Straight from the show floor…

I thought you’d like to hear about our partnership with Scrapblog for digital scrapbooking. Starting in the middle of August, you will be able to scrapbook your favorite digital photos - online!

Here is a copy of the press release about our new partnership:

Anna Griffin Inc. Goes Digital with Scrapblog™
Anna Griffin to Offer Premium Digital Content via Partnership with Scrapblog

Rosemont, IL – July 18, 2008 – Award-winning paper and crafts designer and paper personality, Anna Griffin, announced a partnership with Scrapblog™, the first craft-on the-Web service for creating and sharing scrapbooks online, today at the summer CHA conference (Craft & Hobby Association).

Crafters of all ages and varieties will soon be able to incorporate Anna Griffin’s timeless designs into their multimedia scrapbooks created at Scrapblog.com.

“With digital photography growing in popularity, it is only natural that the next big thing for scrapbooking and crafting be digital,” said Griffin.  “We pride ourselves on innovation and trend setting, so for us, partnering with Scrapblog, a leader within the digital crafting community, to bring our papers and embellishments to the web just makes sense.”

“The quality and elegance of Anna’s creations has been an inspiration to us at Scrapblog since our beginnings,” said Scrapblog Founder and CEO Carlos Garcia. “Offering Anna Griffin’s designs is a major milestone for Scrapblog and for the growth of digital scrapbooking.”

Enjoyed by both paper and digital scrapbookers, Scrapblog celebrated its one year anniversary in April with more than 2.4 million Scrapblog pages.  Using Scrapblog’s easy-to-use, Web-based software, Digital scrapbooks created with Anna Griffin’s content can be shared online with friends and family on Scrapblog.com, through email or social networks like MySpace and Facebook.

“Creating Scrapbook pages in minutes is the norm with this user-friendly application, and you don’t have to deal with the mess,” adds Griffin. “The days of downloading your digital photos to sit in a folder are over; say hello to technology that actually allows you to display those photos in a fun and creative way!”

Users will also be able to print their scrapblogs on high quality and fully personalized photo-books, greeting cards and calendars in August. Anna Griffin digital scrapbook designs will also be available at scrapbooking retailers via pre-paid cards that can be used on Scrapblog’s service.

Anna Griffin’s digital scrapbooking content will be available in Scrapblog in the coming months.  Her designs have been featured in CardMaker, For the Bride, Scrap and Stamp, Creating Keepsakes, Stationary Trends, Lucky Magazine, Paper Creations, Better Homes and Gardens, Memory Makers, Scrapbooking & Beyond.

Scrapblog’s premier Web-based scrapbooking application will also be available via AnnaGriffin.com.

Anna Griffin made her mark in the wedding industry over a decade ago by developing one of the industry’s first ‘print it yourself’ invitations with a custom look. Today, Anna Griffin is a recognized authority when it comes to translating exquisite patterns evocative of old world style into modern, mix and match designs.

Anna Griffin, Inc.’s signature collection includes invitations, social stationery, home office and decorative papers. In addition, there are currently over 1,000 Anna Griffin licensed products in partnership with famous American brand leaders such as Lenox, Department 56, C.R. Gibson, Windham Fabrics, Burnes Home Accents, Wallies, Envelopments and Sterling Publishing. Experience the world of Anna Griffin for yourself at www.annagriffin.com.

Scrapblog is the leader in online scrapbooking and allows users to create, share online and print multimedia scrapbooks.  The Scrapblog experience turns everyday people into artists who may express themselves online in unique and personalized ways. Users can aggregate their photos and videos from multiple online sources and mix them with music, audio, text and thousands of creative elements in an environment that is truly drag-and-drop-easy.  Scrapblog, Inc. is privately held and based in Miami, Florida.  For more information on Scrapblog and its features, please visit www.scrapblog.com.

I had a relaxing fourth of July doing absolutely nothing for three days - it was wonderful. That down time was desperately needed because July is full of travel for work. The worst part about the travel is that I miss my favorite TV shows! Thank goodness I got to see the Bachelorette finale this week. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t think I was going to like this season at the start. Deanna really grew on me over the last few months. Although I think she totally picked the wrong guy…

Anyway, back to crafting…I thought it would be fun to show you what we are releasing at the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show in Chicago next week.

This is our Alix Collection - perfect for scrapbooking your summer fun. One of the best features of this group is the little sea shell brads. They are hand painted and look like you just picked them up off the sand.

This is the Holiday Georgette Collection - beautiful winter white patterns accented with gold and silver glitter. I think my Christmas Card this year is coming from this group!

If you like something a little more light hearted, our new Hannah Collection has something for everyone. There is a red flocked holly paper in this group that you will LOVE!

All of these products will be in store this summer and don’t forget to check our website store - you never know what you’ll find!

P.S. There is an online Scrapbook event coming up July 14th on www.qvc.com. Online only - there will be great items from all your favorite crafters. Make sure to mark your calendars!

Well, this post is totally late. But better late, than never. For all you quilting fans I have put together a montage of our six new fabric collections that debuted at the International Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. I hope you LOVE them!

Our booth by Windham Fabrics

If you are doing a baby’s room our new Hannah Collection is darling!

The Alix Collection is all about Mediterranean blues with pops of coral and lime.

This is Carolina - all fancy and French.

This is Georgette - our newest wedding collection.

Hold on to your socks - our Peyton Animal print group was a huge hit.

Retro Christmas is what it’s all about with the MacKenzie Collection.

The Sample Spree was fast and furious. It’s a great way to get a little bit of a whole lot of fabrics.

I just had to include this adorable smock made from our Sierra Collection by Indigo Junction. I love it!

I travel somewhere for something almost every week now. That’s why this post is so late in coming. When I started the blog my intention was to write every week, but you know what they say about good intentions….

So, in between the National Stationery Show and a huge meeting at Target, three friends and I decided to cash in our frequent flyer miles just to go out for dinner. It was a much needed reward after all of the craziness of the past few months.

We went to the world famous Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. If you are a wine lover, you know that Bern’s has one of the most extravagant wine cellars in the U.S.

For oenophiles, the 6,500 label wine collection, a perennial Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, provides ample opportunity for exploration. After dinner we went upstairs to a private booth made of wine barrels and had a Bern’s signature dessert.

While the decor was something one might not expect, the food was outstanding!

This is my friend Laura, who loves and collects wine. We’re sitting in the barrel waiting to have dessert. I made the mistake of picking up that telephone - it speaks directly to the piano player. Oops.

Back up, rewind… this is the beginning of the evening. Laura contacted the sommelier in advance of our visits to have him select wines from the cellar that we could only have had at Bern’s.

Before things got out of hand, I decided to record the bottles with my camera…

Four bottles later (did you notice the one that was older than I was?!) we got to tour the wine cellar.

Here is Laura’s husband Bob making off with his favorite bottle. I forgot the red eye reduction button - sorry you look like a cat Bob!

Notice the label here - 1822 - now that’s old. Do you think it is ready to drink?

A incredible time was had by all. The amazing part was that the vintage wines were more affordable - go figure. We saved the labels and continue to savor the memories of the evening. Now those were frequent flyer miles well spent.

I write a lot about how much my Dad has inspired me and today I wanted to share his latest accomplishment. He is a man who realizes his dreams, he has always been able to say what he wanted and then make it happen. For me, he is a role model like no other!

Growing up in North Carolina, my family spent the summer at our house at the beach. My Mother, especially loved spending time there. I will always remember my Dad saying that he enjoyed himself at the beach but “someday” he was going to have a house in the mountains.

His “someday” is now today and I finally went to visit over the Memorial Day holiday. After years of searching for just the right place, my Dad finally has his “peace” of property in the mountains. I laugh because he calls this a hill, but to me it was a whole mountain. Once you get up this driveway (four wheel drive required) there’s no else in sight.

The house took him over a year to build. Most of us take for granted things like electricity and running water. When he bought the hill, that was it - he had to start from scratch.

The most idyllic spot on Dad’s mountain is the front porch of his house. We spent many an hour rocking and talking.

My sweet sister Missy and my nephew Charles kicked back on the porch. You can see that Charles has had a few visits from the tooth fairy…

For entertainment, there is a creek full of salamanders and crayfish. These kids were smothered and covered in mud!

The local people that come to visit are a fun source of entertainment as well. Notice that they come by ATV instead of by car. My niece, Summer loved “Blue” which is short for Blue Ridge (like the mountains). She is part tomboy, part princess. She is tough because her big brother terrorizes her, but she already wears high heels like a diva.

My Dad had the player piano from his childhood restored and is seen here playing one of his favorite songs. Nothing lights up a house like music. We had the best time singing and dancing around.

The weekend would not have been complete without a little craft project. We made buttercup necklaces and wreaths from some of the thousands in bloom on the hill. Soon the wild blackberries will be in bloom, but I will have to miss those.

I am looking forward to spending more time on the hill this fall, with my Dad, in his favorite place. Here’s to making dreams come true.

Talk about a crazy week! Seven staff members and I have been at the National Stationery Show in New York for the last six days. It was a lot of hard work, but it was also a lot of fun. I thought you would enjoy some before and after photos as well as pictures of people I met along the way….

A group dinner the night before the show opened. We had to have a reward for the 2 extra long days of set up!

We were lucky enough to have 2 locations at the show. We needed more space to display all of our product lines. Hopefully next year we can be all in one place!

In our “main” space, we only displayed paper goods. Our retailers bought holiday cards like crazy! We had the best show in company history.

This is the “before” of our 2nd space around the corner…

And this is the “after.” We worked for 2 days to make it all presentable. Considering we only had 4 weeks notice to create this display - I think we did an amazing job! This space housed our new fabric accessories, the Wedding Ware line and all of our Paper Crafting Collections.

You can tell even by my fuzzy photos that this booth was more fun. I did a garden of wheat grass for our beautiful wedding favors. It grew really thick while we were there - I loved it! The flowers in both booths were done by Ze Ze Flowers in New York. When I worked at Vera Wang, Ze Ze and Peggy did flowers for her. I LOVE being able to use them. The arrangements are gorgeous collages of flowers and colors, they really are like no other!

Our new gift wrap sheets were a big hit. Look for these on our website soon…

None of this is possible without the really great people that work here. We are all smiles because we had a big day and a big party to celebrate. I think the champagne toasts went on for days.

We had a great time with Marcia and Rosemary of Tinsel Trading Company. The store is the most fabulous design resource in New York. The vintage trims are my favorite, but they were showing some beautiful stamped felt birds that I just had to have. I also met Wendy Addison, whose glitter letters and whimsical products are known around the world (now represented exclusively by Tinsel Trading) - what a treat!

My famous friends Charlotte Lyons and Shelia Meehan stopped by to say hello. I apologize girls for the weepy looking photo. We had all just had a good cry sharing stories about losing a parent. I’ll bet you all have people that you instantly connect with no matter how long it has been between visits. It’s wonderful to have friends like this.

Hello! Here’s a sneak preview of the some of the 180 new products being unveiled at the National Stationery Show May 17-21. My staff and I are in New York this week for the show. (I’ll post pictures of the actual show later)

Perfect Pouches - in 10 styles. The biggest one holds 12×12 papers and the smaller one holds file folders for on-the-go style!

Extreme Die Cuts - These larger than life cut outs tether to an print it yourself card. We are offering more than ten styles for every occasion.

Gift Wrap Sheets - twenty styles of 20×28 papers for everyday, birthdays, kids, babies, weddings and Christmas. These come in our best patterns!

Wickedly cute invitations for Halloween…I couldn’t resist showing you!

Luggage tags - The perfect compliment to our newest bag line, the luggage tags are offered in 12 different fabric patterns. I will be sure to have these on my well traveled, overused, old suitcase!

Last, but certainly not least - the Stationery Wardrobe! There are 5 different styles of trendy flocked note card and sticky note sets.

One of the daily joys of working at Anna Griffin Inc. is seeing the faces of the kids in our day care. For those of us that work more than the typical 8-5, we get babysitting duties from time to time. Here’s what happens….

Busy, busy crafters…

This is hard work…

Ahhhh… just another day at the office.

My friend Nancy Hill of Die Cuts With A View and I were together last week in London for QVC. She had an awesome Today’s Special Value scrapbook kit. Check it out on QVC UK.

This was my side of the studio - notice how behind I am - there’s nothing there.

It took an entire conference room to hold all of the products we were showing! Here’s a cute photo of Dawn Bibby - the UK Queen of Crafts who came by to say hello.

I want to give a BIG Thanks to Hilary and Patrick (pictured here) who prepare Nancy and I to go on air. They really make us look good!

I have been traveling so much that I have not been able to get back to my new favorite “thing to do!” I feel like a human FedEx package. I’ve been to Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Philadelphia and London in nineteen days. New York is next up this week - whew, I am really looking forward to being home at the end of this month!

As promised in my last post on QVC, here are some photos from those experiences…

Have you ever wondered what the studio looks like “before” the show? I took this photo 3 hours before my show on May 2nd. If you could have seen the panic… no walls, no tables - we were stressed to say the least.

Ashley and Tracey improvise on the floor while I take photos! Is this as glamorous as you thought it would be?

Almost show time … this is the stuff you don’t get to see during the show. I love watching the tapes because the shots are close up and it all looks so beautiful - the ugly gets trimmed away.

High above the cameras are windows. These ladies are on the QVC Studio Tour. It’s so nice when they wave and are excited to see us down below.

Not my best angle…

Note the hand held camera guy - that’s how we get those beautiful close ups!

The day would not be complete without a photo of Leah Williams and I. She is one of my favorite hosts on QVC. In fact, she was the host of my very first show 5 years ago. How appropriate that we did the anniversary show together!