s Pages.”

And no, this isn’t a one-time deal. ALL of our new collections will have a corresponding Clean & Simple paper line, the perfect complement to Classic Webster’s. So instead of having 6 papers per collection…we’re now having 12 papers per collection {6 papers Classic Webster + 6 papers Clean & Simple}

I do not think it is only clean & simple style scrapbookers who will enjoy and appreciate this addition to their lines. This takes out a lot of the intimidation factor of Webster’s Pages’ papers, stretches the usefulness of their lines, and gives crafters more options. I look forward to seeing their new release (Sunday Picnic) which should arrive in stores in January, as well as how this new development adds to their future lines.

This looks like it would be a bit time consuming, but for the chevron lover, it could really be worth it for a fun and unique party decoration.  Aimee over at betsywhite.com shares her tutorial for how to make your own chevron streamers through a few simple steps. It looks like folding the streamers would be the time consuming part, but for shorter lengths, vertical hanging, and a truly cool way to make your crepe paper decorations stretch farther and be more exiting this would be a great budget-friendly project.

American Crafts is at it again, this time with a line extension for the popular Amy Tangerine line. The mini book has been quite popular – so much so that they are adding 4 new ones and calling them “daybooks” now. These books as well as the few embellishments that were also revealed yesterday all perfectly match the existing Amy Tangerine line. I have found this line to be incredibly well thought-out and useful for both travel and everyday scrapbooking, and for a wide variety of subjects. Having purchased and used quite a bit of it since it released, I am excited to see more coming out. American Crafts has these products in stock now and is shipping them to stores.

Dina Wakley posted on her blog this week about what to do when you make an ugly page. Having just shared about some recent crafty failures, this really spoke to me and I appreciated the reminders and how she approaches art journal pages gone wrong:

You learn artistic lessons from every page you do. How can you learn and grow as an artist without making mistakes? You can’t make amazing art every single time, that’s unrealistic. If anything, you learn what not to do again. Or you learn when to stop. Or you learn not to use certain colors together.

Her thoughts are inspiring and to the point, and it’s great to be reminded that ugly pages happen. Perhaps more importantly, that it is ok, and they are a part of the process.

A new partnership was announced this week – one that will have Jenni Bowlin fans very happy. On the JBS inspiration blog, it was announced that Jenni is now releasing punches with Fiskars. Featuring lever, squeeze, and border punches, these items will work beautifully and offer some unique designs. Jenni says the new line is a great fit with her existing partnerships and products:

“My goal has always been to stick with what I know best, and partner with great companies on what they know best.  And Fiskars knows punches!  This will round out our existing partnerships with Ranger for Inks and Paints and Coredinations for Cardstock.  Everything works together with the Jenni Bowlin Studio line for one cohesive look.”

The tab squeeze punch, grandma’s doily lever punch, and the jester border punch shown above are at the top of my wish list – though I would love to have any and all of these new punches! According to the blog post these can be expected to ship after the holidays.

A lot of crafters are participating in craft projects such as 12 Tags of Christmas, and there are a lot of interpretations out there. But by far the most inspiring and creative use of the Tim Holtz blog series I have seen is taking them 3D! Richele Christensen is taking the daily tags, and creating a configurations style box for each day. The results are stunning, and I look forward to seeing what she does for every tag. I really like the idea of taking the tag ideas and using them in other ways - and this is sure to be a project to treasure when finished. You can see this project in progress at Richele’s blog.

Noteworthy is a weekly column on Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? If you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

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This week I’m back to rounding up the best announcements, tutorials, and information in general, so let’s get December started:

Pink Paislee has begun their annual 12 days of Christmas series on thier blog, this year re-named “Winter Wonderland” to fit in with their winter themed Snow Day product line that is in stores now. It  promises to be as fun filled as ever:

 Each day we will post a new project from our creative team that includes step by step tips and tricks so you can create along with us; and we will also provide FREE printables and host daily blog giveaways so we can give out secret scrappy gift boxes filled to the brim!

The event takes place through December 12 on the Pink Paislee blog. With the free printables, prizes, not to mention tutorials for projects I am really looking forward to this.

Thousands check out the Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas posts, of course, but also worth watching is the Ranger blog, which promises a daily prize drawing for a box filled with holiday inspired Ranger products during Tim’s 12 tags event. Some of the Ranger staff will also be creating tags inspired by Tim’s daily tag and posting those as well.

American Crafts announced a brand new type of product this week called flutterbys.

Garlands are everywhere these days, from wedding receptions to scrapbooking layouts. We love their versatility, so here at American Crafts we’ve created a new product to make adding that festive touch oh-so-easy. Introducing Flutterbys — pre-made, paper mini-garlands in six fantastic designs!

American Crafts continues to announce new products and introduce lines on a more regular basis, getting away from the more traditional use of CHA to debut all new products. I am interested to see how sturdy and easy to use these tiny garlands are, as well as what will be unveiled by the American Crafts family of companies next month at CHA.

Jenni Bowlin has announced her first online class through JBS mercantile:

Your class fee includes the kit as well as a detailed instruction PDF download and video highlighting various techniques.  You will also get three bonus PDFs from Jenni highlighting some additional “house” themed crafts, a recipe for her favorite Christmas treat complete with packaging ideas, along with some of her favorite holiday decorating ideas.

The kit is available for sale at JBS Mercantile for $42.99, and the main mini-book project would be a great holiday project, or could be made into a more general “home” book.

Ali Edwards announced this week that she is a part of the 2012 Project Life creative team. The team page shows nine crafters, all of whom will be sharing their Project Life albums on a regular basis in 2012. For those who participate, this looks like a great resource for encouragement and inspiration.

Speaking of inspiration and Project Life – Colin Kartchner is back with a fifth episode of his “Crafting with Cleetus” video series on YouTube. This episode focuses on Project Life, and Becky Higgins selected the video as a winner for her 12 videos of Christmas series on her blog. More reader videos will be shared during December, though I doubt any others will feature pockets for beef jerkey in their Project Life binders!

Last but not least, www.designerdigitals.com has started their days of December promotion. With a new 99 cent item each day, and hundreds of items being marked down, it’s a digital and hybrid crafter’s wonderland. I always end up purchasing products to use on holiday cards, gift tags, and more.

Noteworthy is a weekly column on Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? If you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest scrapbook news?