Today...is a great day!

Today...was one of those days that you know was fabulous, and what comes next is even better!

First, we found out more about the Creative Imaginations win...see previous blog entry. Whoa!

Scott and I had conversations with several key people...VIPs, CEOs, media...it just blew our minds when we look back on today's progress.

Plus, we got a shipment from the NSA's newest sponsor...Marvy Uchida! I started to play with the product, got a layout idea, it brought back precious memories, those gut-wrenching, tear-forming, happy memories...and it reminded me yet again about the importance of documenting our lives.

I hope today that you had a chance to scrap. I hope that everyone has a little spot at home that allows them to keep an on-going, everyday scrapbook, or journal, that they maybe can add photos to. Maybe that's what I need to do -- keep a journal, add to it as needed, embellish the pages from time to time, accent it with photos. A different approach to scrapbooking.

Scott and I have had several discussions about the definition of scrapbooking and the NSA's responsibility to broaden the term to mean it's more than a craft. It should be seen as less of an exclusive obsession and more like an extension of our existing lifestyle. Scrapbooking is a way to showcase and share our memories, and with today's digital technology, more people are able to capture more memories. Isn't scrapbooking a way to kick it up a notch? To actually do something with all the photos we're taking?

So loosen your definition of scrapbooking to include more than picture-perfect photos and pub-worthy layouts. What will matter to your ancestors 100 years from now when they look through your scrapbooks? That you used the latest and greatest techniques and patterned paper? No. It will be that you took the time to note that today you _____________ (fill in the blank).

ETP!

...a member of the NSA!!!

Scott and I are doing the happy dance with THE winner of the Studio Basics 101 Sweepstakes!!

We just got off the phone with her. The official announcement won't be made by CI until the 25 runners up have been notified. But we have the inside scoop from the winner. We'll be following up with an announcement of our own, complete with an exclusive interview of the lucky scrapper, so members of the NSA can share in the excitement.

As a fellow contest winner, I know how she feels. And it's a feeling that lasts a very long time. Congratulations!!

Today is a great day!

ETP!

Today...I awoke to 1,538 stores in the NSA Retail Directory! Chris uploaded a spreadsheet I've been building of some of the international scrapbooking stores. It's time to let the world know of the global plans and capabilities of the NSA.

The NSA Locator is now live, too! Anyone can find a U.S. LSS near them, wherever they are, whenever! Bluegrass Publishing has helped considerably by calling many of the retailers on the list and verifying or adding their information. Now the task lies in promoting this fabulous service.

Just last week Mike Harnett had this to say in his CLN Online newsletter (Mike is known for his tounge-in-cheek approach, so I attempted to add humor to my responses):

Where to find lists of retailers
CLN is asked periodically where vendors can find a list of industry retailers. There is no master list, (the NSA has one, and makes it available to everyone!) and if one existed, it would be out of date as soon as it was published (not if it was kept online!), given the number of stores opening and closing. However, here are some suggestions:

1. Trade show exhibitors often have the opportunity to purchase a show's attendee list after the show closes. Contact the show sponsors (yeah? got spare arm and leg?).

2. Many vendors include on their websites the names and addresses of stores that sell their products. It could be very time consuming to find and collate the names from various sites (you're telling me!), but if you want a list badly enough.... (yes, we do! all of us! consumers, retailers, and vendors...we all need it!)

3. Consider exchanging customer lists with other vendors (Bluegrass came to the table with us, but others told us no, indicating not everyone wants to share).

4. Trade magazines do not rent their circulation lists, but may on occasion do a mailing for an advertiser (if you still have that spare arm). And, of course, there's always advertising and creating a list from the reader response cards (or that spare leg).

5. Some trade associations offer its members a membership
directory, often divided by category, such as "retailers." (ahem)

Whatever the size/extent of your customer list, a good way to keep it "clean" is to do an annual, simple, first-class mailing. That way you can cull the names of stores whose letters were returned by the Post Office (annual? we do a monthly email correspondence. Cleaner and cheaper).

Rebecca Ludens of scrapbooking.about.com needs to be informed, too. She claims her site is the place to start when looking for a scrapbook store...but she only provides a few links to store locators created by magazines and manufacturers. Several problems lie in that approach, but I won't state the obvious, and my tounge is too far into my cheek to respond.

I'll just emphasize...the NSA provides an active, comprehensive, functional Retail Directory and Locator:

• active...the NSA actively maintains the data, researching stores, contacting them on a regular basis, deleting duplicates, store closures, etc. Viewers can submit information about missing stores or edits, deletes, etc.
• comprehensive...the list is not tied to product or publication. Stores are listed for free! The criteria for a store to be listed are that it is a brick & mortar store front, offers scrapbooking classes for the beginner, and has inventory at least 50% scrapbooking-specific.
• functional...with the locator, web links and other capabilities, the information provided is useful and promotes the independent scrapbooking retailer by making it easier for consumers to find retailers

One way the NSA fulfills its mission to expand the passion of scrapbooking is by providing global support for a grassroots hobby. Creating and maintaining the NSA Retail Directory says we mean business. We mean to direct consumers to retailers, to tell the public that there are local stores that offer scrapbooking classes, and to offer ways to market the independent retailer that they alone cannot do.

To get technical...the NSA web site is built on a powerful Cold Fusion platform. Because of the investment the NSA has made to provide this tool and to build the data base, we can now interface with other web tools, like Google Earth, to serve the scrapbooking community with the best store directory and locator technology can offer. We've captured email addresses and phone and fax numbers, too, and will soon launch a manufacturer directory. And let me tell you...that ain't all we're doing to help this industry. You just wait.

Many thanks to Bluegrass Publishing for seeing the need and benefit of the NSA Retail Directory. They, like the other members of the NSA, get it!

ETP!

CrafTrends announced that Primedia has entered into an agreement to sell substantially all of the assets of its Crafts Group to Enthusiast Media LLC, an entity controlled by affiliates of Sandler Capital Management, in an all-cash transaction valued at $132 million, subject to audit adjustments.

So you can imagine the premature reactions, suppositions and conclusions posted on the various message boards. (Primedia's Crafts Group has been on the table for some time.)

So what's my reaction? Too soon to tell. The optimistic Ali Edwards says "It's all good," but that has been the catch phrase since CHA-S 2005.

So the change management consultant in me says the easy and the obvious: "If it's change for the better, then the change is good." But will this and the other recent changes really be good for scrapbooking?

If there is a place for the beginner and a place for the obsessed addict, then yes.

If there is a level playing field for all members of the scrapbooking community, then yes.

I don't see either of the two mega players offering what's needed...yet. Only the NSA can provide the solutions to manage the impending changes.

Primedia's Creating Keepsakes has a lock on the artistic scrapbooker. But the magazine is not forthcoming about its focus for the advanced scrapoboker. CK tends to lure the novice in the short term and alienate them in the long term. Primedia's Simple Scrapbooks tries to target beginners, but with professional quality photos in every layout, it alientates the beginner who happens to have a shoebox of more-than-average snapshots.

F & W's only consumer scrapbooking magazine, Memory Makers, claims to have something for everyone, as does the newcomer, Scrapbook Answers from Future Networks USA. Both publish nine times per year and neither has a consistent way to communicate what level scrapbooker their particular content is for.

No wonder non-scrapbookers find the hobby intimidating, overwheming and downright scary. It's not so fun to play.

One solution is a system to communicate clearly and effectively the ability level of a particular project, class, make & take or technique. The NSA is developing a standard that all members of the scrapbooking community can adopt, without having to side with one magazine, publisher, "side" or camp. It will be a way to tell beginners, "Hey, you can do this, no matter how artsy it looks," and it will let the advanced scrapper know that they will be challenged.

When the NSA makes this service available, it will be free and open for anyone to use. I hope all the players do, because that would be change for the better.

ETP!