Angie Pedersen's Scrapbooking Industry News

K&Company Launches Recycled Paper Crafting Line

Leading Paper Crafting Company Partners with Habitat for Humanity to Help Plant Trees at Newly Built Homes; Product to Be Available at Michaels and Wal-Mart This Spring

KANSAS CITY, MO (May 14, 2008) K&Company, one of the nation's largest designers and manufacturers of scrapbooking albums, papers and embellishments, is launching the first widely-available paper crafting line that is comprised of recycled and reusable product and packaging.  As part of the product launch, K&Company also is introducing the "Plant a Family Tree" program where crafters and consumers can go online to make a donation to Habitat for Humanity Kansas City to provide a tree for every new home they build this year.

Both of K&Company's recycled lines will be available this spring.  The Amy Butler Lotus line will debut in May.  The comprehensive crafting collection will include paper pads, 12 X 12 scrapbook albums, two scrapbooking tool caddies and a variety of detailed embellishments.  The recycled packaging was specifically designed to be reused in scrapbook layouts and craft projects.  Products will be available nationally at Michael's stores in May 2008 and will retail for $1.99 - $31.99.

The ReMake line will be available at Wal-Mart starting in June 2008.  The collection, comprised of 100 percent recycled materials, as well as recycled, reusable and biodegradable packaging, includes soy-ink printed colored cardstock (available both as 12 X 12 paper and patterned mat pads), chipboard alphabets, cards and envelopes. All ReMake products will retail for $4.88.

To further replenish the Earth's trees, K&Company also is launching the Plant a Family Tree program.  Visit www.kandcompany.com/donate to make a donation to help plant a tree for a family at a new Habitat for Humanity home.  In return for the donation, contributors will receive a package of free, uniquely designed digital downloads including a "green" blog button and banner, an email signature attachment, a screensaver and a PDF to help virally spread the word on this important campaign.

K&Company will match contributions up to a pre-set cap each year.  In addition to providing financial donations, K&Company also will donate their time on local building projects and will provide a scrapbook to all Kansas City families on move-in day which will commemorate the construction of their new beautiful home.

"We are delighted to partner with K&Company on this project," explains Yahna Gibson, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Kansas City. "We provide basic landscaping for our homeowners, but new trees are something we are unable to afford. What a blessing to our families to be able to truly plant roots in their new home."

Adornit Launches Adornit Digital

The team at Adornit recently announced the launch of Adornit Digital.  The online store offers digital scrapbooking kits, quick pages, diecut art (to use with blade cutters), and vinyl decals for laptops.

Adornit Digital is currently seeking guest designers - email your resume to digital/@/adornit.com for consideration.

Making Memories Seeks Product Designer

Posted today on Monster.com:

[The Making Memories] Product Design team is seeking a Product Designer to complement our current initiatives and goals in the design and development of new products related to scrapbooking.  As a Product Designer, you will also have an opportunity to participate in various promotional opportunities.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Conceptualizes, plans and executes design projects as assigned by Product Design Team
• Responsible for generating product layouts, creating die lines, and adjusting color for various scrapbooking products
• Updating and editing various designs, patterns, artwork, and/or ideas
• Conceptualizing 3D design and apply in a 2D format
• Prepping illustrator and Photoshop files to be sent to press
• Brainstorming, developing and designing paper crafting products with the product design team

This position is in the Centerville, UT home office.

PURSuE Your Art! & Kitchen Sink Stamps Host Design Contest

PURSuE Your Art! Changeable art purse has partnered with Kitchen Sink Stamps for a "designer purse" contest. Five women from the Kitchen Sink Design team created a unique purse design, using a PURSuE Your Art! Changeable art purse and a set of Kitchen sink stamps.

The public is now invited to vote for the best design. Leave a comment on this blog post to enter a drawing to win PYA!'s new one pocket style purse.  The purse design that gets the most votes will determine which Kitchen Sink Stamp set will be given away.

Voting ends Friday, March 14th. A random number will be picked for the winner, and will be announced on the PYA! blog.

The winner has until Monday, March 17th (Midnight EST), to claim their prize. After this date, another winner will be selected.

Pink Paislee launches "The Facebook Of Scrapbooking"

February 25, 2008 - Taking an innovative approach to the idea of brand awareness and consumer interaction, Pink Paislee, LLC is the first scrapbook manufacturer to launch a networking community that focuses on everything creative.  Quickly gaining the reputation as "The Facebook Of Scrapbooking" with its members, the community is a hub of activity for scrapbook artists, retailers, and friends of Pink Paislee.

"We wanted to give our fans a place to interact with one another while sharing their Pink Paislee projects," explains Rebecca Cross, owner of Pink Paislee. "We knew instantly that a normal message board combined with a photo gallery wouldn't work for our needs.  With the Live Pink network our members can share videos, project photos, link up with friends, start discussions, take our Pink Polls, win prizes and more.  With over 400+ members joining in just 48 hours I think we made the right decision to launch this next generation style of community," said Cross.

Live Pink also features members weekly through a "Pretty In Pink" spotlight and has plans to hand out "Pink Slips" to guest artists monthly.

How To Join: Visit http://livepink.ning.com or go to the Pink Paislee homepage and click on "Live Pink" in the banner.

About Pink Paislee
Launched in 2008, Pink Paislee, LLC is a new scrapbook manufacturer, recently debuting over 60 products for the craft and hobby industry.

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

Junkitz Closes Doors; Partners with Inque Boutique

Recently announced on their website, Junkitz has closed its doors.  They will now produce products with Inque Boutique. You can read more on the Inque Boutique Blog.

As part of its mission to providing retailers with the things they need to help them profit, Inque Boutique is expanding its focus to include more products for scrapbooking. In light of this expansion, Inque Boutique is thrilled to welcome Stacey and Kenny Panassidi, founders and creators of Junkitz, to its team.

“We are truly excited to get involved with this vibrant young company that shares the passion Stacey and I have always had for not only creating innovative, quality products, but also for supporting the industry’s retailers in every way possible,” says Kenny.

This merging of the talents, energies, resources and experience really is a total home run for us and will result in phenomenal opportunities for our retailers and the consumers they serve.

Junkitz has already begun developing new scrapbooking products and services for store owners and will unveil them at CHA Winter 2007. Visit them at the Inque Boutique booth, #3757.

SOURCE: Junkitz

Ultra*PRO Acquires Chatterbox | Craftrends Magazine

Ultra*PRO Corp., parent company of 7gypsies and other consumer products, has acquired the assets of Chatterbox International. Chatterbox was founded in 1997 and is a provider of a variety of scrapbooking products, ranging from albums to paper and embellishments.

Ilene Albert-Nelson, vice president of scrapbooking and business development for Ultra*PRO, said, “We are very excited to add another premier scrapbooking brand to our portfolio. The combination of Chatterbox with our 7gypsies scrapbooking business places us amongst the leaders within the multi-billion dollar scrapbooking category. We are looking forward to being able to offer an incredible array of new products for both brands at CHA Winter 2008.”

Melody Ross, co-founder of Chatterbox, said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with another leading brand in scrapbooking where we can continue to design beautiful and innovative products to help people all over the world capture their family history and life’s greatest moments; it’s what we love about this industry.”

Both the Chatterbox and 7gypsies brands will be headquartered in City of Commerce, California.

In addition to its scrapbooking businesses, Ultra*PRO is a manufacturer and marketer of consumer packaged goods including investment protection products for sports and gaming collectibles. Through its Hanover Accessories subsidiary, the company also manufactures and distributes a broad line of jewelry, hair care, and fashion pet accessories.

SOURCE: Craftrends Magazine

See also: Chatterbox blog

Hot Off the Press Offers Holiday Cards

Hot Off The Press now offers holiday photo cards through their Paper Wishes website.  The seasonal photo cards are "quick and hassle-free", and "made for personalizing".

Log on to Paper Wishes to view and select from nearly 60 different card designs in two sizes (6”x5” or 8”x4”). Upload your photo and drag and drop into your favorite card design, then personalize the text for a heartfelt greeting.

Holiday photo cards are printed on heavyweight paper and are fade and water-resistant.

Order a minimum of 24 photo cards in multiples of six—choose 24 or more of one card design or multiples of six of several sizes and designs. That means you can order all of one “Season’s Greetings” design or get 6 “Merry Christmas” photo cards, 6 “Happy Holidays” photo cards, 6 “Season’s Greetings” cards and 6 winter-themed cards. Get a variety of looks and messages to share with loved ones.

Shipping for each order is $5.50 in the US and Canada. Orders between 24 and 100 photo cards with envelopes are $.69 per card. For orders between 100 and 200 cards, each card is $.59 each and for orders of more than 200, each card is $.49.

Li'l Davis Designs Joins Fiskars Craft Division

MADISON, Wis., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiskars Brands, Inc. announces that they have added Lil' Davis Designs to their crafting division. A family owned and operated scrapbooking company since 2002, Li'l Davis Designs (named after young daughter Davis) began operations when husband and wife team Tricia Barrett and Brian Fogg purchased laser equipment to create custom die cuts.

According to Tricia, "Family inspires much of what we do at Li'l Davis, so we understand the value of preserving important memories, family or other, in a unique way. We want to ensure that your scrapbook pages are just as special as the moments themselves."

Li'l Davis has continued to grow and now offers hundreds of innovative embellishments, tools and papers. Over the last five years, the company has evolved into an internationally recognized brand in the scrapbook community.

"We are excited about having Tricia and Brian join our family," says Chad Vincent, Fiskars Craft President. "The brand look and feel that they have created and nurtured holds great potential for growth."

Tricia and Brian will remain the creative leads of Li'l Davis, and the operations and marketing will be handled at Fiskars' US headquarters in Madison, WI. Their newest lines will be revealed at the February 2008 Craft and Hobby Association Show in Anaheim, CA.

"The new product lines for 2008 are fantastic, and we can't wait to share them with our customers," says Michelle Ponti, Director of Consumables at Fiskars Craft.

Fiskars® Brands, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiskars® Corporation, a Finnish corporation traded on the Helsinki Stock Exchange (HEX: FIS).  Fiskars®, is the world's leading manufacturer of scissors, gardening tools and cutlery, as well as other consumer products sold under the brand names including FISKARS®, Cloud 9 Design, Gerber Legendary Blades®, Gingher, Heidi Grace Designs, Montana®, Raadvad, Sankey and Ebert, Brunton, Kaimano, Kitchen Devils, Oficut, Silva, Werga, Wilkinson Sword, Winchester, Zinck Lysbro.

To view Fiskars items, visit http://www.fiskars.com. If you have further questions about Li'l Davis Designs, please visit http://www.lildavisdesigns.com/.

SOURCES: Fiskars Brands, Inc. and Yahoo! Finance