I Don't Get...

I don't normally have a problem with threads like these, in fact, I think that they can actually be somewhat interesting- provided that they stay civil (I've seen some turn into nasty little bash fests- especially when it comes to digital scrapbooking).

After responding to one last night, and reading the rest of the responses this morning, I realized something. What I don't get is the need to bring this up. So what if you don't understand why someone uses hinges on a digital layout? So what if you don't understand the need for paper clips? Or bottle caps? Or ribbon? If you don't like them- don't use them. Plain and simple.

Really- life is too short to get all bent out of shape because someone uses a paper clip on a digital layout (guilty- I use them all the time), or a hinge, or- heaven forbid- fakes hidden journaling (been there, done that, love the way the layout turned out). Scrapbooking is about creating beautiful pages that show off our pictures. It can tell a story- but it doesn't have to.

Not everything included on a page needs to fit the story behind the photos. You don't have to do a layout about a trip to the zoo with animal prints, cartoon pictures of animals, and name it 'Where The Wild Things Are.' You can think outside the box.

I laugh at these threads, because life is too short to worry about what is in someone else's scrapbook.

7 In 7: Day Seven

Thank You

Shutterbug

So- to recap, I've done Michelle Underwood, Holly McCaig, Julie Mead, the Shabby Princess, Stacy Carlson, and Cheryl Barber. Today is the last day of the Seven Designers In Seven Days series (it was fun, I had a blast revisiting old layouts), and today's designer is... Clara Wallace.

How can I not like Clara? Seriously- she has a black kit (Wicked Ways, featured above)! It's so easy to forget that there are goth scrapbookers out there (ahem- me). Of course, that's not the only reason why I like Clara. She's not only talented, but she's friendly and funny.

I'm sure that someone has noticed that the designers that made my list did so because they weren't just talented designers. They are friendly, and outgoing, willing to help their customers (even their rival designers). I have not seen a negative response from any of them, and have actually conversed through email and on message boards. So many focus on how talented a person is- but we forget that talent is just a small part of the overall picture. These seven designers show that it is possible to be both talented and friendly.

There are so many designers that I would have liked to have mentioned, but didn't. Rhonna Farrer, Jeri Ingalls, Maya, Lauren Bavin, Kim Liddiard, Andrea Sampson, Alicia Hansen, Ronnie McCray.

7 In 7: Day Six

Smile

I can't believe that I almost forgot about this designer!

Cheryl Barber was one of the first designers that I was introduced to. I love her style- very nostaligic- perfect for heritage layouts, yet 'new' enough that they can be used with recent pictures. I will admit that I had no idea who she was before being given the chance to spotlight her first CD, but I'm so very happy that she chose to give this chance to the team that I was on. Her elements are not only of the best quality, they are unique.

Crisis Averted...

Ya know, you never truly realize just how much of an attention ho you are until you have a problem with the comment section of your blog.

I'm so proud of myself- I fixed the problem (on my own), and while I'm not completely happy with it (the comments are no longer a pop up), I am satisfied that now people don't have to take the long way around in order to leave a comment. Yay!

Thank Holly for leaving a comment!

Quick! Leave Me A Comment!

I'm trying out a new template, and this (for some odd reason) won't let me put a comment link in the posted by line under the posts. Sooo- to leave a comment, click on the date and time (in pink) to take you to the permanent link for this post, and leave me a comment! So that I can see if this works.

I also added a music video (you'll have to scroll down to see it)- Disturbed's Remember (love this song).

I've Been Tagged...

Holly tagged me- so here I go!

Three screen names that you have had: fallynangyl, fallyn96, mommymonster

Three things you like about yourself: my creativity, my nose (I think that I have a cute nose), and the fact that I can raise one eyebrow (it comes in handy with my boys)

Three things you don't like about yourself: my weight, I'm not as organized as I could be, I'm horrible with money

Three parts of your heritage: Native American (slightly), Scotch, German

Three things that scare you: spiders, spiders, and cobwebs (anything related to spiders, really)

Three of your everyday essentials: my computer, diet dr pepper, shoes

Three things you are wearing right now: my favorite jeans, a tshirt with a large poker chip on the back, and Mike's socks

Three of your favorite songs: bitch (meredith brooks), missing (evanessence), switch (will smith)

Three things I want in a relationship: trust, laughter, communication (gotta agree with Holly on this one, lol)

Two truths and a lie: i love to do laundry, i have a theory that McDonald's french fry boxes have little heaters inside them to keep the fries hot (ever notice how quickly they get cold when you remove them from the box?), and.... i'm really a 45 year old man.

Three things you can't do without: computer, diet dr pepper, and showers

Three places you want to go on vacation: jamaica, new york city, and europe

Three things you just can't do: keep plants alive, do a cartwheel, drive a stick

Three kids' names: if my three boys (cody, dylan, evan) had been girls: courtney, jenna, and abigayle

Three things you want to do before you die: build a house, visit europe, learn ballroom dancing

Three Celeb crushes: Ville Valo, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp (as a pirate)

Three people you want to know these things about: Tenika, Jessica, and Cherry.

7 In 7: Day Five

A Weekend In Paris

Not a layout tonight, but an ATC (artist trading card). This is my first, so I'm not too sure about it. But it was fun to do. Vintage ads were downloaded from the internet, brushes are from Annika Van Holdt, font is Virginia Antique, the charm is from Rhonna Farrer, and the page kit is from today's favorite designer... Stacy Carlson.

I'm a horrible collector of digital kits. I collect and collect and collect- and find myself returning to only a couple of designers. I had to think about today's designer, simply because I'm running out of those that I actually use on a regular basis. I chose Stacy, not only for her kits, but for her demeanor. I'm big on how a person acts in the public eye (read the RESPECT entries- they pretty much sum up my feelings on the issue), and I've never found Stacy to be disrespectful of anything or anyone. I love it when I come across a designer who not only shows care in regards to her work, but also shows care in regards to how she treats not just her customers, but potential customers as well.

7 In 7: Day Four

Peekaboo

And today's designer is... the Shabby Princess.

Before trying her kits, it was easy to say 'oh, everyone loves her because she gives her kits away for free and yadda, yadda, yadda.' You know, that whole 'you get what you pay for.' Luckily, you get more than what you pay for with her kits. It doesn't matter that they are free- the quality is there. Her patterns, the grunginess, the color range, the quality- all of these make her kits desirable. No wonder she made the favorite designer lists before she actually started selling her kit.

7 in 7: Day Three

Caught!

After much consideration, today's designer is.... Julie Mead.

I will admit that I don't have as many kits from Julie as I do from Michelle and Holly, but I do love her From Girly To Grungy CD a lot. I love the colors, patterns, and fabrics that she uses in her kits on that CD, as well as the unique elements that she includes.

My Inlaws Went To Jamaica And All I Got Was A Stinkin Picture

Oh, I'm Jealous

Isn't that just a gorgous picture? Can you see why I'm jealous? I'd love to go on a Caribbean vacation. They should have taken me! Me, I tell you!

Really, I can't complain. At least my mother in law took enough pictures for me to scrap. Last night, my mother in law and sister in law showed up, looking all tanned, for supper. We had fun. They showed us their pictures, and my mother in law actually left them here. I think that she was hinting at me getting some layouts done for her book. She bought a gorgous scrapbook in Jamaica- the covers are covered with dried cocoa pods, it's fastened together with natural fibers, and it has an airbrushed beach scene on the front (note to self: take pictures of this album). She saved everything that she could- from the beads that were in sil's hair when she had it braided, to shells, to their luggage tags (with a really cool Homeland Security sticker on them), to Jamaican money. She has a ton of sunset pictures (I feel a Jamaican themed page kit coming on). She also took pictures like a scrapbooker does- you know, pictures of everything. I've trained her well.

Sooo- I'm off to see what I can do with the pictures that she gave to me (five CDs full of pictures!).

eta: I did get more than a picture. My mother in law bought me this gorgeous door hanging thingy that, according to their culture, is supposed to keep evil out of the house. Really pretty- it's a sun and a moon, with stars, in red (symbolizes blood), green (symbolizes grass), yellow (symbolizes the sun), and black (symbolizes the Jamaican people).

7 In 7: Day Two

Olives

You all knew that I would be adding her to my list of seven: Holly McCaig, aka The Digi Chick.

If you scroll through some of my recent entries, with layouts, you'll see even more of her work- she's one of my very favorites. She's also one of those who repeatedly show up on digi scrappers' favorite designer lists. I love the colors and patterns that she uses in her kits. Every kit is truly unique- no two kits are alike, and no two kits have the same 'feel' to them. She has funky kits, classic kits, romantic kits, nostalgic kits... What I'd really like to see from her would be more 'boy' colors in her kits (ahem- hint hint Holly!).

Seven Designers In Seven Days: Day One

Teary Eyed Boy

For the next seven (yes- SEVEN) days, I will be featuring layouts using kits created by seven of my favorite designers. The hard part will be choosing seven designers! This should be fun- it means delving into my stock pile of elements and picking seven of the best (at least, those that I consider to be the best).

Today's designer is Michelle Underwood. She's one of the few designers that always pops up on people's favorite designer lists- and with good reason. She's awesome. Her retro patterns and unique color schemes really stand out. You can't compare her to someone else- because there is no one else with a style like hers.

Proud of Myself

I'm so proud...

Yeah, I know. The title of this layout is a swear word, and I don't swear on my layouts (this is actually the first time that I've ever put anything questionable on a layout). I have an edited version posted in a gallery- but I'm going to be brave and post the real thing here, for all to see (well, all those who actually visit my little blog).

I really like this layout. It might not be something that I show my children at any point in the near future- it's probably something that they'll come across after I'm gone. I did this layout as an answer to a challenge. The challenge was to choose a song. I love this song- because it is ME.

It literally screams ME. I remember singing this at the top of my lungs, with my best friend. Driving down the road, this song blaring from the car stereo, just sing our hearts out. Heck, I still own this CD, and put it in from time to time, just to sing this song!

I think that what speaks to me is that we aren't all just one thing. It is so easy to forget that nobody is one dimensional. The rude person that you encountered at the grocery store today- at home, she's probably a warm and caring person. The sullen check out girl, with the piercings, purple hair, and black finger nails- maybe she's a straight A student. We are so quick to judge each other based on what we see.

I know that I'm going to be judged on this layout. I know that someone, somewhere is going to see it, and think 'how offensive!', and maybe my layout will be posted to some message board somewhere, and people who flock to the layout in question and rant and rave that language like that does not need to be included in a scrapbook.

Before that happens- let me just say this: get over yourselves and move on. It's not your book, it's mine. This is who I am, and if you are going to judge me based on one word, in one layout- that's not my loss. It's yours for not taking the time to get to know me.

Grandpa's Wishes

I do believe in God, and I do believe in what comes after this life. I believe that there is such thing as heaven- a place where we go when we die and we can look down and enjoy our family and be with the loved ones who have gone before us. I find myself believing that those who have gone before us have a way of showing their presence to those who are still living.

When my great-grandmother passed away in 1998, I was away at college. After hearing that she had passed away, I needed to go run some errands before leaving town. Each time I got in my car, this one song (My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion) would play. If I changed the station- it would be the next song playing. I believe that Grandma Fannie had something to do with that.

Fast forward to 2001. My grandmother loved cardinals. She had cardinal everything. They were really her favorite bird. Since she passed away in June 2001, cardinals have been popping up everywhere. When things are stressful- I'll see a cardinal. They don't have to be real cardinals- it can be anything from the actual bird to a wooden cut out, a pin, earrings, whatever. This is one reason why I keep a cardinal on my Christmas tree- the other reason is to remember her. The most recent cardinal spotting was Saturday, June 11, 2005. I was downtown, at the farmer's market, where they were having an Arts and Antiques fair. The first thing that caught my eye was a thermometer... with a wooden cardinal cut out on it. While looking at it, I felt... at peace and happy, and knew that everything would be ok. An hour later, I learned that my grandfather had passed away.

For the past few weeks, my father has been going through the interview process at Caterpillar. He found out last Friday that he made it through all three rounds- the only applicant to do so. The only thing that he had to do was wait for an offer. Yesterday afternoon, he received that offer. It was much nicer than he expected- more money and better benefits than he expected. My grandfather has taken care of my mother- he has helped her when things were tight, and he's made sure that she will have a beautiful place to live out the rest of her life. I truly believe that he had something to do with my father getting this job- even just a little, tiny push in the right direction.

My husband has been in a selling slump at work lately. He's been distracted and stressed out- not selling like we all know that he can do. Yesterday- he had his best day in the last few weeks. Again- I believe that my grandfather gave him a nudge in the right direction.

And today- I received an email to lift my spirits. One of my layouts is going to be published in Simple Scrapbook's A Simple Guide To Digital Scrapbooking 4. Not life changing- but still big to me. The layout that they chose is not only mine, but it also includes papers from one of my kits. This will hopefully give my sales a push- they're being published! Not only will my name be in print, but so will my kit!

I wonder now what other nudges Grandpa will be giving in the upcoming years.

Facing Mortality

What do you say to your five year old when his great- grandfather is very sick and dying? How do you confront this?

In April, we went through the whole 'funeral and death' talk when a distant family member passed away. He believes that angels come down from heaven and guide people up to heaven when they die, and that funerals are our way of saying goodbye.

But this is a tough one- in April, he was removed from death. It wasn't someone close to him- it was someone else's grandma, someone else's mommy. Now- it is his grandfather, someone who a week and a half ago was promising Cody a ride on his motorcycle if he was a good boy.

One stroke- and all that has changed. Grandpa doesn't talk. He can't move. He can't even open his eyes anymore. We don't know when he's awake, we don't know if he can hear us. He looks somewhat ok- just sleeping. And perhaps that is what is so terrifying about this. It's so easy to say 'he's ok, he's sleeping, he's fine,' even when you know the truth. He's not fine. There is no recovery from this.

We took the boys to see him yesterday, his 68th birthday. Right now, I'm comforted by the fact that he probably knew that they were there- he always enjoyed spending time with them. He got to hear about Cody's first time playing real golf. He got to hear them say 'I love you, Grampa'.

I wanted to do a layout to go with this entry- but I can't find the right picture for it. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week.

Edited to add:

I talked to my mom since writing this. He's running a fever now. The doctors think that he will probably catch pnuemonia- and if he does, he will probably die from that. It's horrible to think about- we all feel like our hands are tied. He does not want to live like this. He doesn't want to live in a nursing home, unable to care for himself.

The doctors moved him to another room on the same floor- he'd probably be better off upstairs, and Mom thinks that they kept him on the same floor for the family's sake.

Quality, Newbies, Insulting Designers

And today's buzz word is... QUALITY.

Quality can be subjective. There are many kits out there that I do not find appealing- I do not think that they are up to my standards. They are too 'cutesy', too 'cartoony' for my tastes. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are 'low quality'- just that they aren't up to my 'quality standards'.

When a group of people is discussing quality- they should leave off the comments about resolution (unless something is drastically low, resolution wise- 150ppi instead of 200-300ppi) and comments about 'cutesy' and 'cartoony'. These days, resolution that falls within the 200-300 range isn't a quality issue- more of a user preferance. Same with cutesy and cartoony- some people enjoy the cutesy, cartoony style. What they should stick to are craftsmenship- how well something was made. If the texture sharp- not blurry or distorted? Are there stray pixels? Jagged edges? When discussing quality, people should be aware that what they don't care for isn't a quality issue. The fact that it keeps coming up just shows me that there are many who are dismissing designers who do not fit their style as 'low quality'.

One of the emails that I read today addressed the issue with newbies (ok, a few of them did). I love this- it's a conundrum. I have to wonder how many designers made the decision to sell because someone, somewhere, told them that they were 'great' and that they 'should sell their kits'. The decision to become a designer should have more to do with the designer and less to do with the reactions of friends and family. The market is so saturated with designers- many of them average- that it's hard for the truly amazing designers to get a good start. I think that the only way to combat this problem is for store owners to be more selective in who they allow to sell through them. The designers are the store's face- they are what a store's reputation is builty upon.

Finally- I'm appalled at the number of people who will not give a designer a second chance- or even a chance to fix a mistake- because they are afraid of insulting the designer. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO COMPLAIN. You are not insulting the designer (unless your email to them is full of four letter words that you wouldn't repeat in the presence of your grandmother- please, people, think before you hit send!)- you are offering them the chance to correct a mistake, and in the process, IMPROVE. What really truly gets me is the number of people who make this judgement based on one kit or one freebie- they see something that they deem as 'low quality' (and how often is this truly a quality issue? How often is it really a 'style mismatch'?), so they refuse to go out and purchase or download another kit by that designer. In my eyes- that just isn't right. Instead of giving that designer a chance to improve- they are condemning them.

Oftentime in real life, we do not automatically condemn a store because we had ONE bad experience with that store. We say to ourselves 'that cashier was having a bad day', 'they were probably short staffed', or any one of the hundreds of reasons that we come up with to explain away a bad experience. If it happens again- we might complain, or we might explain it away again. When we complain, we look to see how our complaint is taken (is the manager listening? is he making up excuses? is he being polite? is he offering something to us to make up for our bad experience?)- we are guaging his customer service level. We are more likely to go back and shop at that store- even with all the problems that we've had in the past- if the manager gives great customer service. We will go back and try them again. We typically have to experience some sort of problem with a store before we decide that we won't shop there again. We give these places second- and often much more than that- chances. Why are we so quick to condemn a digital designer?

We shouldn't. Plain and simple. Give the digital designer the same chance that you would a brick and mortar store.