Toot!

No, not the smelly kind. In scrapbook talk this means that you had a scrap item picked up for publication. I am a competitive person by nature, so I decided to see if anyone would ever want to publish any of my stuff earlier this year. Submitting is a time consuming process and it's also easy to get your feelings hurt if your stuff isn't picked. You have to keep track of deadlines for calls/submissions requests and also take the time to scan and size your items. Plus put in the fact that I work full time, my kids are in a bunch of activities and the fact that in general I'm pretty lazy - sometimes I get things made, sometimes I don't. I haven't been able to seem to do any pages I've liked lately, plus the fact I'm too lazy to go print any new pics out, I've mostly been making cards and altered items for submissions this last month or two. What's nice about cards is that if you are on a roll, you can crank out 5-6 cards in the time it might take to do a layout. Plus with submitting the more items you have to submit, the better your chances are just because of the numbers. Some magazines pay $, some pay with product and some pay with some copies of the magazine or book you will be in. I'm happy with any of these!

I found out today that a baby card I made will be in the March issue of Paper Crafts. http://www.papercraftsmag.com/ (Sorry I'm too lazy to remember how to do the hyperlink....do you see a pattern with the laziness?) Magazines tend to work about 6 months in advance so this weekend I'm planning to make some Valentine's Day cards. Earlier this month after the State Fair hated all of my submissions (ok hate is probably a strong word - they didn't love them - no ribbons/prizes), but the altered picture frame I entered got picked up by Giftmaker magazine (http://www.giftmakermagazine.com/) a couple days after I found out I didn't win at the fair...so there :-) Giftmaker has also picked up a few of my cards earlier this year. The first month I'll be in is December. Last weekend the idea book "Memory Mania Masterpieces" http://www.memorymaniac.com/ that a Halloween layout I did of the kids is in, arrived at my doorstep. That was my first layout pub. I also have a Thanksgiving layout of Emma that will be in the Nov/Dec issues of Memory Makers magazine http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/. My first pub (card) with Paper Trends magazine (http://www.papertrendsmag.com/) will be in the Dec/Jan issue and I also have a card in the 4th quarter issue of the Hobby Lobby www.hobbylobby.com scrap magazine. I'm sorry I really dont' mean to sound like I'm bragging. I'm just excited that some of my stuff is being given some love and if anyone happens to see these mags in the store they can take a peek. And the fact that I haven't blogged for a year and a half I have to catch up on my pub posts! I can't post these layouts/card here yet because the magazines aren't out yet. I had a card in the summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today and their magazine is available in hard copy or online so you can view it here. I can't remember which page I'm on but I think I'm in the second part of the download. www.scrapandcards.com There are still some other magazines I love that I'm still trying to break into. Scrapbookers are nuts if you haven't noticed...

As for the kids - P had a soccer game and then I had to race off for a meeting at church about Sunday School. We have a fairly quiet 3 day weekend planned. We usually do the picnic thing on Monday, but nothing else on the calendar - yes!!! Emma is finding preschool less "boring" :-) The little girl still cries every morning (it was day six today) but now E just ignores her.