My scrapbook magazine collection is in constant use!

Times are tough in the magazine industry. The scrapbook world has said farewell to some fantastic scrapbook magazines over the years, my all-time personal favourite being Simple Scrapbooks. I still mourn the loss of that inspiring publication. The editors really understood that the heart of scrapbooking is storytelling.

Now I’m hearing that Creating Keepsakes is going the way of the dodo. (Read their announcement here.) CK was THE source for the latest and greatest in the scrapbooking world. Simple Scrapbooks taught me the importance of scrapbooking while Creating Keepsakes showed me all the fun, artistic ways to make a scrapbook beautiful, it was the perfect complement.

I don’t know if I would have become the adventurous and playful scrapbooker that I am without inspiration from CK magazine. It was through this magazine that I learned many elements of design and how to use the fabulous new products being released by the various scrapbooking companies. I learned about different styles of scrapbooking, from traditional to grungy. I learned that sometimes I could create pages using a totally different style, and that it was fun to try. I learned that I could enjoy messy scrapbooking, with paints, mists and inks, and that I didn’t have to do that on every layout. I learned to play with my scrapbooks!

Farewell Creating Keepsakes Magazine.

I know they’re saying that CK is merging with Paper Crafts to create a new digital magazine, Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking, but this is not the same and it will not work the same. I curl up with my magazine when I’m escaping from technology. Leafing through a digital magazine is much harder to do in the bathtub. (Not impossible, just WAY more hazardous!) I have also never been drawn to Paper Crafts Magazine. I’m not looking for ‘paper crafts’ I’m interested in elevating my scrapbooking ability. Combining both aspects together will water down the information I would be hoping to receive.

Thankfully in Canada the gap in the market, for a scrapbook magazine that shares info on the latest and greatest and ways to improve our journaling, was recognized and Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine was founded*. This magazine is beautiful and combines the best of both Simple Scrapbooks and Creating Keepsakes while establishing their own unique style. The editing, artwork and featured columns are well done and I always anticipate my next issue.

Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine has a lot to love.

The problem? Canadian Scrapbooker is a quarterly magazine. They only produce 4 issues every year, but those four issues are worth my time and my money. The magazines are thick with a heavy weight cover, great for long term use, and they ship it in a bag, so my issue never arrives damaged. It’s thick with content, not just ads! I’ve heard some people complain about the price, current shelf price is $11.99 per issue, but a subscription saves you a bit of money and my issue is always in my hands before they are released in stores. 🙂

So, here’s my question to you. Where do you go for scrapbooking inspiration? Blogs? Product websites? Pinterest? Digital magazines? Actual magazines? Are you willing to embrace the digital magazine in lieu of a physical one? With so many digital options for scrapbooking inspiration online already is there a need for a digital magazine?Share your view in the comments.

Farewell Creating Keepsakes Magazine, thanks to my library of issues, you will continue to inspire me for years to come!

*(In all honesty Canadian Scrapbooker arrived on the scene well before the end of Simple Scrapbooks, but I hadn’t really fallen in love with it yet. Sorry CS!)

Do you use masks in your scrapbooking? When I want to play and get messy I often find myself reaching for masks. Nope, not the super-fun masquerade masks, these are templates we use for getting crafty!

You can learn some basic masking techniques to inspire or motivate you to play with masks in your scrapbooks, art journals, or other craft projects in this guest post I shared with Kristie Sloan at Artful Adventures.

Sneak peek at one of the fun masking techniques I share in this post at Artful Adventures!

Artful Adventures is a wonderful resource for learning about creative techniques that you would use for art journaling, scrapbooking, cardmaking, paper crafting, or making mixed media pieces.

Kristie teaches about new art products, has a set of posts about art journaling, and wrote an excellent series about using colour palettes or themes for your projects. She also has a new podcast that features interviews with artists.

New Product: Gelatos

Art Journaling: Start Here

Colour Palettes and Themes

Everyday Artist Podcast Series

There’s much more to check out of course, I just had to share a quick highlight of my favourites! 🙂

And of course, here’s the post about masking:

Basic Masking Techniques for Art Journaling, Scrapbooking, Card-making

If you are inspired by these masking techniques I’d love it if you’d comment on the post at Artful Adventures. Tell me what type of medium you will use with a mask first! Feel free to share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or pin it to Pinterest too!

Happy scrapping!

I love to scrapbook with a friend. Not only do we visit and laugh, but a friend is always willing to share their opinions. I have a few quick scrapbooking questions, and I’d love for you to be my scrapbooking friend and share YOUR opinions!

Every day in August I will ask a scrapbooking question on the Scrapbook Wonderland Facebook Page. Controversial, thought-provoking, or just plain fun, I can’t wait to hear your answers.

Share the post with a friend, so we can have a wider range of answers. You might be surprised at some of the responses your friends will give!

To kick-start this month of eye-opening responses my first curious question is:

Share your answer on the Scrapbook Wonderland Facebook Page.

Visit the Scrapbook Wonderland Facebook Page each day in August to answer the new curious question of the day and share it with your friends. (Questions will be posted around noon MST/2pm EST).

I hope you have fun sharing your scrapbooking wisdom with me, friend!

Embellishments! Do you love them or leave them?

Embellishing is a very artistic part of scrapbooking. Not feeling artistic? That’s okay!  I’ll break down some easy to follow rules for embellishing and even share a trick I use to embellish when I don’t want embellishments!

If you are ready to stop getting stuck when you start embellishing your scrapbook pages here’s 3 easy tips to help!

Tip #1. LAYERING

Layering embellishments will give your layout depth. Layering different types of materials or creating layers of different heights and thickness is appealing and adds interest to your layout.

One important step is to layering is to keep the embellishments grounded. Don’t let your embellishments ‘float’ on the page all by themselves. We all remember ‘sticker sneeze’ from the  early days of scrapbooking with random stickers floating around on a page. Grounding your embellishments helps to prevent that random, floating embellishment effect.

Ground your embellishments by layering underneath them and letting them touch or overlap other page elements.

Embellishment layers were created with background paper, photo matte, photo, waffle paper, lace, ribbon, sparkle, flowers and metal.

This scrapbook paper has a gorgeous floral design across the page. To embellish it further I layered sparkles and clear flowers over top of the background paper.

Tip #2. CLUSTERS

Embellishment clusters are an appealing way to use embellishments. A cluster can include multiple layers or a grouping of similar or dissimilar objects.

This embellishment cluster of similar objects was shaped like a heart for added interest.

A group of 3 works great for an embellishment cluster, like the three flowers on this scrapbook layout. A group of three is possibly the most simple and easy to use cluster!

Tip #3. LESS IS MORE

When you have strong elements on your page you need to adjust your embellishments to fit.

If your paper has bold colours or patterns you don’t want your embellishments to compete with your paper, or even worse, your photos! If your paper is busy, use simple or few embellishments.  This way your embellishments don’t become noise or clutter on your already busy page.

The background of this paper is quite busy. Use fewer or more simple embellishments to create balance.

Using fewer embellishments also allows you to play more with texture. Try dry embossing paper to embellish without adding a lot of bulk or when you don’t have embellishments that seem to ‘fit’ the theme of your page. This is kind of a non-embellishing way to embellish your pages! Isn’t that a great trick!

This layout uses layers of paper with embossed texture to add interest. Simple and easy!

Three simple and easy tips for embellishments:

1. Layering- use different materials and heights, and keep it grounded!
2. Clusters- a cluster can be similar or dissimilar objects, keep it simple with a group of 3!
3. Less is More- strong page elements allow you to use fewer or more simple embellishments!

Use these tips to help you get past the anxiety or frustration the next time you are embellishing your scrapbook page! If this post is helpful for you please share it with a friend and don’t forget to subscribe for  free updates HERE.