The Avid Scrapper: June 2008

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Coming Soon from Cricut

The thing I love about Cricut is that is every expanding the goodies for our machines! Have you seen the new products coming? These are great and I am so excited about them.

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First up is the Jukebox. This is something I have been waiting for them to come out with since I got my first machine almost 2 years ago! It holds 6 of your cartridges at one time. No more pulling out carts and putting the next in! Yes, you still have to change the overlays but that's a snap to do!

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This is a cartridge I can't wait to get. It has some of the coolest misc graphics on it! I really love the roladex image! That is going to be a fun one.

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This cartridge is a must for me. I have always wished they had more flourishes and this one has some good ones! Plus, you get the adorable alphabet.

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Want free shipping on these? Go to http://www.memorymiser.com/. She is offering free shipping when you place your pre-order! Hurry! They are shipping soon!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Dad, My Hero 12x12 Scrapbook Pages Spread

Here are the pages for my June scrapbook class. Talk about having scrapper's block! It took me 4 days of working for about 3-4 hours each day to work out the kinks I was having putting these together. Finally, yesterday afternoon, it all pulled together for me. Thank goodness! I thought I was going to go insane.

The entire spread

The title / left page.

The word dad is shadowed and the words describing him have been inked for dimension

A 4x6 photo mat. This is the only ribbon on the page. Let's face it...ribbon isn't usually a dad's thing!

This little 2.75x2.75 frame can be used for a small photo or additional journaling info.

The bottom part of title, also shadowed

The right page

Twin mattes hold a 3x4 photo

I love this quote! I just had to put it into the pages.

The journaling mat.

Another 4x6 photo mat

Did you notice that the paper looks burned and rippled? We are going to be learning that technique this month! All-in-all, I'd have to say I really am pleased with the way these pages turned out. It is going to be a good class and the best news... We are now halfway done with our family scrapbook albums! Yee-haw! Next month, the 4th of July!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Onesie Baby Boy Brag Book / Scrapbook Album

A very good friend of mine is about to become a grandma for the first time. Her daughter's baby shower was this week and I wanted to make her a brag book, but something different, something I had never tried before. I love baby onesies. It was one of my favorite things to buy for my girls when they were babies and so that is how I came up with the idea for this album. Here are the details:

Album is approx 8" tall
10 pages total, front and back including front and back cover
Monkey in front pock pulls out
Eight 3.5X4.5 photo mats
20 eyelets
Two 2" rings holding the album together (embellished with coordinating ribbons)
Every single page is sewn! Onesies are sewn with straight stitch and mats with a zig zag stitch.
Embellishments can be used for mini journaling
Brads
Buttons
Ribbons
2 Charms

Already these are a big hit with family and friends! I have orders for 3 and have 2 more cut to put up for auction on Ebay and Etsy. I will list those when they are being posted to those sights. Want a custom one made? Contact me today!

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, June 26, 2008

Coming Soon from Cricut

Friday, June 20, 2008

Dad, My Hero 12x12 Scrapbook Pages Spread

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Onesie Baby Boy Brag Book / Scrapbook Album

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