Update | Graphic 45, Studio Calico, Ranger, Simple Stories, and more!
It's May and there is lots to celebrate - National Scrapbook Day, Mother's Day, and the end of the school year approaching. From the manufacturers, there's new products to celebrate, as the mid-release announcements keep coming! Who's the first to take on Halloween? Read on to find out!
Trends. Studio Calico has announced that it is jumping on the hot trend for planner products by adding a planner kit subscription to their portfolio of monthly kit offerings. Preorders are currently open and the first kit will ship in July 2015. The company promises that each kit will contain 8-10 items such as a stamp, sticky notes, washi tape, clips, dividers, or stickers.
Makeovers. Scrapbook.com has given itself (or at least its logo) a freshening up! The new logo is a handwritten script look that is very on trend with current industry aesthetics. The company had most recently updated their logo in 2013 when they rolled out a new website, but that was only a slight change compared to this complete redesign.
Here's the 2013-2015 version of the Scrapbook.com logo:
And here's the new more modern logo for 2015 and forward:
The new logo can be used in many colors and background settings, making it more versatile from a design standpoint as well as more modern.
Blockbusters. While the mid-releases are being announced, the products announced earlier in the year at the CHA Mega Show are finishing rolling out to store shelves. One of these products is the new Dylusions Paints line from Ranger. Proving the continuing growth of mixed media (and the adoration of fans for the inimitable Dyan Reavely), the paints have been hot-hot-hot since they started shipping to stores a few weeks ago with many stores selling out their initial shipments quickly.
Sales. Bella Blvd is currently holding a warehouse box sale, while supplies last! Boxes with a retail value of over $180 are priced at $49.50, plus $10 shipping in the U.S.
Colors. Ranger has announced the new Tim Holtz Distress Color of the Month for May: Twisted Citron. It is an almost neon shade of mint green, notable now within the Distress line for being easily the brightest color in the palette. This color represents a significant shift from past shades in the line which have not gone anywhere near this bright even when more saturated colors like Picked Raspberry have been added.
Latest & Greatest. Jillibean Soup used National Scrapbook Day to issue a sneak peek of a line called Sew Sweet Sunshine Soup. The rest of the sewing themed line will be unveiled in the next few weeks.
Graphic 45 has been unveiling full looks at its upcoming new lines: Gilded Lily (part 1), Gilded Lily (part 2), Rare Oddities (part 1), and Rare Oddities (part 2). Rare Oddities, in a green/orange/purple colorway and with its skeletons and other spooky icons, earns the distinction of being the year's first Halloween-themed line.
Simple Stories unveiled four new mid-release lines this past week: Stars & Stripes, So Fancy, So Rad, and Summer Vibes. Stars & Stripes is full of red, white & blue just in time for Memorial Day and the 4th of July. So Fancy and its counterpart So Rad are girl/boy collections for scrapping tweens and teens. Summer Vibes is a retro themed summer collection with radios, VW buses, and touches of watercolor.