Angie Pedersen's Scrapbooking Industry News

ZoomAlbum to be Featured on Martha Stewart, May 3rd

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Call for Submissions: Best of British Scrapbooking

ScrapBook Inspirations, a UK-based magazine, recently announced the Best of British Scrapbooking contest on their blog.

Announcing Best of British Scrapbooking 2007! Calling all scrapbookers! ScrapBook inspirations are thrilled to announce the launch of Best of British Scrapbooking 2007!

Don't miss out on the biggest and most popular scrapbooking competition in the UK! We've teamed up with Joanna Campbell Slan to seek out the most talented scrapbookers.

The first prize winner will receive a whopping £1200 of goodies, while five other winners which each be awarded £600 of scrapbooking stash from our favourite brands. All six winners will also receive a paid commission to create a project for ScrapBook inspirations!

..We’ll be looking out for layouts that show imagination, good design sense, a range of techniques, great photos, and your journaling and choice of subject matter are also key!

Participants can enter under the following categories: Best of British Scrapbooking, Best New Scrapbooking Talent, and Altered Item Challenge.  The entries will be judged by a panel of judges using the following criteria in equal measure:

1. Are the projects unique, well designed and do they reflect excellent craftsmanship?
2. Do the projects present innovative principles or techniques?
3. Do the layouts express meaning through journaling, art or photographs that provides value or insight to viewers?

The best of British Scrapbooking is open to all residents and scrapbook stockists within the UK (you must be aged 18 or over).

Look for details about Best of British Scrapbooking in the next issue of the ScrapBook Inspirations magazine (on sale 30th April).

Entries must arrive by MONDAY 23RD JULY 2007.

DigiScrapInfo & ACDSee Offer Scrapbooking Tour

DigiScrapInfo.com has partnered with ACDSee to offer a Scrapbooking Tour in honor of National Scrapbooking Day.

Visitors can register at DigiScrapInfo to win prizes provided by ACDSee.  The tour runs from April 15 - May 15.

The Bigi Digi Digital Scrapbooking Contest

Scrapbook.com's Bigi Digi Digital Scrapbooking Contest (pronounced "bigie dijee") begins April 25, 2007 and ends at midnight on June 30, 2007 PST.

One lucky winner will win a brand new computer system prize pack of their choice (either Dell PC or Mac), complete with a 20” LCD flatscreen monitor, Canon PIXMA Pro9000 12x12 printer, Photoshop Elements, LumaPix Fotofusion Enhanced, and over $400 in digital element kits. 

2nd place, 3rd place, and 10 Honorable Mentions will also receive some fantastic prizes! Plus, winning layouts will be seen by tens of thousands of scrapbookers worldwide!

Each layout may not be displayed or submitted to any other contest, or publication during the contest period, or after it has ended if one is selected as a Winner or Honorable Mention. Each layout must measure 8"x8" or larger and must be a scrapbook layout. Cards and other craft projects will not be accepted.  The contest is restricted to residents of the United States and Canada, age 18 or older, only. Residents of Puerto Rico and Quebec are not eligible for the contest, due to strict laws in those areas with regard to  contests.

Contest Criteria -

Judging will be based on, but not limited to the following criteria:

1. Design elements (color, repetition, balance etc.)
2. Must use at least 50% of Scrapbook.com or ComputerScrapbook.com element kits in layout. No purchase necessary to enter the contest. Free elements and papers are available at ComputerScrapbook.com.
3. Use of title/journaling (the story)
4. Photo quality
5. Originality and Innovation
6. Quality of the submitted layout (suggested: 600x600 up to 1200x1200 in size, 72 dpi, and .jpg format).

See the complete rules, requirements, and prize information at Scrapbook.com.

Martha Stewart to Launch Her Crafts Line in May 2007

Extensive Assortment of Crafting Products and Storage Solutions to Make National Debut in More than 900 Michaels Stores in the U.S. and Canada

NEW YORK, April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. announced the Martha Stewart Crafts line will debut on May 1, 2007. The line features more than 650 SKUs, including a wide array of materials for paper crafting and scrapbooking, with exclusive paper designs, beautiful embellishments, smartly designed tools every crafter needs, as well as convenient binders and storage systems that help keep everything organized.

Debuting exclusively at more than 900 Michaels stores in the U.S. and Canada and at marthastewartcrafts.com, the Martha Stewart Crafts line will be a complete crafts destination, including products, inspiration, and educational materials, all arranged to create a "store-within-a-store" feel.

Martha Stewart Crafts products have been designed by MSLO and manufactured by EK Success, one of the country's leading scrapbooking and creative consumer products companies. This is MSLO's first foray into the $30 billion arts and crafts marketplace. The crafts market has broad-and growing-appeal: according to the Craft & Hobby Association, nearly 60 percent of U.S. households participate in crafts and hobbies.

MSLO's dedicated team of experts, including Hannah Milman, Editorial Director of Crafts, designed all of the products in the line, including:

• Scrapbooking materials ranging from sophisticated, exclusive designs of papers to charming embellishments.
• Beautifully bound albums, frames, and keepsakes boxes to help preserve memories artfully.
• Craft kits that allow adults and children to make easy-to-do projects with adorable results.
• Pretty food packaging that makes giving homemade gifts from the kitchen or garden easy, with boxes, bags, and wrappers.
• Gift wrap, tissue paper, ribbons, invitations, and more for holidays, weddings, showers, and birthdays.

The Martha Stewart Crafts line also includes a comprehensive assortment of crafting essentials, such as rubber stamps, 56 colors of markers and pens, 30 colors of glitter, and 17 varieties of adhesives and tapes, including specially designed adhesive-backed patterned ribbons that can be mitered to create frames. There are 38 specialized tools in the product line, including craft punches, three sizes of scissors, and a bone folder, one of Martha's favorite tools for making perfect folds and creases. As part of a helpful system of storage binders and boxes, product packaging was thoughtfully designed to fit into those binders, allowing crafters to easily store and find their supplies. In addition, crafters can find tools, templates, paper products, "how-to" tutorials, and message boards for exchanging ideas on the new marthastewart.com. In September, the site will have additional community features.

Scrap Girls Donates Proceeds to Food for Poor

April 26, 2007 -- In March of 2005, Scrap Girls created their first collaborative digital scrapbooking collection on behalf of a charity called Food for the Poor, which provides food, housing, health care, education, water projects, micro-enterprise development assistance and emergency relief to the poorest of the poor. Scrap Girls has released new collections of graphics, which are used with popular image editing software such as Adobe's Photoshop and Photoshop Elements or Corel's Paint Shop Pro to create digital scrapbooking layouts, on a quarterly basis since that time.

Syndee Nuckles, a product designer for Scrap Girls said, "I am honored to be a part of this. I have always wanted to do MORE in the way of giving back but haven't - in recent years - been able to really spare a dime. But I CAN help, thanks to Scrap Girls. I can feel good about doing something that normally I would not be able to do."

The newest Food for the Poor collaborative collection, called "Blossom" has been added to the Scrap Girls online store. It can be found in the Scrap Girls Boutique.

Terri Pointer, a Scrap Girls customer commented, "I think it's so wonderful that everyone benefits from such a lovely kit - we as the users and especially the charity."

"It is amazing to see what a healthy percentage of our gross revenues are being donated to Food for the Poor every month," stated Rozanne Paxman, CEO of Scrap Girls. "Our customers have really gotten behind this effort and we are touched by their support."

If you're interested in contributing to Food for the Poor you can visit their website www.foodforthepoor.org or visit www.ScrapGirls.com.

ScrapGirls.com is an internet store specializing in Digital Scrapbooking Supplies, Educational Movie Tutorials and eBooks and Commercially Licensed Graphic Design Products.

SOURCE: PRWeb

Genealogy Social Networking Sites Flourish

The ubiquitousness of social networking sites for the younger set--who hasn't heard of MySpace and Facebook?--has inspired a rash of genealogical versions.

A few:

FamilyLink, the most recent of the bunch, comes from MyFamily.com founder Paul Allen and the team at his new venture, WorldVitalRecords. FamilyLink is still in beta testing, but so far you can create a profile (complete with your photo) that lists cities where you're researching, then connect with other genealogists interested in that area. A family tree feature is on the way.

Geni, created by the founders of such esteemed sites as eBay and Yahoo! Groups, may have beat FamilyLink to the launchpad, but it also gave Allen's team a chance to differentiate their site.

Geni's research focus appears to be softer, with greater emphasis on adding family names to trees. The site is testing a GEDCOM export that includes the names and relationships of people related by blood (plus spouses and their blood relatives).

WeRelate started as a genealogy Web search engine and wiki with entries for resources and places. Now it's buoyed by a partnership with the Allen County Public Library genealogy department and billed as an online community. WeRelate registered users can create pages for their ancestors and use the online Family Tree Builder application.

SharedTree is a wiki that functions as an online family tree program multiple researchers can use and update. The site says its open source and open content policy (meaning no one owns the code or the content, so anyone can use it) is revolutionizing the genealogy industry.

Look in upcoming Family Tree Magazines for a guide to how you can use these and other social networking sites to your research advantage.

***
Reprinted with permission from Family Tree Magazine Email Update, copyright 2007 F+W Publications Inc.
Subscribe to the Family Tree free weekly e-mail newsletter.
For a free sample copy of the print Family Tree Magazine, America's #1 family history magazine, go to their website.

Chatterbox Announces Storyteller Team

Recently announced on the "Chatterblog" -- The 2007 Chatterbox Storyteller Team.

Definition: a Chatterbox Storyteller possesses a love for paper crafting and storytelling.  They desire to inspire others to tell their stories using Chatterbox supplies.  They are innovative, inspirational, motivating people.

...So here they are....

• Leah Fung
• Jill Godon
• Jlyne Hanback
• Vanessa Reyes
• Melanie Stout
• Courtney Walsh

These women are ambassadors for the Chatterbox mission:

• Teach people that ALL stories are important and weave into the great WHOLE
• Make it easy & fun for people to share their stories
• Make it easy & fun for people to extract stories from others
• Make it easy & fun for everyone to document their life stories, big and small

PMA announces PMA 08 convention and trade show dates

JACKSON, Mich. – The PMA 08 International Convention and Trade Show, the world's largest annual photo imaging trade show for the estimated $83 billion worldwide industry, is set for Thursday, Jan. 31 through Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev., USA.

"While we are fully committed to the city of Las Vegas and our early February dates, we have listened to the comments and concerns of our various constituencies regarding the overlap with Super Bowl XLII, held Feb. 3 in Phoenix," says Ted Fox, PMA Executive Director and CEO. "We've responded in a timely fashion.

"PMA will continue to offer the full complement of educational opportunities that are the hallmark of our convention, as well as allied meetings of PPFA [Professional Picture Framers Association], DIMA [Digital Imaging Marketing Association], PSPA [Professional School Photographers Association], SPAA [Sports Photographers Association of America], PIEA [Photo Imaging Education Association] and PSRO [Professional Scrapbook Retailers Organization]," said Fox. "Super Bowl week has traditionally been an exciting time for the city of Las Vegas – and its hotels – and we anticipate tying into a number of these events for our attendees and our exhibitors."

PMA 08 will mark the 84th annual convention for the association. PMA conventions are open to business owners and executives in the photo imaging industry, as well as press and media representatives.

On a related note, there is currently a Call for Presentations for PMA 08, with a June 1, 2007 deadline.

About PMA - The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations
As a professional trade association, PMA helps the worldwide photo imaging community achieve business success and adapt to new technologies. Its commitment to 20,000 members in 100-plus countries is part of an 82-year legacy that connects business owners to a network of knowledge and support. PMA furthers this purpose through the development of educational programs and business services, marketing research, publications, and trade shows. As a nonprofit organization, any success enjoyed by PMA in its endeavors directly benefits the industry, allowing PMA to provide continual services and activities for members.

SOURCE: PMAI.org

CHA to feature Summer of Love Party

The Craft & Hobby Association Summer Trade Show and Convention will feature a “Summer of Love” party on Saturday, July 21, 6-10 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare Ballroom A in Rosemont, Illinois. In addition to drinks and dinner, the evening will include the music of Beatlemania Live as it recreates the image of a live Beatles concert. Also, Austin Powers and characters of the 1960s will be in attendance. Pre-show tickets are $45 for members and $75 for non-members. Onsite fees are $70 for members and $100 for non-members. For more information, visit www.chashow.org.

SOURCE: Craftrends News Headlines