In light of Easter tomorrow and a day full of food and family, I am posting this week's Sunday Spur a little early...
This has been my dilemma...with the rise of scrapper's blogs, online galleries, etc., more and more publishers have been requiring that scrapbook layouts submitted for publication be 'never-before-seen'. In other words, not posted in these online formats. I can understand their point of view...why would people subscribe to their magazines or buy their books if all the layouts can be seen for free elsewhere? Still, this has always been difficult for me because sharing is half the fun of the creative process.
However, it's usually really about the pictures and I think I have found the perfect solution for my conundrum! It's called Scrapblog and it is an online service that allows you to create a 'photo scrapbook' of sorts with ease. They actaully just went live with a 'new and improved' version which is a lot of fun. They are still working out a few bugs and are very receptive to sugesstions, etc. Actually, I did have a little trouble getting my slideshow embedded in this entry today, so I emailed them...not expecting to get a response until at least Monday. Well, I went back and forth with a guy named Alex several times until we got it figured out (it was a Saturday, mind you). That's what I call customer service!
It will allow me to still share my photos (and actually sooner as sometimes I don't actually get them scrapped until months after they are taken) and I won't have to risk not getting a publication request because I have already posted my layout on my blog or other gallery.
That said, I will certainly still post my layouts if I don't plan on submitting them for publication or have and they haven't been called in or I just get tired of all the rejection!! :-) There are just so many GREAT scrappers out there, it really is a competitive arena.
Here's one I put together in about 20 minutes (my first time creating one, so I think it could be done even quicker as one gets used to the program) of a photo shoot of Kaitlin back in February...love these pics!
Obviously, this is a little small to read the journaling, so if you want, you can click on full screen to get a better view. If you click on slideshow, you'll even get to listen to some lovely music while you view!
Now for your Sunday challenge:
Create your own ScrapBlog and when you're done, put a link in a comment here so we can check it out. Happy ScrapBlogging!!
