Angie Pedersen's Scrapbooking Industry News

About SBIN

Founded and edited by scrapbooking pioneer Angie Pedersen, Scrapbooking Industry News (SBIN) is a clearinghouse of information related to the scrapbooking industry.  It features press releases on product releases, manufacturer news, business acquisitions, personnel changes, and more. Online since 2003, SBIN compiles information from over 50 newsrooms and resources, filtering out the fluff, presenting only the juiciest tidbits. Whether you’re a scrapbooking beginner, an addict, a professional designer, a retailer, a manufacturer, or something in-between, you’ll find something of interest here. Scrapbooking Industry News…all the news that’s fit to scrap!

SBIN promotes information from manufacturers and business owners of companies related to scrapbooking (paper and digital), paper crafting, rubber-stamping, collage/altered arts, photography, personal keepsakes, and genealogy.

"You can't sneeze in this industry without Angie Pedersen knowing and blogging about it."

-- Molly Newman, Associate Editor, Digital Scrapbooking Magazine

"...[Angie Pedersen] knows more dirt about companies than anyone has a right to know..."

-- Anonymous

 

Scrapbooker's Club House Hosts Celebrity Sketch Extravaganza

From May 12- May 21, Canadian scrapbooking community, Scrapbooker’s Club House, will feature sketches from various scrapbooking celebrities for a full ten days in an extravagant celebration of talent and creativity. Visitors will be able to create layouts from sketches designed by some of the biggest names in the industry, chat, and meet fellow scrapbookers during the event.

SBIN editor Angie Pedersen will be the featured sketch artist on Wednesday, May 14th.

Smilebox Introduces Teacher’s Toolbox Program

Via the Smilebox Blog: Smilebox has launched its new Teacher’s Toolbox program offering qualified teachers a free premium account to the Smilebox service (a $39.99 value).  A Premium account provides unlimited access to more than 650 Smilebox designs, music options, and print options (print any page at school, home or at a local retail store).

Smilebox has debuted a new lineup of designs created specifically for the needs of teachers including digital newsletters, school-themed scrapbooks, fieldtrip photo albums, school mascot/logo customizable slideshows as well as student activities such as multimedia autobiographies and storybooks.

At present time, the program is limited to the first 1,000 participants. Teachers can register for the Teacher’s Toolbox program at Smilebox.com.  Other interested parties can copy an invitation and send teachers an email describing the offer. 

Simple Scrapbooks Plans NSD Celebrations

May 3 is National Scrapbooking Day! To celebrate, Simple Scrapbooks has partnered with scrapbook retailers across North America to host classes taught by some Simple personalities. Each class will include fun projects, exclusive giveaways, and meet-and-greet time with the teacher.

Simple recognizes the importance of uniting the entire scrapbooking community – from the hobbyists, to the retail store owners, to the media. With this in mind, the team has planned this National Scrapbooking Day promotion as a way of bringing the community together and connecting with others who share a love for scrapbooking.

In the same spirit of connection, Simple has united with 10 different companies (American Crafts, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, EK Success, Fancy Pants Designs, QuicKutz, Scrapbook Adhesive by 3L, Scrapworks, Tinkering Ink, and Big Picture Scrapbooking) for an innovative and exciting scavenger hunt. This grand National Scrapbooking Day giveaway involves more than just putting a name in a drawing. Online users will take a journey from one manufacturer’s site to the next, collecting playful clues along the way that will ultimately make them eligible for a spectacular giveaway! (Prize package made up of products from participating scavenger hunt manufacturers. Contest details will be posted on www.SimpleScrapbooksMag.com the week of April 28.)

Participating National Scrapbooking Day stores across North America:

•    Allentown, PA: Kinnon Keepsakes with Beth Proudfoot
•    Austin, Texas: Ladybug & Co. with Lain Ehmann (an all-day crop)
•    Chantilly, VA: Scrapbooks Plus with Elizabeth Dillow
•    Quakertown, PA: Memory Lane with Linda Barber
•    Roswell, NM: Imagine That Scrapbooks with Wendy Smedley
•    Sandy, UT: Heartfelt Creations with Karen Glenn, Angie Lucas, and Megan Hoeppner
•    West Hartford, CT: Wiggles & Giggles with Celeste Smith
•    Calgary, AB, CAN: The Scrap Yard with Cindy Schow
•    Kelowna, BC, CAN: Memories & More with Cheryl Overton
•    Montreal, QC, CAN: Scrapbook Centrale with Melanie Louette

In addition to the attached information, Cathy Zielske is hosting festivities on the Simple Studio Blog in honor of NSD. Every day this week she’ll be introducing new scrapbooking challenges. Winners will be selected for each challenge, and all of those winners will be announced on the Simple blog on NSD. In addition to this, Cathy will have NSD activity on her blog.

Lastly, Stacy Julian is scheduled to “appear” on the Simple website on NSD to say hi to the scrapbooking community and wish them a very happy day!

Scrapping 4 Inclusion and 'I Remember When' Join Forces to Help Children Across the U.S

Raleigh, NC, United States, 04/21/2008 - I Remember When (IRW) has joined Scrapping 4 Inclusion to benefit The Bubel/Aiken Foundation. The Foundation was co-founded by Clay Aiken & Diane Bubel in 2003 to serve children with special needs and the goal of inclusion for ALL.

I Remember When has officially joined the Scrapping 4 Inclusion program as a National Partner to benefit The Bubel/Aiken Foundation (TBAF).

Interested IRW instructors will work with Scrapping 4 Inclusion to promote the program and offer fundraising crops in their own communities. Instructors will benefit by having guidance and support from IRW as well as from the entire Scrapping 4 Inclusion team. In turn the Scrapping 4 Inclusion initiative will grow across the country. Both partners will benefit from this collaboration but most importantly, working together will help bring inclusive programs to more children.

All My Memories Store and Scrapbook University to Close

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Linda Fantin recently wrote about the closing of local scrapbooking store in her column, Scrapbook Insider: Beloved Draper craft store will soon be only a memory.

That store is Jorjana Brown's All My Memories.  Starting May 1, Brown is closing her Draper store, citing a raise in rent and the requirement of a 5-year lease commitment.

Read Fantin's entire article here.

Another local store recently announced they are closing - Scrapbook University in San Angelo, TX.  They are planning to continue some aspects of the community they have created, such as posting group projects to their blog, Book Club activities, and "Alumni" Crops.

Owners Ami Flint-Mizell and Jody Waters are currently seeking buyer(s).

It is our wish for Scrapbook University to continue, so hopefully we will find the perfect buyer to make Scrapbook University their own. Since the business has so many pieces to it, there are several options for purchasing the store. It can be purchased as it is, with the furnished Bed & Breakfast attached; or just the scrapbook store itself can be purchased, without furniture in the B&B (If this is the case, the building can possibly be shared with another business).

Interested parties should contact Scrapbook University.

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

Creating Keepsakes Announces 2008 Hall of Fame Winners

Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Magazine has announced the 2008 Hall of Fame winners on their website.

As we celebrate ten great years of honoring more than 200 talented scrapbookers, Creating Keepsakes is proud to announce this year's winners.

1. Amy Martin
2. Andrea Chamberlain
3. Cindy Tobey
4. Denine Zielinski
5. Irma Peredne
6. Kelly Noel
7. Linda Rodriguez
8. Lisa Habisreutinger
9. Melissa Deakin
10. Suzy Plantamura
    

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.

Two Scrapbooking Magazines Launched

Two new publications have hit the presses:

Scrapbook News & Review was conceived with the following in mind:

• All styles, all genres and mixed media -- from beginner to advanced
• Current trends and techniques to challenge creativity
• Real product reviews by real scrapbookers
• Useful articles and layouts
• A staff from across the globe with different styles and tastes
• A place where all scrapbookers have a real chance of getting published

SNR's goal is "to become a leader in driving change throughout the industry, to never let the ball drop on customer service and to never let a reader walk away from their experience with us thinking ill of SNR or anyone associated with us."

Another new scrapbooking magazine, called "Michigan Scrapbooker", will launch May 5.  It will be a free local resource available in southeastern Michigan.  More details will be posted as they become available.

Family Tree Magazine Partners with Tamagotchi

Family Tree magazine recently announced a partnership with Tamagotchi to collaborate on a new project: Announcing Family Tree Kids!

[Family Tree Kids], designed for children ages 8 through 12, has family history-related games and crafts; activities that’ll help kids build their family detective skills and learn about their families; and a fun family tree kids can download, fill in with ancestors' names, and print.

A grownups’ section offers a resource toolkit for parents and teachers who are helping kids with genealogy projects.

Our partnership with Tamagotchi, makers of the popular digital pets, inspired Family Tree Kids! Familitchi, the newest version of Tamagotchi’s pets, encourages kids to learn about family history.