10 Years of Scrapjazz

After 10 years of article writing, coordinating and publishing, it's finally time for me to step down as the editor and publisher at Scrapjazz and pass the job on to someone new.  My new business Signs by Andrea has taken off and is demanding more and more of my time these days. After a lot of thought and consideration, it's a smart choice for my business and family.

When Ben and I launched Scrapjazz on April 1st, 2002, I never would have dreamed of where it would take us, the people we'd cross paths with and the experiences we'd get to have.  It's definitely a notable milestone in my life to pass the torch.  Let's take a little walk down memory lane, shall we?

December 2001 - We purchased TheMemoryBarn.com for a mere $250 to turn it into our crazy idea of Scrapjazz - the scrapbooking megasite.  It took months of planning and building, but we were young with no cable TV!

April 1, 2002 - We launched Scrapjazz.com to the public.  That was also my birthday and I've had to share my day for the past 10 years!  We probably should have re-thought that launch date since it often meant I had a lot of work to do on my birthday like changing out all kinds of sponsors, releasing new layout galleries and publishing new articles on the 1st of every month for years.  But I digress...

October 2002 - We released our first product - the Scrap Tutor CD tutorials (which are now available for free online!).  Holy jazz that was a lot of work.  Just think! These days anyone can upload a video tutorial to YouTube!  We were so ahead of our time. :)

Let's just say it was a huge relief when we were able to mail back all the contibutors' layouts.  We were SO stressed that our basement would flood or the house would burn or something terrible would happen & ruin them all before we could send them back to the artists.

2004 - And then we released a second Scrap Tutor CD...I forget when.  We were working so hard those days it's all a blur!

May 2004 - I quit my part-time job to work on Scrapjazz full time. Ben was already developing and working for SJ full time and it needed me there too.

September 2004 - Apparently, I wasn't enough.  We hired a copy editor to double-check our work and edit all of our writers articles.  Thank you Karina!   Your work has been invaluable!

Over the Years - In addition to meeting all kinds of scrapbooking industry greats like Heidi Swapp, Cathy Zielske, Lisa Bearnson, Michelle Gerbrandt, Stacy Julian, and product designers from hundreds of scrapbooking companies, I was blessed to meet several of my "team" in person at scrapbooking events, conferences and chance meetings. 

That was my favorite.  All these girls have been such great friends to me over the years and I've loved watching several of them become huge icons in the industry!

April 2006 - And this was like the BEST. WEEKEND. EVER.  Thanks to Monique and the Scrap Etc. girls!

June 2006 - We struck a deal we couldn't refuse.  Our very good friends at Scrapbook.com were interested in buying Scrapjazz.  We loved them. They loved us.  And we had a baby on the way.  Literally.  I was having contractions during my my last conference call to to transfer my duties to Scrapbook.com and Ayla was born the next morning.

But that wasn't my last hurrah with Scrapjazz! :) While Ben moved on to other topics and ventures, I continued to be on the Blue Crew (design team) until January 2011 and manage the SJ Contributors, publishing articles and working with all the writers...until now.

March 2012 - I'm stepping down.  Passing the torch.  Moving forward.  It's a big milestone.  Huge really.  Scrapjazz has been a part of my life for 10 years.  And I've loved it. But it's time for me to focus on my next adventure.

I am so thankful to all who have played a part in my Scrapjazz world!  Blue Crew members, SJ Contributors, product manufacturers, teachers, designers, and Scrapjazz members.

You have all been such a joy to work with and get to know over the years and together you have made such amazing contributions to the scrapbooking industry by sharing your talents, ideas and projects. Thank you so much for making my job easy and fun to do! I look forward to watching the life of Scrapjazz and the scrapbooking industry continue to grow and evolve.