A Brave New World!

Recently I've been thinking it's time to take my scrapping to the next level. I'm a little stunned to discover the next level has taken me full-circle: I'm back to writing.

In 2010, I set myself the goal of having a scrapbook layout published in a magazine. I entered contests, submitted to calls and after what seemed like many, many failed attempts, my first layout was accepted at Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine. "Orono Fair" appeared in the Fall 2010 issue. What a rush! It was just as thrilling as seeing my name in print the very first time when I had a short story published back in high school.

"Orono Fair" 12" x 12" double layout  published in Canadian Scrapbooker Fall 2010

Through the winter I continued to submit to magazines and am very happy to have two more layouts published in Canadian Scrapbooker: "Mother's Day 2010" is currently appearing in the Spring 2011 issue and "Scraptacular" will appear in the Summer 2011 issue. Back to back issues! That's a rush too.

"Mother's Day 2010" 12" x 12" double layout published in Canadian Scrapbooker Spring 2011

View of inside of flap with additional photos and journaling.

But the bloom has started to fade. Just as when I dabbled in fiction and poetry, I find the reality of a newcomer publishing in magazines a little disappointing. Of course, I love being published. I love sharing my work and having friends compliment me. And I love the emails of congratulations from people in the industry whom I admire. But I do not love the strain on my wallet. It costs me about $16 to send off my layout to be photographed and the "author's payment" is a free copy of the issue the layout appears in. A free copy of a magazine I already subscribe to. (It's all right though--I've got 2 kids, so each will inherit a copy.)

That isn't a criticism of the magazine, by the way. Payment in copies is standards and I'm sure they're working themselves to the bone to produce the magazine and would pay in cash if there were enough of it to go around. There's a reason artists are starving after all.

But my recent experiences have led to me reconsider what "scrapbook publishing" means to me.

I've also gotten a guilty nudge from friends in the writing community I was once a part of. I said I would go back to writing.

So, why not merge the two?

A blog! About scrapboooking. Where I can share my work and thoughts; be a writer and a crafter at the same time.

So, here it is. My first blog. It's a whole new world for me!