Monday, February 26, 2007

Expanding the Passion @ Sea

I caught this article from the Detroit Free Press...

Some people's greatest legacy is the memories they bequeath their children and grandchildren.

That's one reason for scrapbooking, a hobby so popular that a Google search reveals more than 850,000 Web pages devoted to the pastime.

Identifying a niche, Princess Cruises recently launched a maritime first, Scrapbooking@Sea. The scrapbook curriculum offers a regular series of onboard classes and a specially created kit with themed pages. Currently available on select ships, scrapbooking had proved so popular in field tests, says Jan Swartz, Princess' senior vice president of customer service and sales, that the line now expects to roll out the program across its fleet of 15 vessels by early this year.

"In a cruise-ship setting, where passengers are on vacation and have spare time to try new things," says Princess spokeswoman Karen Tetherow, "scrapbooking is the perfect opportunity to pick up a new hobby."

Princess' Scrapbooking@Sea kit contains decorative papers, stickers and rub-on emblems along with instructions on how to build five vacation-themed pages. The pages can be used to create decorative backdrops for photos from typical cruise activities such as welcome aboard events, days at sea, shore excursions or formal evenings.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Fiction story tells the truth about scrapbooking

Author Rebeca Seitz provided an interview on GoDeKalb.com about her new scrapbooking fiction book due out in early March. Prints Charming (WestBow Press) is about four women with very different life paths bound together by their love of scrapbooking. The book will be available at book stores everywhere and on Amazon.com. Rebecca is doing an extensive tour to scrapbooking shows and local scrapbooking stores to promote the book.

I had the privilege to pre-read the book and provide a quote for the cover. Prints Charming demonstrates the "power scrapbooking has to develop and strengthen relationships," and that story -- even in fiction form -- needs to be told. Prints Charming's distribution will be wide-spread, and many readers, who have never been exposed to scrapbooking, will have a positive and non-threatening introduction to our passion: fiction lovers, Christian book readers, crafters, etc.

Friday, February 2, 2007

So you can see

Here's a list of companies and products I reviewed on the Diva Craft Lounge from CHA:

Theme: Quality through rich, luxurious textures

Papers:
Paper Elements
Daisy Bucket
Luxe Designs

Embellishments:
Felt: Tinkering Ink, Queen & Co.
Velvet: De Ja Views, SEI, Imaginisce
Chipboard: My Mind's Eye embossed chipboard; Magistical Memories food quality chipboard
Film in the PageSage press kit

Journalling:
Karen Russell Journaler's Notebook (MT release)
Graph papers: Scenic Route, Dream Street

Color:
Black & White
Aqua
Plums

Tools:
7 Gypsies punch
Bind It All
The Slice
Karen Foster's Scraparatus
*Purple Cow's Freestyle

Organization:
Clip It Up
Arccivo
*KFD's Scrap Apron
*ScrapEze vertical paper holder (MT release)

Give the Gift of Scrapbooking:
Love Books
My Book
Speaking Up
*Photopoly
*SEI's Minute Memories (MT release)

The asterisk indicates the companies/products that deserve mention but I didn't talk about because of time or because Diva Danielle and Jan covered them.

Of course, there are many other wonderful finds at CHA, and I would love to hear about your favorites!

Thursday, February 1, 2007

CHA: I felt the felt!

I'm recovering from CHA, so here's a quick summary. For a more detailed report, listen to my segment on the Diva Craft Lounge.

The theme of this year's show was Quality -- my guess, a tactile reaction to the fast-growing digital market. Look for lots of luxurious textures in paper and embellishments like 80 pound text double sided patterned papers, embossed chipboard, and textiles like velvet, felt and corduroy. Reoccurring color themes were in black & white, teal with everything, and rich plums, burgundies and ivories.