Hey all,

I'm slowly making it a habit of checking Google and Technorati for blogs about scrapbooking. I'm always interested in what other people come up with for scrapbooking, like ideas, layouts, paper piecings and much more. A few days ago I read in the Just Me Blog about some Scrapbook blog debacle in 2006. I haven't heard anything about it, but maybe that's just because I wasn't really looking for scrapbook blogs at that time. It did give me the impression, though, that someone had said something (I guess his or her honest opinion) about someone or a product and that this honest opinion wasn't appreciated. This with the result that apparently no one was writing what they wanted to write in their blogs. This confuses me.

It led me to the following question:
What do you look for in a scrapbook blog? Let's discuss about that, shall we? I'll start with giving you the things I'm looking for in a scrapbook blog.

Scrapbook subjects
Although I've already been scrapbooking for a few years, I'm always looking for new subjects to scrap about. Sometimes I find a subject on someone's blog that makes me think: of course, why didn't I think of it?. And sometimes I find a subject that so good that I keep it in mind for the next time and I try to make special photos for it. One example of this is the scrapbook about the zoo that I'm going to make. Someone had posted a layout about elephants and had included a detail of an elephants feet. That got me thinking that I could take that kind of photos the next time I would be in the zoo. And so I did :)

Layouts
I'm always looking for inspirational sketches for layouts. That way I can try to prevent that I'll always use the same basic sketch for a layout. If I'll find an inspirational layout, I'll download it and keep it on my hard drive. That way I can always have a look to see if I can use something.
I also always look for ideas for journaling, cause that's what I use a lot in my albums nowadays! I'm always looking for the balance between my photos and my journaling. And that's not always easy, I can assure you that! Especially when you're using so much journaling like I am. I'm always looking for creative ideas to somehow include all the journaling I want to include.

Mini albums
I like making mini albums. I've made a few for myself and one for a friend of mine {which she really appreciated, btw!}. Currently I am working on a mini album for James. I know it's not always possible to include all the photos I've made in scrapbook and that's why I'm looking for ideas for mini albums. And not only ideas for subjects, but also for how to make the mini album (the project description) and the result of it.

Experience
When a new tool has come in the market I always see if I can find someone who has had experience with it. That way I can determine if this is worth buying for myself. Also someone's experience with certain producers of scrapbook supplies, with shops and more things like are very interesting.

Opinions
I always highly appreciate someones opinion. Also about scrapbooking. It doesn't mean I always agree with them, but I do appreciate the opinion. That's also why I'm looking for other's opinions about product and more things. And it's fun to see how one can think this way and how another one can think another way about something. And that's perfectly okay. After all, we're all humans, aren't we? And it wouldn't be good if we'd all have the same opinion.

Conclusion
All taken together I think I'm looking in blogs for everything I chat with friends about when were talking about scrapbooking. Is this bad? No, I don't think so. This gives you more experience, more knowledge and that way you'll be better prepared and you can evolve. And is that a bad thing?

I'm looking forward to the things you look for in a blog about scrapbooking!