On my last trip to Chicago, I made it to a new-to-me scrapbook store called Craft Fancy in Arlington Heights. The store was a mixture of supplies for scrapbookers and cardmakers and had crop/classroom space. I was pleased with the selection and picked up a few things. I would visit again when I am in that part of surbubia.
While there, I picked up a couple of issues of Chicagoland Scrapbooker. I had heard of this new publication about a year ago. It is free and is more like a newsletter/newspaper than a magazine. What impressed me was the strength of the Chicagoland scrapbook industry. There were lots of advertisements for retreat spots, stamp and scrapbooking events, and store listings.
In our quest for all things online, this new publication with both an online and offline presence is a breath of fresh air.
There were a few layouts in the publication. The layouts reminded me of what was “hot and trendy” online a few years ago–what many online would call “dated.” I mention this because I like seeing “dated” layouts. I’m tired of all the trend-chasing online. My guess is that the layouts in this publication more closely resemble what the average scrapbooker is actually doing.
You can get the publication by subscription and I just might do it so I can get it in my old-fashioned mailbox.
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
