The scrapbook industry is dynamic, with lots of new activity happening all the time including mergers and acquisitions, new hires, major product releases, lawsuits, and more. Each quarter we ask expert Nancy Nally to roundup the latest scrapbook news to keep us up to date. Here’s Nancy’s scrapbook news update for the Winter of 2020 (see her Fall 2020 update here):
Cardmaking Trends. After decades of 4.25” x 5.5” being the industry standard size for handmade cards, a new size has become trendy. So-called “slimline” cards measure in at between 3.5” x 8.5” and 4” x 9” to fit in a standard size 10 business envelope. These cards mail easily without weighing or extra postage, and conveniently use commonly available (and affordable) envelopes. A variety of influential stamping artists, including Jennifer McGuire and Gina K. and Simon Hurley, have featured slimline card creations in their content in recent months. Recent new product releases of stamps and dies for slimline cards from companies like The Stamps of Life, Pinkfresh Studio, LDRS Creative, Colorado Craft, and Catherine Pooler have reinforced that this new size is probably not going away any time soon.
A Jennifer McGuire slimeline card. This new size card fits into a standard size 10 envelope and mails easily without weighing or extra postage.
Planning 2021. With 2020 rapidly coming to a close, the planner companies are busy rolling out their new editions for 2021. Character licenses are the hot product trend for 2021 planners. The Happy Planner has launched 2021 planner editions featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, as well as an exclusive 2021 planner line for Walmart featuring the Disney princesses. Erin Condren has also launched 2021 planners featuring powerhouse licenses of its own: Hello Kitty, Wonder Woman, Green Wedding Shoes, and Oh Joy.
The Happy Planner is also currently offering limited edition covers for their Classic size planner that feature the work of Black artists. The three covers feature work by artists Marabou Design, Spoonful of Faith and Rochelle Porter and can be added to any of the company’s classic size planners.
Happy Planner is currently offering limited edition covers of their classic planner featuring the work of Black artists. Left: Jena Holliday of Spoonful of Faith illustration and design studio, Middle: Rochelle Porter of Rochelle Porter Design, Right: Brandy Brown of Marabou Design.
New Gadgets. Silhouette has released two new additions to their line of electronic die cut machines. The Silhouette Portrait 3 is an updated version of their compact Portrait machine that cuts 8” wide. On the other end of the size spectrum, the brand new Silhouette Pro machine cuts a full 24 inches wide – making it by far the widest electronic cutter being marketed to crafts industry consumers.
[Disclaimer: This writer has a professional relationship with Cricut.]
Cricut has added yet another tool to its line of Maker machine accessories. The new Cricut Foil Transfer Kit is a competitor for the popular We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill hot foil pen. Unlike the Foil Quill, however, the new Cricut Foil Transfer Kit doesn’t require heat or a power source to transfer foil.
Many papercrafts consumers were introduced to the concept of dye sublimation transfers through Cricut’s Infusible Ink line of transfers and blanks. The Cricut products allow creation of dye sublimation projects by cutting shapes from pre-printed dye transfer paper (solid or patterned) or by using pens to draw on transfer paper. But now Epson has announced the SureColor F170 dye sublimation printer. With an MSRP of $399, this new machine is the first desktop dye sublimation printer. The Epson SureColor F170 prints 8.5” wide iron-on dye sublimation transfer sheets using special Epson transfer paper, allowing creators to design a dye sublimation projection completely from scratch in graphic design software, and then print it.
New gadget launches. Left: The Silhouette Pro machine cuts a full 24 inches wide. Right: The Cricut Foil Transfer Kit doesn’t require heat or a power source to transfer foil.
Events. As a Covid vaccine comes tantalizingly close but a rollout timeline remains uncertain, hosts of early 2021 events are beginning to be faced with hard decisions about whether to continue with planning their events or not. Designer & instructor Jenn Shurkus has made the call to cancel the 2021 Crop on the Cape event that was scheduled for March, citing rising Covid cases and local government restrictions on event size. This will be the second cancellation in a row for the event, since Shurkus was also forced to cancel what would have been the 21st edition of Crop on the Cape back in March 2020.
Reinvented. Designer Kelly Purkey is back with a reinvention of her Kelly Purkey Shop store and subscription kit club that she had previously announced the closing of late last year. Her new PaperPerson.shop site features monthly kits that will include products from other designers besides Purkey and a strong emphasis on social justice. In a major deviation from the previous site’s kits, the new kit iterations include patterned paper. The new kits’ journal cards are also not die cut as they were previously, but instead are provided as a cut-apart sheet.
In addition to the new site, Kelly Purkey-designed products will also be coming back to retail stores in 2021 through a partnership with Pinkfresh Studio. The company announced in August that Purkey – who outside her kits last designed stamps for Hero Arts – will have products launching in January.
Kelly Purkey reinvented her shop as PaperPerson.shop and features a strong emphasis on social justice with products from other designers.
Misfortune. Industry supplier Rubberstamps.net, also known to many as Superior Labels, experienced a devastating fire at its Bettendorf, Iowa building on October 25th. Fortunately there were no injuries in the unoccupied building, as it was a Sunday. But the business’s building and its contents were destroyed. The company is in the process of re-establishing operations at a new location, and a Go Fund Me has been established to help with expenses.
Nancy Nally
contributor
Nancy is a life-long crafter, freelance writer, and the former editor of Creative Retailer magazine. She blogs craft industry trade news at her website Scrapbook Update. You can also find her crafts and lifestyle content at Chasing Dust Bunnies and Craft Critique.