Lotta stuff

Holy crumbs. See that blue 4U card there? That’s mine. 🙂 I can’t believe my eyes. So many wonderful projects in this issue. So odd to see one of mine on the cover.

You can buy the issue directly from the Paper Crafts gang:

http://www.papercraftsmag.com/shop/category.ihtml?idx=132

Spent a lot of time in the the past few weeks going through this issue and older issues of magazines I’ve been in. I’ve really let my tear sheet binder go by the wayside so it’s been nice to go through those mags and clear up some of the space they’ve been taking up.

I’ve been extremely lucky over the past few years.  I have had a good run of getting published in magazines like Paper Crafts, Stampers’ Sampler, Take Ten, Cards magazine and more. Believe it or not, I’ve had over 300 items (95 percent of which were cards, tags and paper crafts) published since late 2003. Yeah, I know. 😉 It’s surprising to me, too.

I’ve had some friends mention they’d really like to get picked up by the paper crafting mags so I thought I’d share a few tips. 

Please, keep in mind as you read this, these are just my thoughts.  I am not an expert. I am just girl who likes to play with paper. And what works for me, may not work for you.

Ok, here we go:

* Make yourself familar with the publications out there. Look at what types of projects they have in them. See if you’re style is represented. See if your projects are about the same skill level. See what they are publishing. What you find, may surprise you.

* Create and submit projects you are proud of. I think too often it’s easy to get caught up in the “gotta get published” game. Rather than quantity, focus on a few quality submissions. It’ll show. Believe me, lol, I have a lot of personal experience on getting caught up in the quantity thing. 😉

* Read calls thoroughly before you submit to them. Make sure your project is applicable. Also make sure in your submission you have provided all the information they would like.

* Be willing to make changes if an editor asks you to.

* Be willing to use products other than ones from the design teams you are on. I think it just helps the magazines see that you are a lot more diverse as a designer. I know there are pubs that don’t pay and using DT products is a way to ensure getting paid. I’ve been there. But when a magazine is paying you, I think it kind of defeats that argument. And, I think it shows, too, in the magazines where people are using products to get paid, especially when they are 3 and 4 times dipping.

* Remember, it’s totally not about you. I can’t say that enough. I think that’s one of the most important things to remember cause I think in the world of scrapbooking it gets lost a lot. It’s about the readers to these publications. They are the very reason these pubs are in business. Projects need to be attainable and interesting to them. If it isn’t that way, there’s no reason for the publication. It’s as simple as that.

Anyway, hope these tips are kind of helpful. They are just what my experiences have taught me. Let me know if you have success… hee hee… or need someone to commiserate with. 😉

Oh yeah, one before I flee, I almost forgot. Two cool things to check out.

CreativeXpress has an amazing sale on Sizzix dies. If you need a die of any sort, now if the time to check they them. They will no longer be selling them after September so dies has been slashed.

http://creativexpress.com/shop/home.php

And… new stamps. Go to my friends Karen and Vanessa’s blog for their company (Art Declassified) at

http://artdeclassified.typepad.com/

They’ve got a whole lot of new stamps out for the summer. Karen has been uploading lots of peeks. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.