Jun 5, 2005

I *heart* Australian Scrapbook Mags!

I am slowly launching ScrapBiz into Australia this year. We already have some relationships set up with vendors are have one ScrapBiz member. It's been kind of fun since I LOVE Australia - I spent 2 months there while in college and it's a beautiful place. Anyway, I wanted to see what was going on in the scrap world down-under so I went to Barnes and Noble and found that they had Australian Scrapbook magazines. I picked one up and it ROCKED! It was so refreshing to see a different take on scrapping. There was definitely a slightly different flavor in the magazine. It wasn't nearly as slick, packaged and ultra-commercial as US mags. It was more "real". I found some really great ideas in that magazine! I think it cost me $9, but it was worth it. It sort of jump-started my enthusiasm for scrapping again.


I think I am a bit jaded by the whole industry anymore. I don't respond to the fads and my scrapping tends to be the same no matter what. I think I had lost a little of my creative edge because, while I get nearly every US scrapbooking magazine there is, I tend to think of them as just "more of the same" - slick layouts, professional photos (which I HATE FYI - show me layouts with real, run-of-the mill, average photos!) and techniques like cross-stitching titles that I would NEVER in a million years take the time to do. In fact, about 5 years ago, I emailed one of the big mags to complain about the OVER-THE-TOP techniques (I think someone had CROSS-STITCHED their entire background - YIKES!). I said that it didn't show me anything that I could use to enchance my scrapping. It just made me feel guilty for what I wasn't doing. They emailed me back and said that their magazine was not meant to showcase every day scrapping but to show how to create that one, fabulous keepsake page. HUH?! So, I was paying 25 bucks a year so I could find ONE idea I might do because it would take me an entire year to complete that page? I still chuckle over that - but I think it's true. I can't help but look at all the published layouts and wonder if that person's books REALLY look like that on every page? I think there are our "everyday" pages and then there are our "wanna get published" pages. Although, I would imagine that you would NEVER get anyone who seeks to get published to admit that - LOL! They want you to believe that EVERY PAGE in EVERY BOOK is that involved.


Speaking of that, I DID enter ONE contest about a year ago. I scrapped a page about a kitchen I had remodeled. I SEWED LITTLE CURTAINS for a journaling pocket that mimicked the curtains in my kitchen. I spent HOURS and HOURS hand sewing embellishments for that page. Then I sent it off (you HAD to send the original) and LOST! Now I want my page back!!! I mean, I HAND-SEWED CURTAINS for that!!!! Can you tell I'm bitter - LOL! Never again... :-)


Me at the Kangaroo Park near Sydney in 1985 (where did 20 years go???)
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2 comments:

EquitySide said...

As a mother of two, I always laugh at how pristine and angelic the kids look in those slick layouts. Where are the photos of kids with scraped knees and popscicle stained mouths? And the things these stepford kids say..."On your first birthday, you looked at the cake and then up at mommy..and then your first words, "Thank you Mother." Okay I am exaggerating but it is not that far from the truth!

Kim said...

It took me a while to figure out how come the layouts in the mags often looked "perfect". Then I realized those weren't MY photos. You know, the ones where the children never lose their teeth and don't have a band-aid on their cheek! Every layout would look excellent if we all just had a professional photographer walking around with us. Shoot, I was shocked to see myself when I had my business photo session. I told my dh that I just need a large light, a reflector and a soft filter with me at ALL TIMES!