The Avid Scrapper

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Calling All Followers and Fans!

Win a great creative paper piecing, made just for you from me! How? Follow me and/or become my fan!

I am holding 2 drawings; One for my the followers of this blog and one for my fans on Facebook! If you haven't already signed up, be sure you do by midnight on Monday, November 30th! I will be drawing names on the morning of December 1st! {I will list the winners here on my blog and also on FB}

The drawing is for those current followers and fans, and those who sign-up before the dead line. Become both and you will be entered into BOTH drawings!

To become a follower of this blog, just scroll down to "Followers". You will find it on the right hand side. Hit the "Follow" button and sign in. It's that easy!

To become a fan on Facebook, follow this link and hit "Become a Fan"!

I will have more about the drawing within the next couple of weeks. Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks ♥

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Hello Kitty Reindeer Christmas Card

This last card swap group, I was having a creative block! I think it is because I am swamped with so many orders right now, I am fast approaching "Brain Fry"! After a few minutes of racking my brain, I remembered that the Hello Kitty Cartridge, for my Cricut, cut cards for all the images! Yes! Once again, my Cricut to the rescue! It doesn't get easier than having your Cricut cut all your images for your kits for you.

I wanted a Christmas card and found this adorable HK reindeer. I cut her 7 inches tall, so she fits perfectly in a 5x7 envelope. I mounted her on red cardstock, cut into the card shape for the same image. It is hard to see, but I used gems for her buttons and her bow is raised with 3D pop dots. I love Hello Kitty! There is just something about her that is so endearing!

Holiday Cards

I recently taught a card making class to a group of woman who wanted to get started with card making or learn the basics of creating card kits, so they could join a swap group. I designed 5 cards, all holiday themed. It was such a fun class and there were lots of us there! I love those kinds of classes- good crafts and even better conversation! Hope to do it again soon.

Here are the 5 cards:

5.5x5" Halloween

5x7 Thanksgiving

4.5x5.5 Gift Holder

This one is holding an Applebee's gift card

5.5x5.5 Christmas

4.5x5.5 Valentine

I have always been a scrapper at heart, but have truly come to love card making!

{All of my cards look like they are leaning to the right on the photos. Hmmm. Must be putting them in the scanner crooked! Sorry about that. °Ü°}

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Chic Pink & Black Edgy Chipboard Scrapbook Album

I love pink, white and black together. I don't know what it is about the combination, but I absolutely love it! I have had this paper for some time now and when I purchased this Bo Bunny Edgy album, I knew this is what I wanted to use the paper for.

It turned our really chic looking and I love it. I didn't put a title on it because I wasn't sure what I wanted to theme it. There are so many themes that could fall under these color choices: Bridal Shower, Wedding, Baby Girl, Best Friends, Mother's Day, Sisters... well, I could go on and on. So, rather than commit to a title, I left room on the cover for a title to be chosen or customized. I thought that would be best.

The album is 6x12 in size. Each page sports a different decorative edge. There are 15 photo mats, ranging in different sizes up to a full 4x6 and there are 3 journaling tags and 1 book plate for adding in names, dates, places, etc.

I uploaded a ton of photos, so let's get to them!

The Entire Album from the front

I added a small photo mat. Your title can be placed on the lower polka dotted area.

A close-up of the cover photo mat

Flower and flourish

Where you can place the title

Pages 1 and 2

Photo mat and book plate. Note the brads look like little buttons.

I love the lace trim!

More little button brads

Pages 3 and 4

"Joy" embellishment slides to either side for you.

2 photo mats and an oval tag for journaling.

Pages 5 and 6

Again, more lace.

A journaling tag tucks in behind the photo mat. Note the heart charm on the ribbon.

Journaling tag

I love flourishes!

Pages 7 and 8

Another journaling tag.

Tag slips easily behind ribbon

Pulls out for easy writing

Pages 9 and 10

2 photo mats

2 more photo mats and journaling tag

Slides out easily for journaling

Back cover

4x6 photo mount

And that's it. A really fun album that is going to gorgeous once photos have been added!

This item has been SOLD. Thanks! °Ü°

Monday, August 17, 2009

HELLO KITTY Premade Scrapbook/Brag Book

I absolutely love Hello Kitty. I have since I was a little girl. It was my favorite thing, when I was little, to go into the Sanrio store, find the Hello Kitty erasers- you know the ones that smelled like bubble gum? Take the lids off and just breath in. That is the best scent in the world and even as I type about it, I can smell it! Yummy!

Anyways, I have had the idea for this brag for a little while now and actually got it all put together about a month ago. As I am still on the road to recovery, it is obviously taking me about 3 1/2 weeks longer to get things done. I am glad to finally blog it!

The album is about 5" high and about 7" wide, including the whiskers. The core is chipboard. I used heavy, textured card stock on the the outsides of it. The bow is 3D. Inside you will find adorable Hello Kitty printed papers with embellishments, most of which are popped up using 3D pop dots. There are 11 photo mats ranging from 2"x2" to 3.5"x3.5". There are 6 chipboard pages, 12 front and back, including front and back covers.

Here's a look at the entire album:

You can that the bow is popped up from this angle.

Red, black and white ribbons embellish the 2" ring that holds the album together.

Pages 1 and 2

The pink rick-rack with the daisy is so girly!

"It's always nice to share a smile"

Pages 3 and 4

"You can never have too many friends" Epoxy sticker. The flowers are glittered and popped up. Gem stones are at the corners of these and ALL of the mats.

Hello Kitty is popped up, too.

Pages 5 and 6

Circles are popped up. Notice the little Hello Kitty tags that hang from the ribbon.

Pages 7 and 8

Again, Hello Kitty is popped up. All of your photos will easy slide under the mat embellishments. The flowers are glittered and have a gem center.

"Smile!"

Pages 9 and 10

"Hearts and flowers brighten my day"

"Best Friends"

The back looks like the back of Hello Kitty's head, bow included.

So, there it is. My girls absolutely love it! I actually have the supplies to make 2 more and can't wait to get to work on them!

This Item has sold for $45 on Etsy.com. Thank You °Ü°

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°