Noteworthy | 9.23.2011
As we enter the nice time of peacefulness as school is back in session and before the madness of the holiday season descends, the craft industry is anything but peaceful and quiet! With holiday product lines hitting shelves and new releases being unveiled, not to mention crafters gearing up for the upcoming holiday season, it's all hands on deck! I've got a full line-up of great things for you today:
Echo Park Paper unveiled their newest collection on facebook this week. "Times and Seasons" has a distinct antique flair and a great balance of muted colors and patterns. Perfect for a number of subjects, the paper line manages to be timeless and trendy all at the same time. Times & Seasons begins shipping to stores October 6th, so watch for it coming to a scrapbook store (or site) near you soon!
EK Success announced that they are partnering with Operation Christmas Cards, hoping to contribute 9,000 of the 175,000 cards the organization hopes to send to US and Canadian troops deployed overseas. According to the announcement, for approximately half of the card recipients this will be the only holiday correspondence they will get:
All of EK Success Brands’ four office locations—Chicago, Clifton, NJ, Kansas City and Wyomissing, PA—will host office events for employees to take part in the card making, as well as sponsoring a local school in each city with supplies to create and collect cards.
Ready to jump in and help? We have a FREE, self-paced online class available NOW if you want to learn a few new techniques in card making or just get some inspiration
The free class is through spottedcanary.com, and according to the site you will learn several techniques and is video-based broken down into short segments. You can read the whole EK Success post here, and you can check out Operation Christmas Card directly at their facebook page.
I see a lot of tutorials, and it's rare when one really impresses me. This week, however, I'm happy to share this one with you that did. Earlier this week, Marcy Penner shared her technique for creating a large chevron pattern as a background out of patterned paper this week on the October Afternoon blog. The tutorial is simple: all you need is scissors and patterned paper (sewing is optional). I can't wait to try this out! It may be one of the coolest tutorials I've seen in quite a while!
Wendy Vecchi, known for her Studio 490 stamps and Art Parts product designs as well as her exceptionally detailed style was full of announcements this week! First, she revealed that she will be releasing a series of 'kits for art' that may especially appeal to stores wishing to have classes, or consumers wanting a complete step-by-step project:
Each "kit for art" will contain all the art parts & Clearly for Art needed to complete the project. Also included in the kit are complete instructions, a supply list & some step out photos.
To read her entire post visit Wendy's blog here. The first kit is ready and shipping to stores now, with more project kits coming in the near future.
Just a few days later, Wendy also announced that not only is Blossom Bucket licensing her art for gift industry items, but they will also be partnering with her to create her own signature line of embellishments. The line will debut in just a few months at the CHA Winter 2012 show in Anaheim, CA.
My Little Shoebox has teased us with a sneak peek at their new winter line. Arriving in stores in late October, it looks to be a soft palette with blues and pinks. I'm seeing a lot of pale blues and pinks coming this winter - it seems like it's the big trend for winter lines. Will it work? Do you love or hate it?
Big Picture Notes: My final Big Picture Classes workshop of 2011, "Double Take", began yesterday - a course all about double page layouts with my co-instructor Nic Howard. Amy Tan's new workshop called "The Good Life" also began at Big Picture yesterday.
“Noteworthy” is a weekly column here at Scrapbook Update. Have something new & noteworthy to share? Feel free to leave a comment, or if you have something you would like considered for next week’s column, email may@scrapbookupdate.com with a link or press release.
