The Avid Scrapper: April 2008

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

License Plate Scrapbook Embellishment Swap

As you know, I shop for almost ALL of my scrapbook supplies at Majestic Memories. This past month, they had a license plate swap. Dodi and Mitzi talked us into it and so Kylie and I decided to try it. It was so much fun!

For those of you who do not know what a "Swap" is, it is basically a group of 7-12 ladies who make that month's themed embellishment (however many ladies there are, that is how many you make) then we turn them in and they are sorted so that each of us gets one of each. Look how cute they turned out:

This is the one I made. My theme was Summer. I am going to use this one for our Miami South Beach pages.

This one was made by Kylie. I love that her work is chic and simple, too. I loved the "screws" she added to make it look so realistic. I went and bought some more of this paper so I could do a layout or spread using her title.

I loved this one! This was made by Leticia It is so adorable! I love flourishes! Leticia works there and teaches the Monthly Scrapbook Pages, which are always adorable, too. Just FYI. °Ü°

This Easter one was made by Tiffany. I love the little fuzzy chick. I have this paper and so this will make a great title!

Jen made this adorable birthday plate. I love the font she used. The cupcake is too cute! Not only will this one make a great title but a very "sweet" card, too.

Debbie made the Born to Shop plate. I loved the little purse and shoe brads. I will have to find me some of those!

Mitzi made the Snow plate. I also have this paper and will be using this one for snow pages from Salt Lake. So cute.

Mitzi is in charge of the swaps at Majestic. She is such a doll! I missed the file folder one that is going on now. (Insert very sad face emotion-con) but there is a corners one that is coming up. I think I am definitely going to do that one!

I really like the swaps! Simple and great for working on new techniques. Try one some time!

Be Inspired but Don't Copy!

Monday, April 7, 2008

Paper Piecings: Precious Piecings by Lisa

http://www.ppbl.info/index.htm

If you are looking for adorable paper piecing patterns, then I have just the lady for you to go to! She is so talented and designs all of her patterns herself. She has well over 70 patterns and is designing and adding more all the time.

The price of each pattern starts at $2.50 and is free to have it emailed to you. If you would like to have the actual instruction sheet mailed she does that as well for an additional fee + shipping. I am telling you, amazing patterns at an amazing price!

Once you have the pattern "Permission is granted for personal use of the items as well as they can be added to pre made pages, tags, and greeting cards, for resale. However resale of the item as a separate piece or as a pattern is not permitted." (Piracy is a crime and Carma is real, people! °Ü°)

Check her out and if you order, tell her that Carla, The Avid Scrapper sent you! Thanks and enjoy her site! http://www.ppbl.info/index.htm

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°

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

License Plate Scrapbook Embellishment Swap

Monday, April 7, 2008

Paper Piecings: Precious Piecings by Lisa

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