Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Let's Talk Magazines

Just the other day, this arrived in my mailbox, and I couldn't figure out why.  I don't subscribe to Stamper's Sampler, and, even though any of the Stampington magazines send a free issue when they publish my artwork, I haven't submitted anything in a long time. When I got home, I flipped through the magazine and found two of my cards in the "Different Point of View" section (where one stamped is used by different people to create many different looks).
My two are in the upper left and lower right hand corners:
When I saw these, I remembered that a group of Club Scrap girls had put together a couple of submissions for the DPOV section.  I honestly believe this was 4-5 years ago!  We had never heard back and I had assumed that they had not chosen our cards and just donated them (which is what we said they could do, instead of return them).  What a shock! And it's still fun to see my name in print. LOL!
Anyway, as I flipped through the magazine, I found it very thin.  And none of the artwork really inspired me.  Kindof sad because I remember Stamper's Sampler as being a fabulous magazine.  That got me to thinking about stamping, scrapping and art magazines in general, and I realized how few of them are left.  On the stamping front, I used to love Rubber Stamper, but it's gone now.  Take Ten (another Stampington publication) is still pretty good, I think. Rubber Stamp Madness is still around, but it's always been too geared to scenery type stamping to appeal to me.  Not sure at all what's still around on the scrapbooking front. The last one I subscribed to was Simple Scrapbooks, but that's gone. Anyone know if Memory Makers or Creating Keepsakes is still published? 
Mixed media art magazines seem to be doing pretty well, though.  I really like Cloth Paper Scissors and Somerset Studio.  Stampington (which publishes Somerset) has a whole long line of publications with Somerset in the title (Memories, Gallery, Life, Apprentice, Workshop, Digital Studio,etc.) but I get confused by all of them or they aren't my cup of tea.  The one publication of theirs that I am interested in checking out is Art Journaling. 
So, I was wondering, what's your current experience with magazines?  Do you have any you love? And subscribe to?  Any to avoid?  Anyone seen Somerset Art Journaling? I'd love to get your input.
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13 comments:

  1. AmyOctober 6, 2010 at 1:19 AM

    Rinda - what a pleasant surprise for you!
    I used to subscribe to Simple Scrapbooks and have had a subscription to CK because of the demise of Simple - they honoured the monies outstanding that way, it has just finished and I won't be renewing. I'm finding more than enough inspiration to keep up with around on the internet.

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  2. scrappyjackyOctober 6, 2010 at 1:48 AM

    There's a real scarcity of quality craft mags in the UK...and the few US and Aussie imports are very expensive.The only really good craft mag here, in my opinion, is Craft Stamper...which I think you'd quite like....and we only seem to have one scrapbook mag left in publication!!
    Like Amy, I get most of my inspiration from the internet these days.

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  3. SianOctober 6, 2010 at 3:28 AM

    What a fantastic surprise Rinda, I bet you wre thrilled.

    Great question. Jacky is right - we have nowhere near the selection of magazines you have. If the shipping wasn't so high I would definitely be subbing to Artful Blogging. I have one precious copy from a couple of years back. Our Scrapbook Inspirations which ceased publication is sorely missed by many of us.

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  4. Julie ShoemakerOctober 6, 2010 at 4:31 AM

    I remember when you girls submitted these Rinda. Hard to imagine they keep art around for that long...but very cool you were published. Great surprise. I use to subscribe to several magazines, but now just pick them up off the shelf. Like you, I enjoy Cloth, Paper, Scissors and a few of the Stampington pubs. I looked through the Art Journaling mag, but did not end up purchasing. It may be something you would like though.

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  5. AnonymousOctober 6, 2010 at 5:06 AM

    I used to subscribe to several stamping magazines, but gave them all up years ago. I still get Creating Keepsakes, but like Amy, won't be renewing it. Nearly all my inspiration comes from the internet now. I still have a subscription to Papercrafts; not sure whether I'll renew that or not. I've picked up a couple copies of Artful Blogging which I've enjoyed, but I'm not ready to subscribe to it. I've let all my photography subscriptions go as well, except for Shutterbug. Congrats on the publication--what a nice surprise!

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  6. Deb @ PaperTurtleOctober 6, 2010 at 6:27 AM

    Hey, that's a cool suprise you got there, Rinda! :o)

    I used to get several magazines but have really tapered off over the past couple of years - just don't have time to sit and read them all. We get several at the office that I enjoy looking at though - Sunset and Cooking Light are two of my favorites.

    I still receive "Scrapbooks, Etc" in the mail every month even though I haven't paid for the subscription in over two years! ??? :o)

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  7. BeckyOctober 6, 2010 at 9:02 AM

    Hi Rinda - well done on your cards being published - what a surprise after all that time! Thanks for your comments on my blog - we will see if we can fit in your suggestions :)

    I take the UK magazine Scrapbook Magazine and as Sian said, we miss Scrapbook Inspirations here. I occasionally get Scrapbooks etc when I can as I enjoy that one and my subscription to an Australian Scrapbook magazine has just ended. I have to rely really on what magazines I see when I am in scrapbook shops, which don't seem to be many these days.

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  8. helenaOctober 6, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    I haven't found anything to fill the gap left when simple sracpbooking folded, and I miss it. I frequently flick thought the card/scrap/craft mags in the shop but haven't been inspired to buy one this year.

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  9. LizzieOctober 6, 2010 at 12:21 PM

    Well, that's a nice surprise for you, Rinda! Congratulations on being published again.

    Jackie, Sian and others are so right - we've lost lots of good publications in the last couple of years. I also specially miss Scrapbook Inspirations. The only UK magazine now that is specifically Scrapbooking is "Scrapbook Magazine", but it's not nearly as good and their layout/presentation is rather poor. I think they had the edge on S.I. just because they give away free papers and sometimes other stuff, with every issue; they also have giveaway prizedraws that you can enter.
    We do have "Craft Stamper", which is a pretty good publication - I think you'd enjoy quite a bit of it.
    Haven't seen any magazines aimed at journal-making etc. Craft and art mags seem to be thin on the ground just now.
    I do wonder though, if the main cause is something several people have mentioned already - the huge variety of stuff available on the internet and people's increasing interest in accessing it!

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  10. SonjaOctober 6, 2010 at 2:34 PM

    Wow! Congratulations! That is too funny that it took them so long to publish your cards. But what a nice surprise!

    It really is sad how few paper craft magazines there are now. Take Ten is probably my favorite, because I love simple, straightforward cards; but it's soooo expensive. I need to submit more cards to that publication so I can get free issues. ;D

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  11. laurieOctober 6, 2010 at 7:16 PM

    i can imagine, and only imagine, how fun it must be to see your name and creation in print!

    i do like art journaling and have an extra copy of their winter issue 2010 for some reason. i would be glad to send it to you, if you email me your address. however, the three issues i've received are all very similar.

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  12. humelOctober 9, 2010 at 1:08 PM

    Hey, congratulations! What a lovely surprise for you :-)

    Shame you were disappointed with the magazine as a whole, though. In the UK I loved Scrapbook Inspirations and miss it very much; The Scrapbook Magazine is pretty good, and I also like Craft Stamper (though I wish it had more content); I really, really miss Simply Stamping, which had a short run a few years ago - I still have every copy and look back over them regularly. I do wish we had more choice over here!

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  13. IreneOctober 11, 2010 at 9:57 AM

    What a great surprise. I will look for this magazine this week. Keep up the good work.

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