Unity Stamp

Stampavie has shared exclusively with Scrapbook Update that mixed media artist Suzi Blu has signed with the company to create a signature stamp line. Suzi Blu was formerly with Unity Stamp.

New Jersey-based Suzi Blu is known for her folk art based designs that feature portaits, and for her offbeat personal style. On the transition to working with Stampavie, she commented:

Something happens when two people get together that are meant to be together, that’s me and Heidi. More than a working relationship we are friends of a like mind, and enthusiastic to take the stamp world and show them what mixed media is all about! We foresee not just creating beautiful stamps to be used in traditional ways, but transforming the occasional crafter into an artist. Our stamp line is the starting place that will inspire the limitless potential that is inside each one of us to create unique and personalized works of art worthy of decorating walls. I couldn’t be happier about collaborating with a company whose vision is not just to get by but in essence, to change the world. [Read more...]

Scrapbook Update’s last booth coverage post from CHA Summer 2011 brings you not one, not three, but six manufacturers and their new products!! So buckle up for the blitz tour of the CHA floor!

I’ll start off this last segment of our CHA booth tour with a trip to see the new Hero Arts stamp offerings. Their newly announced partnership with Studio Calico was of course the buzz of the show, and by the looks of these fantastic stamp designs both companies have a hit on their hands!

There was alos excitement at the show over Hero Arts introducing new lines of embossing folders with matching stamps (below) and dies with matching stamps (not pictured).

The Basic Grey/Hero Arts partnership that began at the CHA Winter 2011 show is still going strong, with several items from the line on display at CHA Summer 2011.

And of course, Hero Arts carries many designs of cling mount and clear stamps produced by their in-house designers.

Did someone say booth projects? Hero Arts is known for its fabulous design samples (their catalog is practically an idea book full of beautiful inspiration), and these are gorgeous!

Unity Stamps is next on our itinerary. Unity partners with a wide range of scrapbook manufacturers and designers to produce licensed high-quality cling-mount rubber stamps.

Bella Blvd has several new items in the catalog at this show, including a lovely set of doily stamps.

Notice the reflection coming off of the packaging in that photo above? Unity introduced redesigned packaging at CHA Summer 2011 for their stamps. Instead of the previous kraft envelopes, stamps will now be packaged in convenient zip bags.

I got quite excited over some of the new Unity-produced Echo Park Paper stamps – especially the Fright Night set with its adorable little banner!

For the first time, there are now rubber stamps that coordinate with Nikki Sivils paper lines…

Unity also partners with Iron Orchid Designs and Webster’s Pages to produce licensed designs.

Jillibean Soup has many new offerings through Unity, as well. They were displayed along with a lovely bunch of sample cards to show off the goods!

Home letterpress is a rapidly developing market in the papercraft industry as consumer interest in DIY parties and events grows due to the economy. Lifestyle Crafts offers one popular system for DIY letterpress that was an early entrant to the market.

Hint: Look for more on letterpress coming from Scrapbook Update soon!

The Simple Stories brand has grown from a small subset of the Memory Works catalog to a full product line in its own right in a very short time. They introduced four new themed lines at the CHA Summer 2011 show, including the “Generations” collection shown below.

“Happy Day” is perfect for documenting birthdays and many other types of celebrations.

Fans of products using traditional Christmas reds and greens will find much to love in Simple Stories’ “25 Days of Christmas” line.

“Baby Steps” is a sweet, gender neutral baby line designed to make documenting your newborn as simple as possible.

The Simple Stories design team showed in their booth how traditional layouts could be made with the products, even though the products are actually specifically designed for use in a divided page protector scrapbooking system.

Uniformed Scrapbooks of America brought back their signature military uniform album line that earned them so much recognition when they first debuted, and they also added an adorable new Santa Claus “uniform” book to the mix!

And that concludes our CHA Summer 2011 booth tours!

Scrapbook Update’s CHA Summer 2011 booth coverage may be over, but there’s still more CHA goodness to come! In the coming months we’ll be bringing you in-depth reports on many new products that debuted at the show. We still have a few more “on the scene” reports to share as well (including an interview with new American Crafts designer Amy Tan), so stay tuned for those!