Hi. I responded to every comment. it is way a lot to read.
each comment excerpt is in bold.
my appologies for taking things out of context.
i found something interesting in each comment.
and i apprecate the interesting discussion with such nice manners.
nothing offended me at all.
in fact, i was inspired.
i was inspired to look thru the june ck and counted
40 one photo lo's and 43 multi photo lo's.
i counted in the garden in the past 30 days (as of sat) 71 multip photo lo's and 62 1 photo lo's.
several of you commented on that. i was surprised to see that many multi photo lo's.
i guess perception does alter what i see too.
Rhonda said: the thing I want to see in the mags is more variety of people
I like variety too...however, then I feel like people complain that they don't see "enough" of a particular style
Heather said: I'm finding that I'm drawn, just like someone else said, to things beyond just scrapbooking supplies and layouts. Fabric especially.
Me too. I think I get more scrapbook inspiration from my reg mags...even though I totally love to look at scrapbooking magazines.
Joy said: I'm always loving the garden!!!
Joy. I just thought that was so fun to read I wanted to cut and paste it:)
Amanda said: I know I have grown pickier but I remember even a year ago loving magazines so I'm not so sure it's me that's changed all that much.
I read this and remembered how I love loved Coastal Living Magazine for like 2 years and then...suddenly it lost it's interest for me. I had other magazines I liked better. The magazine grew. I grew. Just not in the same direction.
Nieka said: I think it's because sometimes some--not all--people who scrap "for a living," for the magazines all the time, etc., forget that most of us have precious few minutes to spare each day for scrapping and precious few dollars to buy new product (we don't get it gratis!) and some of those pages take HOURS and BUCKS to imitate. That always led to frustration for me.
True. Often, when I scrap for just me, I go a simpler route. However, I will say, when I am scrapping with product sent to me to "demo" or for something where I will be compensated for scrapbooking, I feel like I need to step it up a notch. Do something with a little more product or a little more effort. So I do exactly what you are saying doesn't appeal to you. ( I realize you are being general, no offence taken) I will point out that my day does have the same number of minutes in it as everyone else's:)
Plus, all the one-photo LOs just don't help me capture enough memories. For me, photos and journaling are the keys and a lot of the LOs seem to have ONE photo and about ten words and that's it.
i am totally a culprit of this. Ya know why? 1 photo lo's pop better on screen as a thumbnail. When i started posting on line...it was totally for praise. I could say "sharing" or "for my family to see"....but honestly, for me, I liked the praise. And, I got more praise on lo's that popped. I realize that is pretty shallow...but true.
I want my descendents to understand more about my life than I was "blessed" or "laughing" or "dreaming" etc.
Me too. I did a several lo's with only 1 photo and a small amount of journaling for the garden this month. But 1 is a 2 pager with 14 photos and journaling:)
..I'm long-winded.
Me too:)
MistyD said: Sorry to pick on CK - love you guys! - it's just they were my fav for SO long and now- not so much.
Misty, I totally laughed. Ck has never put me in their mag, so I doubt you are in jeopardy of any of their editors reading my blog:):) But just in case: Misty's personal opinons are not those of this blog;) (kidding,misty)
So to answer you're question - I don't think it's quality - I think it's trends or personal preference/inspiration change.
Exactly, Misty. This is what I am saying.
Beverly said (of the mags): I really enjoy most of the contributing editors and their articles
I do enjoy these the most as well. I think these people are remarkably talented. I do also know that I like the people themselves and find that effects my overall liking of the column.
Paige said:did anyone ever tell you how similiar you are to sally fields?
1. ok..are you following me?
2. i get the sally field thing a lot. you should see me dance. totally gidget.
Jonipossin said: I have certain 'things' that bring me back to 'my center' as far as creativity goes.
That is a great way to say it. There are plenty of things i like to look at but there are specific things that "bring me back to my center."
suetreiber said: I work at my LSS (4 years now) and am design team coordinator, merchandiser extraordinaire, and paperdiva. But hardly scrap anymore.
i hear this A LOT with people who start scrapbooking more than for themselves. i know when i have assignments i think about scrapbooking more, spend time with paperwork or posting on line and all the instructions....all that counts against "my scrapbooking time". the busier i am, the more i look forward to not having srapbooking i 'have to do'...even though i love doing it.
I almost never visit the garden.
I dare you to go there on the 1st. There are some new features this month. I'd love to know what you think about them:)
Jen said: I feel guilty because I just have too much of the excess.
DUDE. i cleaned up my space a few weeks ago and felt like throwing up once i saw everything all in one place. i felt like i had been a bad steward of my money by over buying certain items. i have a great charity i donate to. i try to be very selective now on what i purchase. i am pretty hard to impress now with new things.
elizabeth holder said: i have come a long way into not "needing" every single new product out there, my favorites are a select few and i have simplified my scrapbooking a bit.
1. elizabeth holder is the name of one of my sister's friends from when she was little. any chance you are from nc?
2. i am so picky about what i purchase now. i am less driven by what is new and more driven by my own style, too.
Melissa said: i have come a long way into not "needing" every single new product out there, my favorites are a select few and i have simplified my scrapbooking a bit.
i totally used to need the new stuff. and now there is SO much new stuff. however, i admit, i was part of the demand for it...so it is hard to be mad about how much is available now.
I can look at almost ANYTHING (literally, ANYTHING) and figure out how to incorporate it in a SB page....
me too. i did a lo not long ago based on a man hole cover. for me, add is a good thing....for my family, maybe not so much.
LESS INPUT, NUMBER FIVE
number five is alive!
elise said: we are bombarded with so much, that we have become desensitized. would that be possible?
totally. but once again...i wanted more and the demand was met. so now i am more selective on what i look at...where as i used to want to see everything and anything related to scrapbooking.
Rhonda said: To me the photos and the story are the most important things not all the extras around them.
you are right. there are some lo's out there i have done that were contrived...done just to fill an assignement or something.....i cringe when i see them now. i think there is a big swing back to this basic element of scrapbooking. however, i don't think that means all the lo's have to be basic.
Karen Steveneson said: Digital cameras "allow" us to take far too many images, and then never get them OFF the computer
karen....this is a brilliant point that i never thought about before. with the convienence of digital, there is so much more material to scrapbook and more time involved in editing/managing the photos. excellent observation.
Shari said: I am inspired by new, cutting edge, raw, bold, different...things.
me too. even if though i rarely scrap like that, it is still very inspiring to me to think about my page differently. edgie and simple lo's are hugely motivational to me to scrapbook.
you seem to be listening to your own drummer
i think my second grade teacher wrote something like that on a progress report once. i'm not sure if she though it was a strength, though:)
kim said: I always check first thing on the 1st and 15th. Highlight of the month. thanks to you! xoxo
dear kim, the check is in the mail;)
Martha Thomas said: I think what inspires me lately is just the thought of "how can I get it done and be pleased with my work?"
dude - me too!
I LOVE the art part. That is total therapy for me. Like getting something "out" of my soul. So I'm trying hard to figure out how to balance the practical with the non-practical artist part. Does that even make sense?
it totally makes sense. i think this is why i do pages that take hours sometimes for the art part. and then sometimes i am just in the mood to get stuff on paper and in the book. WHICH is why i am loving doing pages in all sizes now and putting htem in the same album. ever since i saw that idea...ahem, in the garden, 2 months ago....it has revitalized my scrapbooking.
kate hagelin said: such a good point about digital cameras
we already covered it but is seemed rude to leave you out:)
kerry lynn said: just learn or know what you like and are truthful to it. that alone is inspiring!
yes! and i love those japanese craft magazines too. even though i don't make things like what i see....it just makes me want to create things.
Stacy/CA said: I like to take one small idea away from all the layouts I see.
me too. i rarely see a lo that i want to totally re-make. there is a book coming out soon from Autumn Leaves called Designing with Details. this book is LUSH with ideas. probablyt the most excited i have been about any project i have gotten to be a part of. to me, the idea isn't to recreate the lo's item for item, but to use the ideas.
psmullican said: Eg. Becky Higgins is not my thing so I just don't even look at that column anymore.
see, i am glad you said this and so nicely. people keep telling me they want variety. and yet, when there is variety...say and elsie lo and a becky lo in the same issue of ck, i hear complaintes that there are too many of this and not enough of that. i wonder if they go to buy peanut butter and look at skippy and say bad things about it as they purchase jiff. i mean, why bad mouth skippy. surely someone likes skippy and a lot because it wouldn't be there without the demand. did i push the metphor too far?
valerie said: so many layouts all look the same
true. the new looks like the old pretty fast. same with products. i think that is part of the reason i started looking to other sources for inspiration, like home decore magazines. but i still look thru the gallery for ways to use the old in new ways. i think lisa mcgarvey is so super at this in her garden seeds. i love to see a lo where someone uses something i already own in a clever way.
Tonya Saylor said: for me the word of the year is simplify
for me, that desire becomes huge about every 28 days or so....i wonder if it could be a "cycle" thing.
taking a stacey juilian class totally gave me new perspective on this. it was a great great experience.
Rachel Whetzel said: If your journaling doesn't say it all, then your pictures say it for you.
i consider a lot of my journaling to be visual. i have been criticized for my lack of writing on pages....( a lot of that coming from myself). but thanks:)
I don't really like looking at mags too much, because I don't want to feel like I have to give someone "credit" for an idea that I have, and if I didn't look, it can't be copying.
i thought the same thing when i first was asked to work on Freestyle and Designing with Type. i stopped looking at lo's on line and in magazines because i was afraid i would accidentally copy someone. OR (and i hate this) make a lo and then see something similar afterwards before i can post it or before it is published. however, at the time, i didn't have other sources for inspiration. it got harder and harder to scrapbook and meet my deadlines. i finally figured out it was because i had taken away that inspiration. fortunatly, now, i have things like blueprint and domino magazine too:0
Annie Adams said: seeing how other scrappers brains operate.
Annie, that is the main reason i take classes. not so much for the finished project but for the experience and learning a new process of doing something.
reen said: the more I feel "burned out" on the hobby and need more "creative breaks". When I do get back to it, simple things appeal to me.
me too! i really enjoy giving myself time away from scrapbooking. it keeps me liking it more when i return to it. this is another reason i think garden girls start posting less when becoming a part of the garden. there are two times a month where there is a focused amount of work and a time off and then gear up for that work again.
RachelG said: I find inspiration from work that is completely different than mine, that makes me see product in a different way
totally. this is one of the things i do like about on line posting because it is with stuff you can buy and have bought recently (since there is no wait time like in a magazine or book). so it is with stuff i have and want to see how to use it a second and third time differently.
Traci said: I took stacy julians library of memories class and it really helped me to focus more on the things that I wanted to say in my scrapbooks
once again, she is really an amazing teacher. i think that the perspective (along with ali's, elsie's etc.) along with good teaching skills are what make the most popular teachers so in demand. i have been to several lecture only classes by cathy z and heidi that were super because of their perspective they shared.
Lindsay said: When I see your layouts in the gallery, I smile.
that is one of the best compliments i could get. thank you:)
kelz said: just show us some new people with fresh perspectives.
1. people call me kelz sometimes:)
2. the newest garden girls are so so fresh and fun. they have really inspired me. and if you are a regular at 2 peas...you might have noticed that new garden girl banner is STILL up. hmm, i wonder what that could mean?
Cami said: I guess for me: it is what it is. Just like the fact I have a front door. I don't think about my front door that often. I wonder if I locked it sometimes. I take pictures in front of it sometimes. I do not wonder if it's as good as the neighbors or if the paint color is okay. I don't worry about it. KWIM? It just is. And so is my INSPIRATION.
this is what i was saying about hte peanut butter. cami, you are so wise. a wise guy too. but mostly wise:) and yes...my baby is 5. but he is so whiney these days...it is easy to think he is younger.
Pip Prosser said: I personally am so over single layouts with single photos ... these provide absolutely no inspiration for me and this is what the scrapbooking magazines seem to be full of.
your comments made me want to go and count the the lo's in the garden and ck. i was surprised...i really thought i would have seen more 1 photo lo's. i think we will see more and more multi photo lo's because the calls in the past 6 months seemed to have been very multi photo oriented.
Is that honest enough for you?????
i totally appreciate polite honesty:) and suggestions of what you want along with what you don't want is exactly what i was looking for.
Jen K said: Sometimes there are garden's that aren't as inspiring to me but there's the few designers that are more my style that I always love.
there are some garden themes i totally adore and some that i am like....well, ok. but that is what is so brilliant about kristina. she pics topics that appeal to a mass audience. my interstes and the mass interests are not always going to mesh. i totally got into the theme this month! however, there were some gg's lamenting it. she also does a great job of selecing gg's with a variety of styles.
Diana Willis said: I love the ladies being published but more of a variety would be nice.
the mags do seem to to like to go with assignements more than open calls. i am guessing there is a demand or a easier way of getting what you want. i'm not very connected to the magazines...so i can't answer that. i might ask wendy smedely. if it weren't for the assignements, i would have like never been in the magazines:) except for like a card, i don't think i have ever had something i sent in picked up. ck put in there once that i was on their list of lo's they saw and liked. i highlighted that and sent a copy to my mom. it cracked me up and secretly delighted me.
cynthis said: i do enjoy 2 peas and other scrap blogs which i seem to find myself at almost daily.
that is my home too:)
i may dog ear a particular layout in a magazine or add one to my book of scraps, but when i go back to it i most always end of with something totally different !
i do this too! i can just see two colros together and go from there. that is why i can get inspired by stuff that isn't my style at all.
we are both atlanta girls
so where do you shop?
Misty D said again:So having more to see helped me I think to find my own style which in turn led me to be more picky
that was where i was going with the post. i think there are, of course, changes on line and in the mags. i think the greater change has been on my own perspective.
Misty D also said: Oh - and I love talking about scrapbooking too
the first class i ever took with cathy z, she looked out at like 150 of us and said, "isn't it great to be with a bunch of other people who get it?" dude. seriously. i love cha too. i love working the booth for Autumn Leaves and talking about the product over and over again for like 5 days straight. i am surprised i don't get tired of it. and i love it when there are some good threads on the boards abotu scrapbooking. and i love it when people can talk, agree and disagree like grown ups.
melanie said: sometimes at seems as if there are no ORIGINAL ideas left.
which is what makes it so so cool to see something i have never seen before. no matter how many lo's i see by mary grace or lisa mcgarvey...there is something new and fresh to me each time i see their stuffs.
i think there are only like 6 lo's i have ever done and all the others reshuffeling of the same ideas.
do you school all year? we did it last year and i was just wondering how you worked it out.
in the summer we lots of electives like robotics camp, chess camp, karate camp, bug camp, etc. we do math and reading each day in the summer. a little penmanship work. but everything is way more relaxed.
mhutch said: I'm finding inspiration from so many things that God created. I'm noticing the designs of nature. Like the structure of a flower. The shape of a bee's wings. The cut of the blade of grass. The lines on people's faces. Things like that are showing me new ways to apply this art of mine.
i think anyone who can slow down and reflect on God's creation is proibably a better scrapbooker for it in more than one way. you make total sense to me:)
Allison K said: Now that I'm back into it, I'm reflecting on what made it fun. For me it was trying new things.
Allison, your perspective is really interesting to me. when you first started posting on your blog again, you were doing smaller pages...i think 6x6. i thought. interesting. then about 2 months ago, i started scrapbooking different sizes and it has revitalized my scrapping totally. (once again - this from the garden seed lisa mcgarvey did on using different size pages in the same album.) i like trying new things too. i used to thing my own personal style was weak since i changed all the time. maybe that is true. but trying new things is way too fun to worry about having a defined style. Allison, i am so happy to see your lo's. they are like a warm quilt.
Bridget said: But it seems once you slap the "GG" title on them, they "poof" disappear
see, i read this and know you ae saying this from a good place. so i totally get what you are talking about.
the gg's have taken a beating rather publicly in different areas over the past year. that hasn't helped on the posting more pages and threads. also, i know i just did 6 lo's for the 1st this week. so i will be pretty happy to take some of this week off. then i will start making lo's for mid month. if i take a week off again, then i will start up for the next month. toss in some assignments.
i think what isn't obvious is how much the gg's talk about and plan for stuff at 2 peas. so much is done with the peas in mind. however, if it isn't obvious then maybe we can redirect some of that effort. personally, the last time i posted a lo in the gallery....it got 1 praise. ouch. not that it is the only reason to post. but still. i kill threads too. and now, when i post, i feel like i need to think in terms of representing 2 peas.
having said all that (i don't mean poor me at all - i have a sweet deal and i totally appreciate that) i can do better. being a gg is a huge privilage. and i don't want to get lazy about it. when people say they want more of something - i take it as a compliment and not a complaint.
Penny said: I think things are peaking in the scrapbooking world.
i have thought that with trepidation over the past year. i hope that the peak is really just a shift. a continual readjustment. to say peak...that makes me think there will be a decline. although, the good news is even if there is a decline, there is enough room for there still too be too much. which i hope there is always a little too much than too little.
Dixie Lee said: I like to check out the Peanut Gallery and probably get more out of there than the Garden. I just love the massive amount of variety. And it's free, which in my life is a VERY BIG DEAL.
the peanut gallery is still the place to post your work...you can tell that by all the other dt's that post there. which i totally love. i love that the newest and brightest scrappers post there. and you are right, the garden/gallery is the biggest, free-est idea book every month.
Michelle said: What do I want to see more of?
That's the gamble. Everything.
But, will I look? Depends.
Does that make sense?
it totally does. very very honest. variety. positive people. that is what i want to see more of.
Susan said: I love scrapbooking more now than ever since I have let go of so many rules and expectations! :)
i think it is about letting go of all the rules and finding your own.
emily ruth said: you know, when you just can't wait to dive in to your supplies & just do it...no rules...just good paper & glue fun...
that is what it is
scrap booking is happy
it isn't a chore
it is a retreat
it isn't a list of things that i am behind on
it is my therapy
as far as magazines & products go...i am on super duper budget right now
that is the great thing about on line stuff and about Barnes and Noble. not that i ge the chance to look at the mags there often...but i do like to flip through them when there.
& i only check the garden when you remind me to on your blog:)
well i am just going to have to remind you:)
