What It’s Like to Be on the Cover of Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine
I want to tell you something I still find a little surreal to say out loud: my scrapbook layout is on the cover of Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine.
I’m Inessa Persekian, and I’ve been scrapbooking for over 25 years. I’ve been published in in this beautiful magazine before. I’ve been on design teams for Simple Stories, Bella Blvd, Doodlebug Designs and Paige Evans. I’ve taught workshops and sold class kits and built Paper & Bling into a community I’m incredibly proud of.
But the cover? That’s different.
I’m sharing this story for a few reasons: because I want to be honest about what this kind of recognition actually feels like, and because I know that many of you are working toward creative goals that feel just as big and just as far away as this one felt to me at various points in my journey.
Scrapbook & Cards Today (SCT) is one of the most respected publications in the paper crafting world. I’m sad that it’s no longer published but the creative team led by Catherine Tachdjian is amazing and continues to share beautiful ideas online.
The Moment I Found Out
After an exciting invitation to create and submit a layout for consideration for the cover, I had to wait to hear back. For every issue, three designers are invited to create an 8.5x11 layout for the cover. This is not my usual size I work with but I was up for the challenge. The issue was Spring/Summer and I decided to use one of my favorite collections from Simple Stories Tea Garden. I just love the gorgeous color palette and couldn’t wait to work with the bold striped pattern paper.
After a few adjustments and tweaks, I snapped my photos and off it went.
When I got the email telling me my layout had been selected for the cover of the Summer 2025 issue, I read it twice. Then I set my phone down and stared at my craft table for a minute. Then I called my husband.
It’s one of those moments where the thing you wanted actually happens and you don’t quite know how to process it in real time.
What the Layout Was
The cover layout is one I’m genuinely proud of, independent of the publication. It uses a color palette I love—warm, saturated, joyful—with layered papers, a strong photo focal point, and the kind of embellishment clustering that is very distinctly my style. There is, of course, bling.
I made it relatively quickly, actually. Sometimes the pages I labor over for hours aren’t the ones that turn out best. This one came together in a single session, and I remember thinking when I finished it: “this is one of the better pages I’ve made lately.” That instinct, I’ve learned, is worth listening to.
What This Kind of Recognition Actually Means
I want to be honest here, because I think the creative community sometimes treats publication and recognition as a finish line rather than a mile marker.
Getting on the cover of SCT is meaningful to me because it represents external validation of 25 years of work. It means that the style I’ve developed—bright, layered, embellished, joyful—resonates with people beyond my immediate community. It means that the effort I’ve put into learning to photograph my work paid off. It is something I will be proud of for the rest of my life.
And then the next day, I sat back down at my craft table and started another layout.
Because the goal was never the cover. The goal was—and still is—making pages that matter to me and teaching other people to make pages that matter to them. The cover is a beautiful acknowledgment that I’m doing that well. It is not the point.
What I’d Tell Someone Who Wants to Be Published or on a Design Team
Make work you genuinely love. The work that gets selected is almost never the work you made while trying to be “picked”—it’s the work you made while being fully yourself.
Photograph everything. Even layouts you’re not sure about. You can’t share what you don’t have a photo of.
Share your work consistently over time. Timing and making sure brands see your work is everything. Keep sharing!
Develop a recognizable style. My pages are immediately identifiable as mine—bright colors, bold layering, heavy embellishment, sequins. That distinctiveness is an asset. Don’t try to make “generic” pages that might appeal to everyone. Make yours.
And when something wonderful happens—enjoy it. Sit with the email for a minute. Call someone you love. Let yourself be proud.
Then go make the next thing.
Explore my class kits here
If you want to learn the style that got me on that cover, my class kits are the place to start. Each one includes a video tutorial, curated supplies, and step-by-step guidance in the same layered, embellished, joyful approach I’ve been developing for 25 years.