Nancy Nally is the owner of Nally Studios and the publisher and editor of Scrapbook Update and Craft Critique, two websites focused on the scrapbooking industry. And avid scrapbooker for more than 20 years, Nancy has a keen interest in news and trends that affect the industry. This year she’s been bringing us quarterly reports on the scrapbooking industry. Check out her first one here. Today Nancy is back with her second update. Here’s Nancy:
In another major sign of how the papercrafts industry is shifting away from scrapbooking, Studio Calico announced in June that it was ending its iconic scrapbooking subscription kit. Studio Calico’s scrapbooking kit launched a virtual empire with its introduction 11 years ago. The company’s line-up now includes multiple kits and (through its parent company Inked Brands) offers web development, marketing, and product development services to influencer brands such as Ali Edwards and Sharna Burgess.
In a sign that the planner trend may have peaked, Studio Calico also announced at the same time that it was discontinuing its Planner Kit. But it also announced a new kit as well, a Traveler’s Notebook Kit, that debuted in July.
Ali Edwards is among the many scrapbooking celebrities who have been branching into lifestyle products recently to expand their product base as the scrapbooking market has softened. (Others on the list include Heidi Swapp and Becky Higgins.) This year, Edwards is capitalizing on the popularity of her signature December Daily scrapbooking project by launching the December Life collection to accompany it. This new holiday lifestyle collection includes ornaments, tags, gift bags, t-shirts, and other holiday-themed items.
American Crafts has added yet another company to their seemingly ever-expanding portfolio of brands. Their latest acquisition is EK Success, whose brands Jolee’s Boutique, Sticko, and K & Company made them one of the scrapbooking industry’s first big names. But the company foundered in recent years, even after merging with Wilton Brands a few years ago. American Crafts has promised new products will continue to be released under the EK Success brand names. The entire design and product development staff for EK is moving to American Crafts to ensure the continuity of the brands.
Tonic and My Sweet Petunia settled their year-old litigation over the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform in July. My Sweet Petunia was alleging that the platform sold by Tonic infringed on its patent for the MISTI stamping tool. Tonic has agreed to stop selling both Tim Holtz Stamp Platforms it produces (and their accessories) in the U.S., Canada, North America and South America. The announcement of the settlement also referenced an anticipated future business relationship between the companies, but no details have been released.
Bad Girls Couture, which had recently relaunched its monthly kit subscription, has announced that it is moving to produce its own private label product lines. The new product line will include a variety of mixed media options including paint, journals, embellishments, and other items. “Haute Mess” will be the first collection, scheduled for release in mid-October. Bad Girls Couture will continue to produce special edition kits, but no longer offer a subscription option with this new direction in their business.
Podcasting is enjoying something of a second renaissance, and Becky Higgins is extending the lifestyle portion of her brand into the space. She’s launching a podcast in partnership with Becky Proudfit called “Cultivate a Good Life”. The show, described in announcements as “uplifting”, will feature the two Beckys discussing a variety of topics including family, marriage, organization, time management, and other lifestyle subjects. The first five episodes are launching October 15th on iTunes and are also available for download on the beckyhiggins.com website.
Katie Pertiet, long known in the industry for her beautiful vintage designs, has a new home for her paper scrapbooking product designs. Pertiet had recently designed several product lines for up-and-coming 49 & Market. But in July, Simple Stories announced that Pertiet will be designing a product line for them called Simple Vintage. The first two collections are Simple Vintage Halloween and Simple Vintage Christmas. Both collections are shipping now.