The Avid Scrapper: Gratitude Journal

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Gratitude Journal

I found something to share from last September. :) Yay!

2010 and especially 2011 taught me a very important lesson; to always have an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is necessary and it literally heals us. I really put it to the test last year and became a different person. I found that when I began listing all of my blessings, my attitude changed, my out look on life changed and I began to feel instantly content and at peace, no matter the chaos going on around me. I began to write in a "Gratitude Journal" each evening, just simply listing all of the things I was grateful for that particular day. Of course my lists include, my Savior and His gift of the Atonement, my family, a loving husband who works hard to take care of his family, our girls, our home and so on. You know, the big, obvious ones. What really surprised me were all the things that I was grateful for that I normally took for granted: running water, microwave dinners, socks, my pillow, central heat, chocolate... all these little things help to give me a wonderful life! I have always felt blessed in my life, but when I wrote it all out in black and white, I came realize just how truly blessed I was and it was humbling.

I decided that I wanted to share my new found healing tool with my mom and made her a gratitude journal for her birthday. (The perfect gift for the woman who has everything!) The quote I include with all of my journals is fantastic and says it all!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~Melodie Beattie

How great is that? She loved it, btw. Here are the pics, oh and the card I made to go with it. :)

The cover

I always add a book mark so that it's easy to find your place. I love to add beads or charms to dress it up.

I stickled the flowers for a little bling.

The quote

You know how I love 3D effects. I cut additional flowers from one of the 12x12 sheets of paper and layered them.

The birthday card

I love that ribbon! The pearls really make it look fantastic!

Happy Scrappin Ü

4 comments:

Kate said...: Absolutely Gorgeous. You haven't lost your touch.

Hugs,
Kate; January 15, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Edileusa said...: I'm very happy with your back!
This layout is absolutely wonderful. Congratulations!
kisses,
Edileusa; January 16, 2012 at 1:21 PM
Stacey G. said...: Beautiful journal. I found your site last year and hoped that you would return and you have!!! Your creations inspire me. I'm so glad you're back.; January 16, 2012 at 1:59 PM
The Avid Scrapper said...: Thank you, Kate! You could be paid to be a scrappers cheerleader! Ü

Edileusa, thank you very much! Ü Ü Ü

Stacey, thank you for your kind words. It is great to be back. I do have some baby albums I have made ready to post but I need them to get to my family members before I post them, so stay tuned, those are to come. Ü; January 17, 2012 at 3:49 AM

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°

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Gratitude Journal

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