Deja Views: Unique View on Paper

Reported by Heather Strenzwilk

Deja Views is the paper/ scrapbooking division of the C-Thru Ruler Company. Best know for their innovative tools, the company pioneering the first clear ruler in 1939. The company was one of the first to offer scrapbooking templates and later developed stickers, die cuts and papers.

The Deja View line is available at Michael's and independent scrapbook stores. The line includes various themed scrapbooking kits, sticker tablets containing vellum, stickers and tiles, and paper collections. The paper collections include: Sharon Ann, Alpha Blocks, Wonderful Words and Fresh Print.

My local Michael's store carried only a few lines from the Fresh Print collection. I purchased papers from Blue Raspberry, Plum and Grape lines. The papers are 12x12 and are 80 lb. weight. Each individual line is focused around a specific color fruit and has a floral, stripe and collage ( tone on tone) and mosaic square versions. Complementary fruits such as green apple and grape could interchange papers between the 2 collections. I was drawn to the bold colors and graphics of this line.


Those preferring more traditional style scrapbook papers should seek the Sharon Ann Collection. Lines in the collection include: Holidays, Harvest, Golden Pine, Little Ones and Timeless. Home for the Holidays, Timeless and Baby lines also feature double sided papers. Most of these printed papers had larger scale prints and were better suited for larger size projects.

Originally drawn to the Blue Raspberry papers, I was quite disappointed upon my return to my local Michael's, that they didn't carry more of a variety of the line. I loved the ease of creating with this paper- especially not worrying about coordinating the colors. The paper held up well to stamping, Distress inks, distressing, tearing and folding. The 80 lb. weight worked well for the most part with my paper punches and decorative scissors. The papers are 59 cents each but scrapbook paper at Michael's is often on sale. Overall, I was satisfied with the papers but the lack of local availability will definitely limit my future purchases.

The company has a website here. Be warned however that it is somewhat limited and utilizes Flash, making it cumbersome at times to navigate. There were limited samples but several of them offered printable instructions. The website also had inactive discussion forums and further research mentioned a blog that is no longer available. While I was disappointed with the completeness of the website, I was impressed with their online customer service- I received an e-mail response to a question within 24 hours.

I own several Deja Views scrapbooking templates, including my all time favorite hearts. While I only tried a small selection of their paper line, I felt the paper was good quality and offered attractive patterns and colors. I would use this paper again if it was available at a local store. In conclusion- what I tried I liked, but if I want to try more I'll have difficulty finding it locally.