Volume 6, Issue 19
May 14, 2008

In This Issue:

Quick Links:

1. Editor's Welcome
2. In The News
3. Decor Magazine Interview
4. The Industry's TV Show
5. Press Release

Article Archives: Did you miss an issue? View the archives to browse past articles.

 

Book Club: Scrapbooking.com Magazine's list of books every business owner should read.

"Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change."

- Tom Clancy, Author

 
Welcome from the Editor

Jami picture

Exciting things are happening this week. First, we're excited to introduce a new look to the newsletter. We hope you like it, but feel free to let us know what you think. Additionally, some important things are occurring for our soldiers and our moms. Read more about it In The News.

This week, Dennis gives his insight into the new reality TV show "The Real Vacation". Although the name has changed, the idea is the same and the momentum behind the show is growing. Get in on the ground floor and be ready to reach for the stars!

Jami Petersen
newsletters@a-z.com

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In The News: Industry Movers & Shakers

News you can use about the latest media coverage of hot trends, noteworthy events and dynamic industry leaders. Learn more about the current headlines in arts and crafts by clicking on the title of each article segment.



 

Scrapbooking, photo sharing particularly important to soldiers' spouses. Military life can be challenging for any family. That's why this group is particularly attracted to scrapbooking. Are you encouraging this group to shop in your store?

CraftyGear.com Offers Hip and Humorous Scrapbooking Gifts for National Scrapbooking Month and Mother’s Day. CraftyGear.com, a company that specializes in hip t-shirts and gifts for crafters, has just added several new scrapbooking-themed designs in time for National Scrapbooking Month.

Brands Are Big Word-Of-Mouth Topics Among New Moms. New mothers are key to word-of-mouth advertising. Read more about this study and think about ways to use this information to your advantage.

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Decor Magazine Interview

Bruce Aldrich of the Photo Marketing Association International (PMA) and Dennis Conforto of A-Z Media Group have helped launch several efforts to combine the marketing power of the photo, custom framing, art and scrapbooking industries through regional teams and media projects.

They tell DECOR Magazine's Assistant Editor Daniel Mullen about the progress they've made and why the efforts can benefit all of the industries involved.
Click here to listen to the interview. (Duration: 23:44).



 
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Why the Industry Needs a TV Show

dennisFlip on the TV and you will see all kinds of shows that feature scrapbooking in one form or another. There are scrapbooking features on QVC that sell specific products and many scrapbooking how-to shows. But to date a TV show has not been created for the general public to demonstrate why everyone who takes a photo should seriously consider scrapbooking.

One of the biggest challenges that faces the scrapbooking industry starts long before someone finally sits down to scrapbook their memories. You can say it starts when someone first utters, “Say CHEESE!”

Everyone has the best of intentions when they are taking pictures. However, over time the sense of urgency is lost to other priorities. As the years pass the number of unorganized photos grows. The thought of trying to figure out how to tackle this challenge has grown into an overwhelming sink hole of time.

Organizing photos and the history of our lives is the biggest thing on which a person procrastinates. But the task becomes so overwhelming when left untouched for years, it’s like watching a garden slowly overtaken by weeds, and with each passing month the task of cleaning it all up becomes more difficult.

Is it any wonder why scrapbooking stores never have enough store traffic when you consider that most people procrastinate organizing their life story and the very solutions we offer as an industry? Frankly, I think most people’s scrapbooks are organized at the time of their funerals as family members race to put together a few pages of pictures. Then stories are shared at the services and a long life is reduced to a 20 minute eulogy. The stories shared that day typically are not tied to the photos, and over time the stories are lost and the photos slowly age and fade.

To be blunt, our industry’s number one job is to solve this issue of procrastinating the recording of our lives and passing our lives forward. Our challenge as an industry starts the moment someone takes a photo and our failure as an industry is evident when that photo is frozen in time in a digital storage device never to be used in a meaningful way again.

For this purpose the new reality TV show “The Real Vacation” was created. Its purpose is to tackle the questions, fear, and procrastination issues that face our potential consumers. We chose the theme vacations for the show because basically everyone who goes on a vacation takes pictures. Plus it allows the show to be tied to other industries that understand the common thread between a vacation, a picture, and a great memory. Read the entire article by clicking here. . .

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Press Release: Prism Introduces Seaside Line

Prism Papers announced the immediate availability of its new SeaSide family of quality cardstock papers for scrapbooking, papercrafting and card making.


“These papers are textured on both sides like rippled sand on the seashore,”
explained Mark Hillard of Prism Papers. “They have a rich, substantial feel, without the weight typically associated with heavy paper.”
 

Described as “pleasantly pliable and wonderfully workable,” the new SeaSide
specialty papers expand the horizons of what can be done with scrapbooking pages, photos, cards and special papercrafting projects.
 

“For example,” adds Hillard, “lightly brushing the surface of these papers with an
ink pad produces a unique, distressed or antique effect. These exotic papers make
excellent matting borders, page backgrounds and textured representations of water, sky, earth, flowers, tree bark and more. They’re easy to cut, fold, emboss and distress, which means they’re perfect for three-dimensional paper projects as well as two-dimensional embellishments. Thanks to SeaSide, scrapbookers, papercrafters and card makers can let their imagination go wild!”


Prism’s new acid-free, lignin-free SeaSide papers are available to retailers in 25-
sheet packs of 12" x 12" and 8½" x 11" sheets. The family includes 10 rich colors: Sand Dollar, Surf’s Up, Kite, Lifeguard, Kelp, Lighthouse, Pier, Beach, Cove and Fire Pit.
 

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Prism Papers produces high-quality, acid free,
lignin-free scrapbooking and paper-crafting cardstock for retail distribution. Prism offers a uniquely large selection of colored papers at competitive prices, including the professionally designed, color-coordinated Prismatics packs.