It there nothing new and interesting in the scrapbook world?

I have noticed blog content dropping off but I don't understand the comments here about bloggers not feeling appreciated for their free content. As a sales/marketing professional, I can tell you there are plenty of ways to monetize blog content so if you're doing it for completely free, that is your decision and your business model. If you are upset about not being "compensated" in some way, figure out a way to make that happen. There are plenty of ways to generate a revenue stream from blog content and if you don't know how to do that, there are plenty of classes available from folks who have mastered that skill. I cannot imagine anyone is begrudging anyone else's family time or higher priority commitments. Scrapbooking is an extra in life: not Job One. I'm relatively certain that bloggers AND blog readers understand that. No one is criticizing blogging, just commenting on the (seemingly) decreasing amount of posting content that seems to be occuring lately, that's all. I know in the past few months, there have been announcements of blogs shutting down or bloggers moving into a new area of interest. For everything there is a season and it seems that scrapping is approaching its' end. Of course, it won't be THE END: there are still folks who macrame, needlepoint, decoupage, make lace or tatting, etc. Scrapbooking will never be fully gone as long as there are weddings and celebrations, babies being born, milestone birthdays, family reunions, grandparents passing away, family stories that want and need to be told, etc. 

As far as the marketplace goes, I'm finding that the turnaround time (from "new" product to stuff which is perceived as "older") in places like TM is getting shorter: I assume that could be from stores closing and/or manufacturers clearing their warehouses of product. As the number of manufacturers has dwindled, it seems there are brand boutiques under one (or maybe more) corporate umbrellas. I'm also guessing that maybe when the LSS didn't have the sales levels they anticipated, orders were cut either by the stores themselves or by the manus putting some of the LSS on credit hold and not shipping product.

As a longtime scrapper, I remember all the hoopla and excitement over CHA: that doesn't seem to exist anymore or if it does, it's somewhere I am not aware of. I think Project Life and all the premade cards and embellies have taken away some of the industry that enjoyed the art of papercrafting but it might have expanded the general amount of scrappers. The diehards dropped off but the FB folks discovered pocket pages.

I miss the old days of paperpiecing and sharing patterns and I'm glad I still have plenty of stash. I haven't figured out if I scrap less because my kids are growing up and leaving the nest or because there's not much new and exciting other than product cycling back to the tried and true of ten years ago. Whatever it is, I do miss the thrill and excitement of a new magazine issue in the mail and seeing 2P's gallery change daily. ((sigh)).

I was trying to think of a way to respond and you said it perfectly! My exact reasons for feeling uninspired.

I occasionally would check out blogs before google reader shut down. I would find a blogger I liked, they got on a design team, that product was posted the most, and then there were giveaways where you had to enter and post on social media in order to be chosen. I didn't care if there were breaks. I no longer felt I was missing much in terms of free content. I'm also not a fan of process videos unless it is a demonstration on a technique. When reader closed, I forgot to move my bookmarks elsewhere. I haven't missed them. I prefer pinterest. All I need is a picture of something; I'm a simple scrapper.

I am not feeling underwhelmed by this season's releases, honestly. I do agree that some of the studios have put out lines that build on past lines (Crate Paper is a serial offender: Open Road vs. Journey, The Pier vs. Poolside, Notes & Things vs. Craft Market). That doesn't bother me because I liked those lines, though. But there are some studios doing dramatically different lines too. Basic Grey, which spent a solid year pushing out hipster stuff (Hipster, Mint Julep, Capture, Carte Postale), has turned heel and moved to graphic designs like Adrift and the marvelously art deco celestially themed Aurora. Amy Tan's stuff builds on the old. Dear Lizzy's doesn't. Shimelle's stayed bold and flipped to solid primary colors. Pebbles impressively holds onto a distinctive style while still being themey. BoBunny, a company not my style at all, has had several unusual lines lately that really stand out (Candy Cane Lane, Altitude) from the pack. The "gems" are there, but they require more digging than they used to for sure, digging that is probably not at all worth it to people who already have reams of pretty paper stocked up.

As to the blog topic, I run five blogs, only one scrappy-related, and one of them (not the scrappy one) is a professional blog employing multiple copywriters. The only one I worry about constant content is that one -- the one that puts food on my table. I'm shocked that people expect virtually unpaid hobby bloggers to push out a constant stream of entertainment under threat of being deleted from someone's bookmarks. Stick it in an RSS reader and it'll tell you when there's content, problem solved.

I'm not a big Pinterest user- so I just follow ashley on Pinterest. Or maybe that's called stalking:) great projects and eye candy.

I also check in with @journeyfan's blog for new release information, and @patter.

ETA @coilstrand I appreciate your comment about process videos. They take a lot of time and skill to produce, but I rarely watch them. It's unfortunate so many scrappers have chosen to make videos when a simple still shot would be enough.

Agh, thank you anonrefugee!

So, I was reading what journeyfan said about a lot of pins come from blogs. I checked my scrapping boards and found this to be true. What I did not realize is most of these are from card makers blogs.

So, I think I might start checking these types of blogs out.