The most exciting tags for me, are the Pink Paislee printed shipping tags. The printed style that they do can be accomplished at home with a plain shipping tag and digital kits, but it is time-consuming and difficult to get perfect printing all the way to the edges. These are beautifully done, and I can not wait to get them in my hands and create with them.

Their Indigo Bleu, Prairie Hill, and Spring Jubilee lines all offer these tags (6 per package) that perfectly coordinate with their papers and other embellishments. Left alone, or with the addition of inks, glitter, mist, or dimensional accents these tags could be so much fun on a variety of projects.

In paper form, Echo Park has a fantastic shipping tag design in their “Note to Self” line that begs to be cut apart, misted on, or used as a background for anything from a travel to everyday moments page.

If you are looking for smaller tags, American Crafts has great options with two of their celebrity designer lines. Here is a photo of the tags from Amy Tan’s Sketchbook line. I really like the scalloped top and how these could be just decorative or used as journaling tags.

The Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line is filled with soft colors and pretty accents, making these tags the perfect accent to complement them.

If you’re looking for something hand stitched and very unique, check out these tags from Studio Calico. These are one of my favorites of their releases (which were all fantastic!) – I can see so many ways to make use of these from stamping sentiments on them to hand writing journaling or using them as a layer in an embellishment cluster.

Next I want to mention the tags from Pebbles. They are kraft shipping tags – be still my heart! I love the decorative accents on these, and the size is perfect for embellishing.

Martha Stewart Crafts also has some great tags all decked out with baker’s twine and a country stitched look that will be perfect for spring and summer crafting.

If you are more into decorating your own tags, there are plenty of options for you as well. Core’dinations has some excellent new blank tags, and Ranger and Jillibean Soup have been producing blank tags for some time now that are great quality as well.

Any way you look at it – 2012 looks to be a year where I will be putting a tag on even more projects!

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Scrapbookers and papercrafters might be especially interested in the small flower molds that produce tiny, flat-backed flowers that are very similar to the very popular resin cabochon flowers that are available from companies such as Prima and also on Etsy. ClayCraft flowers (and any other ClayCraft shape) can be created in any color needed by mixing primary colors, and they will dry to a feather-light yet sturdy shape in 24 hours.

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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.

Bazzill Basics Paper – Love Story

Bazzill, long known for its quality cardstock, has only recently entered the patterned paper market. The Love Story line continues the graphic style displayed in other lines that have already been released by the company, and they’ve chosen grey to offset the sweet pinks and bright reds of the designs.

Bo Bunny – Smoochable

Bo Bunny’s signature style is readily apparent in their Valentine’s Day offering, Smoochable. Light distressing and the use of light purple and hints of green are the signature elements in this line.

Crate Paper – Paper Heart

Crate has knocked Valentine’s style out of the park with their Paper Heart collection. It’s at once vintage and trendy with its pops of turquoise and use of popular elements such as chevrons and doilies. I predict that Crate will have a major hit on their hands with this collection!

Doodlebug Design – Sweet Cakes

Sweet Cakes is everything we’ve come to expect from Doodlebug – whimsical graphic designs in their signature color palette make it easy to identify. Doodlebug has gone all out for this release, producing a wide variety of coordinating embellishments including a special Doodle Twine card and a Doodle Twine spool featuring a red, pink, and white twist. Be still my baker’s twine loving heart!

Echo Park – Yours Truly

Following in the footsteps of their Be Mine collection from last year, Echo Park continues to produce Valentine’s Day papers in a traditional color palette. This year they’ve thrown red and grey into the mix of Yours Truly (last year’s collection was almost all pink and black), but if you’ve got any Be Mine still hanging around your stash, this new collection should coordinate with it wonderfully.

Fancy Pants – Love Story

Fancy Pants has amped up the pink to nearly hot proportions and added lots of turquoise to their Love Story collection. This is one of those lines that would work well for everyday pages, especially with some of the strong, non-themed B-side patterns that the line sports.

Jillibean Soup – Hearty Barley Soup

Hearty Barley Soup shows Jillibean returning to their krafty roots. I’m completely in love with the woodgrain print – it has tiny little hearts worked oh-so-subtly into the pattern!

K & Company – Circus Valentine

K & Company “themed the theme” with their Valentine’s release Circus Valentine – it’s filled with circus motifs!! The pops of blue add unexpected contrast and interest.

KaiserCraft – Sweet Nothings

This line from the Australian powerhouse is pure vintage elegance. Filled with Victorian-style cupids and flowers, Sweet Nothings is perfect for those who want a softer feel for their Valentine’s projects.

Karen Foster Designs – Valentine’s

Karen Foster Designs’ Valentine’s collection puts a comic book style spin on the holiday.

KI Memories – Hot Date

While not specifically advertised as a Valentine’s line, the Hot Date collection has all the motifs (including plenty of XOXOs and hearts!) associated with the holiday, wrapped up in a completely nontraditional color palette.

Lily Bee Design – Head Over Heels

Head Over Heels is another line that isn’t specifically for Valentine’s, but in my opinion it’s a stronger collection for that very reason. There are plenty of pinks, creams, and floral motifs to make it suitable for the holiday, but the addition of orange and turquoise and the lack of a huge amount of Valentine’s specific motifs make it a very versatile line sure to keep you scrapping long after 2/14 has passed.

Martha Stewart Crafts – Valentine’s

Martha Stewart brings her simple, graphic styling to her newest Valentine’s Day collection. The real news here, though, is the punches! Perenially a highly sought-after crafting item, her newest border and shape punches are sure to be a hit!

My Mind’s Eye – Love Me

My Mind’s Eye chose a decidedly cream base for their Valentine’s line Love Me, then loaded it up with several shades of pink, plenty of grey, and just a hint of baby blue. The collection is filled with the doily and banner designs that we’ve all come to know and love from My Mind’s Eye’s more recent offerings.

Pebbles – With Love

Long known for having a simple graphic style, Pebbles has kicked it up a notch with the With Love collection by including a kraft-based sheet in the mix. The speech bubble pattern is printed right onto heavy-duty kraft paper, providing a great contrast to the pinks and reds in the rest of the collection.

SEI – Promise Me

The Promise Me line from SEI is all softness and beauty, with just a hint of gold to set it apart from the rest of the field.

Tim Holtz for Sizzix – Texture Trades, Love Struck Bigz Dies, and Love Struck Movers and Shapers Mini Dies

Tim doesn’t have a paper collection for Valentine’s Day (though I think that a V-Day version of his Kraft Resist paper would be an awesome addition to his line- hint, hint!!), but since this is such a huge cardmaking holiday I just had to include his new Love designs from Alterations for Sizzix – dies (available in both Bigz and Movers and Shapers mini formats) as well as his new Texture Trades embossing folders.

We R Memory Keepers – Love Struck

We R Memory Keepers finishes up our roundup with their Love Struck collection. Here light blue offsets the plethora of pink, and the collection has a nice variety of both large and small patterns.

And now, dear readers, I’d like to hear from you. Which of these collections has caught your eye? Any favorites? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

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Baker’s twine can be purchased in massive spools (that are literally measured by the pound rather than by length) at baking and restaurant supply stores, but many scrapbooking and crafts manufacturers are producing this new staple product in both smaller quantities and a larger selection of colors to cater to those who need a bit more variety (and a smaller size) than, say a 10 pound spool of nothing but red and white twisted cotton string.

Some stores such as The Twinery have popped up in the last year or so and offer baker’s twine as either their only product or their main product. Twine from The Twinery is available in fourteen different colors with new additions occasionally being made (Stone, Buttercream, and Denim are the most recent new colors to join the lineup). Consumers have the option to buy The Twinery’s twine in either large 240 yard single-color spools or in a smaller sampler pack that includes all of the company’s colors in less expensive (and easier to store) 15 yard skeins.

Divine Twine is another all twine, all the time seller with a selection of twelve different colors. They carry both the traditional color/white twist variety of twine as well as a specialty “Air Mail” spool with a red, white, and blue color scheme. Divine Twine is only available in large 240 yard spools from their online store, though a search on Etsy turned up several sellers offering the colored strings in shorter length variety packs. 

Recently scrapbooking and crafts manufacturers have been getting in on the twine trend, marketing baker’s twine in smaller quantities and larger color ranges than what’s typically available at most baking supply stores. Martha Stewart Crafts has been offering twine in holiday assortments (Halloween, Christmas, etc.) for several years now and recently released a new line of single-color spools in longer lengths.

Doodlebug introduced their own version of baker’s twine, Doodle Twine, at CHA Summer 2011. Doodle Twine is available on 20 yard spools in all of the colors found in the company’s signature palette. Doodlebug’s twine is extra-colorful thanks to the two strands of color they include for every white strand (instead of the standard 1:1 ratio). Doodlebug also offers Halloween and Christmas twine with multicolor twists, along with an assortment of twine cards designed to match specific color sets (such as primary colors) and paper lines.

Doodlebug has also meshed the baker’s twine motif with their popular alphabets to create Doodle Twine alphabet stickers, which, like Doodle Twine, are available in all the colors in Doodlebug’s standard palette.

The saturated colors of Doodlebug’s twine pair well with not only their own papers, but also with other bright paper lines such as Bella Blvd’s Too Cute to Spook and Christmas Wishes. The colors of the twine aren’t washed out by the bold papers thanks to the boost provided by the extra colored strand.

Supplies | Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd Too Cute To Spook (Quadrants, Cute Cuts). Stickers: Bella Blvd Too Cute To Spook (Alpha + Bits, Miniatures). Twine: Doodlebug (Halloween). Rhinestones: Doodlebug.

Supplies | Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd Christmas Wishes (Star Stripe). Stickers: Bella Blvd Christmas Wishes (Just Write, Miniatures). Twine: Doodlebug (Christmas). Rhinestones: Doodlebug.

We R Memory Keepers offers a variety of baker’s twines in their Sew Easy Fancy Floss line:

Though these twines are designed to work with the company’s Sew Easy tool (look for a review of this tool coming soon to Scrapbook Update!), they work just as well on their own as regular twine.

Supplies | Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers Spookville (Spooky Spots, Trick or Treat). Brads: We R Memory Keepers Spookville (Glitter Brads). Stickers: We R Memory Keepers Spookville (Embossed Cardstock). Twine: We R Memory Keepers (Tertiary).

Supplies | Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers Autumn Splendor (Hazel, Willow). Brad: We R Memory Keepers Autumn Splendor (Glitter Brads). Chipboard: We R Memory Keepers Autumn Splendor (Layered Chipboard Tags). Twine: We R Memory Keepers (Neutrals)

Jillibean Soup offers baker’s twine in a variety of color sets (Turquoise/Green, Pink/Purple, Yellow/Orange, Red/Black, and Blue/Green) that will coordinate easily with both their older and current releases.

Jillibean Soup’s baker’s twine has a thinner composition and a more “slick” finish than standard cotton baker’s twine, a property I found to be very useful when stitching with the string.

Supplies | Patterned Paper: Sassafras (Sweetly Smitten 6×6 Pad). Cardstock: The Paper Company. Twine: Jillibean Soup (Pink/Purple). Chipboard: KI Memories (Friendship Chip Accents).

Supplies | Patterned Paper: Sassafras (Sweetly Smitten 6×6 Pad). Cardstock: The Paper Company. Twine: Jillibean Soup (Turquoise/Green). Buttons, Dies: (Papertrey Ink).

While some scrapbooking manufacturers are marketing their baker’s twine as standalone items, others such as My Mind’s Eye have released their twines as part of a specific paper line’s embellishment package. When My Mind’s Eye released their mid-season Lime Twist collection, they also debuted no fewer than twelve shades of coordinating baker’s twine, available on 20 yard cards.

Pink Paislee introduced its own version of baker’s twine at the CHA Winter 2011 show. Both of the House of 3 branded lines, Soiree and Daily Junque, feature twine in a variety of trendy color combinations, many of which ditch the standard white/color twist in favor of the color/color variety.

Teresa Collins has included a coordinating shade of bakers twine in the trim packs for all three of her new lines: Christmas Home, Haunted Hallows, and World Traveler.

Crate Paper has also jumped on the twine bandwagon. All three of their new CHA Summer 2011 releases – Farmhouse, Random, and Peppermint – sport bakers twine on their trim cards.

October Afternoon includes a generous amount of coordinating baker’s twine in each of the Wrap Packs from their three newest lines: Sasparilla, Sidewalks, and Farmhouse.

Digital Scrapbookers are getting in on the twine trend, as well! Splendid Fiins (found at JessicaSprague.com) has not one but three element sets (Baker’s Twine Photo Mega Pack, Baker’s Twine Cards, and Baker’s Twine) featuring nothing but baker’s twine inspired embellishments!

Many digital scrapbooking kits now also include a baker’s twine embellishment or two in the mix. Jen Allyson’s Vanity Fair collections (Persimmon and Cerulean pictured below) include colorful twists of baker’s twine in their embellishment packs.

Baker’s twine is a subtle, inexpensive, and readily available option for scrapbookers who want to add just a hint of color pop to their projects. Next time you’re shopping for supplies, consider adding a few shades of this staple embellishment to your basket – but be careful! Baker’s twine can be habit forming, if my own collection is anything to go by!

Check out May’s latest class at Big Picture Classes:

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To do this, I’ve tested each one in my craft studio using a variety of materials- patterned paper, coasterboard, and 100% wool felt (wool felt has less “stretch” to it than synthetic and is better for die cutting in general) – and recorded the results to help you decide which of these tools might be right for you.

Button Studio by Epiphany Crafts:

The Button Studio from Epiphany Crafts is first up on our tour of button making tools. This little gadget is a self-contained one-stop shop for punching and assembling your own customized buttons. It allows you to easily select the exact part of the patterned paper that you want to use for your button. Several models of the tool are available to produce a variety of sizes and shapes of buttons, and the similar Shape Studio line of tools from Epiphany Crafts allows you to create acrylic shapes without the button holes in the middle.

Using the Button Studio tool is quite simple. You start out with just the base and an open lid…

…and then slide your patterned paper in until it completely covers the punch opening and displays the portion of the pattern that you want to use on your button.

A button blank (must be purchased separately) is then placed on top of the patterned paper but is not yet “pushed down” to adhere it.

The final piece of the tool is a plastic guide that helps line up the holes in the button blank with the “holes” in the (now obscured by patterned paper) punch mechanism below – thus the reason for not adhering the button blank to the patterned paper in the step above.

After everything is assembled, you close the lid, give the top of the mechanism a quick, firm (it requires some pressure, but not ridiculous amounts of it) press…

…and remove your completed button. I like the look of the plastic cover on top of the button, but I do need to point out that the punched paper never seems to line up perfectly with the button blank. It leaves a millimeter or so on one side hanging out from under the edge of the plastic top.

I experimented with some of the other test materials I had on hand and was able to punch through uncovered coasterboard to create a button, though one of the holes didn’t punch all of the way through. Covered coasterboard wouldn’t cut, and wool felt was too thick to even load into the paper slot.

Strengths

• Allows you to easily use the exact part of the patterned paper that you want shown on your button
• Produces the most realistic looking buttons of the tools reviewed due to the clear plastic blanks used to top the patterned paper

Weaknesses

• Requires the purchase of blank plastic buttons specifically made for the tool
• If you wish to make other shapes or sizes of buttons, a whole new tool and set of blanks must be purchased for each size and shape
• Loose tolerances in either the punch alignment or button blank size cause a small (1mm or less) amount of patterned paper overhang on at least one side of the button

Martha Stewart Crafts Double Embossed Button Punch

The Martha Stewart Double Embossed Button Punch is definitely the simplest to use of the three tools being reviewed today.

The tool works just like any other paper punch: insert the paper you want to cut, squeeze the handle, release, and remove your completed button.

This punch adds a nice, heavy embossed edge to the cut for a more dimensional (and thus more realistic) look.

I was quite surprised to find that the punch actually cut through and embossed coasterboard, as most punches I’ve used in the past aren’t strong enough for anything thicker than heavy cardstock. Coasterboard covered in patterned paper though was, unfortunately, a no-go with this tool.

If I was surprised that this punch cut through coasterboard, I was even more shocked to find that it cut through wool felt, as well! The felt did not emboss, as is expected since it’s closer to cloth than paper and doesn’t hold creases in the same way, but the cut (including the holes in the middle) was nice and clean.

Strengths:

• Does not require the use of any additional tools or supplies – all you need is the punch and the material to be punched

Weaknesses:

• Closed punch mechanism does not allow you to see exactly where on the paper you are punching
• Can only punch one size of button

Papertrey Ink Buttoned Up #1 die set

The last stop on our tour of button making tools is Papertrey Ink’s Buttoned Up #1 die set (a Buttoned Up #2 set with scalloped edges is also available). It’s definitely the smallest tool on the list, if you don’t take into account the fact that you also need a manual die cutter (the die is compatible with the Cuttlebug, Sizzix Big Kick/Big Shot, and many other popular die cutting tools) to use it.

I used this die in my Sizzix Big Kick, making my cutting “sandwich” with the multi-purpose platform (using all the tabs), an acrylic cutting plate, coasterboard covered in patterned paper, the die (face-down on the coasterboard), and then finally another acrylic cutting plate covering it all.

I then ran the sandwich through my Big Kick…

…and out came perfectly covered and shaped little buttons. The dies give a slightly rounded finish to the edges of the cuts, eliminating any layering effects from the paper that’s adhered over the coasterboard. These dies can also cut plain paper and felt.

If you are into stamping and would like to make more decorative buttons, this die has a matching stamp set called “Button Boutique” from Papertrey Ink that can be used to create less plain buttons.

Strengths:

• Die can be placed over the exact portion of the patterned paper you wish to cut
• Can cut several sizes of buttons with the same tool
• Affordable – die is only $5 if you already own a die cut machine
• Matching stamp set available to create decorative effects

Weaknesses:

• Requires that you also own or have access to a manual die cutting machine that is compatible with the die

At the end of the day, all of these tools do the same thing: produce realistic-looking paper buttons that can be used on your layouts, cards, or other projects. In fact, all of the buttons styles coordinate together well when used in a single project, such as the layout below that uses examples produced by all three tools.

All of these tools are easy to use and produce attractive buttons. If you’re in the market for a button making tool, take some time to think about what shapes and sizes you may need and what materials you’ll want to use, then review the strengths and weaknesses of each option to help guide your choice.

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