ScrapbookIndustryNews: pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

Next up: relative newcomer TaDa Creative Studios, with clean, cute designs.

Frozen Tozen is their new winter and Christmas line, with snowy tones of blue mixed with muted reds and greens. Check out the clever sticker sheet in the bottom right corner there: if you like stickers on cards, this is perfect as you wouldn’t need to buy five sheets of stickers to make five matching cards. Also useful for cropping with friends, making repeated embellishments or class kits.

A closer look at some of the Frozen Tozen papers and some samples to show the line in action. This colour scheme was really unique at the show, as most of the Christmas collections were either bold red and green or the alternative hot pink and turquoise. If you like a bit a country tone to your Christmas, there’s a lot of potential here.

I also wanted to show you this Christmas collection – Jolly Holly Days – even though it’s not actually new. This was their 2010 Christmas collection, but I hadn’t seen it so it was new to me. The reason I like it is it would coordinate well with many older Christmas collections – AC Merrymint and the Elsie Christmas Collection for starters. I love it when you can breathe new life into existing stash by adding just a little something. So if you have lots of the cute-styled Christmas stash in your collection, give this a thought.

Fringe Benefits is a cardstock collection with fringed edges. Comes in various sizes and colours for a different texture to your papercrafting. They showed plenty of page examples, but I think this product would come into its own on cards.

Goody Two Shoes – a girly line celebrating pink hearts, cute dresses and fashionable footwear.

BFF is a teen girl line with an Indian-inspired paisley pattern.

But my favourite explanation of a line was Just Chillin’: It’s a teen boy line. But you know, without skateboards. Perfect way to sell it. (Because really, have you noticed that the scrapbook design world seems to think if you’re male and 13 to 19, you must spend the majority of your time jumping about on a board with wheels? It’s uncanny.)

Lovely to meet you, TaDa! See more on the TaDa blog.

xlovesx

Comment [11]

A new company with lots of energy – but is Ruby Violet an accessory line or a scrapbooking line? Well… it’s either, I suppose.

Designed by Lilla Rogers, the line includes all sorts of small kits to create wearable art. Pieces are made from metal, plastic and fabrics so it’s definitely mixed-media. Think big statement necklaces, bracelets and brooches.

But then throw in a line of stamps and a paper collection for good measure. Because you could take that big statement necklace and add it to a layout for a big statement embellishment. Makes sense – although I wonder about the price seeming a bit high for what would then go on one layout? But that might just be because I often rationalise spendy supplies by thinking I will stretch them across many pages. It doesn’t change the cost of the item – just the impression in my mind, of course!

There’s also a connection here with Prima, and that connection is a little confusing really! At first I thought it was a licensed line – Lilla Rogers was the artist but Prima were creating the products. But the rep in the booth told me Prima are only involved in the distribution – as in they don’t make the products but they have them in their warehouse. But the whole explanation was a little fuzzy so I’m not completely sure of how these two companies have decided to work together. Not that it really matters – the fact that Prima are doing the distribution means stores that stock Prima would be the first places I would check for this new collection, although I think some of the accessory kits will be too far removed from papercraft for some dedicated scrapbook stores.

Still, it’s something new and brightly coloured, and that’s all good in my book.

xlovesx

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I love that this company is called Crate Paper, not just Crate. Because really, it’s a company all about the pretty paper. Some companies really push the embellishments on their stands and you can’t see the paper that easily.

But here? It’s paper, paper everywhere.

Oh, and beautifully layered layouts. Of course.

Don’t get me wrong: there are lovely embellishments! Like chipboard.

And stickers.

But goodness, couldn’t you just stare at the layouts a while longer?

And then the paper?
I really could.

They also had a Christmas collection. With shapes…

and stickers…

and paper. Paper.

There are pretty autumn tones in the Farmhouse collection.

With paper wreaths.

And gorgeous layouts.

Made from paper.

And so, good tidings to you, you good people who love paper.

These lines aren’t in stores yet but will be over the next month or so. Click here to shop for Crate Paper papers… and their other products too!

xlovesx

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A couple years ago Pebbles went from being an independent company to joining forces with American Crafts while keeping their brand identity. From my perspective, this has worked so very well – it means their designs have stayed true to the Pebbles look and you know the paper quality and so forth will be that same quality you expect from American Crafts. (Although Pebbles stuff was always high quality… it’s just that you might not have known that since it wasn’t as widely available as AC.) Anyway, lots of pretty Pebbles things debuted at the show, so let’s take a quick look around, shall we?

First up, there’s Welcome Christmas. Traditional reds and greens on white, and coordinates well with Merrymint (from AC two Christmases ago) and Dear Lizzy Christmas (from AC last year).

Fresh Goods mixes primary colours, country florals and kraft cardstock. I’m particularly font of all those stickers.

Sweet embellishments for princesses and the girliest projects imaginable. Those flower brads are my very favourite pick from Pebbles.

All sorts of embellishments in two cool-toned colourways.

They’ve extended their baby lines – lots of options in traditional pink and blue. This line is developed to be extra easy to use – perfect for new mums just starting to scrapbook, but also versatile for those who want to push their creative boundaries.

And a few bits of inspiration from the talented ladies who design for Pebbles!

Click here to shop for Pebbles products! (Some of the above products are already in stock and others will be arriving over the next month.)

xlovesx

Comment [2]

More and more with each show, I’m starting to define Imaginisce as a company of two very different strengths: youthful papers and useful tools. At this summer’s show, both of those carried on… with perhaps a little something unexpected.

Let’s start with the useful tools. Those four rolls there on the right? This is something I think will largely be missed for not looking very glamorous in the packaging, but it’s terribly clever: it’s coloured foam tape. You know when you want to put a pop dot behind something detailed and then you can see the white of the pop dot if you don’t look at exactly the right angle? Problem totally solved, with foam tape in black, brown and red. Well, solved for most situations, anyway. I like this idea, despite not wanting to commit space to four colours of foam tape. But we shall see.

Then the actual tools: a hole punch in many sizes, the tool to stick little heat-set gems and a distressing gadget that I think is somewhat like a craft version of handheld rotary sander (like a Dremel?). Which has potential if you are the sort of person who distresses so much you have to get new sandpaper and nail files because they’ve gone smooth. You know who you are. Also, that gadget above that looks a bit like miniature pink garden shears? Yeah, I don’t know what that is. Okay, actually I’m pretty sure it’s a tool called ‘Little Snips’, it’s just that it looks a little big to have that name, but anyway, they are essentially squeeze-powered scissors. If you’ve tried them, leave a comment. I’m intrigued!

So here’s the slightly unexpected: a line that’s a little more grown up than the usual Imaginisce collections. It’s travel-themed and there’s map paper and there’s grey as a major colour. These are all good things in my book. It’s called Bon Voyage and it ships next month, I believe.

But don’t worry, youthful papers are here too! Their autumn collection is already in stores with cute foxes and trees and such. And this back to school line is too, with bespectacled milk cartons and friends.

Normally I would be annoyed at the idea that glasses and studious behaviour seem to be synonymous, but since there are milk cartons involved, I’m just going to let it pass as kitsch and say ‘patterned papers with spectacles? Yes please.’ Geek is Chic is in stock right now.

Also, I somehow only took that very first photo of their Christmas line. But it’s in the store right this very second. Here you go.

Click here to shop for Imaginisce products!

A little tip: every Imaginisce paper collection includes a range of clear stamps that are just 99 cents each. They sell out really fast. I’m just sayin’.

xlovesx

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I love Cosmo Cricket papers, and at their booth found two new releases: Clementine and Dear Mr. Claus. Cutest of their booth may be these birthday cards that mimic button cards – a very sweet look.

Here you can see the two new colour schemes – rich traditional red and green for the Christmas collection, and a less traditional second collection with more springlike colours of aqua and peach.

And here are the collections: papers in 6×6 and 12×12, four sheets of coordinating stickers: letters, words, mixed embellishments and doilies plus either butterflies or hearts. No chipboard this time around.

And some of the cut-apart papers have different dimensions to the Cosmo collections of the past. This paper is the base for the button card design earlier, but it’s also a good size for journaling on a layout.

The Clementine collection also has this design filled with one-inch squares, which can be used as a whole sheet, strips or individual boxes.

Cardmakers will like the papers in Dear Mr Claus, as there are repeated designs so you can do an assembly line of matching Christmas cards without wasting lots of paper for one motif.

I think the repeated designs will be useful for other Christmas crafts too – gift wrapping is an obvious one, but repeated motifs look lovely in a small album too, so that makes them useful for a Christmas journal.

These mini word stickers are new, and I love this look with most (all?) of a sheet, almost like a sheet of patterned paper.

There was also some inspiration from their current release, Odds & Ends, like this pretty shadowbox.

Did someone mention Christmas treats? I do believe I am now officially distracted. Bring on the peppermint hot chocolate! You know, if it’s not a million degrees where you live.

Click here to shop for Cosmo Cricket products!

xlovesx

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You can always count on Hero Arts to add something new to the game, and they did just that. They have two new products that combine techniques you know and love to create something entirely new. But you don’t have to just read about it from me. Jennifer McGuire will show you.

So now you can combine the stamps with embossing folders or dies that will fit perfectly. Very cool. And thanks to Jennifer for sharing that with us.

Some cute Christmas trees and reindeer to stamp and cut – perfect for the loveliest Christmas cards you’ve ever created.

And designs for all sorts of other things too, of course. These are all the stamp and die sets, so you stamp the design then use your die-cutter to cut the shape. The dies will work in any die-cutter that takes flat metal dies.

Plus a variety of lovely designs in the stamp and emboss sets, which come with a folder that you also run through a die-cutter, but it will emboss the pattern rather than cut anything.

These will be shipping to stores very soon, so you’ll still have time to make your Christmas cards. Click here to shop for Hero Arts products!

xlovesx

Comment [5]

Oh Bella Blvd. Makers of probably my favourite letter sticker sheet in history. Host to many adorable layouts in your booth. But no one bouncing up to tell me to look at this and that and the other fabulous thing you have released. So I took pictures but didn’t get any amazing stories of the designers’ inspiration or what the manufacturer hopes you will make with this product. So I’ve made my own conclusions…

Halloween – with the cute angle…

…and bonus points for Wonder Woman costumes. Always.

I love this layout (by Michelle Clement) and find it a great reminder that you don’t have to use a collection for its specific theme, because those supplies came from this line…

…with a sports team theme!

A school collection – but a bit more grown-up than primary school and not as grown-up as the BasicGrey Oxford collection. Happy medium? Why yes.

(I told you they have lots of pretty layouts at this booth. All from their design team, as far as I know.)

…an autumn collection. (Have you noticed how I just refuse to call them all ‘fall’ collections? Autumn. Oh yes.) I love the darker colours of woodgrain they have introduced. (Who am I kidding? I love all colours of woodgrain and have been planning to use their dayglo yellow sheet soon. But I like the brown and olive for sure.)

And some Christmas fun too — with stickers. Seriously, I’ll never be too old for stickers. That’s what I’m thinking.

Click here to shop for Bella Blvd products!

xlovesx

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