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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ANW / Creativity Works is a new company that was just formed in November 2011 from the combination of ANW/Crestwood and Making Memories. In May 2010, ANW/Crestwood had 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 the struggling Creativity, Inc.

Colorbök has been around since 1984. They have a large presence in Wal-Mart’s much-reduced scrapbooking section.

“We are tremendously excited to be able to work with Making Memories and ANW / Creativity Works.  We feel that we will be able to drive newness into the marketplace using all of the great brands which include Making Memories, The Paper Company, Westrim, Crop In Style, Autumn Leaves and Hip in a Hurry.  They are a great compliment to our memory and kids crafting business,” stated Colorbök Vice President Todd Spang

“We believe with this consolidation we will be better able to service our consumer with exciting new products,” stated Chuck McGonigle, Colorbök’s President and CEO.

So what does ANW / Creativity Works have that Colorbök wants? There’s several benefits to Colorbök of the deal, which include a Michaels footprint, technology (the Slice), an organizing line, and an extensive back catalog of classic designs by Making Memories and Autumn Leaves. Making Memories has also had some success with bead products, which may appeal to Colorbök.

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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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