Learned that one the hard way today. Yowza! It came on so fast I didn’t have time to put her down and boy did it scare the bajesus out of her. She went running for the hills and took half my arm with her.
What I really came to talk about is Spam.
No, not the kind you eat, the kind you begrudgingly receive.
(Did you click the Spam link? Were your speakers on? LOL!)
So I was getting massive amounts of junk mail through the blog and it was getting incredibly annoying so I decided to problem solve and went poking around in the control panel (never a good idea when you don’t know what you’re doing) and set it up to block all comments with a web address to stop the link filled spam comments. I’m pleased to tell you that I haven’t gotten a SINGLE spam comment since! <insert curtsy> but in the process….um…I think Imay be blocking some of you legitimate blog commenters. I usually reply to all blog comments so I just wanted to let you know that if you have been leaving comments that I seem to be so RUDELY ignoring…I’m really not – I just haven’t been getting them. But I do apologize nonetheless since I was the one who inadvertently blocked them in the first place. I hope you can forgive me and that we can move past this and still be friends.
SO…when leaving a comment, if you enter a website address in the WEBSITE field, your comment will not be accepted. So don’t do that. LOL. I’ll figure out a better solution, but in the meantime…no web addy’s. Okie doke?
Question: How cool would it be to see one of your YOUR works of art within the pages of your favorite scrapbook magazine?
Answer: Very!!
Well don’t just sit there – make it happen! All you have to do is start submitting! Don’t be intimidated – it’s quick and easy. I’ve asked our resident publication queen KirstieGai (who now has 20 publications under her belt – wow!) to share some tips and help us get started.
Hi everyone, it’s Kirstie here bringing you a few tips to help you submit your layouts for publication.
So you want to know where to start right? Well, look over to the right side of Miss Mint’s blog here and you’ll find links for Just Digital Calls and the Pub’s Calendar – the perfect places to find out what calls are happening right now. The next best choice is to go directly to the different magazines websites and you’ll usually be able to find a submissions page.Each call will tell you what you need to provide.
Some things to keep in mind when you do submit a page are:
Keep your image small, I send mine at 500×500 and no bigger than 150kb in size. If your layout gets accepted they will ask you to send a high resolution image.
Send a complete list of credits e.g. Kit by Miss Mint (www.peppermintcreative.com), Font: Arial. The magazine will ask you later for more information if it gets accepted and some magazines have a submission form that they like you to complete with more details.
Include the submission category and title of your layout in the email subject (eg. Submission for Babies – Tiny Toes) so that it’s easily identifiable and if you send more than one page for a category it won’t get mistaken.
Send no more than 5 layouts per category.
Not all magazines send you a received or rejection notice.
If you do get an acceptance you should respond as promptly as possible
Have a good look at the magazines that you’re going to submit to so that you get an idea of the styles they usually use. There’s no use sending a busy layout if the magazine tends to publish simple layouts. If it’s a paper magazine also check that they do accept digital layouts.
Don’t forget your Hybrid projects either. You will need to mail those in though if they get accepted for them to photograph.
Paper Scrapbooking magazines will pay you for publishing a layout and the price varies from $20 to $100. The online Digital magazines don’t pay but you get a complimentary issue of the magazine and your name in writing. If you do happen to get a layout published it’s always nice to notify the designer and send them a copy of the published page because they also like to see their work in print. Some of them, like Miss Mint, even reward you with a free kit.
Finally, don’t take it personally if you don’t get a page accepted. I’ve been submitting layouts for 1 year and am lucky to say that I’ve just had my 20th layout accepted for publication. So would you like to know how many layouts I submitted?? About 400 hundred, so a 5% success rate! I don’t scrap to get published, I scrap because I love to and I look at getting a layout published as a bit of icing on the cake.
Hi Mint Fans! It’s Tay here with another handy tip for you, featuring the new Peppermint Creative Painted Borders. Don’t be afraid to experiment with blending modes to really make the most of your borders. Create worn, inked or dyed edges by simply changing the border’s color and the blending mode. You’ll find that different mode and color combinations can give you MANY different looks. Here are a few examples of what you can do with them:
INSTRUCTIONS USING PHOTOSHOP: 1. Open your background paper and a painted border.
2. Place the border over the paper and position to your liking. (try rotating or flipping it)
3. With the painted border layer selected, go to Layer>Layer Style>Blending Options.
4. Click COLOR OVERLAY to change the color of your border. Using the eyedropper tool, grab one of the darker shades from the background paper to create a coordinating border or play with other colors to create a contrasting look.
5. Move the opacity slider on the top of your LAYERS PALETTE to your liking.
6. Select different BLEND MODES for different effects. Alter opacity as needed.
Don’t be afraid to play around with them, try layering two borders on top of each other at different opacities, using different blending modes for a really fabulous look.
