The Avid Scrapper: {Feeling the L♥VE}

Thursday, March 10, 2011

{Feeling the L♥VE}

I want to thank each and every person who commented on my post below and who emailed me. My inbox has been bursting at the seams with emails. Thank you! I really do enjoy interacting with each of you. I am a social person and love meeting new and interesting people. Each one of you are that! I have just about worn my French Manicure to the bone writing everyone back and I LOVE it ♥ You have all made my week. Thank you!

If you have a craft or photo blog, send me the link! I love reading other's blogs and seeing all the talent out there. I, too, draw inspiration from those around me, so please, share! I will gladly add you to my list of favorite blogs.

I do have some projects that I still need to get up on here. It's just a matter of doing it. I am hoping to find sometime this weekend. I am in the process of painting, organizing and re-doing our lawn. We are hoping sell our home this year and move into a bigger one. Wish us luck! So if you don't see me for a weeks at time, know that I am up to my elbows in paint and boxes. :)

Thanks again, for your support and kind words. It truly warms the heart.

Oh, and Spring has sprung, here in Vegas! We have mid 70's all week long. How about you? What's it like where you are?

4 comments:

Kate said...: Good luck with everything especially in the selling. We used to live in Vegas as well like 2 years ago. Henderson area. That's when real estate went down. I miss our house there :{:{ but it was good move.

Kate; March 10, 2011 at 9:17 PM
The Avid Scrapper said...: Kate, thank you so much for your well wishes! I am sorry to hear about your move. We are actually looking to move from Vegas in the next 2-3 years. Looking for a slower paced and quieter community. One with lots of out door recreation. The real estate marking is still tanking here. We are still #1 at being the worst. Gotta love it! :)

Thanks for stopping in. Love hear from you. :); March 11, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Maquel said...: OH, Vegas! I've never been, but it's on my list of places to visit!! Here on the east coast (I'm from Maine) it is actually warming up (45 degrees today!! And that's a good thing!!) and the snow is melting. Rained all day today though....yuck. :( I'm looking forward to Spring myself. Can't wait til I can actually SEE the grass!!
Good luck on selling your house...the market up here is nothing to shake a stick at, that's for sure!!
Take care!
Maquel

my blog-- http://papermaineiac.blogspot.com; March 11, 2011 at 6:49 PM
Miranda said...: Hi there! I just found your blog and it will be another inspiration site for me to follow :) Anyways, I hope you don't mind, but I put your thoughts about custom work on my blog. Happy Creating!; March 26, 2011 at 12:03 PM

A Little About Me

Hello! My name is Carla. I am a wife to a wonderful man and mother to two beautiful daughters and two adorable fur babies. I have always loved taking photos and creating a special place for them to be cherished and shared. In my childhood and teen years, it was my journals that played host to my early scrapbooks. I really started to work on my craft in 1999 and there has been no slowing down since then. Scrapbooking is very therapeutic for me and gives me a chance to express "Carla" in ways I couldn't do otherwise. This blog is where you can see a little of what I create. I hope that you are inspired by all that you see here. I welcome questions and comments, so please feel free to drop me a note on my posts, or you can contact me via email. I ♥ hearing from you! °Ü°

Understanding the Cost of Custom Work:

I get emails for custom work all the time. I would say, that on a weekly basis, I get at least 8-10 emails requesting specific themes. I love hearing from everyone and truthfully, I am honored that there are so many of you who love my designs, style of scrap booking and work so much that you would love to make it apart of their memory albums. The part I find frustrating and sometimes hurtful, is that when I reply to these emails and give pricing, one of three things happens: 1) I never hear back from the person 2) I get an email back arguing price and saying they won't pay it unless I drop the price 3) A sweet apology that they can't do it right now (this would be the rarest of the emails, however, it is the most appreciated!)

I understand that in today's economy, that scrap booking pages and albums are truly a luxury purchase. I also understand that everyone is trying to get the most for their money. Aren't we all?

Here is the side I would like you to try to understand.

I am a crafter by trade. I scrapbook for fun and I scrapbook for a living. I need to be home with my family taking care of them and our home, and this is the working relationship that works best for us and our family's needs. Although I get to be home with them, I still spend 30-40 hours a week designing, planning, cutting, hand-cutting at times, and piecing together pages, albums and projects. Pretty much a full time job. Sometimes, ALL of that time is spent on just one album. Sometimes all of that time is spent on just 4-6 pages.

When it comes to my work, I do not cut corners! I only buy the best papers, metal embellishments, adhesives and so on. I take my work seriously, I go over every detail and I know I am not the only crafter who does this. I am simply just one of many who are in this "crafter's boat", if you will. What is minimum wage these days? I honestly do not know. From what I see and know, is it about $7 per hour. Maybe I should look it up... okay, according to US Dept of Labor, the minimum wage is $6.55 hour. The average person making M.W. makes $262 for a 40 hour work week BEFORE taxes, etc. Wow. that doesn't leave a lot for the bring home amount, does it? The average spread, (2) 12X12 pages together, takes me 8-12 hours to design and put together. {There have been a handful that have taken me closer to 16. I keep track for how long it takes to make each.} So let's say I am in "The Zone" and get one done in just 8 hours and I charge $6.55 per hour. That is $52.40. That doesn't even include the materials cost for that spread, that is just my time. Keep that in mind. I actually charge a set fee of $45 for a custom spread. There is extra time and steps that go into each project, like custom names, dates and details. Now, divide $45 by 8. I am making about $5.63 an hour, and then, not even that much because that doesn't include the cost I have already paid for the materials! That is JUST my time. At the end of each custom spread, I am only making about $2-$3 per hour. (REMEMBER, that is only if it took me just the 8 hours, any longer than that and it brings my hourly wage down even more.) That is not a lot for my time, for my design and hard work when it is spelled out that way. What do you think?

Please keep these things in mind when shopping sites like Etsy.com, Ebay.com and personal websites. We crafters put our all into our craft. Each design, every piece is a part our personality and we take a lot of time to put it all together.

I think that everyone, no matter who you are and what you do, wants to have their work appreciated and they don't want others to make them feel that what they are paid for their time and talent isn't worth it. I think my time and talent is worth what little I ask for it. Remember that when you see hand crafted items, time, talent and effort was put into each project. Think about how much time it would take you to do something like that if you were to personally make it, think of professional crafting as some one's career and think about how truly little, the time making it is actually charged for.

Thank you. °Ü°

Thursday, March 10, 2011

{Feeling the L♥VE}

4 comments:

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