Yesterday, Hewlett Packard unveiled its new HP Photosmart Express Kiosk, a self-service photo-processing, printing, poster, calendar, and greeting card maker.

These interactive kiosks will be found in drug stores, grocery stores, camera stores, and whereever shoppers might feel convenient to get photos made.

Longs Drugs Stores, Albertsons, and Bashas' Supermarkets have already announced plans to roll these in. In fact, four Longs Drugs Stores in California already have them in place:

129 North El Camino Real Encinitas, CA 92024 (760)-942-2134
5644 Mission Center Rd Suite 201 San Diego, CA 92108 (619)-298-3533
1500 First St Livermore, CA 94550 (925)-455-5400
738 Bancroft Rd Walnut Creek, CA 94598 (925)-938-7616

The HP Photosmart Studio is the only in-store solution that allows customers a fun way to design creative products using 200+ images in less than an hour at affordable prices.

Here's how it works...

• Insert any combination of photo CDs, memory cards or memory sticks into the kiosk, and your images are instantly loaded into the system to view.



• Select a project to create. Choose from small, medium or large albums, posters, calendars, greeting cards or photo CDs.


Create using several options. Select borders and title your new creation. Time spent placing photos and writing captions is reduced to minutes because the HP Photosmart Studio automatically lays out hundreds of photos.


• Print. A Longs Drugs photo department employee will present you with your creation in minutes!

The HP Photosmart Express can accept photos on just about any kind of media, including Compact Flash (type 1 and 2), Secure Digital, Memory Stick, xD, MMC, mini-SD, RS-MMC, MS Duo, CD, DVD, USB Flash thumb-drive, SmartMedia, Bluetooth 2.0, Wired and wireless networking.

Press Release:

The National Scrapbooking Association announces a new web site - NationalScrapbookingDay.com - to publicize and promote events commemorating National Scrapbooking Day.   The free service encourages all scrapbooking enthusiasts to submit and search for events and ideas to celebrate NSD.   The site also invites scrapbookers to sign a petition to recognize National Scrapbooking Day, which traditionally is the first Saturday in May.

Many scrapbookers mark National Scrapbooking Day by gathering with fellow scrapbookers and working on pages and albums.   Retailers and Service Providers host special events like crops, contests and product sales.   This year National Scrapbooking Day is Saturday, May 6, 2006.

"National Scrapbooking Day also is a time for all scrapbookers to reflect and recognize that what we do matters," notes NSA president and co-founder, Veronica Hugger.   "Scrapbookers are historians.   We dedicate our precious free time and energy to document the lives of loved ones.   National Scrapbooking Day reminds us that scrapbooking is important."

NationalScrapbookingDay.com provides a means for scrapbooking enthusiasts to share and celebrate the day with scrapbookers everywhere and helps all segments of the scrapbooking market:

- Consumers can find stores or service providers near them offering ways to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day
- Retailers and Service Providers can list for free any event they are sponsoring that is in conjunction with National Scrapbooking Day.   Now is the time to finalize plans for National Scrapbooking Day, so events can be promoted appropriately
- Manufacturers and Publications can submit project ideas for make & takes, games, or classes, or advertise on the site as a way to show support

To submit and search for NSD events and ideas and to sign the petition to recognize National Scrapbooking Day, visit NationalScrapbookingDay.com.

About the National Scrapbooking Association (NSA)

Serving all segments of the scrapbooking industry - consumers, retailers, service providers, manufacturers and publications - the NSA provides the tools to strengthen and unify the scrapbooking community and is dedicated to expanding the passion of scrapbooking to untapped markets.   The NSA web site (www.nsa.gs) features a comprehensive list of scrapbooking retailers, a calendar of scrapbooking events, and an aggressive affiliate program to benefit referring members.

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National Scrapbooking Association
www.nsa.gs
713-589-2140

Press Release:

Lucidiom Inc., creator of the original Automated Photo Machine (APM), will showcase its new Luci scrapbook kiosk program at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) Show, February 26th through March 1st in Orlando, Fla.   Luci is the first photo kiosk with features tailored just for scrapbookers, such as 12x12 photo printing, unique mats and template layouts.

"Luci is much more than just a photo kiosk.   It's an entire program designed to bring the digital photo business and the paper scrapbook business together.   Luci offers new custom-designed creativity tools for consumers and new profit opportunities for retailers," said Lucidiom Vice President of Scrapbook & Craft Business Development Kesley Anderson.   "With Luci, retailers will garner higher profits, expand their product offerings and reach out to a wider range of customers."

Lucidiom is collaborating with two well-respected companies in the scrapbook market to help retailers coordinate Luci prints with their other merchandise.   Luci offers photo mats, Prism Prismatics Borders that coordinate with Prism Prismatic Packs.   Plus, designers from DigitalScrapbookPlace.com have created distinctive scrapbook layouts from their online kits exclusively for Luci.   Retailers get a new set of templates each month to keep customers coming back for new designs.   With these two Luci partnerships, retail customers can make quick and beautiful scrapbook pages right in the store.

Luci is built upon Lucidiom's APM 1100 which debuted last December.   The kiosk features a 17-inch touch-screen to make ordering prints fast and easy.   Lucidiom's APMs support every digital media type.   Consumers also can choose to print standard size photos, enlargements, index prints or burn images to CD.

Plus, with the integration of Lucidiom's Photo IQ suite, consumers get the best photos possible with red-eye elimination, cropping and image enhancement.   Consumers also can scan in old photos and scrapbook pages to make duplicate albums.

Luci comes with Lucidiom's award-wining APM software and network support that allow retailers to manage all its APMs online from any location and handle every business need -- from analyzing business operations to tracking sales trends to providing customer support.

At the PMA Show, attendees can print their photos for free at Lucidiom's booth #4361, while test-driving Luci and Lucidiom's other digital imaging solutions.   During the show, retailers also can learn how to expand their business by playing Lucidiom's Maximize Your Profits Contest.   Attendees get their contest cards stamped at three of seven demo areas within Lucidiom's booth to enter the contest and are eligible to win one of many iPod Nanos and a 42" plasma high-definition television.

The "mom, I'm bored" syndrome is deadly.   While it can't cause your kids to actually die from boredom, it can cause you to kill them!   A clinical psychologist has published an article with some common sense answers to this problem including, you guessed it, scarpbooking.   Isn't it funny how something you find pleasurable can actually help you survive the winter?

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Photo collages are more than a collection of images. They visually tell a story, commemorate an event or celebrate someone special.

In continuing to provide an emotional experience for canvas lovers across the country, Canvas On Demand, a provider of canvas photo reproductions, is now providing custom canvas collages via its Website.

Canvas collages are a novel way to prominently display story-telling pictures for every life event -- anniversaries, Mother's Day, Father's Day and sporting events are just a few. With four unique layout options, a variety of backgrounds and special effects, Canvas On Demand offers every photo lover, scrap booking queen or crafty nut a chance to bring their photo album to a new medium-real artist canvas.

View examples of canvases and read testimonials from actual customers.

Learn how to make your own photo collages.

The ScrapGirls announced the release of their new ScrapSimple layered digital scrapbooking templates allowing you to create the look of stacked papers.

Each ScrapSimple set comes with step-by-step instructions, ideas and samples, and three page templates in two sizes. (12x12 and 8.5x11)

The templates sell for $3.99 for a set of three and can be used time and time again.

Scrapbook MAX is a digital scrapbooking kit. The software uses a drag and drop design to simplify digital scrapbooking in a fast, fun and easy way.

You can drag and drop your digital photos into the design space. Then build impressive, personalized scrapbooks by selecting backgrounds, images and different text options with your mouse.

Scrapbook MAX comes with professionally-designed templates and backgrounds, photo-realistic embellishments, colored and textured paper scraps, traditional and whimsical frames, captions, speech bubbles and more. You can make multimedia scrapbooks by adding music and soundtracks.

The software also offers photo retouching tools such as cropping, scratch and red-eye removal. You can get creative with your designs by adding shaping, edging, blurring, black and white and watercolor imaging, and other neat effects to your photos and images. Plus, just as in traditional scrapbooking, you can layer photos, paper scraps and images for a three-dimensional effect.

Publish your scrapbooks in a variety of formats with a few simple mouse clicks; no additional publishing software is required. You can make video CD's (VCD) to watch on your television, slideshows, Acrobat PDF e-books, screensavers, JPG images and HTML files. Share your memories with friends and family through email, CD-ROM, printed copies or the web.

Expand your Scrapbook MAX image library with booster packs, and find helpful tips and free templates, images and more in the Scrapbook MAX community forums.

Ipsos-Insight has just completed a study of the crafting industry and found it to be enormous.   Perhaps surprisingly, scrapbooking is just the third largest piece of the crafting industry.   But not to worry, scrapping is growing remarkably fast with no end in sight.

According to the study, the entire US crafting industry made sales in excess of $30 billion.   That represents an annual growth rate of almost 4%.   Scrapbooking was behind cross-stitch/embroidery and crocheting but it is one of the fastest growing crafts so it may one day take the top slot.   The recently concluded Craft & Hobby Association convention in Las Vegas drew 1,100 exhibitors and more than 8,000 attendees.   Another important demographic observation is that crafts are appealing to a younger segment of the population.   If you are thinking of opening a business, these facts are something you ought to consider.   But another is the fact that many large, national chain stores are enlarging their crafting and scrapbooking sections.

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Don't have a sidekick?   Wish you did?   Now might be the time to take the plunge with a Sizzix value pack.   These packages put together by Sizzix and only available via their web site offer the perfect way to get started.   And if you just cannot justify spending money on this, how about dropping some hints to your husband for what could be a truly special Valentines Day gift!