Simple Scrapbooks

A Fascinating Question...

My friend Lain Ehmann sent me a link to this very interesting article: What's a magazine worth?

Go have a read. Comment there, and comment here. Domino is closing, CRAFT magazine is going out of print, Wondertime magazine is going out of print, MAD magazine is cutting back from monthly to four issues a year. Magazines across the board are in peril, and just maybe the ad-driven business model is no longer viable. So, to quote from the article referenced above:

"What do people do to support the publications they love? I was fascinated to see how many people said they subscribe to magazines they love specifically because they know it will help the magazines stay afloat. If that’s not voting with dollars, I don’t know what is. Unfortunately, with magazine subscriptions priced so painfully low and with advertisers less willing to spend, those votes don’t end up counting for very much, do they? What is a magazine or newspaper worth to you? If the ads went away and an issue were to cost $20, would you buy it?"

What's done is done with Simple, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts.

The Almost Ambassadors

Last week I introduced you to our 12 would-be Simple Gals for 2009. I'd like to take a moment to celebrate another group of scrapbookers, the Ambassadors. We had tapped four highly creative, talented, motivated, simple, and prolific scrapbookers to help us carry the Simple message far and wide! They were to author columns, record podcasts, teach classes at traveling events and at their local scrapbook stores, create layouts and other projects, blog, help guide the vision of the magazine, offer ideas and feedback, and oh so much more!

We were really looking forward to this new tier of Simple involvement, but just a few days before we were going to roll out the red carpet for them, we instead had to phone them with the sad news that Simple was closing. So, for whatever it's worth, I'd encourage you to go visit their blogs and tell them just how awesome they all are!

Lain Ehmann, author of Snippets: Mostly true tales from the lighter side of scrapbooking

 

Elizabeth Dillow, author of The Scrapbooker's Almanac

Beth Proudfoot, bethproudfoot.blogspot.com

Celeste Smith,  celestefs.blogspot.com

While Shopping for Organizing Stuff...

 
...I stumbled across this image on organize.com. First of all, if you've never been to organize.com, you should definitely go. They have EVERYTHING. Secondly, how cool is it that they propped their image with a Creating Keepsakes issue (obviously from several years ago)? And thirdly, whoever was in charge of this photo shoot is most certainly a CK subscriber, as you can see by the address label barely visible through the metal mesh. Just had to share!

* Large Storage Basket—Silver Mesh by Design Ideas available for $17.99 here.

Look Who I Met at CHA!

Okay, you caught me. After the Craft & Hobby Association's winter show in Anaheim, I stayed an extra couple of days to enjoy the moderate climate, my sister's hospitality (she lives in Orange), and of course the L.A. Zoo. Looks like these guys are in a race! The slowest race ever.

But even more exciting than meeting Tortoise 1 and Tortoise 2 was the chance to meet three of the Simple Gals we had invited to join our team for 2009, just before we heard news of the magazine closing. It was so fun to meet Lisa and Aly in person, as I've been following their work for quite some time, and to see Emilie again, who I greatly admire (in more ways than one).

The talented graphic designer and scrapbooker Lisa Dickinson. (Sorry 'bout the red eye Lisa!)

Hybrid scrapbooker extraoirdinaire Aly Dosdall, who has just a hint of a Southern accent.

AND brave soul Emilie Ahern, who actually got to stand in the press queue and shout interview questions at Paris Hilton!

And while I'm at it, I should introduce you to the rest of the line-up for 2009. Here, in no particular order, are the rest of the 12 Simple Gals that might have been, with links to their blogs or their galleries:
Katrina Simeck (Here's her post about her very first time being published in Simple.)
Melissa Kaiserman
Francine Clouden
Linda Barber
Sara Winnick (She doesn't have a blog, so here's her gallery on creatingkeepsakes.com.)
Jodi Wenke.
Ann Costen (Here's her gallery.)
Autumn Baldwin (Here's her gallery.)
Nicole Eshelman (Here's her gallery.)

Have fun browsing these links...there's a LOT of talent in this bunch! These are names you'll be seeing again, I'm absolutely certain of it. Cheers!

Oh Baby!

Carolyn Jolley is the organizing force behind Simple Scrapbooks magazine. She has been processing your contracts, taking excellent care of your layouts, answering your questions, and keeping us all on track for the past 7 years. She's the mother of three teenage boys and, in May, she'll finally get to add the baby girl she's been dreaming about for years to her family! We threw her a super fun baby shower last week, to make sure we fit it in before we all depart on our new adventures. It was a fun, relaxing, healing day, full of friendship and camaraderie. And we couldn't be happier for our Carolyn! Enjoy a few highlights.

A sweet "diaper cake" from Lynda Angelastro. Don't worry. Not meant to be eaten.

The baby bedding Carolyn registered for! A group of us went in on it. It's SO Carolyn in all its lovely, lavender glory.

Ali Monson, our former senior editor (who left us to be a mom a year and a half ago) is expecting too. And her due date is the exact same day as Carolyn's! May 22. I mean, I know we've always been a close team, but this is ridiculous. Ali is also having a girl!

Attempt #1 at a group shot. ALMOST everyone has their eyes open. These are all the women who have ever worked for Simple Scrapbooks magazine full time in the office! Every single one of us together in one place! (Stacy and Cathy have always worked from their homes.)

Attempt #2 at a group shot! Better in some ways, worse in others. :-)

And now for the baby parade! We had three little bunchkins in attendance, who created various levels of adorable chaos. This is Spencer Monson, the little guy who stole Ali's heart and took her away from us.

And here is Kyler Snow, Elisha's little guy. I know he's slightly out of focus, but I couldn't resist this picture, with Rachel and Shelby in the background both looking like they're about to sneeze. (Sorry Rach!)

And here is Miss Shelby and her mama, who hosted us at their lovely house.

We Simple girls sure know how to churn out the cute babies. Can't wait to see what Carolyn and Ali have in store for us in May!

I've Been Quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune!

The closing of Simple Scrapbooks has made state-wide news. There were only two people quoted in the story: me and Paris Hilton. No lie. Check out the link here.

I lied.

I know I promised CHA updates "later in the week," but life got in the way. Let me 'splain. No there is too much. Let me sum up.

Tuesday: We had a baby shower for our own Carolyn Jolley, who is due in May, and we were busy checking press proofs for our last special issue Scrapbook Play with Photos, a very bittersweet experience, as you can imagine. But the issue is fantastic! Watch for it in March.
Wednesday: I got rear-ended in the morning (no injuries, just slight vehicle damage) on my way to spend the day offering moral support to my sister-in-law, Becky, who's been in the hospital since last Friday battling an infection related to her portacath (a device implanted beneath her skin that is used for her chemotherapy treatments).
Thursday: Becky's entire family has been exposed to the stomach flu, and I'm the only one healthy enough to go to the hospital. So I happily spend another day there, watching chick movies on a portable DVD player with Becky, who is remaining incredibly positive throughout her ordeal. (We watched The Holiday and Bend it Like Beckham. Awesome.)
Friday: I take another day off work to watch Becky's two little kids (ages 4 and 2), who are handling everything amazingly well, despite having their mother in the hospital for a solid week, and being passed from relative to relative.
Saturday: I come down with the stomach flu myself while driving to my grandmother's 80th birthday party, 80 miles away. We gave her an adorable scrapbook that I now wish I had photographed so I could share it with you, but I was in no mind to take pictures.

So my CHA updates will surely be old news by the time I get around to posting them, but you won't care, right? I didn't think so.

Collector's Item...

 
Ta-Da! Here is my "first bound copy" of the second to last regular issue of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, and it's destined to become a collector's item. So as soon as you see it on your local newsstand or at your LSS, stock up! You just may be able to snag a good price on eBay. And me? I've been so depressed that I stopped waxing my upper lip. Can you tell at all? What care I for personal hygiene when I have weightier matters on my mind? :-) But don't worry, I HAVE been showering fairly regularly.

In other news, I have WINNERS from last week's contest! Thanks for all your kind words, great advice, and helpful suggestions. I shall certainly be passing them on! The winners are: kribss and laurie in mpls. (They were chosen by the highly random method of me calling Carolyn Jolley and asking her to select two random numbers between 1 and 101. So kribss and laurie in mpls, you have Carolyn to thank for your bounty!) Winners, email your addresses to [email protected] and your wishes shall be granted.

Sorry to leave ya'll hanging all week long. I'm still catching up from last week's tradeshow adventures in sunny Anaheim, so check back in for a few fun highlights from CHA later this week.

Happy February!
Ang