Angie Pedersen's Scrapbooking Industry News

Shutterfly DigiScrap Blog Posts Survey for Scrappers-for-Hire

The Shutterfly Digital Advisory Team is "trying to assess interest in compiling a directory of experienced, talented digital scrapbookers and photobookers who would like to design and produce photo books/other products for others".  As such they recently posted the following call for input: Attention : Scrappers for Hire!

They have created a short survey: click the link posted in the Shutterfly Scrapbooking Community Area. (Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "Learn More" button under the "Want to become a scrapper for hire?" section.)

ACDSee Photo Editor Enters Second Round of Beta Testing

Upgraded software available for last round of testing; full upgrade expected in summer

VICTORIA, British Columbia – April 22, 2008 – ACD Systems International Inc. today announced the second round of public testing for ACDSee™ Photo Editor 2008, an easy-to-use digital design and layout software created especially for avid photographers and scrapbookers. Since testing began earlier this year, more than 2,000 ACDSee users have signed up to evaluate this affordable program that comes loaded with custom creative tools and exclusive designer templates.

For this testing period, new features added to Photo Editor 2008 include faster processing time, preservation of image quality during editing to ensure no data is lost while resizing and even simpler options for creating custom text on a path, according to ACD Systems developers.

Avid photographers and scrapbookers interested in serving as software testers for the second-round review are invited to visit www.acdsee.com/photoeditor to download Photo Editor 2008 beta version 2. Testers provide feedback directly to the ACD Systems' product development team via the company's online forum at http://forums.acdsystems.com. There is no cost to participate.

"The first-round review of Photo Editor has provided a wealth of feedback, resulting in a creative tool unlike any other. Testers are praising the software's ease of use and the way ACDSee handles shadows and text on a path," said Connie Bensen, community manager for ACD Systems. "This final stage of testing now underway will put the finishing touches on the software prior to releasing the next version this summer."

The new features for ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 also include:

• Designer templates for page layouts, photo albums, calendars, greeting cards and other projects from top digital designers Vicky Stegall, Andrea Gold and Maggie Lamarre
• Advanced journaling capabilities
• "Trim to shape" feature for quick and easy use of templates
• New and improved resizing, cropping and masking options
• Artistic effects that can be added, modified or deleted at any time
• Easy loading of brushes for advanced creative effects
• Quick optimization for Web and advanced printing functions

Call for Scrapbooking Submissions: Digital Scrapbooking Oct/Nov '08

Posted on the Digital Scrapbooking magazine website:

Show Off Your Blog!
Have you used digital papers, brushes or other scrapbooking elements to jazz up your blog or website? Show us how you've applied scrapbooking products or techniques to enhance your online presence. We'd like to see a screen shot of your work (100K or less) and a URL where we can check out your creation for ourselves. Please also include the name and store information of any purchased items you've used. Submissions are due no later than April 30.

Share Your Community Story
Digital scrapbookers participate in a huge variety of online communities, from Facebook groups to store-associated forums. We're looking for stories of how digital communities have made a difference in the lives of their participants. Have you been inspired to scrapbook by a special contest or challenge? Made friends with a like-minded group of scrappers? Stepped up to the plate to support a charitable cause? Share your stories and your layouts (saved at 100K or smaller). Submissions are due no later than April 30.

Are You Cover Material?
We're looking for simply amazing reader layouts to feature on our cover. For consideration, layout should have the following: a single large, well-composed photo of one (or, at the most, two) subjects, preferably making eye contact with the camera "only with digital" techniques combined with a clean overall design legible title and minimal journaling seasonal focus--for this issue, submit fall holiday and family get-together themes. Please submit no more than three layouts to this call. Submissions are due on April 30, 2008.

Adobe Launches Photoshop Express Beta Online

Free Online Software Brings Photoshop Technology to Anyone Taking Digital Photos

SAN JOSE, Calif. — March 27, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® Express public beta, a free Rich Internet Application (RIA) available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos with eye-catching effects. During the public beta period, Adobe will solicit Photoshop Express user feedback on product features and functionality, which will continue to evolve over time. As the newest addition to the Photoshop family line, Photoshop Express has taken much of Adobe’s best image editing technology and made it simple and accessible to a new online audience. Photoshop Express allows users to store up to 2 gigabytes of images online for free, make edits to their photos, and share them online in creative ways, including downloading and uploading photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook.

“Photoshop is trusted technology that has changed the visual landscape of our world. Now, Photoshop Express allows anyone who snaps a digital photo to easily achieve the high-impact results for which Adobe is known,” said Doug Mack, vice president of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe. “Photoshop Express is a convenient, single destination where you can store, edit and share photos whether you’re at home, school or on the road.”

Adobe Photoshop Express beta is available now for free via any Web browser at http://www.photoshop.com/express (In its early phases, Photoshop Express is available to US residents-only in English. Users may experience slow performance if accessed outside of the US. Future plans include availability in other languages and countries.)

Digital Scrapbook Place Curriculum earns Rudy Award

Troy, OH - March 27, 2008 – Digital Scrapbook Place earned a Rudy Award for its new and exciting Digital Scrapbooking Curriculum introduced at the Photo Marketing Association Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2008. Digital Scrapbooking Curriculum is the first scrapbooking product to win a Rudy award.

The Rudy award, named in honor of Rudolf Maschke, who along with Ed Wagner founded Photo Industry Reporter, the Rudy Awards are bestowed to products exhibited at the Photo Marketing Association trade show that [their] writers judge to be ingenious, fascinating or possessing a certain undefinable off-the-wall quality.

The Digital Scrapbooking Curriculum will demonstrate store owners or instructors how to teach digital scrapbooking classes to customers and students. Instructors will learn about the software and digital scrapbooking quickly and easily with step by step instructions and guidance. Inside there are tools to hold classes, demonstrations, events, crops, tutoring sessions, and assist customers. This curriculum teaches the popular Adobe ® Photoshop® Elements software. The $150 introductory price tag includes the Curriculum as well as 20 student CDs with software trial, graphics, and tutorials. Additional student CDs can be purchased separately.

Digital Scrapbook Place knows that education is a great way to increase sales for photo and scrapbook retailers. Digital Scrapbook Place’s full range of digital products, including this new curriculum, will keep customers coming back for more.

About Digital Scrapbook Place

Digital Scrapbook Place was founded in 2004 by two women with a passion for digital scrapbooking. The company is dedicated to helping people use digital technologies to capture their memories, create scrapbook pages, and captivate their loved ones for generations.

Digital Scrapbook Place Announces Laptop Crop at Adobe Headquarters

Announced last month in their Forums, Digital Scrapbook Place has partnered with Adobe to host a laptop crop AT ADOBE headquarters.

Laptop Crop at Adobe Corporate Headquarters in San Jose, CA on Saturday July 26, 2008 - Prizes from Adobe, DSP, and other great companies. Mini-classes and demonstrations. Focus groups (tell Adobe what you love, give suggestions for future features, etc). Special guest appearances.

DSP notes that participants do not need to use an Adobe software program to attend the event.  Additional details will be posted on the Laptop Crop thread in the DSP Forums.

New Owners Announced for RAKScraps.com

Jeanine Baechtold, co-founder of RAKScraps.com and co-owner of Kristy Valshan, Inc, recently announced that RAKScraps.com has welcomed New Owners.

Correen [Silke], Rachel [Dickson], Robin [Cabana] and I are excited to share with you the new owner of RAKScraps. Nick Romer, founder of the wonderful website ScrapWow.com, QVC craft personality, author, and friend has come on board as owner of RAK. He and Barbara Eastwick of Paperdesignsbybarbara.com will now be the administrators of this fabulous community, and the four of us are stepping down. Be sure to take a moment to help us welcome Nick and Barbara to RAKScraps – Nick’s username is rakwow and Barbara’s is RAKScrapsBarbara.

RAKScraps.com was founded in 2004.

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

New Faith-Based Digital Scrapbooking Community Launches

Faith Sisters is proud to announce the grand opening of a brand new Christian scrapbooking website at www.faithsisters.com. The launch of this exciting community brings together many sisters from all over the world who participate in faithbooking challenges, contests, member chats, and so much more.

Parkersburg, WV, November 30, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Faith Sisters announced the opening of its new website, www.faithsisters.com, in September. The site is designed to provide inspiration, support, and a feeling of community amongst the Christian artists that visit there. It offers weekly faithbooking challenges, tutorials, exclusive designs, an online shop with lots of faithbooking freebies, downloadable Word Art, inspiring layouts and artwork in the inspiration gallery, and many other useful services. The Faith Sisters Shop has pre-made digital designs for sale, one can find educational assistance at the Online Classroom.  Members can post their own layout creations in the Inspiration Gallery and chat with other Faith Sisters in the forums.

Faith Sisters is the brainstorm of co-owners Karma Holoboff, Sunny Kohler and Michelle McVaney - three creative women who befriended one another while working in the scrapbooking industry. Their goal was to create a website that would give like-minded women a forum to meet and share their art and inspiration, while also introducing this idea of leaving a legacy of faith. “We wanted to start Faith Sisters to provide an organized, fun, and helpful website for others to learn how to leave a legacy of faith in their scrapbooks,” says McVaney. “We envision it as a place for all to feel welcome; a place that nurtures those new to the idea of faithbooking and scrapping, while allowing the more experienced artists to inspire and shine.”

Holoboff, the Faith Sisters webmaster and co-owner, says, "We expected the site to be popular, but we were shocked to see the forum grow so quickly. The traffic numbers on the site have been higher than we could have ever imagined. For the month of November we will have had over five thousand unique visitors...proof that Faithbooking and Leaving a Legacy of Faith is growing quickly and has been much needed in the industry."  Kohler adds, “As faithbooking is growing and developing within the scrapbooking industry, we see a huge potential for product lines both paper and digital. This large market is deserves to have high quality products specific to this new form of art and worship.”

SOURCE: PR.com.

Learn Digital Techniques Easily Step-By-Step with New Book

Become Confident Without Being Committed
Digital scrapbooking instructor offers tips for beginners to advanced users, everything from installing the program to organizing digital kits and achieving realistic effects - all with no technical or graphic arts experience…or help from husbands.

Fountain Valley, CA – November 14, 2007 – Finally, an instructional guide designed specifically for creating scrapbooking and card-making projects on the computer - Digital & Hybrid Scrapbooking and Card-Making with Photoshop Elements promises it is "the book that fills in the steps that the scrapbook magazines leave out."  More than an idea book, this is a 384 page how-to manual written in plain English for scrapbookers who want to learn digital techniques with clear step-by-step instructions.

"Digital & Hybrid Scrapbooking" is based on author Patty Debowski's experience teaching digital scrapbooking in California community colleges.  "Many of my students learned to use a computer with their impatient husbands hovering over them," explains Debowski, a formerly frustrated digi-scrapper. "They depend on their husbands for even simple tasks, like copying the photos from their camera to their computer.  My students love my simple step-by-step instructions – they go home and get the same results they got in class.  So many women have emailed me to tell me how empowered they feel because they can now do this easily."

All of the techniques in Debowski's book are explained for a digi-scrapper. "Everything I’ve read explains how to use Photoshop Elements to edit photos," says Debowski, "not make scrapbook pages or cards. Nowhere in my book will you find an instruction like 'rasterize the vector layer' and wonder what it means.  That is what makes this book unique."

At 384 pages, and weighing nearly three-and-a-half pounds, "Digital & Hybrid Scrapbooking" is no light-weight "fluff" book with a lot of pretty scrapbook pages, cautions Debowski.  "My students are tired of looking at the pretty pictures – they want basic instruction on how to do the techniques and use all the digital tools. This is a Photoshop Elements instruction manual geared toward the digi-scrapper that’s written in plain English."  Extensive table of contents and index listings allow readers to quickly find instructions on any digital scrapbooking or photo editing task they need.

Digital and Hybrid Scrapbooking & Card-Making with Photoshop Elements includes:

• Basic instruction for the beginner, such as how to download and install fonts, how to unzip and use digital scrapbook supplies, and organize them efficiently.
• Detailed step-by-step instructions with lots of screenshots show how to do the techniques shown in scrapbooking magazines and how to use the Photoshop Elements program.
• Tips on achieving more advanced techniques, like making and using templates (a fast way to speed up your scrapping), making and using brushes, and using blending modes and filters.
• A DVD filled with 15 digi-scrapping website discount coupons, and more than 1,000 pieces of digi-scrapping elements, created by more than 30 professional designers -- a great starting point for a new digi-scrapper, and great additions to an existing collection.
• Customized Photoshop Elements Organizer tags, designed for the digi-scrapper to instantly install. They will allow you to find the perfect scrapbook element in less than 15 seconds when you tag your digital scrapbook supplies.
• Handy mini reference card with shortcuts and tips, sized to slide under your keyboard while you work.
• Detailed "What Did I Do Wrong?" section to help you quickly fix problems you encounter.
• How to combine digital techniques with traditional scrapbook supplies (hybrid).

Included in a grand opening special which expires November 30 is The Digi-Scrapping Menu for Success (free with the purchase of the book, a $6.99 value) -- an 8 ½ x 11 inch plastic coated, fun, chocolate accented, reference card to keep by your computer...all the tips and tricks you need at your finger tips. The book, and menu are available at www.TheDigitalScrapbookTeacher.com. International & U.S. bulk specials, templates, and gift wrapping are also available.

TheDigitalScrapbookTeacher.com offers an affiliate program, enabling affiliates to earn a commission for every product sold through ads placed on their website, blog, newsletters, or emails.  Find more information at http://www.thedigitalscrapbookteacher.com/Affiliate/scrapbook.html.

Debowski works with local retail stores to help them set up digital classes and programs.   
To encourage retailers to offer digital programs, Debowski offers product discounts for bulk orders.  Find wholesale information here: http://www.thedigitalscrapbookteacher.com/Wholesale/scrapbook.html.

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EDITORS: Patty Debowski is available for interviews and as an expert resource on digital scrapbooking.

SOURCES: PRWeb and Yahoo! News

* This is a ScrapbookMarketing press release