Real Women Scrap with Tasra Dawson

A New Home for Real Women Scrap - tasramar.com

The time has come to say hello to something new! You're gonna love it.

When I started Real Women Scrap in May 2006, I had no idea that hundreds of thousands of amazing real women would join me on the journey to create the life and layouts we've always wanted.

It has truly been an honor and an adventure to be a part of your lives over the years and I'm ready to take it to the next level! 2010 is coming and that means it's time to kick it up a notch.

The new home of Real Women Scrap is more of what you love, in a brand new format. More inspiration, tutorials, videos, articles all about living your most creative life. From scrapbooking to album design, photography to photo organization, giveaways to gift guides, we've got it all in an easy to navigate format. A format that helps you keep it simple and find your focus.

Everything has been transferred over there, including articles, links and comments. Make sure to change your links in Google Reader, RSS, or Feedblitz/Feedburner! If you need help, just let me know! Starting today, 12.15.09, I’ll be updating tasramar.com exclusively. This blog will still be live, but just for historical purposes.

Check it out now at tasramar.com! Find out the never-before-told story behind the name and read about My Vision. It'll give you new insight... I promise. Plus, you get to see a picture of me from JUNIOR HIGH! You can't miss that.

Scrapbooking Historical Events

Well, I would call today a historic event...wouldn't you? Election results haven't come in yet, but they are on their way.

I read an article today in a local paper that said "Nobody Wins." In essence, they are saying whoever is elected really has their work cut out for them. It's not a cake walk into the White House. It will be a fight for our economy, human rights, peace, and so many other things.

Lisa Sanford, author of Ethnic Scrapbooking, had a great note to her newsletter subscribers about scrapbooking this historic event. Thought I'd share it with you...

Here are a few ways I plan to document my perspective on this Presidential Election.

1. Take photos inside the photo booth (if I'm allowed)
2. Take photos of the long lines at the polls
3. Take photos of campaign signs
4. Save buttons and campaign literature
5. Write about my research on both candidates
6. Save Wednesday morning's newspaper headline

The Best in the Nation

Yep, it's true. The Top 25 Videographers in the Nation were announced in Orlando, Florida at the annual 4EVER Group Video 08 Convention and Tradeshow. Why does that matter?

I'll tell you...
My husband, video producer extraordinaire, was named one of the top 25! He was completely surprised by the award and accepted it just a few weeks ago at the convention.

The voting is done by colleagues in the industry and is an incredible honor. EventDV magazine even gives each honoree prizes, an article in their magazine, and their very own trading card. You gotta love that!

How Cool Is This???

The Genealogy Insider blog from Family Tree Magazine named Lessons from the Scrapbook page one of the Best Scrapbooking Blogs! Read their post below...

The Best Scrapbooking Blogs
Posted by Grace
January 7, 2008

If you're the crafty type, you're probably at your best when you're among creative people or when you stumble across something beautiful that makes you cry out I want to do that. What's that old saying—no scrapbooker is an island?

The March issue of Family Tree Magazine's Preserving Memories column was conceived while thinking of the crafter in dire need of inspiration. Our very scientific process of visiting approximately a bazillion blogs resulted in this list of five fabulous sites.

Bookmark these babies and enjoy!

Lessons from the Scrapbook Page: On this inspirational blog, you can watch the latest installments of Real Women Scrap TV.

Mad Cropper: Keep up-to-date with news from the scrapbook world and plenty of step-by-step projects.

Memory Makers Blog: The editors of our sister magazine give you a peek at their latest pages (like the one you see at right).

SimpleStudio: Simple Scrapbooks serves up advice plus lots of layouts and photos.

Sprague Lab: This "studio of scrapbook alchemy" focuses on computer-assisted scrapping.

What are your top 5 blog picks for 2007? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

This Week on Lessons From the Scrapbook Page

All I want for Christmas is....a box.
Did you hear the news about THE BIG APPLE?
LIKE FRIENDS? It's time to connect with your sisters.
Ready to change your life and clear the clutter? Start now...

Hold My Calls, I'm Blogging

Not So Wordless in Vegas this week...

We're live from the WEVA Expo and meeting so many great people! My presentation on Maximizing Your Website Marketing  was a packed house! You can see the crowd in the photo...not a great shot from the stage but at least you'll see the size of the group we had in our massive ballroom.

Just for fun, you gotta watch the blogging video we showed during our presentation.

HOLD MY CALLS, I'M BLOGGING!

technorati tags: Blogging, WEVA, Videographers, Las, Vegas

How I Hit Number 1 On Technorati

After many long hours of blogging, research, coaching, and sleepless nights, I finally hit #1 in the Technorati rankings. Can you believe it? I'm Top 100! What an amazing feeling to know that I'm at the top of the charts. It feels like hitting the bestseller list in the NY Times or Top 40 hits. Wahoo! What a great anniversary present to me.

Want proof? Check out the screen shot...

Take 5 Minutes To Find Out If You're Creative

My bi-weekly column, Scrap It Real, is live at 5 Minutes for Mom. Hop on over to read about creativity and liberation. You'll need to answer these questions:
~ Do you ever feel overwhelmed?
~ Have you longed for a little more structure, a little less choice?
~ Would it be nice to know exactly what to do and when to do it?

You'll also find a quick activity to get your creative juices flowing and discover why you should keep it simple. Today is the perfect day to Scrap It Real!

Stay tuned for these upcoming events:

• August 1: End of Summer Blowout Sale & Contest Announcement
• August 2: Premiere of Real Women Scrap TV Season 2
• August 3: Anniversary Celebration & Challenge

You don't want to miss a thing! Get early notice and entry to contests and giveaways by joining our free monthly newsletter. It's fast, easy, and we NEVER share your information.

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technorati tags: Scrap_It_Real, Scrapbooking, Column, 5MinutesforMom, Tasra_Dawson

Encounters With God

The mailman has been my best friend the past few weeks since he keeps delivering great stuff to me! This past week I got two copies of the book, Encounters With God: True Stories of Teens on a Sacred Journey. This is a book primarily for teens and guess what...I'm in it! Not as a teen, but writing for teens.

Here's the bittersweet part—the book was published September 2005 and I just got my copy! It was one of those things that fell through the cracks on the publisher's end...they were supposed to send two author copies after publication. It fell through the cracks on my end since I wrongly assumed the project was on hold or cancelled as frequently happens in the publishing world.

So good news, bad news...

• Another successful book to celebrate!
• I'm 2 years late finding out about it.

The story they included is called The Divorce Experience and is a play on the apostle Paul's well-known Damascus Experience in the Bible. I hope the story was an inspiration to some teens experiencing divorce...it's so common today and life-changing for everyone involved.

Have you ever had an Encounter With God? Tell me about it in the comments.

Somerset Memories

Just received an exciting email from Somerset Memories Magazine Managing Editor Jana Holstein. Jana and I met at CHA Anaheim in January. Their booth was right across from ours so we got to see each other quite a bit throughout the expo.

Jana emailed to share the happy news that she reviewed Real Women Scrap in the Memorable Titles section of their June/July 2007 issue. Then, I received a copy of the magazine in the mail so I could see for myself.

Here's what she wrote:

Real Women Scrap by Tasra Dawson is a delightful little book that helps you create the life and layouts you've always wanted. In a straight forward and often humorous style, Tasra, an award-winning scrapbooker, author, personal discovery coach, and speaker, encourages women to keep it simple and find their focus. Real Women Scrap teaches both novice and "seasoned scrappers" practical tools for creating beautiful layouts while inspiring life changes. A refreshing blend of girlfriend, scrap coach and mentor, readers are guaranteed to find great ideas for layouts as they continue their life journey and realize that sometimes mistakes can move your forward. Chapters run the gamut from planning, preserving, cropping, borders, and embellishments to a great section on altered projects using paint cans, clipboards, candy tins, and more!

Thanks Jana and Somerset Memories! Keep writing great articles and making amazing projects.

If you haven't picked up your copy of the magazine this month, you're missing out. Somerset Memories has some of the most original artwork and creative ideas around. And if you haven't ordered your copy of Real Women Scrap yet, what are you waiting for?!? Order Now. It could change your life!

technorati tags: somerset_memories, magazine, jana_holstein, managing_editor, real_women_scrap, tasra_dawson, book_review