There have long been rumors about Making Memories’ financial health, dating back to the staff layoffs in 2009 that included Margie Romney-Aslett. Industry concern about the company’s health had gotten so strong recently following several actions on the company’s part to liquidate old inventory that the company had even been forced to issue a public statement denying bankruptcy rumors.

Making Memories’ creative, marketing, and product development operations will continue to be run out of its current location in Salt Lake City, Utah. Shipping, purchasing and financial operations will be combined with ANW/Crestwoods’ existing operations in Lincoln Park, NJ. Dan Nelson will continue to provide creative direction as president of Making Memories, while working with ANW/CreativityWorks president Mark Caliguire “to coordinate and enhance the value and importance of each of the company’s’ brands,” according to the announcement:

Making Memories will continue to promote and build on its traditional leadership position in the scrapbooking, embellishment and creative tools business, as well as its growing technology business under its Slice Brand in the papercrafting and fabric sectors.

This is the second major addition to the ANW/Crestwood family of brands in barely 18 months. In May 2010, the company closed a deal for the purchase of the brands Westrim Crafts, Autumn Leaves, DMD, Crop in Style, Hip in a Hurry, Room Relish and Paper Bliss from Creativity, Inc. (Editor’s Note: Westrim, Inc. filed bankruptcy in April of 2011, but they no longer owned the brand associated with their corporate name at that time. It was owned by ANW/Crestwood, and not affected by the bankruptcy.)

Regarding the creative future of the Making Memories brand under its new corporate parent, ANW/CreativityWorks president Mark Caliguire stated in the announcement:

We will make sure that the creative energy and talent contained in the Making Memories team will have the independence to grow and develop their own leadership in product categories. We believe it is critical in our creative business that our companies can draw on the team where needed, but also have the freedom to go in complementary directions.

The company’s blog also hints at the company joining the signature line trend that is taking over the industry…but with who?

Looking ahead, you can expect to see trend-forward products to be released at CHA. Making Memories is teaming up with various artists in addition to releasing a signature line that crosses categories into several crafting areas from mixed media, fashion accessories, scrapbooking, papercrafting, and more.

Don’t miss the Black Friday sale at:

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For those of you who just said, “well, duh, Melissa,” let me explain. I’m not talking about just any old tape here. I’m talking about the fun, decorative, available-in-so-many-colors-and-patterns-that-it-makes-you-want-to-collect-them-all kind of tape!

Also commonly known as “washi” tape (from the Japanese word referring to a specific type of handmade paper), decorative tape is available to crafters in a dazzling array of colors, widths, and types of materials. Many Etsy shops and small online sellers offer imported washi tape made in the traditional Japanese style, and a large number of scrapbook manufacturers also produce their own varieties of similar decorative tape.

Scrapbook-specific styles of decorative tape are being designed to coordinate with new paper lines, such as American Crafts Mixtapes from the “City Park” and “Dear Lizzy: Enchanted” collections.

Making Memories has introduced patterned tapes for many of its new lines over the years including their latest travel release, “Panorama“.

Decorative tape fits right in with 7 Gypsies’ vintage, eclectic style, and they’ve produced it to coordinate with many of their lines such as “Lille,” “Avignon,” and “Venice.” The patterns are reminiscent of vintage ephemera – 7 Gypsies’ signature look.

Holidays and seasons are another popular design theme for decorative tape. Tim Holtz has some amazing designs in this area, including “Hobgoblin” (Halloween) and “Tidings” (Christmas) versions of his tissue tape.

American Crafts’ holiday-themed tape is also a strong entrant in this category. The “Dear Lizzy: Christmas” version features a gorgeous array of colors and patterns in a single package.

7 Gypsies has a fun Christmas set available in the form of their “Christmas Wrap” collection.

Not even Martha Stewart can resist the attraction of decorative tape, as evidenced by this sweet Valentine’s Day offering.

Many decorative tapes are also being produced as standalone products with no associated holiday or paper line. Perhaps some of the most popular of these are Tim Holtz’s tissue tapes – the timeless patterns and neutral colors of his designs (“Sketchbook,” “Nostalgic,” and “Journeyman” shown below)  make them perfect accents for all types of layouts, cards, and paper projects.

Tim even dreamed up a tape-gun style dispenser for his tissue tapes that’s now being produced by Advantus.

Pink Paislee has several styles of tape available in their Artisan line of generic embellishments, including the Bayberry, Green, Lime, and Red varieties shown below.

Martha Stewart has another entry in this category – the fresh and feminine “Vintage Girl” collection.

Hambly has jumped into the washi tape trend in a big way with their new tapes. Four new collections were debuted at CHA Winter 2011 and have been one of the most anticipated releases from the show.

Digital scrapbookers aren’t left out of this latest trend. Many designers are now including coordinating tape strips in their digital kits as well as offering standalone tape collections. “Patterned Tapes No. 1” and “Defined Tapes No. 1” from Designer Digitals are just two of the many, many styles available.

So what can you do with all of those beautiful products? Decorative tape is a supply that is as versatile as it is varied, and there are myriad uses for it on your papercrafting projects. It makes a wonderful base for embellishment clusters – just tear off a small piece and use it as a way to anchor your embellishments to each other and to the photo block at the same time. You can use it to completely cover die cuts and chipboard (instead of using paint or patterned paper). It’s a wonderful replacement for ribbon or paper strips, and it’s even great at adhering items (imagine that)! Amy Tan is a master at that last one and often uses copious amounts of washi tape in her travel mini albums (you can see one of her more recent works here). She also offers an instant download course at Big Picture Classes called “Get Those Creative Juices Flowing,” in which she covers her use of washi tape along with ideas for making your own.

Another use for washi tape? Fold it over baker’s twine and cut to shape for a fun spin on the pennant trend!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper (“Raven“)
Patterned Paper: Creative Imaginations (“Threepio “, “Blueprint” and “Storm Trooper” Die Cut)
Journaling Spot: Anna Griffin (“Darcy” collection)
Letter Stickers: American Crafts (“Poolside” white)
Punches: Martha Stewart Crafts
Baker’s Twine: The Twinery (Charcoal)
Spray Mist: Studio Calico (Calico White)
Decorative Tape: Tim Holtz for Advantus (“Journeyman“)

I’d like to take a moment to thank Japan – a country that has gifted to the world such cultural phenomenons as Hello Kitty, anime, and Nintendo – for giving papercrafters everywhere a trend that they can call their very own. Which reminds me…I found the cutest Hello Kitty washi tapes on Etsy and need to go order some right now!

The staff of Scrapbook Update would like to extend our sincere best wishes to the people of Japan as they work to recover from the recent earthquakes and tsunami.

Making Memories products have been staples in my craft room for many years, and I’m delighted to see that they continue to produce products I want to buy and use. Their new collection called Paper Reverie is now in stores, and is one of my favorite new paper lines right now. What I appreciate about this collection, beyond the beautiful designs, is that it’s very neutral. These products can be mixed and matched with so many other items in my stash, and the classic look is one that will suit my crafting needs for a long time to come.

In other words- I’ll be investing in a lot of this beautiful product.

Making Memories Paper Reverie products used:
Stripe Paper
Text Paper
Gems & Glitter Tape
Butterflies
Shimmer Alphabet Stickers
Cardstock Alphabet Stickers
Gem & Brad Combo Pack
Baubles
other: pen, glitter

Paper Reverie is actually made up of four separate sub-collections (Brun Antique, Metallique, Noir, Sienne). Each has unique paper designs, but similar embellishment options. They all have a vintage and distressed feel, but are neutral enough in both color and style to be used on any number of projects.

I can envision holiday layouts, special meal place cards, lovely thank-you notes, everyday layouts, and home decor projects being created with these lines.

Above is one of my favorite papers from the collection. The glitter and the pattern are just so lovely.

The baubles are one of my favorite embellishment picks, although I really don’t think there are any bad choices from this collection’s options.

With hints of sparkle and glamour, and styles that work so well with many other lines in my stash, I see this collection as a fantastic fall buy. I’ll be creating with and enjoying this line for a long time to come.

Paper Reverie is now available at Scrapbook.com and twopeasinabucket.com.

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Making Memories’s sale will be at their warehouse in Centerville, UT and starts at 5pm on Sept. 30th. In addition to clearing out older collections, the company will be offering a limited selection of new releases as well.

Event: Making Memories Warehouse Sale

Location: 1168 West 500 North Centerville, Utah 84014 (Centerville Exit, West of I-15)

Dates & Hours:

Thursday, September 30: 5 PM – 8 PM

Friday, October 1: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Saturday, October 2: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

For parking and other information, visit the sale announcement on the Making Memories website.

Ranger will be holding their warehouse sale of discontinued and slightly imperfect product inventory on October 2nd at their Tinton Falls, NJ headquarters.

Event: Ranger Warehouse Sale

Location: 15 Park Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 (across from Applebee’s)

Date & Hours: Saturday, October 2nd from 9am-3pm

Ranger’s sale will accept checks and cash. No credit cards. Store owners can call 732.389.3535 x35 for information on making bulk purchases.

Get the new Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tiny Attacher for $15.99 on Amazon.com with free shipping!

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Has that changed for me? No way! I still love scrapbooking trips both big and small, and what I really appreciate is how the industry has gone from intensely themed and brightly colored product to more useful product, and to items that can cross over into other pages and subjects as well. While I utilize a great many items in my vacation scrapbooks that are not themed, I also am always on the lookout for the best of travel and vacation products available.

And from cruises to road trips, time at the beach to camping,  and just general travel, journey, and trip products…there is definitely a lot available. Here are six collections I think are fantastically useful, cool, and otherwise great buys:

• Bo Bunny Press “Paradise”  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
• Creative Imaginations “Oceana”  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
• Little Yellow Bicycle “Pack your Bags”  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
• Making Memories “Panorama” Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
• Studio Calico “Documentary”  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
• The Girls’ Paperie “On Holiday”  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com

I particularly appreciate the value in the Girls’ Paperie sticker book (just $4.99 for seven sheets of stickers!) Scrapbook.com | Two Peas

Looking for a great accent for your next travel or journey page? Try these tags from 7 gypsies.  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com

I also like this transparency from Teresa Collins Travel line. It could be such fun to mark on, paint, spray, and otherwise alter to suit my travels.

One stand out line this season that I mentioned above is Making Memories Panorama line. I love the tropical feel of the product, and that the colors are not too bright, and that any number of layouts could be lovely with the product – not just travel.

I created this layout about a vacation at our home – and I loved how easily it all came together.

Patterned Paper (die cut):  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
Patterned Paper (background): Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
Making Memories Title Letters  Two Peas | Scrapbook.com
Making Memories Tickets Two Peas
Making Memories Journaling Card  Scrapbook.com
Making Memories die cut shapes Two Peas
Making Memories Wordfetti Two Peas

Evalicious flowers with buttons www.shopevalicious.com
other: white thread, rhinestones, black pen

I like vacation products that put me in a relaxed state of mind. I like products that have a style that I’d normally choose to use, and that can be used for all kinds of subjects. Words like laughter, good times, journey, and so many others that can be found in these products can be creatively put to use for anything! Palm trees and ocean waves don’t have to mean that you’re on a cruise – they can represent a summer’s day, or just a relaxing time.

What adventure will be next in my scrapbooking? I’ve got a few ideas, and you can be sure that I’ll be taking some of these fantastic products along with me to create and enjoy. Before I end this article here are a few more fun items to consider:

Canvas flip flops mini book by Quick Quotes: Scrapbook.com

Martha Stewart Border Punch: Scrapbook.com

Karen Foster metal decorative plates are so fun – perfect if you’re traveling or on a road trip in the USA.  Scrapbook.com

I could go all day! Bella Blvd has a great new camping line. EK Success continues to produce travel-themed Jolee’s Boutique stickers. By getting specific with what kind of vacation you’re having when you use search terms, you can find even more inspiration and fun. I hope you’ve enjoyed my look at some current picks for great vacation products.

[Disclosure: May is a member of the design team at The Girls Paperie, some of whose products appear in this article.]

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