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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Real Deal

"Do you really scrapbook?"
That was the question I answered most frequently over my three days at ScrapFest, the nation's largest scrapbooking get together up at Mall of America. As I stood there in the Archivers' flagship store, all I could do was grin. I knew why folks were asking. They wanted to know if I REALLY knew what I was writing about in my book Paper, Scissors, Death or whether I was, gulp, a pretender.
Well, folks, let me be clear: I scrapbook. In fact, I scrapbook a lot. And my husband can tell you, I'm addicted! I have way too much paper and all sorts of toys. I have probably thirty albums. I know how to use PhotoShop Elements (some!). I have even taught scrapbooking here at CKU (Creating Keepsakes University), at what used to be called HIA (Hobby Institute of America, now combined with another convention to be CHA), on cruise ships, and in the UK. I also teach scrapbook journaling online for Writers Online Workshops. (I wrote the class for that one.)
Oh, and I am the author of seven scrapbooking "how to" books, and countless articles on the subject that have appeared in Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, Scrapbook Trends, ScrapBook inspirations, and the now defunct PaperKuts. So...yeah...I scrapbook.And you can see some of my pages at http://www.scrapbookstorytelling.com/ Click through to the Archives and look at the free scrapbook magazine I've been producing for years. Coming soon...as some of you suggested...I'll put a gallery up on one of my websites!

6 comments:

StL Steve said...

see my blog:

http://stlsteve.blogspot.com/

nice to meet you!

liked your Mole stories, try juicy fruit gum, works like a charm

best regards,
StL Steve

Dana Fredsti said...

I"m gonna need to check out not only your mystery, but these scrapbooking books. The concept is still very unclear to me!

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Nice meeting you, too, Steve. We'll try the Juicy Fruit. Do you stick it in the holes?

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Hi, Zhadi--

Hmm. I'm not sure what is confusing you. The concept of scrapbooking? Or the scrapbooking books? Because the latter are "how to" books, which means, they explain how to create pages for a memory album.

I'd love to clear this up, so just let me know!

Dana Fredsti said...

Hi, JOanna,

It's the scrapbooking books, I guess. I've kept my own scrap books of ideas/pictures I like/ etc., but it seems to be taken to a whole new level now, including specific stores for the supplies... I might just be mystifying it in my head here...

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Zhadi,

Go to my website www.scrapbookstorytelling.com and click on the archives. You'll see my electronic magazine issues. That will give you an idea of what's up. There are all sorts of cool products and fun things we're doing. It is a whole new level, I guess. But it can be as simple or complex as you want.