Starting a New Page in 2007: A Review of Real Women Scrap

Happy New Year! While we are making resolutions and setting goals for the new year, we also remember the past and wonder where all the time went—and how did it go so fast? A great way to solve this problem is by creating scrapbooks.

Are you a scrapper? Do you have one or two scrapbooks tucked into a bookcase, a memory box, or on a closet shelf? Have you tried scrapbooking and failed?

Those of you who are die-hard scrappers, those who have done it in the past, and those who have tried and failed all understand the rewards and the challenges that scrapbooking pose. Carving out time, creating a space, overcoming the insecurities of being “artistically challenged,” and the uneasy and debilitating sense that your pages aren’t as good as those of more experienced scrappers are only some of those challenges.

Author, speaker, and scrap coach Tasra Dawson’s new book, Real Women Scrap, addresses these challenges and fears one-by-one with the wisdom and experience of professional scrapper, and the heart and voice of a girlfriend. Presenting new insights into this age-old and boomingly resurgent craft, Real Women Scrap will guide one-time scrappers, would-be scrappers, and even experienced scrappers through the process of creating a scrapbook—from planning and organizing, to journaling, to removing doubts and insecurities, and finally forming a sisterhood of scrappers. Checklists, quizzes, and how-to’s help readers get organized and stay on track. Visually, this book is a delight, with illustrations, embellishments, and details that create the feel of pages in a scrapbook.

Scrapbooking, as Dawson reveals, is a metaphor for life. In each chapter, Real Women Scrap shows parallels between elements of scrapbooking—such as laying out pages, cropping photos, creating balanced page composition, and quelling comparisons with others’ pages—and areas of our lives—such as making a plan, keeping a healthy balance, telling stories to create legacies, and not comparing our lives with others’. As you plan, create, and finish a scrapbook, you also develop insight into how to create a life that leaves a legacy of joy and love.

Even if you’re just an armchair scrapbooker, Real Women Scrap’s deeper insights and advice for creating the life you’ve always wanted make this one book you’ll want to add to your library in 2007.

Real Women Scrap is available now from Amazon.com and Dare Dreamer Press (http://www.daredreamerpress.com).

Book Giveaway! I'm giving away one copy of Real Women Scrap, signed by the author. To add your name to the drawing, just leave a comment. I'll announce the winner next Monday.

© 2007 by Marilyn C. Hilton

Diary Challenge, Day 1: I’m so pleased to see that many of you are taking the diary challenge! I’ll be checking in with you throughout the month and will give updates on my kids’ progress. (We had our training session today at the kitchen table. After lots of questions, like “Mom, why are we doing this, again?” and much nodding of heads, I think we’re off to a great start.)