The Avid Scrapper: February 2008

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Now on Esty.com!

Photo from Etsy.com

For more than 3 years now, I have sold my work on Ebay, and for the most part been happy there. However, new fee schedules and changes in feedback have had me very unhappy lately. I have been searching for a new place to call home until I can get a .com built.

Well, I found Etsy.com and it has been an answer to my prayers! It is an amazing community made up of thousands of very talented crafters. I almost feel very inferior to those selling here because they create the most amazing things! Anyhow, I have found a new home at Etsy. It is on-line store style and so there is no bidding and waiting and hoping you win, it is as simple as, "I like that, I click on it, I bought and Ta-Da! It's mine!"

If you love buying homemade, you have to check out this site! Etsy.com You have got to check out some of the work on there. Already I have favorite stores: holly, modernjune, fatdaddybakeshop, LLDesign and so many more. Feel like surfing? Check them out!

You can find me at http://www.theavidscrapper.etsy.com/. You can also click on the photos in the right column and it will take you right to my work. Hope to see you all there!

Monday, February 25, 2008

A Not So Sticky Situation

Anyone who owns a Cricut knows just how expensive those cutting mats can get! I try really hard to extend the life of each one and I think I have found a pretty great solution and thought I would share it with you.

You know how the paper fibers come off on the mattes when you peel the paper away? Well, those little fibers make the mat less sticky and less productive. Don't throw away your mat just yet! This has worked wonders for me. Just try it with one of your old mats, one you are ready to throw out, and see what you think.

Run your mat under hot water. Yes, rinse the mat with hot water until the fibers are gone.
Shake the mat off, and very lightly go over it with a microfiber towel. Don't scrub or even brush up again the tack, just lightly wipe away the access water.
Lay it out to dry.
When it is completely dry gently touch it and see if it is still sticky. You may surprised that it is more sticky than when you started! That was the case with a couple of mine.
IF, there is no stick left, spray the mat with repositionable glue spray. I got mine at Michael's in the strencil area.
TA-DA! Your mat is ready to go again and again!

So there you have it, prolong the life of each mat and save that money for more scrapbook sales! Well, what are you waiting for? Go on and make some noise with that Cricut! °Ü°

Friday, February 22, 2008

"Some Bunny to Love" Premade Scrapbook Pages

Ok, I have to be honest, when I finished these pages, I loved, loved, loved they way they turned out! I love the bunnies and the flourishes and especially all of the "bling"!

Like the puppies, I had these *bunnies waiting for just the right spread. I bought this Close to My Heart paper and thought it was just perfect for this theme. It is so feminine and gorgeous, yet playful!

I used 13 gemstone brads and 19 smaller gems! That's a lot of sparkle! Two of the mattes hold a 4x6 photo and the other a 4x4. The bunnies, and the word "bunny" are popped up with pop dots. The whole thing is inked and chalked. The journaling tags are double sided and the flowers add just the right touch. Like I said, I loved they way this turned out. My daughters went absolutely crazy over it. My youngest even hugged me and told me this was my best one yet! I almost teared up! °Ü°

So, here is to that Some Bunny to Love in our lives, be it a spouse, significant other, kids, grandparents, grand kids, pets or stuffed bunny!

* I get this question all the time: The bunnies were a computer generated image. I have since lost the images when my computer crashed in the fall of 2008. If I can regenerate the images again, I will let everyone know!

These pages were sold on Ebay Spring of 2008
ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHTED 2008 The Avid Scrapper

I work very hard to make sure my customers get a beautiful one-of-a-kind spread for their albums. Feel free to be inspired by my work but do not copy it. THANK YOU! °Ü°

Disney "GOOFY" Premade Scrapbook Pages

I absolutely love creating Disney pages. I'd have to say they are some of the funnest to work on. I knew I wanted to create a great Disney page, but wanted to do a fun character that doesn't see a lot of face time on Ebay. I love Goofy, I think just about everyone does and so this is my tribute to him!

All 4 of the Goofies are hand pieced together. All are 3D pop dotted so that there is some dimension to the pages. I love pop dots! They always add this little something extra to a layout or a spread!

The whole thing is machine stitched and I used lots of little brads for an extra touch. Of course, your photos will slide easily under the ribbons on each matte. I made the journaling tag extra long so that you can get in the whole Goofy story! °Ü°

Here's to Goofy!

Have a bunch of Goofy pictures that need displaying? This is it then! Now available on Ebay.com. Bidding ends Tuesday, April 1, 6pm PST

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHTED 2008 The Avid Scrapper

I work very hard to make sure my customers get a beautiful one-of-a-kind spread for their albums. Feel free to be inspired by my work but do not copy it. THANK YOU! °Ü°

"Puppy Love" Premade Scrapbook Pages

I had these great *puppy piecings and have been waiting for the mood to strike me to get them onto some pages! Well, I was going through my paper and found this very cute pink, brown and turquoise paper and thought, "This is perfect for the puppies!" I worked on it for about 4 evenings in a row. I managed to get all of the puppies on without it looking too cluttered, I think.

The pink matte, on page 2, with the flowers at the bottom, I actually cut those flowers out and put them on there. I thought it added charm to a matte that would have otherwise been, pretty dull. I chose the brown polka dot ribbon because I liked how it accented all of the brown in the pages and especially the inking.

All in all, I loved the way this turned out!

* I get this question all the time: The puppies were computer generated images. I have since lost the images when my computer crashed in the fall of 2008. I have searched for the images online and been unsuccessful in finding them. Because of this, I cannot make any pages like these. Sorry...

These pages were sold on Ebay Spring of 2008
ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHTED 2008 The Avid Scrapper
I work very hard to make sure my customers get a beautiful one-of-a-kind spread for their albums. Feel free to be inspired by my work but do not copy it. THANK YOU! °Ü°

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

WOO-HOO!

When Cricut first come out with their Disney cartridges, I said to my girls, "They had better make a Pooh Bear cartridge!" And guess what? They did! They made two: Pooh and Friends & Pooh Font Set. They release early next month and they are adorable. Take a look:

They are also releasing this Home Accents cartridge, which I will have to have!

And I will absolutely have to this Indie Art one, too! °Ü°

WOO-HOO! So excited!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

February's Scrapbook Pages

So, it took me a bit longer than I thought, because you know I am always overthinking everything, but I finally finished this month's class pages.

There are 4 photo mattes and one journaling tag. Also, a place to write in 10 things you love about your Valentine. I used Rusty Pickle Valentine paper and have fallen in love with this company. Their paper patterns are amazing! I used my Cricut to cut the letter, hearts, key and most of the squares. I decided on a sheer pink ribbon cause it was such a delicate touch to the harsher colors. There is a double heart charm hanging from the tag and 6 heart shaped brads. The entire spread has been inked with Charcoal Color Box Liquid Chalk Inkpad. I used 3D pop dots to raise the letters and some of the wording.

Since pictures can say it better, here they are!

The entire spread

Page 1

LOVE title. There was little piece of dirt on the heart! GRR!

The journaling tag is tucked behind one of the photo mattes and has a double heart charm hanging from it.

Page 2

XOXO has ribbons and is also poped-up for dimension. Notice the cute heart-shaped brads that hold ribbons to two of the mattes.

A close-up of the brads

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°