The Best of British Scrapbooking & Cardmaking

Not too long ago, the UK scrapbooking fraternity was buzzing following the announcement of the Best of British layout competition. Scrappers everywhere agonised over whether or not they should submit an entry, fearing that they were not perhaps good enough. Happily, a large number of scrappers at all levels took the plunge and entered, and the lucky few will now be helping to put the face of UK scrapbooking on the map when the book, The Best of British Scrapbooking, is published later this year.

For Keepsakes Magazine caught up with competition organizer and author of The Best of British Scrapbooking, Joanna Campbell Slan, to find out more ...

Scrapbookers everywhere know Joanna as the author of a multitude of innovative and instructional books, but what about the lady herself? Joanna, who lives in St Louis, Missouri, describes herself as 'a wife and mother, a pet owner, an author, a teacher, a scrapbooker, a dabbler in watercolors, and a motivational speaker'. Majoring in journalism at college so that she could learn to write for publication, Joanna found it hard to find time to write what she really wanted to write, having a young son and having to work as a motivational speaker and trainer to contribute to the family finances. Then a couple of friends from her professional speaker's club asked if she had any stories to share for their upcoming 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' books.

Joanna explains: 'That inclusion in the Chicken Soup for the Soul books gave me courage. After writing a college textbook, Using Stories and Humor, which is a textbook on story saving, I wanted to write a book specifically about family stories. I've always been interested in family stories, I grew up hearing stories from both my grandmothers. The publisher was interested as long as I included one chapter on scrapbooking (this was back in 1998 when scrapbooking was new). Because I have a degree in journalism, I knew I could research enough about scrapbooking to fill a chapter easily, but when I looked into scrapbooking, I was hooked, and I wanted to do more than just one chapter. I suggested that the book on family stories become a book on scrapbooking, and Scrapbook Storytelling was born. Since then, it's sold more than 45,000 copies and continues to sell well.

A lot of scrapbookers tell me it has changed how they scrapbook by giving them the philosophy behind scrapbooking. Every page should tell a story - think about what you want the viewer to know and then create a page - don't just decorate a page with a photo on it. Scrapbook Storytelling was the first book to use the term "journaling prompts," the first to show pages without photos, and the first to encourage people to be creative and use unusual materials on their pages. I love it when I receive an email from a scrapbooker who has just discovered Scrapbook Storytelling and finds great inspiration in its pages.

Almost immediately, I noticed that some scrapbookers were confused about how to create pages using the simple tools available, so I wrote Quick & Easy Pages as their guide. (I've always been slightly ahead of the industry, as witnessed by the publications now available to help scrappers make pages and albums quickly.)

Then I saw that rubber stamping was the perfect complement to scrapbooking. Storytelling with Rubber Stamps was my next book, and people have told me that they love the section where I point out all my mistakes and how I corrected them. I wanted people to quit worrying about goofing up their pages with rubber stamping. Next, I tackled quick ways to journal because I heard folks say they still didn't have time to write. One Minute Journaling is really one of my favorites, if an author is allowed to have favorites. I explored techniques you can do in one minute to further your journaling, and the pages are some of my absolute favorites. I think that in this book I began to really feel comfortable about the art of page design.

While teaching journaling around the USA and in England, I noticed even the most unsure writers could break through writers' block when asked a question. So, I collected 640 questions we could ask ourselves about our lives. I added responses to the most frequent questions which came to me via e-mail. I included tricks I had learned from numerous writing conferences, and then I tossed in 40 journaling exercises. Of course, I had to create pages to illustrate my ideas. That was my first e-book or electronic book, The Scrapbooker's Journaling Companion. Scrapbookers have raved about the format - you can copy the questions and start writing right away!

Electronic books were a new medium for Joanna, but she liked it so much that now she is working on another e-book, Heritage Journaling, to be sold through www.pagesoftheheart.com. E-books are much like our magazine, they can be downloaded or kept on your computer, you can access them at any time of the day or night - and the scrapbook pages show up on your screen in a larger size than in traditional print books. Finally, you can see the details! In addition to The Best of British Scrapbooking and Heritage Journaling, Joanna is working on a book combining all her old Graceful Bee columns to be released by her friends at www.ukscrappers.com and a mystery novel. Joanna really enjoys writing!

We asked Joanna what had inspired her to have a Best of British Competition: 'We lived in Sunningdale, Berkshire, for a year from July 2001 to July 2002. First I fell in love with the United Kingdom, then I fell in love with British scrapbooking (I was lucky enough to have a few British friends who were scrapbookers before I moved to the UK). When you are in love, you want to tell the world about it. That's what The Best of British Scrapbooking is all about - sharing something wonderful with the world. I asked my UK friends for advice, and we thought that the best way to surface incredible talent was with a competition. Initially I was simply going to ask a few scrappers to share their work, but the competition gave scrapbookers who might have been unknown to us a chance to be involved. The people at UKScrappers were enormously helpful in getting the word out.'

What did Joanna think of the standard of work? 'It was totally overwhelming. I was knocked out - all of us judges were. We spent hours going over the layouts and ooohhhing and aaahhhing, and saying, "Wow, did you see how she did this?" and "Isn't this fabulous?" and "Hey, look at this - I want to try this on my pages." We had so much fun because the quality was so high. The biggest problem was choosing only as many as we knew we needed for the book.'

How did you decide on who would win? 'We set out the criteria in the rules. We went over each submission very, very carefully. We discussed the many good points, and then occasionally discussed why some pages didn't work. It was a real learning opportunity. The rules were our guide, but we also knew we needed to choose a diversity of styles, topics and approaches because we couldn't use every page we wanted.

Of course, having three terrific people to help judge was a key. Beverley Stephenson, Mary Anne Walters, Shimelle Laine and I hadn't met in real life until the day we gathered in Sunningdale to do the judging. We were meeting at the home of my dear friend, Lesley Hindmarsh. Lesley was expecting a visit from a nurse. I kept opening the front door and asking, "Are you a nurse or a scrapbooker?" We all got the giggles about it. We fell in together as though we'd been mates forever. The judges were awesome. And we needed all four of us because the decisions were so tough. We were so nervous making the calls that our hands shook. I felt sick with excitement. In fact, I think we misdialed most of the numbers at least once. We truly felt the importance of what we were doing. We hoped the contest would matter to others, and we honored the efforts of all our participants. In fact, the hardest part was knowing that some people might feel discouraged because they didn't win. You see, I honestly think that scrapbooking has no rules, and that whatever you do in your album is right for you and your family. That said, a few wonderful people have found unique and creative ways of telling their family stories that simply demand additional attention. Those folks are represented as our winners.'

Joanna continued, 'I won't rush the book - I've seen what happens when a publisher gets in a hurry. We're planning on a late fall or early winter publication date. My goal is to have the verbiage in the book be every bit as strong as the layouts. That's setting a high standard for my writing, but I feel confident that with the help of the winners, I can do just that. I'm relying on them to make suggestions, share tips, explain techniques, discuss inspiration and so on. Of course, their pages give me a great starting point for the copy. Our designer is an award-winning book designer. She's even pickier than I am, so I know our finished product will be extraordinary. We'll keep everyone informed, and folks can always go to www.ukscrappers.co.uk or www.scrapbookstorytelling.com for updates.

People here in the US ask me, "Has scrapbooking really caught on in England?" I tell them, "Oh, my gosh, it's more than caught on. It's growing by leaps and bounds - and you should see how gorgeous British scrapbooking is. After all, remember Carnaby Street? Mary Quant? Twiggy? England is the epicenter of style. Always has been, always will be. The British revere the old and create the new - it's that simple."

Call me soppy, but I truly believe that people all over will be bowled over by the pages they see in The Best of British Scrapbooking. It has been an honor to be part of the team that will share these layouts with the world.'

Speaking about winners, continue on reading all about the winners of the Best of British competition and their experiences and stories about how they were chosen!

Joanna sends out a free bi-monthly e-zine with journaling tips, page ideas and news - the best way for scrappers to hear about her upcoming work and appearances. Sign up at www.scrapbookstorytelling.com.

As seen in Issue 2 of For Keepsakes Magazine, www.forkeepsakes.co.uk