Angie Pedersen's Scrapbooking Industry News: Posts from January 2008

« December 2007 | Main | February 2008 »

Posts from January 2008

Far Flung Craft to Debut Asian Inspired Scrapbook Papers

Far Flung Craft officially launches its new sophisticated line of culturally inspired papers at the Winter CHA Trade Show in Anaheim

Singapore- January 28, 2008— For the first time, a Singapore company will be launching collections of patterned paper and matching embellishments at the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show. Far Flung Craft owners, Kristy Harris and Faye Forster are excited to be producing papers that are true to the cultures and communities of Asia. The women, having lived, worked and crafted as ex-patriots in Asia, noticed a lack of scrapbook and paper craft supplies with an Asian theme. Either the papers were limited in production, weren’t readily available world wide, or were not appropriate for use with some Asian cultures. Kristy and Faye were determined to solve the problem by producing their own line of papers and embellishments.

Far Flung Craft’s mission is to provide luxurious papers, embellishments and one of a kind items for use in paper crafting. The company’s first two paper lines are Batik and Bollywood. The Batik line of paper features traditional batik patterns and colors from Indonesia and Malaysia. The Bollywood collection is bright and vivid and is inspired by the Indian movie industry and the wonderful silk fabrics seen throughout India. Both lines feature 6 initial designs, all double sided printed on heavy (180 GSM/65 lb) acid free/lignin free cardstock. The lines will also feature limited edition paper kits with coordinated fibers and ribbons and special edition Googaw Charms.

Far Flung Craft also continues to sell its successful line of Googaw Charms and Asian inspired Frou-Frou fabrics. Far Flung Craft will be exhibiting in Booth 304 at the CHA 2008 Winter trade show in Anaheim California February 10-13, 2008.

For more information and downloadable catalogs please visit www.farflungcraft.com.

January 30, 2008 in Scrapbooking Product Releases | Permalink

Technorati Tags: CHA, Far+Flung+Craft, scrapbooking, scrapbooking+industry

Corel to Showcase Digital Media Software at Memorytrends

Company to demonstrate Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Corel PainterTM Essentials 4 and Corel MediaOneTM Plus, Providing Memory Makers and Scrapbookers with New Creative Possibilities and Retailers with New Revenue Opportunities

OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Corel Corporation, a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today announced that the company will showcase three of its award-winning digital media products – Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Corel MediaOne Plus, and Corel Painter™ Essentials 4 at the 2008 Memorytrends Conference & Expo, co-located with the PMA International Convention and Trade Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Now in its ninth year, the Memorytrends Conference & Expo is a must-attend event for the scrapbooking community and remains the only trade show in the creative marketplace devoted solely to scrapbook retailers and manufacturers.

Make Every Photo Look Its Best

Photo quality is an important consideration for every scrapbooker whether they are removing red eye from a family portrait, converting images to black and white or adding a decorative border to a favorite photo. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is the ideal digital photography software for people who want to transform their digital pictures into professional-looking photos fast. With the easy-to-use Learning Center and plenty of one-click photo fixes, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 makes it easy for users to make every photo look its best and, when users want to do more with their images, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 provides a growth path to more advanced tools and controls. To help organize favorite scrapbook images, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 includes Corel MediaOne Plus, a complete photo organizer, that also features hundreds of creative backdrops, picture tubes, photo frames, designs and layouts, including professionally-designed templates from Sandra Magsamen and Smilebox™. These additions give users even more opportunities to put their own personal touch on scrapbook pages. Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 allows users to foster their creativity and experience all of the fun of creating homemade photo projects without any of the clean up.

Turn Favorite Photos into Painted Masterpieces

Clean up is never an issue with Corel Painter Essentials 4, the digital home art studio that makes it easy to take favorite photos and transform them into painted masterpieces, all in as little as three mouse clicks. Packed with a variety of paints, chalks, pastels, artistic papers and brushes, Painter Essentials 4 provides scrapbooker with all of the tools they need to extend their creativity in new directions, without the extra clean up associated with traditional painting. For scrapbookers who want to add a unique dimension to their creative projects, Painter Essentials 4 is the easy-to-use home art studio for creating paintings from scratch or transforming pictures into unique painted images that can be added to a scrapbook page, card or other special project.

To view a product demonstration or to receive a free trial of Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Corel MediaOne Plus, or Corel Painter Essentials 4, users are invited to visit Corel’s Booth # H271 at the Memorytrends Hall from January 31 to February 2, 2008.

For more information on Corel, please visit www.corel.com. To learn more about Memorytrends, please visit www.memorytrends.com.

About Corel Corporation

Corel is a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software with more than 100 million users worldwide. The Company's product portfolio includes some of the world's most popular and widely recognized software brands including CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, Corel Paint Shop Pro, Corel Painter™, Corel DESIGNER, Corel WordPerfect Office, WinZip, WinDVD and iGrafx. Designed to help people become more productive and express their creative potential, Corel's software strives to set a higher standard for value with full-featured products that are easier to learn and use. The industry has responded with hundreds of awards recognizing Corel's leadership in software innovation, design and value.

SOURCE: BusinessWire

January 28, 2008 in Craft Trade Shows | Permalink

Unibind "Goes Green" with Environmentally-Friendly Photobooks

First to Offer Green PhotoBooks Made from Natural & Recycled Materials

Alpharetta, GA, January 22, 2008 — Peleman Industries, Inc., manufacturer of the award-winning Unibind PhotoBook Creator and high-quality binding and lamination line of products, announced today that it is the first company to introduce environmentally-friendly Unibind "Green" PhotoBooks made from natural and recycled materials. The Unibind Green PhotoBooks will debut at the 2008 Photo Marketing Association (PMA) Convention, held next week, January 31- February 2, 2008 in Las Vegas. The Green PhotoBooks are manufactured with a natural cover comprised of 100 percent cotton-flax, made from natural and recycled materials.

35% of Unibind’s Products are Made with Recycled Materials

The environmentally-friendly PhotoBook is one of several initiatives by Unibind to make its operations as safe as possible for the environment. "Guido Peleman Founder of Peleman Industries Worldwide’s (my father) mission was always to be ‘green,’" said Brigitte Peleman-Vantieghem, CEO of Unibind North America. "An example is our commitment to environmental ethics. Thirty-five percent of our products sold are made with recycled materials, and all of our office building’s roofs in Belgium are being solar-paneled. In addition, we have implemented recycling programs at both our Belgium and U.S. operations."

"We’re proud to be the first company to offer a ‘green’ photo book. The PhotoBook is one example of Unibind’s determination to make its operations as eco-friendly as possible. 100% natural, the Green PhotoBook offers the same high-quality binding capability of the Unibind professional line of books," said Rusty Redecker, Vice President of Photo for Unibind North America.

For more information, see www.peleman.com.

About Unibind

Unibind is the North American arm of Peleman Industries, a privately-held manufacturer of binding, laminating and presentation products founded in 1939. With its worldwide headquarters in Puurs, Belgium, the company opened its U.S. corporate office in Alpharetta, Ga., in 1999. Today, Unibind products are distributed on six continents in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.unibind.com.

About Peleman Industries

Peleman Industries Inc, a privately-held manufacturer of binding, laminating and presentation products founded in 1939. With its worldwide headquarters in Puurs, Belgium, the company opened its U.S. corporate office in Alpharetta, GA., in 1999. Today, Unibind products are distributed on six continents in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.unibind.com.

January 22, 2008 in Scrapbooking Product Releases | Permalink

New York Institute of Photography Launches Revision of Professional Photography Course

New York Institute of Photography, America's oldest and largest photography school, has begun shipping the 2008 revised edition of its renowned Complete Course in Professional Photography.

Since 1975, the Pro Course has been exclusively offered via distance education. It delivers photography instruction through the use of comprehensive and colorful lesson texts created by the NYI faculty, "Listen and Learn" audio recordings, and video demonstrations, combined with student support from a faculty of esteemed New York photographers.

The 2008 edition of NYI's Professional Course gives all students a complete understanding of the art, science, and business of photography.

Key features of the 2008 Professional Course revision include:

Brand-new, full-color lessons that include information about the newest digital cameras, photo archiving technologies, and trends in the photographic specialty areas, along with complete instruction in traditional photographic techniques. Students receive over 30 photography lessons in addition to the supplementary business lessons listed below.

Twenty hours of up-to-date audio CDs on which NYI faculty members review the key points in each lesson and offer their perspectives on the changing world of professional photography.

A sequence of business lessons carefully designed to help students understand basic business skills and get started as professional photographers. These lessons cover topics such as basic business communication, how to open a studio, earn money freelancing for publications, begin a career as a wedding and event photographer, and how to market a photography business.

In addition to the Complete Course in Professional Photography, NYI's course offerings include the Complete Course in Digital Photography which offers comprehensive instruction in Adobe Photoshop, and the NYI Short Course: Fundamentals of Digital Photography, designed for photographers interested in taking portraits of family members, beautiful travel photographs, or pictures for online auction.

January 17, 2008 in Web/Tech | Permalink

Explosive Growth is Forecast for Photobook Market

Via the Scrapbooking.com Business Newsletter, some research results on the photobook market:

A new industry report from Understanding & Solutions reveals explosive growth for the photobook market, with demand last year at 2.5m units across Western Europe, up from less than 250,000 in 2005.

Going forward, this market will emerge as a key revenue driver within the photo industry, with growth expected to continue to nearly 7m units shipped by the end of the year and close to 18m units in 2010.

“In value terms, the photobook market is already beginning to establish itself as a significant contributor to industry revenues,” says Joanna Wright, Market Analyst, Understanding & Solutions. “Accounting for nearly 5% of the total value of the prints market in 2006, photobooks will go on to capture 33% of the Western European market by 2010, yielding a market value in excess of €750m.”

The market is currently being driven by both consumer-designed photobooks and professional photobooks, with prices ranging from less than €10 to more than €1,000. In the consumer market, two clear segments are pushing volumes: the 6”x4” replacement market and the ‘memory book’ market, consisting of high-end, emotive products that capture weddings and special events. In the professional market, the key segments are wedding, portrait and corporate photobooks.

Although the professional segment represented just 9% of total photobook volumes in 2006, the high average price per book translated to more than 60% of the market in value terms: €106m in 2006, compared with the consumer market’s €64m. In 2007 the professional market is expected to grow by 100% in both volume and value. At present, the UK leads the professional photobook market, followed by France, Spain and Italy, and then Germany.

A host of new companies has entered this lucrative new market niche, including dedicated service providers and new technology providers such as Graphi Studio, Albumprinter and Unibind. However, the majority of volumes are processed by the traditional photo industry, in particular the industrial wholesale photofinishers such as CeWe Color and Fuji, and the online photo specialists such as Photobox/Photoways, Snapfish and Pixmania.

“At the moment the online marketplace dominates the industry, accounting for nearly 90% of the volume,” continues Wright, “but moving forward, we’re going to see a shift to in-store purchases as retailers add photobook software to existing input terminals; 95,000 of which are already installed across Western Europe and ready to go.”

January 16, 2008 in The Latest Scrapbooking Buzz | Permalink

Learn the Secrets to Hybrid Scrapbooking on Prima Marketing's Innovative New Website

New site will offer hybrid scrapbooking resources, including traditional scrapbooking products combined with coordinating digital products designed by today's leading digital artists.

Chino CA, January 15, 2008: Prima Marketing, Inc., an industry-leading manufacturer of unique flower accents and scrapbooking materials, is about to set another trend – products that seamlessly build a bridge between traditional paper and digital scrapbooking. PrimaHybrid.com will launch on January 15, 2008, offering exclusive hybrid scrapbooking products, projects and resources that will appeal to both traditional scrapbookers and digital scrapbookers.

“We see the new hybrid scrapbookers as the gate-keepers to an entirely new market," said Doris Castle, Artistic Director for Prima Marketing. “The 2007 Scrapbooking in America study indicated that 87% of scrapbookers sometimes or always use a computer to scrapbook. These hybrid scrapbookers embrace the best of both the traditional paper and digital scrapbooking hobbies. PrimaHybrid.com will be the 'go-to' site for hybrid scrapbookers looking for information and inspiration to help them grow in their craft.”

PrimaHybrid's resources will especially appeal to the younger generation of crafters. 12% of crafters ages 18-25 bought software for digital scrapbooking in 2007 (Source: Craftrends 2007 Consumer Participation Survey). This younger market is at ease with digital technology, but is still interested in the look and satisfaction of a hand-made project.

The foundation for PrimaHybrid.com is already in place, set to provide the hybrid scrapbooker with a variety of resources to create meaningful hybrid projects:

Products that instantly coordinate to combine paper and digital product lines
Step-by-step hybrid scrapbooking project examples
Inspiring articles to help the digital scrapbooker to visualize how digital "translates" into traditional paper projects
Tutorials to help the traditional scrapbooker cut the learning curve into learning about digital scrapbooking techniques
A weekly newsletter to showcase newest trends and tips, such as “A Step by Step Guide to Your First Hybrid Project”

The site will also offer complete digital kits and elements created by leading digital artists such as Gina Miller, Weeds & Wildflowers Designs, Meredith Fenwick, Iron Orchid Designs (IOD), Carrie Stephens, Corinna Nielson, Dianne Rigdon, Nancy Kubo, Trish Jones and Doris Castle. One of the first offerings available in the shoppe is a collaborative kit featuring creations by each of the artists.

Crafters and the media are invited to visit www.primahybrid.com for more information. Sneak Peeks are also available on the Prima blog.

Press Release services by ScrapbookMarketing.com

January 14, 2008 in Digital Scrapbooking News, Scrapbooking Manufacturer News, Web/Tech | Permalink

Technorati Tags: digital+scrapbooking, hybrid+scrapbooking, Prima, PrimaHybrid

Family Networking Site Geni Adds New Features

Via Genealogy Insider - Web Updates on Geni, NEHGS.

The free family networking site Geni has added two features for members. Now you can create a visual history of events in your life by setting up a timeline. Each timeline event, in turn, has its own page, where you can add more information, photos, attendees’ names and comments.

Read more on the Genealogy Insider blog.

January 10, 2008 in Web/Tech | Permalink