Today...is a great day!

Today...I replied to a note from Marianne who let us know how she would like to see scrapbooking portrayed in the media:

Scrapbooking is so often ridiculed because of the following it has created. Realistically, scrapbooking has been around for many years, in fact centuries, in one form or another. As respresentatives, I would hope that the NSA provides a high standard of answers and a pride in our works.

I agreed:

Great opinion, Marianne!

Scrapbooking shouldn't be portrayed as a separate lifestyle, but simply as an extension of our lives. We're already taking photos; we're already making memories. Scrapbooking is a way for us to showcase and share them. Focusing solely on the creative aspect alienates newcomers. Scrapbooking is a great gateway to crafts, but it's not where it starts. It starts with a memory. And scrapbooking helps us appreciate the moments that become memories.

Thanks so much for your support and for expanding the passion!

ETP!

Labels: About the ING, Expanding the Passion, IMHO, it starts with a memory, Stop the DRAMA

Today...and for many yesterdays and for many more tomorrows, we've been working on the new web site. I know there have been hints and teases, but the struggle to revolutionize the scrapbooking industry, well, has some sub-struggles that also have to be endured. But the thing about struggles is that when they are over, you are freer and lighter and finally able to soar!

So, if you're ready for another teaser, go here!

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion, industry insights, Latest and Greatest

Today...is the first of August! Before we all get into back-to-school mode, I invite fellow bloggers to the End of Summer Blog-Abration at Lessons from the Scrapbook Page. You could win one of the great prizes and you'll discover new friends: real women who scrap.

And it's easy:

1. Add the Announcement Button to your sidebar and link it to here
2. Write a post inviting all your friends
3. Sign the Mr. Linky box with your blog site to register to win a prize
4. Enjoy what's left of summer!

ETP!

Labels: About the ING, Expanding the Passion

Today...I'm home from CHA in Chicago, and as usual, it was a great trip! Do you ever feel that you are in the right place at the right time?

The highlight of the trip was meeting more members of the NSA and reuniting with the members I met last year. Look for photos and articles to come soon.

In the meantime, check out some new NSA features!

The AWESOME new Store Locator! Now interfaced with Google Maps, the NSA Store Locator identifies local retailers -- wherever you are in the world!

Check the sidebar to the right. I'm tracking interesting stories and blog posts that resonate the NSA's message to expand the passion of scrapbooking. Let me know if you find one to add.

More about CHA later, as the suitcases are unpacked and life gets to, uh, normal.

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion

Today...Beth Mauro, editor of CNA Magazine, reported from GASC in Chantilly. Here are some quotes of note:

No matter what your crafting niche I highly urge you to attend consumer shows whenever possible. There is nothing better than seeing the industry through (these) customers' eyes. When crafting is your business there is a danger of getting jaded when it comes to products and projects. A short trip to a consumer show is like a shot of adrenalin.

My favorite part was seeing scrapbookers of every age, color, size and level of expertise. We saw three generations of scrapbookers visiting the show together and plenty of new moms looking to start a baby book. The crops were packed. Over a three day period, hundreds of scrapbookers dragged all their stuff in for the fun of scrapping with friends and soon-to-be-friends.

and

Digital Scrapbooking 101 classes were full as were sessions on getting photos off of your digital camera (I should take that one) and photo retouching. The fact that that attendees that come to this show are hardcore scrapbookers should prove that traditional scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking can co-exist under one roof. Will next year be the year of Hybrid Scrapbooking classes?

It boils down to this:

• Always remember the customer
• Scrapbooking is for everyone
• Never underestimate the passion of a scrapbooker

ETP!

Labels: About the ING, Expanding the Passion, hand holding, retail tips, trade magazines

Today...I'm reminded that dreams really can come true!

Remember when I offered an invitation to create the ultimate scrapbooking web site! Well, it's being done! The new NSA site will be like no other! I'm just too excited not to at least mention how great it is going to be. For me, it's like having all my dreams come true AND dreams I didn't even know I had come true.

It's not too late to let us know your dreams for the ultimate scrapbooking web site.

Whatever your expectations are, they will be blown away!

ETP!

Labels: About the ING, Expanding the Passion, hand holding, industry insights, Latest and Greatest, Stop the DRAMA

Today...we need to admit that the "scrapbooking as art" and "gotta have it" vacuums have been filled. We've elevated memory keeping to a level that is alienating the newcomer, and we've saturated the market with a flood of product. It's time to identify the new needs of the industry and fill them. That's what the NSA strives to do with these products:

• Up-to-date LSS locator and directory where all brick & mortar retailers can list their store for free and scrappers can find a scrapbooking store easily


• Calendar of calls for publication, for enthusiasts who want recognition and publishers who are looking for fresh contributors


• An open forum where any product, store, or sale can be discussed

What else does the scrapbooking industry really need? My guess:

• Greater global synergy


• A unified voice


• A place for everyone


• An identity people can relate to


• Tools specific to the scrapbooking industry (ah, an upcoming blog topic!)

In other words: more newcomers.

Don't fear. Not only has the NSA identified these new needs, but we've been working very hard behind the scenes to fill them to satisfaction! If you're interested in a preview, email me.

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion, hand holding, IMHO, industry insights

Today…Creating Keepsakes announced its new editor. Replacing Tracy White is Brian Tippetts. Yep. A guy. He joins a handful of men making their way into the female-dominated world of scrapbooking. The guys have always been here; but now they’re getting face time.

CK started with Don Lampson. David Venable works side-by-side with Lisa Bearnson at QVC. And the first male Hall of Famer, NSA member Mitchell Kraft, was named in 2007.

F+W is doing it, too. David Pyle is now Group Publisher, formally held by industry matriarch Jeanne Wines-Reed. Steve Smith’s column, "Manly Memories," appears regularly in Memory Makers Magazine.

This sprinkle of men is just the beginning of the summer storm. There will be a gully-washing this year in the industry, brought on and carried out by the “guys who get it.” Are you ready to ride the winds of change?

ETP

Labels: consumer magazines, Expanding the Passion, industry insights, trade magazines

Today...this article warns us that we --as a market/industry-- have gone overboard and scrapbooking is now alienating consumers. Perception has crossed from overwhelming to down-right frightening. From the author:

Scrapbooking is everywhere...There is even a television show about it, which I watched one time simply out of sheer disbelief.

Upon leaving the store, I had the urge to down a whiskey to counterbalance the act of purchasing scrapbooking supplies on a Friday night. But since I don't drink whiskey, I settled for a raspberry martini, which took the edge right off my uncomfortable foray into the world of scrapbooking.

It seems my old method of sitting down biannually with five photo albums and a shoe box full of pictures no longer cuts it.

...scrapbooking highlights my inadequacies in the craft department, takes too long, and makes my fingers and my neck ache.

It makes me sad, because there is only one rule in scrapbooking: If you're having fun, then you're doing it right. The author of the article was not having fun. And I don't know who looses more: that we loose a customer, or that she looses confidence in her capacity to creatively preserve her memories.

Expanding the passion is not about getting excited over the latest and greatest. It's about finding and embracing a way to integrate memory preservation into our lifestyle so we become more passionate about our life.

ETP

Labels: About the ING, Expanding the Passion, industry insights

Today...I had some wonderful telephone discussions regarding the NSA's Instructor & Designer Certification Program (IDCP). The program has been on hold while we find someone to manage the beta testing and to manage the program for the long term. This is not easy, but after my conversations, it may get a lot easier! Some members of the industry have come forward to offer some help, and that is huge!

The NSA will not roll out the IDCP until it's ready. We will only do it if it's done right. Scrapbooking deserves nothing less.

The IDCP, as envisioned in total, has the potential to revolutionize the industry and benefit all market segments, especially consumers. The IDCP also will play a big role in expanding the passion of scrapbooking. It is no small task making such an idea a reality. I'm beginning to think that we had to wait for the time to come, and now it is here.

Thank you to those NSA members who have patiently waited for the IDCP. Many thanks to the Development Team who worked diligently to create the certification portion. And thank you to the industry representatives who have offered to serve on the Beta Testing Team.

It is very exciting to come to the realization that our industry has grown to the point that there needs some form of standardization. I'm proud that the NSA will be the driver that puts scrapbookers from around the world on the the same page.

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion, industry insights

Today...I caught this article from the Detroit Free Press...

Some people's greatest legacy is the memories they bequeath their children and grandchildren.

That's one reason for scrapbooking, a hobby so popular that a Google search reveals more than 850,000 Web pages devoted to the pastime.

Identifying a niche, Princess Cruises recently launched a maritime first, Scrapbooking@Sea. The scrapbook curriculum offers a regular series of onboard classes and a specially created kit with themed pages. Currently available on select ships, scrapbooking had proved so popular in field tests, says Jan Swartz, Princess' senior vice president of customer service and sales, that the line now expects to roll out the program across its fleet of 15 vessels by early this year.

"In a cruise-ship setting, where passengers are on vacation and have spare time to try new things," says Princess spokeswoman Karen Tetherow, "scrapbooking is the perfect opportunity to pick up a new hobby."

Princess' Scrapbooking@Sea kit contains decorative papers, stickers and rub-on emblems along with instructions on how to build five vacation-themed pages. The pages can be used to create decorative backdrops for photos from typical cruise activities such as welcome aboard events, days at sea, shore excursions or formal evenings.

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion

Today...Rebeca Seitz provided an interview on GoDeKalb.com about her new scrapbooking fiction book due out in early March. Prints Charming (WestBow Press) is about four women with very different life paths bound together by their love of scrapbooking. The book will be available at book stores everywhere and on Amazon.com. Rebecca is doing an extensive tour to scrapbooking shows and local scrapbooking stores to promote the book.

I had the privilege to pre-read the book and provide a quote for the cover. Prints Charming demonstrates the "power scrapbooking has to develop and strengthen relationships," and that story -- even in fiction form -- needs to be told. Prints Charming's distribution will be wide-spread, and many readers, who have never been exposed to scrapbooking, will have a positive and non-threatening introduction to our passion: fiction lovers, Christian book readers, crafters, etc.

Look for more fiction titles, by Rebeca Seitz and other authors developing this genre, which help expand the passion of scrapbooking.

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion, industry insights

Today...the January Craftrends was in my mailbox. Lookie what was listed in the table of contents!!
The cover story of the sneak peek issue of the new Memorytrends magazine is "Keep in Touch: How scrapbooking can support our military families," and features Harvesting Memories. The photo taken at Scrapbook Warehouse in Dallas shows some of the cards we made to during the crop to raise funds for Trees for Troops.

Read the full story scanned from the January 2007 issue.

Labels: Expanding the Passion, Harvesting Memories, trade magazines

Today...I started preparing for the slice of heaven that is CHA. I developed a web page for the sneak peeks and glanced over the CNA issue new to my mailbox, one of the several pre-show mags I'm sure to receive. So here are some things that caught my eye:

Clip File System from Simply Renee...something new in storage and organization

Pay-per-project Online...something close to a concept I'm trying to develop, but no where near what it needs to be (Warning: I find F&W web sites painfully slow. This one is no exception.)

Give 'em what they need...excellent peek into what this industry should be -- and should not be -- doing:
Karen Ancona's editorial "We Reap What We Sow" about kindness and generosity...it was like she was speaking to the NSA about Harvesting Memories and our plans for CHA: "Americans love a company that promotes civility...a good deed in the pay-it-forward spirit."

ETP!

Labels: Expanding the Passion, Harvesting Memories, industry insights, Latest and Greatest, trade magazines

Today...I heard of the demise of another scrapbooking company. Leaving Prints has shut its doors. While some, especially direct sales representatives of any company, see this as a blow to their chances to build their own business, I also see it as a struggle for the scrapbooking industry to expand the passion to a greater consumer base.

Direct sales companies, with their home party plans, have the permission to enter people's personal space, both physically and emotionally, that other retailers do not. Sales reps are friends and acquaintences, actual people, who can provided that personal contact and relationship not available from a retail store or web site. That type of hand holding is needed in scrapbooking, especially to introduce scrapbooking to the intimidated and overwhelmed newcomer.

So when the industry looses a player such as Leaving Prints, it leaves a sad impression with us all.

ETP

Labels: Expanding the Passion, hand holding, IMHO

Today...I read about two congresswomen who will be scrapping up a storm on their upcoming fact-finding tour of the Iraqi region. According to a press release from the office of Congresswoman Sherri Davis, R-CA:

Also along on the fact-finding trip, according to Davis, will be Democratic Rep.
Louise Slaughter of Buffalo. 'She is a neat lady and a major, major scrapbooker
-- and so I wouldn't be surprised if the two of us, with the aid of U.S.
military transport, set a land-sea scrapbooking record of some kind," predicts
Davis with her trademark grin. "Scrap-booking and fact-finding, fact-finding and
scrapbooking. It's a very good mix, and I expect to get several complete books
out of this trip. Arthur Schlesinger recently sold his scrapbooks to Penguin for
a cool 1.5, and so it is actually a very good investment of my time, as well as
being super fun and super educational."

Well, how about that!

I ask both Davis and Slaughter to let our soldiers know we scrapbookers support our troops and hope they enjoy the Christmas trees that are on their way to them!

ETP!

Labels: About the ING, Expanding the Passion, Harvesting Memories