Really, thanks for spreading the word!!

;)

I really enjoyed listening to the CHA podcast and what’s coming our way this spring. I found the talk about how Project Life is beginning to affect the market and will probably significantly affect the next CHA show in regard to products that will be developed and offered. I have scrapped for over 15 years and have fallen in love with this project. I was buying 6 x 6 pads anyway but have been really using them for my PL album. I collect alot of “stuff” and use the paper pads to make “mini-pages” in the 4 X 6 pockets where I mount the “stuff” and journal about it. I’ve been using lots of the SMASH pads for this.

I also really like how the industry is moving toward “memory-keeping” from “scrapbooking.” I was a CM consultant from 1997-2002 and I saw so many people freaked out by the term scrapbooking. “Memory Keeping” is so much more doable and accomplishes collecting these stories without having to create a big ole 12 x 12 page.

Thank you for all you do and I’m looking forward to listening to more.

Libby Gordon

CHA is limited for a reason and the flow was really so much better b/c the those limits were enforced, but it’s hard to talk about it without sounding snotty. It takes a bit of thought to make sure the wording doesn’t come across wrong, and of course, you know on the Roundtable we’re not known for over-planning our word choices ahead of time. I cringe whenever it comes up because it can sound like we’re putting up walls between an in-group and an out-group, so I know exactly what you’re saying. And I appreciate that you’re chalking it up to coming out wrong. That’s definitely the case — there is not a single person on the panel of that episode that isn’t an everyday welcoming person.

We really should be better about communicating better if we’re going to mentioned the closed aspect of CHA.

Thanks so much for your membership! So glad you wanted to renew! :)

One trend from CHA that I’ve noticed, but wasn’t mentioned during the show, was all the HEXAGONS – I’ve been making CHA inspired layouts with all the hexagon shapes and other quilting pattern type shapes. Its a different vibe than the chevron pattern – which seems kind of hip and trendy and modern;  the hexagon trend seems sort of thrifty and homemade and old-fashioned to me.  I love both of these trends, btw.

I also thought what Angie said about a small booth costing $40k was very interesting, it makes what Nikki Sivils did with creating a scrapbooking line sound much more of a risky venture than just creating some papers, sounds like there is a big marketing budget.  SHOW IDEA:  I would love to hear sort of a Paperclipping / Foolish Adventure mash up, about how much it costs to produce papers and what the mark ups are, and I’d love to hear a Paperclipping with guests who are owners of brick and mortar stores and the owners of the online stores; sort of a part 2 of the show you did before about working in the industry, but sort of from the perspective of the people who are working in the industry.  I guess also it could be sort of a follow up to CHA since there was some discussion about the “business of scrapbooking” – sort of a peek behind the curtain.

1.  I tell myself I can only listen if I get on the treadmill to do so.  Pretty effective incentive!

2. Roundtable and your guests continually provide affirmation that the time spent memory keeping is worthwhile and important.  I get stimulation and inspiration to stretch my creative wings.  This has manifested itself not only in my personal scrapbooking endeavors, but has been an integral part in seeing a idea come to fruition this year – in a way we never imagined and wouldn’t have been realized if not for this journey I am on.

   We have an old family friend whose stories I grew up listening to.  We poured over her pictures and scrapbooks and diaries as she related her first hand accounts of what it was like to live in 1920′s Paris and be friends with all those people who are famous for being there.  She and her husband were entertainers there and fortunately for us she did her own memory keeping and we have these wonderful artifacts that tell her story. For years we have tried to figure out how to get a book published or do something to honor this life and her story. We promised we would tell her story.

   My “One Little Word” for 2011 was storyteller and in March of last year I had this epiphany that a blog would be the perfect place to share her story with the world.  In November we launched  our site, jazzagediva.com that chronicles her life from a little girl growng up in the silver mining camps in Nevada, a youth spent in Northern California and a voyage to Paris that changed her life.  We share her pictures, newspaper clippings and her stories. It has been a massive effort that my brother, sister and I have taken on.  We are so happy to finally be keeping our promise to her – even though she is long gone, I am pretty sure she is aware :).

You said you had a show coming up about blogs and this would be my question.  How do we get more readers?  Pretty simple.  We have not monetized it in any way at this point, so have done this digital scrapbook on our own dime.  We aren’t so much concerned about making money with it (although don’t get me wrong, if someone wants movie rights we are listening!), but we want more readers!  After all the thousands of hours we have put in to this – we want to spread the word. Any ideas your panel may have would be much appreciated.

Thank you for Roundtable – it is a treat to hear others who are as passionate about telling their stories as I am. You are doing good stuff!