The Avid Scrapper: February 2009

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Strawberry Shortcake "My Sweet Girl" 12x12 Scrapbook Pages

More Strawberry Shortcake pages, as promised! I have actually had this one done for well over a week or so now, but because of everything I have had going on around here, I am just now getting it posted.

Since the pictures say it all, here are some things to look for in them:

10" tall SS paper piecing with 3D effects
3.5" tall Custard paper piecing with 3D effects
(2) strawberry paper piecings with 3D effects
Scalloped edging
Sprites flowers
Brads
Strawberry shaped buttons
Strawberry Blossom buttons
Lettered beads
Huge journaling tag that pull out
(2) muti-layered photo mats for 4x6 photos
(2) multi-layered photo mats for 4x4 photos
Acrylic tile letters
Ribbon
and so much more!

This SOLD in my Etsy store. Thank You! Ü
Designed and Created by CJL
The Avid Scrpaper 2009

New Cricut Cartridges!

On their way from Cricut are the Hanna Montana Shape Cart, Sponge Bob Squarepants Shape Cart, Ashlyn's Alphabet Font, Stamping Solution Cart, A Child's Year Shape Cart, Kitchen and Bath Decor Shape Cart (not pictured) and European Decor Solution Cartridge. Again, my favorite on-line Cricut store has the best prices. You can check them out at Memory Miser.

Sizzix Big Shot Express: Giving You MORE Power!

Can I just say... It's about time! No more cranking or pushing that handle down- Sizzix is finally coming out with an electric machine for their die cut lines. With just the touch of a button, your dies will be cut in as little as 2 seconds! Even their 12" borders will run through the machine that quickly.

Being that I still have over 100 Sizzix dies, I look forward to purchasing this! It is being shipped to on-line retailer and craft stores as soon as this month and will be available on Sizzix.com sometime this Spring.

If you know where to find one, drop me a line letting me know!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Dab, Dab: My New Favorite Product

This is the Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber, made by Ranger. I absolutely love this product. It makes my life a little bit easier! What do I use it for? When I am working with chipboard, I like to paint the edges of the albums to match the theme and papers. Inking is not practical when you are trying to this and so I have been using a sponge and acrylic paint to get the edges done.

This makes it is easy for me. A little squeeze and the sponge top-dabber does the rest! I can get my projects done in the half the time. I love, love, love these and just had to share!

Here is a little more info:

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers are the perfect mess-free paint applicator for foam and rubber stamps, cards, scrapbook pages, altered books, canvas, frames and more. These matte acrylic paints were developed with the Beautiful Adirondack coordinating palette of Earthones, Brights and Lights. Dab them directly on stamps for mess-free paint application. Use direct-to-surface, for stippling, creating dots or full coverage. Remove cap for painting with a brush.

♥ Acid free, non-toxic
♥ Individual 1 oz. dabber bottles
♥ 36 coordinating colors plus black and white
♥ Works on multiple surfaces
♥ Convenient, mess-free and portable
♥ Coordinates with Adirondack Dye Inks

The thing I love best is that if the sponge topper wears out, you can buy replacements! They come in a package of 3. To keep them lasting a little longer, dab don't drag!

To see all the colors go to Ranger's website.

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°