Scrappy CONFESSIONAL: unpopular opinions, spending, etc.

I am a pocket page scrapper. I use the old Project Life cards with the rounded (gasp!) corners. I have a big collection of cheap PL editions from TM, and I find it much easier to just go with one edition for each month, and embellish the pre-printed cards. It works for me and I’m happy with the results. I have enough PL cards to last until 2050, even though I probably won’t!

That being said….I finished 2021 up through June, then quit, and I haven’t started a 2022 album. I have thought about it….

I find a lot of really trendy stamp companies have very juvenile designs. I do not like paper dolls, stamps of little kids, etc. I do like gnomes though, lol.

I never got into Tim Holtz (too grungy) until I saw this project: tatterednestdesigns.com/bold-tidings-and-plaid-swing-tags-for-christmas/ and then suddenly I was really into Tim Holtz stuff - the Christmas stuff, at least. I love the cards made from these people: www.thepapermint.com/post/tim-holtz-sizzix-holiday-brushstroke-2-christmas-card (also check out her craft room!), and stickydots.blogspot.com/2020/07/welcome-arthur.html, a lot. I guess mostly I like Tim Holtz Christmas stuff. The Halloween projects are cool but I don't really have a need for them, although I love that owl and will use it for fall birthday cards. Mainly I don't like his Idea-logy stuff but I like the Stampers Anonymous, Sizzix, and Ranger collabs.

I love his distress sprays for making coloured cardstock, too, like in this video: youtu.be/GmtigtK6p80. Jennifer McGuire also made some Honey Bee Stamps cards with this technique a few weeks ago.

I also don't really have an issue with the "celebrities". I appreciate what they have to offer, take what I need in terms of inspiration or actual product, and don't really think about them much after that. If CZ wants to boop, have at it. If Ali wants to photograph her feet, fine. I think of them as resources.

I don't enjoy live videos with distracting chat and shout outs that take an hour or more to get through. I wait until the recorded version is posted, fast forward, stop to check in occasionally, and view the end result. I prefer edited videos that I can watch in 15 minutes or fewer.

I also don't like the brushstroke script that seemingly everyone was using a couple of years ago. I tried to avoid buying anything with it and avoidance was near impossible.

This is a great thread, I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and unpopular opinions.

I'm also on team pink. It has to be the right shade of pink, something soft and slightly warm, but I love how it looks with so many of the photos I take.

My unpopular opinion is on the use of the word inventory to describe your supplies. As someone who has worked in stock management roles it really gets my goat as the people I most often see using it are also people who have rooms stuffed to the gills with supplies. In my mind inventory should be about stock turns and just in time and managing excess, none of which appears to be done by the people who use the term.

I'll use PL cards with rounded corners, without matting them first, if it's the right card for the page I'm making, even if it's mixed with square corners.

Unpopular opinions:
- I hate plastic page protectors, especially the thick, good quality ones. I have grown to hate pocket pages too. I understand them, but I hate using them.
- I dislike a lot of the albums I've made and don't look at them very much. I'm redoing some of them as photo books, and I'm considering whether I might just toss one or both of my 6x8 PL albums.
- I never really liked PL filler cards. I never wanted to sacrifice a pocket that could hold a photo or story to someone else's words or design.
- I love the idea of Geralyn/IACB's journaling cards but I found them really hard to use, especially with handwriting.
- I dislike typed journaling on lined cards where the lines don't line up with the typing. Personally I would erase or cover the lines if I couldn't get the typing to track.
- I don't like D-ring binder albums either. I don't like the big gap between the 2 sides and I don't like how big they are. 12x12 binders are the worst.
- I always disliked the layouts I saw in scrapbooking magazines back in the 2000s.
(sorry)

I have no self-restraint when it comes to scrapbook supplies. I am the Shirley Ellis song. I see it, and I like it , and I want it, yes I do. I need it to make me happy. Only kind of kidding lol

I love Shimelle and Janet at RTS. I could watch/listen to both all day. Their love of scrapbooking is genuine and contagious.

I do not like wood embellishments, cutesy, critter anything, kawaii/doodlebug, anything grungy or dark. Not the target audience for most Tim Holtz products.

I am thinking about one specific “celeb” for this next one. I can’t take it when people who chose to make crafting their job (creating projects, selling products, classes, whatever) complain often how tired they are because they work nonstop. They feel compelled to announce they are taking a ‘much needed break’. Yes work can be tiring. It is called a job. We all get it but don’t post about it constantly. The celeb in question posts this about once every other week on Instagram.

Lastly, i can’t stand Jennifer McGuire. Gasp I know I insulted the Queen of Cards. It was her hand slapping posts about thumbs down on videos. Her and everyone else in this mindset need to grow up. Not everyone will like everything they do. They are doing it to sell something. It is not out of the goodness of their hearts. They don’t “give so much of their time for free’’. They make money doing it or they’d stop.

We like what we like! I'm curious, do you use page protectors or just put pages in albums? Or, do you just use the protectors?

I've been watching a few Shimelle's videos and I enjoy seeing what she does with inks, but like 80% of her finished layouts I don't like.

I like the look of typed journaling. I even bought some printable sticker sheets to give it a try because it will fit more journaling in than handwriting. But truthfully, I'm often in too much of a hurry and the thought of having to pull out my computer and printer to do it is just feeling like it's going to be a pain in the ass.

I am overwhelmed by large scrap rooms. I just feel like there is so much waste. I try to think about the environmental impact of what I'm doing in most of my life and scrapbooking does feel like the one area where I am so wasteful. And I still try to minimize my waste. When I see a big stash, I just think there's no way all of that will ever be used and then I think about it all going into a landfill upon the person's death. It makes me shudder. And that's not even to mention the money aspect. I was poor for so long that for a time scrapbooking was a luxury I couldn't afford. So I think very carefully about what I buy.

And I think you should give credit when you scraplift the average Joe. Within reason. I don't mind you copying designers because they are actively welcoming you to do so. But if you are posting at peas and you've scraplifted another pea, I think it's kind to give credit. I posted a blanket I did from a designers pattern. I posted in the designers group. But then I had a lady comment and she wanted to know every single yarn and color I used and what round I used them. And I just think there's a difference between inspiration and copying. With that said, I was fine with her doing her own blanket that mimics mine, if that bothered me I wouldn't have shared. But then she posted her copy in the group. This seems like a no no from me. Maybe I'm over the top but I think there should have at least been a mention. I don't know.

Victoria Marie?

I tried so hard to like October Afternoon but it was a struggle to work with their colorways, some of the patterns and the cream base.

WHAT!!?  I knew I had an unpopular opinion    Although the peas rarely disappoint! 

Okay another one...

One tiny photo (2x2, maybe 3x3, if lucky 4x4) and a 12x12 layout with a diarrhea amount of product vomited onto the page.

I am all for artistic layouts BUT there is no way a small, cropped in photo can tell me the story. I love a good 1 photo layout, when the photo tells me the story. But damn.

Yes, you are a designer or boss girl for whatever company. Doesn't matter. It's tacky as hell. And doesn't want me to run out and buy said product.

I haven't had a chance to read all of this yet, but OMG I feel like I have found my soul sisters.