Professional

You can't judge whether a person is professional or not based simply on their credentials. While those who do have formal artistic training do very well at this business, there are those of us who do not have that training.

Am I to think that I'm any less of a professional than those who have a graphic arts degree? Nope- not going to happen. I've been doing this for the past three years. I've been selling for two years. There is a huge difference between the first layout that I designed in 2002 and the one that I designed yesterday. Huge difference. We're talking night and day.

And the thing is- this is true of almost every single digital scrapbooker that I know. We learn. We get better at our hobby. No matter what your style is, it will evolve over the years.

The same goes for digital kit makers. Hold on- going to hunt down some pictures for you. Ready? (I can't believe that I'm even admitting this.)

This is Baby Bug. It's one of the first kits that I offered for sale (not the first, but one of them). Oh, my gosh. FOUR backgrounds? ONE tag? *Blushing* It's small- like, really teeny tiny! How freaking EMBARASSING!

But you can still buy this at POTH DSS. Ya know, if you really, really like it.



Now- check this kit out. This is my latest upload to POTH DSS- Tracey Lee's A Boy's Life. This kit has 11 backgrounds, ribbons, ric rac, brads, eyelets/grommets, an alpha, and other stuff. Compared to Baby Bug, it's freaking huge.

Oh- and this one is also available at POTH DSS, for $6 (hey, it's my blog, and I'll advertise if I want to).

Looking at kits like Baby Bug, I wouldn't call myself a 'professional'. But- look how far I've come in the past two years! A more varied color scheme, the elements are realistic (and usable), I like the ABL patterns more than the BB patterns.

While I don't know what other people think of me (comments welcome), I do know that I view myself as a professional. I take this stuff seriously. A professional is constantly learning- they go back to school and keep up with the current trends.

Banging Heads Against Brick Walls Isn't Good For Your Health

I stumbled across a rather... interesting thread at Veggieville today. All about illegal file sharing.

First off- yes, it does happen. Just because it does happen doesn't make it right. It doesn't mean that we can't be outraged about it. It doesn't mean that we should just look the other way because people are going to do it anyway.

If we don't take the time to educate people that {pay attention, this is an important point} STEALING IS WRONG AND SHARING PURCHASED KITS IS STEALING, then we can't say that we're doing anything to prevent this theft.

Normally, I read the threads, nod my head, maybe utter a few 'damn straight' while reading. Usually by the time I get to a thread, someone (or more likely, fifteen people) have already said what I wanted to say and I really don't care for the 'me too!' and 'What she said!' posts, so I just read and keep quiet.

Today- I debated posting. Seriously debated it, even had the post all typed up and ready to go. But then I chickened out. It came across as flammatory and I really didn't want anyone to think that I was flaming them. So- here it is!

Dear Customer and Potential File Sharer:

I love you, I really do. Many times, you have helped me feed my kids, pay my electric bill, and purchase more kits to add to my ever growing collection.

But I do not care who your friends are. I do not care that you only shared the kit of mine that your purchased because your friend is 'new' to digital scrapbooking, and therefore- not willing to waste money on a hobby that she may not like. I don't care if you are trying to teach someone a technique.

If it's not given as a gift (meaning that you do NOT keep the files on your computer or purchase the kit twice), then I don't want your excuses. I want you to stop sharing my files (and those of any other designer out there whose files you might have shared). I would like an apology, but know better than to expect one from a thief.

Oh. That was a little harsh, now wasn't it? Yep. Sure was. And, unfortunately, THE TRUTH. You are taking money out of my pocket. End of story.

I think what really bothers me about this is that people really think it's ok to share with their friends. And that they think the above excuses will make me think 'oh, well then, that's ok, now isn't it?' Well- the truth is, it won't. And I don't know any designer whose mind would be changed if faced with those reasons.

With all the freebies about there- there is no reason to share a kit with a friend. You want to be a good friend- then point her in the direction of freebies. Don't turn her into an accomplice.

2Peas Blog Challenge

Ten memories from school.. Linky poo

1. Being a soda machine in a play in 4th grade. It was a play about healthy eating. The pop machines were guards, and we wore cardboard boxes. Oh- and the play was loosely based on Star Wars.


2. Early morning (7am) marching band and flag team practices.


3. 42 rolls of toilet paper on a teacher's house. We had this planned. We painted a sign in his class, dressed in black from head to toe, then road tripped to his house. We left the sign on his back porch- he knew that we were there and who did it.


4. Coming to school the following Monday morning and being there as one of the people in our group opened her locker to find it stuffed full of those Styrofoam packing peanuts as revenge for her part in the TPing.


5. Duct tape, blindfolds, war paint, and lock ins.


6. Burning the midnight oil and pen throwing- both essential parts of the drama department. And who could forget 'Sinatra loves you baby' and trying to get senior discounts based on stage makeup? Or wearing a friend's bathrobe on stage, where the audience (including your parents) are supposed to assume that you are *gasp* naked underneath?


7. Having to have *the* perfect dress and not wanting to have the same dress as anyone else at prom.


8. Deciding that it was too hot in the gym for mittens, a scarf, and a hat, walking up to the teacher's piano in the middle of the Christmas pageant to put them down before heading to the microphone to say my lines (I was in 1st or 2nd grade at the time- the play was Frosty the Snowman).


9. Playing haunted house in the tires on the playground.


10. One classmate brought kringlas to an art class fieldtrip during our freshmen year. After that- his mom had to make them for every art class field trip, all four years. The few times that she couldn't make them, he didn't quite live it down.

The Art of Scraplifting

Scraplifting. Such a controversial subject. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? If you scraplift someone- are you complimenting them or insulting them? If someone scraplifts you are you insulted or honored?

I don't think that scraplifting, in general, is all that big of a deal. But for some, it's this horrible, for lack of a better word, technique. For them- it's unethical, it's not the right thing, and it's *gasp* plagiarism! In reality- they are probably overreacting. Why do we buy scrapbooking magazines if not to look at the layouts and techniques inside and lift them for our own layouts?

We often forget that scraplifting isn't limited to just design concepts. It also includes techniques- someone inks an edge, someone else comes along and copies it. It includes element use- someone staples ribbon to the edge of a photo, someone comes along and staples ribbon to the edge of a tag. It includes journaling placement- someone journals on a photo, someone else comes along and journals on their photo. It includes photo use- someone uses one photo, someone else comes along and uses one photo. It is entirely possible to have multiple lifts, from multiple layouts on one layout.

There is a huge difference between 'scraplifting' and 'CASEing' (Copy And Steal Everything). To CASE a layout means that you take every single element and use it on one of your layouts- you use the same brand and line of papers, the same fonts, the same concept, the same quotes, title, everything. The only thing that changes is the picture and any journaling that you might include. CASEing is, if anything, even more controversial than scraplifting. It's something that I try to avoid, simply because the layout doesn't seem like 'mine' when I CASE someone. I don't get that feeling with scraplifting.

So- should we be hurt or upset when someone scraplifts us? I don't think so- I think that we should feel honored that someone liked our layout enough to take something from it and use it on one of their own layouts. This doesn't mean that I don't think that people shouldn't give credit when they scraplift (they should). It just means that I think people shouldn't get so bent out of shape about it when it does happen. We shouldn't get so offended when someone lifts our layout- we shouldn't think that someone took something away from us.

We should also realize that sometimes- lifting is incidental. Not every layout that uses a title similar to ours, fonts close to ours, or even has the same general idea as ours is a lift.

Showing Off

Yep- I'm in a showing off mood today. I just finished these two kits in the last two days.

Tracey Lee's Fall Harvest kit is the one that I finished yesterday. I like the colors in this one, as well as the patterns. It will soon be available at POTH DSS (once I get the time to upload it).

Fall is literally right around the corner. How freaky is that? It's so hard to believe that we are moving past the beach layouts and summer cookouts and heading for raking leaves and pumpkin pictures already. It feels like summer just started!

I find it interesting that how our color schemes change with the seasons. You don't see many red/orange/gold color schemes during the summer. They are already starting to pop up in the stores. And just think- in another month or two, we'll have a ton of blue/silver and red/green kits in the stores, what with the holidays (eek! Christmas! I don't even want to think about that yet!).

I can't let go of the bright colors just yet- even if I have to mute them by distressing the papers a bit. That's how I came up with my Pumpkin kit. The colors are still bright- but they're muted a bit. I think that is what I really love about this kit- I can't wait to use it myself (hopefully I'll get time this weekend). I think that what I really like is the stapled ribbons. Man- I'm loving that Warp tool in PSCS2!

Another neat element that I've included in both kits is the Pop Top ribbon slide. I saw someone use one of those on a layout and thought 'How cool is that!' I just had to make some, for myself. Plus- I haven't really seen them on digital kits yet. Yeah, here I am, hoping to start a new digital trend. Either that, or I'm completely blind and just haven't been looking at the right digital layouts.

I have another kit in the works that I'm hoping to finish this weekend- it's working title is Witching Hour. Yep- I'm working on Halloween stuff already! This kit will include a lot of purples and blues. It's about all I can do to concentrate on packing and not start working on that kit.

I do have one layout to share with you all. It's called 'Butterflies'. I used a kit from the Shabby Princess, I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but I believe it might have had Citrus in the name? I wanted something with really cool patterns, and in oranges and yellows to accentuate the bright yellow butterflies in the photos.

My parents own an eight acre, non-working farm. They have a ton of butterflies, every year. There's only one spot in the driveway that gets puddles, and after a rain and until the puddle dries up, you will see hundreds of these butterflies just sitting there. Walking through them is neat- because all the butterflies take to the air and you are surrounded by them.

I wanted something simple for this layout- the story isn't all that important, but the butterflies themselves are. I love butterflies. I'm hoping to turn the garden in the front yard into a butterfly garden next spring or the spring after.

Oh- and what's up with me and why I haven't been posting as often. First reason- nothing to rant about. Second reason- we're moving. This morning, Mike dropped a bombshell- he wants us to be in the new house before he goes back to work on the 20th! There's so much work that needs to be done here as well as at the house- bedrooms need to be gutted and rewired, we need to paint, pack all of our stuff... Oh, it's just a mess! I took the time to sit back and work on those kits simply because I needed a break. I hope to be able to start posting more once we're in the house and settled.

Buying Kits For A Good Cause

Many sites are selling kits and donating the proceeds to the victims of Katrina. So many designers have donated kits for this cause. It can be hard to keep up with who is donating what kits, and one person had the idea to compile of list of these sites in one easy to access place: Digi Scrappin With Jen.

10 Places I Want To Travel To

I've been wondering where these were at and have been missing them. First- the link: Blog Challenge. And now- my 10 places...

1. England. Not just London (although I'd love to visit), but small towns around the country.
   
2. China.
   
3. Alaska.
   
4. New York.
5. Brazil.
6. Hawaii.
7. India.
8. Japan.
9. Australia.
10. Egypt.