The Avid Scrapper

Monday, October 11, 2010

{My "Gorgeous" Girl Layout}

It's not often that I put my own personal pages on this blog, but I had to share this one. This is my beautiful, youngest daughter. She is such joy. Both of my girls are. I love this picture of her. I took it last Thanksgiving. It has been sitting my scrap table for the past few months just waiting for me to create a page for it. I recently purchased the The Black Current Stack by DCWV. I kid you not, I have hardly any of it left! I love it and will have to go pick up another one soon. Anyways... I knew I wanted to use that paper for her photo.

There are lots of layers and the reason some of the flowers look orangy is because they are foiled and the flash did something weird to them! I used shimmer card stock and there is a little bit of everything in here. Did you see all the gems? You know I am addicted. I wonder if there is support group for people like me? °Ü° I inked and distressed the edges. Not a lot, but just enough.

For me, this is truly scrappin'! This is what it is all about. I love making beautiful keepsakes so that my grand-babies can see how gorgeous their mom was back when she was 14! °Ü°

{Monster Mash Halloween Scrapbook Pages}

I have always wanted to go as the Bride of Frankenstein for Halloween! I think it would be fun for my husband and I to dress and Frank and Bride. One of these years. How morbidly cute are these two?

I have started scrapping my pages with a little freedom built into them. What do I mean by this? Well, as you can see, there are no photo mats. When you create a page using no distinct photo mats, it gives you room to play with photos later. You can add 5x7s, 4x6s or lots of 4x4s or 3x3s and the best part of all? You can add a variation of all sizes. Add as many or few as you would like. It is a freedom I have come to love about designing this way. Be honest, what do you think about it?

The title is large! It is a 3D title in that the letters are popped up from the black shadowing. The "MONSTER" is cut from glitter card stock and the "MASH" is cut from distressed looking papers.

The mummy is so thick! All of the characters are. There is tons of layering that make up each image. making them sturdy. I cut extra layers for the mummy so he would have that genuine wrapped look. I also used Stickles for his eyes and black spots, which gives the glitter look I was going for. The spider web behind him is accented with a silver glitter gel pen and the spider is cut from faux suede paper and popped up for dimension. He has glitter eyes, too.

A little more of a close-up so you can see all of the glitter effects.

The title. The letters are inked with purple

Journaling frame. It is actually 2 frames layered one on top of the other. The bottom one has white glitter that shines through the edges of the smaller, upper frame. Now that I look at it, I think it needs gems with I will go in and put on. Don't you think? I love the little pumpkin. He's a bit different but certainly fits in with this crowd.

He's a cooky little guys, isn't he? :D

I love tulle and I think it looks great with Halloween decor! Plus I think it brings the feminine touch the pages needs. The little "button" has a 31 on it.

Notice that through out the spread, I have distressed and inked the edges.

And here they are! Looks like she is taking his hand for a dance that he is reluctantly asking for, doesn't it? Cracks me up.

Here's Frank. I love his expression. He is so not impressed! Again, I used Stickles for his eyes and the white V part of his neck. His bolts are cut from brushed metal looking paper. I also cut extra pieces so that there was a distinction between his shirt, pants and shoes.

I also inked around his face and hands to add some dimension.

I think she looks ghoulishly-fabulous! °Ü° I added some purple chalk to her hair and her famous white stripe is decorated with glitter (Stickles). He dress was cut from spider web paper, but was a little boring so I took my glitter gel pen and traced the web to give her some more sparkle!

She has a little purple eye shadow and red glitter lips. °Ü°

Here you can see all the layers and the fact that they are popped off the page. The black cat is also cut from black faux suede paper and has red glitter eyes and a little purple bat color.

So that's it! I love Halloween and had a blast creating this page. I have at least 2 more spreads I am working on from the cartridge; Happy Hauntings.

Happy Haunting to you! ;)

Designed and Created by CJL

The Avid Scrapper 2010

Please do no copy for resale. Thank You.

This spread is still available for you to purchase! Not in my Etsy store, so please contact me personally, via email. Cost is $45 + Shipping

{Strawberry Shortcake "Cutie" Scrapbook Pages}

It's been a while since I made a SS spread and I was missing this cute little face! °Ü° Once I finished, the only thing that came to mind for the title was simply, "Cutie". What a cutie she is!

The Entire Spread

Strawberry Shortcake stands about 10" tall

I love her little basket

Cute little flower gem with ribbon. Your picture will easily slide under the ribbon.

4x6 Photo Mat

2 More Photo Mats, embellished with gems

The Title. It has a 3D effect. The darker pink is popped up from the light pink shadow.

A Place for Journaling

I love this Strawberry die

The daisies have glitter on their petals and are popped up

I just love this sweet little face

Both SS images have button strawberries with gems in their bows

Gemstones! You know how I love them!

Some of the papers are embossed with glitter and really add dimension to the pages. There are lots of 3D pop dots. too! I just love SS. I don't think you can go wrong when she on the page! °Ü°

Designed and Created by CJL

The Avid Scrapper 2010

Please do no copy for resale. Thank You.

Watch for this page to be listed in my Etsy store soon. If interested, you can contact me via email. Cost is $45 + Shipping

Sunday, October 3, 2010

{Kylie's Halloween Cards}

I am lucky to have 2 very talented daughters. My oldest takes after my love of crafting and painting, and my youngest takes after my love for writing, drawing and journaling.

My oldest, Kylie, loves making cards and I envy her ability to create them so easily! I am a product of the 80's. Everything was very matchy-matchy and symmetrical. It is how I dressed, arranged the furniture in my room, it was in everything I did in Jr. High and High School and it is pretty much the same for me today. I am sure some of you have picked up that little fact in my pages! For Kylie, crafting, scrapbooking and card making is more care-free. She is really an artsy person. She is a photographer and sees the world a bit differently than most. (BTW, I wish I had just an ounce of her photography talent, too!) Anyways, back the cards, she has got a jump on her card making for the season and here are her first 5 Halloween cards. I just loved them and had to share them with you. Hope you are inspired, I know I am. Now maybe all the cute Halloween paper sitting here next to me can get put to some good use!

Happy Scrappin' °Ü°

Friday, October 1, 2010

{TP Roll Halloween Brag Book}

Yes, you read the title right. TP, as in toilet paper. I made the above brag book out of toilet paper rolls. Crazy, huh? A couple of months ago my daughter Kylie was surfing the web for new album ideas and she found someone who made these little albums. She made the most adorable one for a friend and I fell in love with it and the idea. I've wanted to make one ever since.

I'm not sure I've ever said this, but I am a Bo Bunny-a-holic. I love all things Bo Bunny. I think they are an amazing company who get's today's crafter and makes a product that is loveable, useable and reasonable. A few weeks back, I bought the Bo Bunny WHOO-LIGANS line. It's been sitting on the corner of my scrap desk just staring me down and waiting to see what I will create with all of it! °Ü° I do have plans for it, but I thought it would make the perfect little TP album given that I wouldn't be using a ton of it.

So, I gathered it all together, and my TP rolls, 5 of them. First, I took the rolls and flattened them out really good.

Don't worry if they aren't totally flat, because as you can see from the pic they don't go completely flat until you paint them. I didn't get any pics of that part of the process, but I just took some black acrylic paint and and brushed it on each roll, first one side letting it dry and then the other. Once they were completely dry, I smashed them flat and they cooperated!

Now that that part was over with, it was time for the fun part... creating! Here's a look at all the pages:

The Back cover

Once I got all of my pages done, I created 5 tags, one for each roll. They slide right into the open ends of the album. I love that!♥

So that's it! Like I said in the post below, I would have never thought of using TP rolls to create an album, but how great is it to Scrap GREEN? I ♥ it! Plus, it's an easy and fast project. Took me about 4 hours, but now that I know what I am doing, I am pretty sure that I can get the next one done in under 3.

So, let me know what you think about it; Weird? Crazy? Cute? Would you make one? I'd love to hear what you think!

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°