Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is fantastic, let alone the content!
Anyone see the MSA Featured Pres. pass kit? Not a fan. It's not very big, which I guess is fine. So these aren't kits: they're minis...even though MSA markteted this as a year-long KIT thing. But the colors are so dang bright. Love the patterns on the papers, but I just wish there was a neutral in there to make things less...tacky.
I was browsing SHCO cuz I want grandparent elements for a LO. I found these, but can anyone recommend (CU or PU) grandparent elements/vectors/kits/whatever that aren't, well, OLD people? I know that sounds kind of silly since by definition a grandparent is "three generations old," but my mom gets mistaken as my sister and my dad gets mistaken as my brother's twin lol. (They look a lot alike. A lot.) So, maybe just element vectors that aren't super hip like some, but that also don't look like they belong in a nursing home, like these: http://www.sugarhillco.com/shop/Grandparents-CU/ Those would work for ellies about MY grandparents. But I want to scrap my kids' grandparents--my parents. My mom is still chic (with no gray hair, thanks to a little help from the salon) and my dad still has all his hair and wears sneakers and jeans.
#6 I saw it. I'm a fan of Gina Miller but kits aren't her strong spot so I didn't expect anything different. I really loved the bright colors of the papers. Maybe you could use a paper from a different kit.
Wow! I spent the $5 for the pass and I don't think I'm going to even bother to download it, why take up the space when there isn't a chance that I'll ever use that. It is dissapointing how small the kits have been, I think this one is even smaller than the others have been, but at the same time for $5 for 12 I don't expect them to be super big anyway. I think I've certainly gotten my $5 worth already and I'm sure there will be a few more that are good through the year but this month is definately dissapointing.
7- My family is very young too. My mom could probably easily pass for my sister.
But, there is no reason why you cant use those images. You might get a few of her sets (like the dress up boy and girl) and mix them up to get different hair/clothing options. That's what I would do. And today, they are inexpensive enough to get a few sets without busting a budget.
I know someone was just complaining about layouts where the shadows aren't deep enough to look "realistic" on items that would be bulkier in real life. But, what I really hate is people who do those super high, super light shadows that all blend together so it looks like everything is floating a foot above the page. It just makes a nasty gray mess of the papers underneath and it looks horrible. If you do this? PLEASE stop. You're hurting everyone's eyes.
I'm 10 - I said that I've already gotten my $5 worth from the pass. But it doesn't speak well for MSA to have kits that aren't worth anyone buying. I'm not going to download a kit I won't use. And I'll never use that for anything. It's a pointless mish mash of basic elements. About the only things in that kit that look like they might be unique are the felt orange and the graffiti. The paper patterns are basic and most of them two tone, and the recolors on those tags are not very good. There was little to no effort put into this kit. I stand by that I'm not impressed.
As far as where I shop - I mostly shop at SO, SM, and SSD. I have bought from many other stores too but not as often. I don't buy only from specific designers, I buy what I need for scrapping my pages and I don't CT for anyone. Last month I spent $72.33 and the month before only $33.27 but I was on vacation for almost 2 weeks. So no, I'm not a bargain hunter who spends nothing on my hobby and I know what quality designs look like.
How about you #13? If you think that kit is so awesome, I'd love to hear where you shop.
I'm SMH at the person near the end of the last page in March who complained that anyone who buys at Sugar Hill's 75% sale is mediocre and that all kits will now look the same for the next couple of months. I don't sell there, but I do sell CU elsewhere and I will tell you that CU designers know who buys their products. We get invoices. Usually, it's the people who wax on about how using CU makes you less unique and more mediocre who are actually buying lots of my CU.
#16 I'm #13. I didn't say I was crazy about the kit.I said I'm a fan of Gina Miller but kits are not her thing. I have all her journal cards and lots of other things. I may use some of the papers but I don't know because I have tons of digi supllies so in the end I don't know what I'll use when I scrap and in what mood I'll be. I mostly shop from TLP,SSD,SM,SO and wherever I find a good sale. I never buy something that's not on sale. I spend about $200 a month on digi supplies.
#17 I saw the digi files today and I'm not impressed. I only liked Rosey Posey's kit. Becky Higgins used nice colors.Purple,brown,green,blue. Chelles kit is cute but the same colors as Rosey's.
Thanks for posting that, 2:38. I'm not a member of TDF, but based on the previews, the only one I would buy is Erin Kay Studios. The Nisa Fiin/BH one is horrible color-wise, and I don't think Rosey Posey and Chelle's are even remotely similar.
I guess taste varies - I liked the colors of Rosey Toes' kit much better than any of the others. And I really can't stand Chelle's stuff. I could never use Kate Hadfield's stuff either, but she does a nice job of it.
but can anyone recommend (CU or PU) grandparent elements/vectors/kits/whatever that aren't, well, OLD people? -----------------
I hear you! While my parents are in their seventies, they don't look like old people at all. In fact, a lot of grandparents don't look like old people, KWIM?
Feeling sheepish. I'm 21, and I didn't realize there was both a Rosey Toes and a Rosey Posey. I see the similarities between Rosey Posey (not Rosey Toes) and Chelle's kits now, but couldn't figure out how anyone thought Rosey Toes and Chelle's kits were the same.
Chelle's kit is cute, but it's very similar to the kit she did for the first week of Iron Scrapper last year.
I'm disappointed with the Feature Pass at MSA. It was advertised as a kit each month. Yes, I only spent $5 and it still worth it for the few cents each kit cost (kind of, since I have yet to use a kit I've downloaded from them). But there's an expectation of what I'm going to get when I open that thread each month. I go in expecting to get a kit and I'm instantly disappointed when I see a few papers and a couple of elements. So whatever advertising the designer might have thought she was getting by signing up to do this, is ineffective when I end up annoyed by a mini kit. If it had been advertised as a mini kit each month, my expectations would have been lower and it might have worked out better.
How can Becky Higgins be a featured designer at The Digi Files this month when she didn't actually create/design the kit being featured? That was created by Nisa Fiin. I mean, I know that Becky created the Project Life concept, but she's not the designer behind ANY of the kits. Doesn't that seem contradictory to what the purpose of TDF is?
#28 Yes Gina Miller makes kits, she has many in her shop although lately she doesn't focus on making kits. She prefers making templates, journal cards, wordarts, elements. Her kits don't have a wow factor for me but I love all her other products and I think I have purchased most of them. That's what I meant.
Audrey's been in TDF at least a couple of times, and I don't think she even designs any more. Why would she be jealous? I wondered the same thing about Nisa's kit being marketed as BH.
34 said: So whatever advertising the designer might have thought she was getting by signing up to do this, is ineffective when I end up annoyed by a mini kit. If it had been advertised as a mini kit each month, my expectations would have been lower and it might have worked out better. --- ITA. I have no problem with the price ($5 for a year of kits? YES PLEASE!), but, like you, I expect a full size kit. These are minis. That's not a bad thing except that the Pass is marketed as a year of full kits. It's like McDonald's saying "$1 for a Whopper!" but when you go in and hand over your buck, they give you a quarter pounder. Not cool.
11 said "7- My family is very young too. My mom could probably easily pass for my sister.
But, there is no reason why you cant use those images. You might get a few of her sets (like the dress up boy and girl) and mix them up to get different hair/clothing options. That's what I would do. And today, they are inexpensive enough to get a few sets without busting a budget."
--- 11, I'm post 7. I didn't see her other sets (I just looked for grandparents); thanks for the idea about switching stuff up. I have some of Miss Tiina's vectors, so I'm just gonna use those so that all the family ellies look similar. I don't need "actual old people" to make grandparent elements for my LO. :) I have to do my mom justice cuz I want to show her this LO when it's done. I think she'd cry if I made her look 30 years older than she is. And who could blame her?
43 - A whopper would still be a full sandwich, it's like they gave us a cheeseburger. Was it worth the $5/year for 12 minis, possibly, but that's not what was advertised.
About TDF - thanks for the previews. I actually like Roseytoes choice of colors. Not my style but it looks well done. The only one I would actually spend money on is Rosey Posey and only with a closer look at the elements. The colors of RP & Chelle are similar but that's where it ends. Never been a fan of Chelle's work. It always looks overly juvenile to me.
The NF/BH kit desperately needs a white of some kind. I can't see using it as is. KH isn't my style either, but I'm surprised she was allowed to just do doodles and not a full kit like the other designers.
Not a fan of the EK color choice, but otherwise looks ok. I like the FDD templates. JMAO.
Asking myself : Who are the most well known designers? I see some in differents stores and forums and i used to think that most well known designer are on DST...
It's false ! just some of designers i heard about here go on DST. For exemple i never heard about designers from sweet shop anywhere ...
re: TDF this month. I loved everything except Becky Higgins' portion. I'm not a fan of PL at all but putting that aside... the colors suck. Like someone else said, there needs to be a white paper, or just some neutral. Maybe those colors work in paper scrapping, but I'm strictly digital.
I hate both Rosey Toes' preview and Chelle's Creations' preview. They look like the elements were just puked onto the papers. Makes the kits look much worse than they really are.
So, I think it's a good month (especially compared to some of the stinkers they've had recently). But I hope other designers don't plan on doing PL stuff for their Files contribution. Do a set of journaling cards, fine. But don't cheat us out of an actual kit to go along with the cards.
52, that's a cheesy advertising attempt. But here's my view anyway: there's absolutely nothing original in that kit. The colors are boring. But if that's your thing, go for it.
52 it's so weird that you would come to a smack blog and ask what to buy. Can't you tell from the preview? And if you're still not sure check out the stores of the designers who made it to get a feel for their work. That being said, I just unzipped it and I think it looks great.
66: No, a CT scraps. A QC team checks that stuff. Like 69 said, if I see a mistake, then I'll tell the designer. But I don't QC. It takes a lot of time and effort to QC. I don't spend the extra time QCing when I should be CTing. But yes, if someone on the CT saw it but didn't tell the designers, that seems rather rude.
I'm 52 and not associated with MSA. It was an honest question. I was curious because there were kits that I thought looked great smacked here in the past. I guess I still don't have a good eye for telling things like bad recolors from previews.
That project life kit in TDF is really, really ugly - the colors are just awful.
I don't see why you'd say that Rosy Toes and Chelle's Creations previews look like the elements are puked onto the page. To me it looks like they both very carefully chose where to put those elements - they are grouped together in ways that make sense, to me. I am not a fan of the Erin Kay style minimalist preview.
As someone said above, goes to show you there are different tastes.
If a designer wants to make a smaller kit, make an AMAZING smaller kit. I'd be happy with that. The problem with Gina's kit this month is that it looks like it took 10 mins to make. It's bland, boring, and useless. I didn't even download it and it offers me ZERO incentive to check out more of her products.
If you don't have the time to put together a quality product, don't sign-up. You're only doing your reputation and your business a disservice.
I totally agree with you #79 and I'd like to add to that, that she knew she was going to be featured in November 2012 or something. Don't remember when you could purchase the pass for $5 but do remember that the designers were already announced.
I remember when a lot of the DST featured designer kits didn't quite meet expectations and those had a much higher price tag. Some designers went all out, while others barely bothered.
79 said "If a designer wants to make a smaller kit, make an AMAZING smaller kit. I'd be happy with that. The problem with Gina's kit this month is that it looks like it took 10 mins to make." --- ^^^this^^^ Actually, when I saw the kit I thought, "This looks like she just threw a bunch of castoff elements together and recolored them to match a random swatch." And I like her stuff, so I was disappointed (more so than if I had never heard of her). And for some reason, it reminds me of something she's already made. A freebie or a BYOC thing. Anyone else think that? If I weren't so damn lazy I'd get out my EHD and search for it just cuz it's bothering me.
Yes! When I first saw Gina's kit I thought it looked so familiar, like I'd seen it before. I agree it is not her best work, I feel like its something she could have released in 2008. Then again she hasn't evolved much.
4 pages in the SO so sneaky thread for this week. Not even a full page of new releases in the store and only one of those releases was a kit (by Bella Gypsy). Everything else is templates, 1 cu item, and an old release bundled.
None of those 4 pages even feature the newest kit.
87 I was wondering the same thing even the B-day releases were kind of lame and no where near the level the store had achieved in the past I am wondering if Kami's focus is more on conventions now than the store and designers in the store
Why would you want to design at SO? So you can open a store and have it closed within a month or less? Or maybe it's because of the lack of support by the store CT or when they do scrap with your product, their less than stellar pages?
I don't think you can blame it all on their CT. I CT for a few designers at SO and they just aren't releasing anything. None of them even mentioned the birthday stuff to their personal CTs it's like the whole site is tired. It's disappointing because I loved SO, but I haven't been participating there in months because it's so dead.
I hope this new site design revitalizes them, but I'm not holding my breath.
In one of my CT forums, a Honeybees said that she can only post using 100% SO products.If they use an outside SO template with a SO kit, they cannot post the layout to the gallery. Same for the SO template and outside SO kit.
Plus, as side note, their scrappin gallery still sucks.
92 it is like the whole site is tired and slowly shriveling up and it is sad I used to love it there also but have been searching out different sites now :-( maybe the site redesign will help but my opinion is the problem is much deeper like ct, designers and admin that just don't seem to care anymore...........
94 that has been the requirement for years for the honeybee's, no point in the SO CT advertising for other designers and honestly that has nothing to do with the site problems IMO. Taking on designers that aren't active seems more likely to be the problem.
I'm 90, I wasn't placing all the blame on the CT, but I believe they are part of the problem. I think 95 hit it right, it's like everyone just doesn't seem to care anymore over there.
I also think Kami and her faithful followers have burned too many bridges and pissed off too many people to get good CT, active designers, and good staff over there to help save the sinking ship.
So, why would anyone in their right mind still view SO as their dream store?
I know that we often don't know the reason a desinger's store was closed, but are you saying the designers don't know either, #99? If so I missed that one and I've been here awhile...
I'm not 99, but I remember Jen Labre's rant on FB about her store closing suddenly. I'm not sure how much notice she was given, but based on that, I'd say not much if any.
There have been several stores closed suddenly over the years. I know many guest stores that were closed with maybe a day or two's notice. That's not really notice IMO.
I'd guess many of the recent non-guest store closings were conducted the same way. Most designers who have been around awhile know what Kami is like.
#39, not jealous at all. As someone else pointed out, my products were featured twice on TDF, and I'm not designing anymore anyway. So no big deal. I was simply curious -- and really think that Nisa ought to be the one as the Featured Designer rather than Becky. That's all...
As for #40, I don't own Persnickety Prints' blog. I did a guest feature there for a few months, so I'm sure that the blog is still connected to my Google account. I'm not worried about anything I've said here -- nothing can be construed as smack, and I don't think the fact that I read here is going to reflect negatively on PP. If there is an issue, Chari is welcome to remove my name from her blog site. But since Chari and Gennifer have worked together for quite a while (formerly through a partnership between DHD and PP, and now through a similar partnership between PP and P&Co), I'm not sure that's going to happen. Like I said, I've not said anything that I wouldn't own up to in any forum or other location, so I don't have an issue with posting under my own name.
and that is why you commented accidentally under your real name up above, and then deleted it, and then re-posted? because you have "not said anything that I wouldn't own up to in any forum or other location"?
this post won't make sense to everyone, probably only a couple hundred people or so who are in the facebook-group it pertains to, and that's ok. but I have to say, does anyone else think that if carly dee spent as much time scrapping as she did purchasing paper goods and then posting to brag about those purchases, that she'd actually be using all of the products she's buying and hoarding? ohemgee. she seems to spend a hundred bucks a day.
I wish I knew where people were hanging out on FB! But even without that, Carly is absolutely obnoxious about paper. She spent all the chats during the month of challenges at TLP going on and on and on about it. It does seem like she's spending a huge amount of money too. I don't understand why the bragging, aside from "Look how much money I'm spending!!" because I don't think most people who do digi really care about paper.
Jen Labre can rant all she wants, but she knows exactly why her shop was closed at SO. Just because Kami doesn't broadcast it doesn't mean she didn't have a reason.
and that is why you commented accidentally under your real name up above, and then deleted it, and then re-posted? ____
We've seen this over and over again. Everyone tries to be anonymous, but sometimes people mess up and post under their name. They always try to delete it, not realizing that their name will still show up.
I have always admired Audrey, and this doesn't change anything.
I used to be a site CT at ScrapArtist and was appalled when they put on Gina, after they had already put on Rachel Young. Not because she's necessarily a bad designer but because her style was so similar to Rachel's and both of them were so different from what I expected to see at SA. It didn't surprise me in the least that it closed not long after that.
107 I blocked her ages ago too, but you can't block someone's posts from showing up in a group that you're both in. I am in a scrapping group on facebook that I joined to get inspiration posts. if you take her posts about purchases out of it, it's a great group but her posts are just wasted typing and clogging up the rest of the group. oh how I hope the group admins read here. . . .
I have no idea who Audrey is (except of course for her post here), and it doesn't change my opinion of PP. They still have great prints, even if Audrey posted here. FFS, I think 99% of the "top" designers read here if not actually post here. If people didn't read/post here *obvious alert* then there wouldn't be a blog.
112 - The reason couldn't have been that serious if a store like Scrap Matters took her on. I don't think Amber is that stupid.
Whether Kami broadcasts the reasons or not, she's quick to dump designers at the drop of a hat. Not exactly a sign of a stable store environment. Do your research before taking on new designers... seems like a logical business move that Kami has failed to make many times over.
That's all Kami and anyone who doesn't see that is blind as a bat.
if you take her posts about purchases out of it, it's a great group but her posts are just wasted typing and clogging up the rest of the group. --------
A legitimate peeve, that would annoy the hell out of me too.
If Kami were to broadcast the reason she'd be labeled unprofessional. JL would be a fool to tell Amber why her store was closed at SO, so it's not a matter of Amber being stupid, it's that she's uninformed.
I just hope that JL learned her lesson, and it's a moot issue.
112 and 122- you are posting anonymous on a smack blog. So either pony up and spill the reason JL's SO store was closed, or STFU about Kami Put your proverbial money where your mouth is
I am so tired of the serial CT members posting on FB how it's so hard to keep up. Boo hoo. Woah is me and now I have to step down before they kick me off. Wahhh
I agree. She's probably one of a very limited few who know the truth and to broadcast it would be potentially outing herself/himself by giving specifics.
130 - If she's one of the "very limited few" it seems likely those in the know could easily narrow it down regardless of what is said. Very limited few means 3-4 people to me.
You're not holding onto any anonymity based upon what has been said so far. Kami obviously knows as does Jen. That leaves 1, maybe 2 more people who know.
It's not worth keeping a secret. If Jen did something wrong, people should know especially if it were piracy or something illegal. If it was just bad sales, then it's really not anything smackworthy - almost every designer in digi has bad sales.
Not 125 - but I've seen no less than 3 serial CT members complaining on FB today that they are cutting their teams because they can't keep up and it makes them sad. I assume that they were getting pushback from the designers and stores for the CT person not fullfilling their obligations. I have no patience for this whining. No one made you join 22 teams.
I'd much rather just pay $5/6/7 for the kits I love and scrap at my leisure than be under all the pressure just to get kits I may or may not even love for 'free'. But then I wouldn't be OMGFAMOUS and EVERYONEPLEASELOVEME in the digi scrap world.
#139 and #140- Some people might have low self-esteem and need the 22 teams to feel good about themselves. Why else would one person be on that many teams?
#84- TLP says they are a place for unique handmade products. Why in the world is Gina Miller there? I don't know what is so unique and handmade about her stuff. Most of her packs seem to be just slapped together at the last minute.
re serial CTMs: Some people are on lots of teams because they think they can do it all. You know, they can do EVERYTHING, both IRL stuff and all their scrap obligations too. But of course they bite off more than they can chew, and inevitably they have to quit. ("YES, I'll head the PTA and I'll co-chair the Fundraising gala AND I'll promise to sew my dad's 60th birthday quilt in less than a week AND I'll scrap with 18 different products (most of which I'll get from my designers Thursday night for a Friday release)!") I'm sure you know someone like that IRL. But I can see quitting CTs as being something to be upset about, esp. if you like the designer. Or you're worried that they'll see you still CTing for other teams and take your quitting personally (which you shouldn't).
I think people think they can handle lots of scrapping, but that's not what being on a CT means anymore.
Designers change requirements left and right and then add additional duties without notice. Designers can't expect scrappers to advertise, write blog posts, create freebies, leave gallery comments, enable, be active in the CT forum, be active in the store forum (or forums), etc. This will wear people out and they will leave - leaving you with a small team struggling to do all your shit for you.
It's asking too much from too few people. Designers - get a blog team, get an advertising team. There are people who are willing to do this without layout requirements.
And maybe, just maybe, do some of this shit yourself. It's YOUR BUSINESS. Your CT are not slaves to make YOU money.
And I'd add: Designers, get your shit together. It's not reasonable to expect CT members to do a LO in the wee hour of the morning because you couldn't get your kit assembled until the very last minute. A little planning will go a long way and will make everyone's life easier.
147 - I agree with that. Designers are the ones making money. If they want to advertise "seriously", either do it yourself, or hire someone to do it and PAY them money. CT should do CT work. Period.
A lot of designers are... cheap. They hope to make good money while paying nothing and doing the least they can do. If this is a business enough to need advertising, blog articles, CT, etc. then treat it like a business all the way. Too many want to get the benefit of a business but the cost/spending/involvement of a simple hobby (and have everyone else do the work for them).
147, you have a good point. A CT is a CT. A blog team is a blog team, and a promo team is a promo team, and a QC team is a QC team, etc etc etc.
Designers: Remember that if you don't have time to do all this stuff on your own, then it probably isn't right to require your CTMs to do all of it. For free. (Oh, sorry, not for free: for a kit worth $4 to $8.) I understand why you want others to do it: So you can focus on designing. That's totally cool. A good business owner has to delegate in order to save time and make money. But that doesn't mean demanding your CT does everything you don't want to do and expecting them to do it for the same amount of "pay" as before. (Just as an employee IRL would want a raise if you increased their responsibilities and changed their job title. Or as IRL calls it, a promotion.)
A LO in exchange for a free kit is OK. A LO plus endless blogging, enabling, challenge layouts, freebies your required to make, posting to 4 plus galleries all for a free kit isn't.
Especially a problem when the added responsibilities are not advertised in the call. Have had that happen and it led to me quitting. I had time for the advertised requirements, not the "extras."
147-You are right on. I'm a CTM for a few designers. I've found that the best designers have a promo team, a blog team, a freebie team, in addition to the regular CTM that does layouts for advertisements. You'd be surprised at how much better the team participation is on the fully staffed teams.
14-But then I wouldn't be OMGFAMOUS and EVERYONEPLEASELOVEME in the digi scrap world.
This is exactly why I quit CT work. I started out with the mindset that I was helping a designer with her business and learned real quick that it was a popularity contest. That's just not "my thing" so I had to get out of it - hated being a middle school student when I was one and I'm certainly not going back to that sort of world! I started with the best of intentions, though.
If a store shuts a designer down without warning there is probably a good reason as it is not in the the owners best interest. If the designer is guilty of some unscrupulous or bad behavior that is harmful to the store or other designers, an immediate shut down has to happen. Clearly it is not professional for the store owner to share the reasons why to the public despite the fact that some feel they are entitled to knowing every little detail and there is no reason for her to share the information with a competitive store either.
Hello Burger King, this is McDonalds and we are just calling to let you know out of respect for you and your business that the person you have just hired is a thief. I just felt it was my duty to you and the world to inform you. I'm sure you will believe me because of the trust we have for each other. Your welcome.
159 - that attitude pisses me off as a scrapper - I'm not on any CTs and I don't designs. But to say "maybe designers will start to do their own jobs"? Designers design. CTs get product in exchange for work. Usually CT members spend maybe 30 minutes on a layout. Instead of forking out for the kit. Not a bad exchange. Sure some designers ask WAY too much (which is why I don't CT). But sounds like sour grapes.
#161- I wasn't talking about CT work as in layouts and gallery posting. I was talking about the extras they expect you to do. Blogging, freebies etc. That is not my job.
I'm just wondering when fanpages became the place to post pictures of yourself going out. Traci Reed I don't really care to see how you look in your car to go get gardening supplies.
As a designer I am a control freak and prefer to do my own advertising. I get annoyed when I see CTMs posting on designer's blogs. And if my girls want to make a freebie, that's great, but I would never ask them to. I think you're right, a lot of designers have gotten lazy, but then again, the income is not great for most of us. Good, but not great. They may honestly think they can't afford it.
159-you said the CTM's spend maybe 30 minutes on a layout. If you only spend 30 minutes on a layout I know why you aren't on any CT's. I spend way more time on each layout than that-unless it's with a template and a minimalist type of layout. Most of mine are not that type however. I can't even remember a time when I only spent 30 minutes on a layout.
I wonder how much of the CT quitting is people "stepping up" like they started out for some not so great designers and now they are quitting them since they've picked up some better designers? I saw someone do this a couple of months ago. She spent forever going on and on about how she was going to stop doing teams and just cut back to her favorites, online life was just so stressful, blah, blah, blah. What really happened is she's gotten on a whole bunch of SSD teams and she's cutting the teams she started with.
It's frustrating to watch because I keep getting passed over for teams, only to see the same people get picked again and again. Like why did Kristin CB ask what teams people were on, only to choose the same girls on a million teams?
Also, not buying that very many of those CT girls spend more than 30 minutes on a page. Almost every page some of these girls post is a template. How much work are you doing if you're using a free kit, another CT's template and someone's shadow style pack?
#161, I CT and have CT'd for quite a few designers and stores, and not once have I made a layout in 30 min, more like 2-3 hrs and sometimes even more, so that's like, $2/hr and I LIKE to scrap, so I definitely don't want to put in additional time doing things I DON'T like such as enabling in those stupid designer product threads, blogging, etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this.
enabling has got to be the biggest waste of time. I can't believe anyone reads those threads aside from other CT's. The only thing more annoying is when they require you to play the praise game.
169-It's probably not that unusual for the CTMs to move up to better designers. That is good for the new girls just starting CTs also though, so it frees up a space for them to get their feet wet. I worked with very new designers when I first started. I'm still with a few of them because as I grew as a scrapper, they also grew as a designer. Over the years, several of the ladies I ct for have retired, or moved to stores I don't want to go to, or changed their requirements. That opened up some time for me to add some other teams. Good luck to you if CTing is what you want to do. I love it myself. If you are getting passed up continuously, I suggest you really look at your layouts and see if there is some way you an improve them. There is currently a call at DST from a new designer if you are interested.
#169 - If you're continually being turned down for places like SSD, you are probably aiming too high for your current skill level. Try newer designers and smaller, less popular stores, as well as really studying the layouts at places like SSD, SO, SM, TLP etc, and trying to be more objective about your skill level. KCB took on a ton of guest CTs, and they're not all well-known and on 20 teams.
170. My pages also take at least 2 hours. Lots of times I'll finish them, then go back and spend another 30-60 minutes or so tweeking one thing or another. Maybe the lady that thinks it's only 30 minutes is the one that isn't getting picked up for teams.
And also, your style. If you do minimalist, you aren't going to get many SSD spots. The style there is more fill-up-the-page-ish. If you do mostly fantasy pages, your style won't mesh with SO. And so on. You have to find the stores/designers that compliment your style.
Sure some designers ask WAY too much (which is why I don't CT). But sounds like sour grapes. --- Wait, you don't CT cuz some designers ask way too much, but you then say it sounds like sour grapes?! I'm confused: Either you don't CT cuz designers ask a lot (which means you understand what we're talking about) OR it's sour grapes. Can't be both.
169 said: It's frustrating to watch because I keep getting passed over for teams, only to see the same people get picked again and again. Like why did Kristin CB ask what teams people were on, only to choose the same girls on a million teams? --- I know others have already answered you, but I just wanted to say that if you're noticing a "trend" with the same CTMs being picked, then have you looked at your LOs in comparison to theirs? Like someone else said, you've got to match your style with the designer. And if you're not getting picked, don't take it personally. It took me over a year to get on a team I really wanted (she held a call and said "Thanks but no thanks" and then her next call I was accepted. My style and skill had evolved.) My point is, just because a designer said "No" this time around doesn't mean she always will.
I never CTed for other designers but I was one of those people that had way too many things on my plate with children, working and volunteer duties for many, many years. I'd run out of room on my calendar to write everything.
Quite honestly, now that my kids are grown, I really don't want to do anything I'm so burnt out.
Nothing nasty. Just a long standing friendship. At one point, FPD (the original) and TLP was going to be one store with Amy, Gina, Tracy, Corinna et al but something or other happened and the two stores opened instead. Gina very, very briefly sold at FPD and then opened her own store.
192 Really? What are you talking about? This is only the first time she moved. She started in November selling at two stores and left one because two stores was too much. And the only reason she left Stuff To Scrap was because of what she was hearing about the owner. So how doesn't she stay in one place too long?
Katie is one of my favorite designers to CT for. She's not well known or popular...but because she's seriously one of the nicest people I've come across while digiscrapping. Why is she even being smacked? Because she was just being kind and going to help out at PDP...? because she didn't buy in like people said...she was never a co-owner. Lord forbid she or anyone else do something to try to help someone that everyone else doesn't like (Pamdelah in this case).
Again, her CT member here and I've been with her since she started...so I know.
The CT discussion (amount of work you do vs value of a kit) has me wondering if you were to create pages for a designer to sell, what commission percentage do you feel would be fair? I'm thinking along the lines of quick pages, stacked papers...the usual miscellaneous add ons to kits. In this situation, you would be creating 1-2 add ons per kit with 1-2 kits per month and paid directly by the shop. The designer would be doing all packaging and uploading to the shop.
I am a designer and I don't ask anything of my CT other than layouts and posting them in a few galleries and my facebook page. Enabling threads are a huge waste of time. My CT is always coming back and offering to do more - like freebies or blog posts. It feels like we really are a team working together.
Not all designers have ridiculous requirements. Then again, I'm not a big name designer so you won't ge an 'street cred' from being on my CT.
From Scraps by Missy's blog: "I must say that I am saddened today. I had an incident with my store on the 2nd where my store accidentally marked everything down $35 instead of 35% for my Birthday Sale. Two wonderful ladies notified me and I fixed the problem, but not before over $300 worth of products were downloaded. I cannot believe how dishonest people can be. I know some of the people who ordered as customers and I am shocked. I would never have taken advantage of someone's hard work. I have spent hours working hard on each and every one of my designs and I treasure them. It's a sad day for me. ~Missy"
Um, shame on the customers for doing this. Isn't this entirely preventable though by double-checking how you have your sale set up in your cart software or am I missing something?
194 - good for you. stick up for your designer all you want; all that was originally said was that she had moved to Scrapflower. Big effin' deal. Scrapflower is a nothing shop...and sorry, Katie might be nice, but her designs are mediocre and common at best, poorly previewed and bad palletes.
Re: girls who always get picked and some never/almost never. It's not only because your style doesn't match with the designer but I am 100% certain it's also a matter of 1: ass kissing and 2: if you're friends with the designer or not. I have been told 'No' various times while I know my layouts are not that bad/match with the layouts of the girls that do get picked.
Re: designers requiring a lot I'm lucky I don't CT for designers that ask blog posts and stuff. Already having a hard time sometimes keeping up with my normal CT duties. I don't mind playing the praise game, even though I hate the comments I get at DST.
Pretty sure that's an error on her part - she set up the sale too fast and didn't go back to double check / look at her store to check that things were marked correctly.
And blaming the customer(s)? How were they supposed to know exactly what the sale was supposed to be, or that it wasn't set up correctly? It's not the customer's responsibility, not at all. She should've double checked, bottom line.
1043 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 1043 Newer› Newest»Well that was fast for April :)
Any suggestion who to buy from at SHCO?
@2... I'd say almost any designer with exception from a few...
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SHCO - I like KimB, Rachaels Scraps and LouCee Creations.
Anyone see the MSA Featured Pres. pass kit? Not a fan. It's not very big, which I guess is fine. So these aren't kits: they're minis...even though MSA markteted this as a year-long KIT thing. But the colors are so dang bright. Love the patterns on the papers, but I just wish there was a neutral in there to make things less...tacky.
I was browsing SHCO cuz I want grandparent elements for a LO. I found these, but can anyone recommend (CU or PU) grandparent elements/vectors/kits/whatever that aren't, well, OLD people? I know that sounds kind of silly since by definition a grandparent is "three generations old," but my mom gets mistaken as my sister and my dad gets mistaken as my brother's twin lol. (They look a lot alike. A lot.) So, maybe just element vectors that aren't super hip like some, but that also don't look like they belong in a nursing home, like these: http://www.sugarhillco.com/shop/Grandparents-CU/
Those would work for ellies about MY grandparents. But I want to scrap my kids' grandparents--my parents. My mom is still chic (with no gray hair, thanks to a little help from the salon) and my dad still has all his hair and wears sneakers and jeans.
7- You probably will get more suggestions in the ISO section of DST. At least, nobody will be accused of pimping a store or designer on a smack blog!
#6 I saw it. I'm a fan of Gina Miller but kits aren't her strong spot so I didn't expect anything different.
I really loved the bright colors of the papers.
Maybe you could use a paper from a different kit.
Wow! I spent the $5 for the pass and I don't think I'm going to even bother to download it, why take up the space when there isn't a chance that I'll ever use that. It is dissapointing how small the kits have been, I think this one is even smaller than the others have been, but at the same time for $5 for 12 I don't expect them to be super big anyway. I think I've certainly gotten my $5 worth already and I'm sure there will be a few more that are good through the year but this month is definately dissapointing.
7- My family is very young too. My mom could probably easily pass for my sister.
But, there is no reason why you cant use those images. You might get a few of her sets (like the dress up boy and girl) and mix them up to get different hair/clothing options. That's what I would do. And today, they are inexpensive enough to get a few sets without busting a budget.
I know someone was just complaining about layouts where the shadows aren't deep enough to look "realistic" on items that would be bulkier in real life. But, what I really hate is people who do those super high, super light shadows that all blend together so it looks like everything is floating a foot above the page. It just makes a nasty gray mess of the papers underneath and it looks horrible. If you do this? PLEASE stop. You're hurting everyone's eyes.
#10 Get over it.You spent $5 not $50.
I'm really curious to find out from which designers you shop from and how much you spend?
Thank you #120 from the March thread. I trimmed down my newsletters and don't get SHCO's anymore.
I think Gina's is the cutest one they've had so far. I can add a kraft paper from my stash if I need a neutral to tone a page down or something.
I'm 10 - I said that I've already gotten my $5 worth from the pass. But it doesn't speak well for MSA to have kits that aren't worth anyone buying. I'm not going to download a kit I won't use. And I'll never use that for anything. It's a pointless mish mash of basic elements. About the only things in that kit that look like they might be unique are the felt orange and the graffiti. The paper patterns are basic and most of them two tone, and the recolors on those tags are not very good. There was little to no effort put into this kit. I stand by that I'm not impressed.
As far as where I shop - I mostly shop at SO, SM, and SSD. I have bought from many other stores too but not as often. I don't buy only from specific designers, I buy what I need for scrapping my pages and I don't CT for anyone. Last month I spent $72.33 and the month before only $33.27 but I was on vacation for almost 2 weeks. So no, I'm not a bargain hunter who spends nothing on my hobby and I know what quality designs look like.
How about you #13? If you think that kit is so awesome, I'd love to hear where you shop.
Any thoughts on TDF? I like the list of designers but I'm wondering if I should buy?
I'm SMH at the person near the end of the last page in March who complained that anyone who buys at Sugar Hill's 75% sale is mediocre and that all kits will now look the same for the next couple of months. I don't sell there, but I do sell CU elsewhere and I will tell you that CU designers know who buys their products. We get invoices. Usually, it's the people who wax on about how using CU makes you less unique and more mediocre who are actually buying lots of my CU.
#16 I'm #13.
I didn't say I was crazy about the kit.I said I'm a fan of Gina Miller but kits are not her thing. I have all her journal cards and lots of other things.
I may use some of the papers but I don't know because I have tons of digi supllies so in the end I don't know what I'll use when I scrap and in what mood I'll be.
I mostly shop from TLP,SSD,SM,SO and wherever I find a good sale. I never buy something that's not on sale.
I spend about $200 a month on digi supplies.
#17 I saw the digi files today and I'm not impressed.
I only liked Rosey Posey's kit.
Becky Higgins used nice colors.Purple,brown,green,blue.
Chelles kit is cute but the same colors as Rosey's.
Thanks for posting that, 2:38. I'm not a member of TDF, but based on the previews, the only one I would buy is Erin Kay Studios. The Nisa Fiin/BH one is horrible color-wise, and I don't think Rosey Posey and Chelle's are even remotely similar.
I guess taste varies - I liked the colors of Rosey Toes' kit much better than any of the others. And I really can't stand Chelle's stuff. I could never use Kate Hadfield's stuff either, but she does a nice job of it.
but can anyone recommend (CU or PU) grandparent elements/vectors/kits/whatever that aren't, well, OLD people?
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I hear you! While my parents are in their seventies, they don't look like old people at all. In fact, a lot of grandparents don't look like old people, KWIM?
but that also don't look like they belong in a nursing home, like these: http://www.sugarhillco.com/shop/Grandparents-CU/
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They don't look that bad, certainly not like they belong in a nursing home. If they had dark hair, they would look like young hipsters almost.
Thanks for the previews of TDF. The worst one was Becky Higgins, hideous colors and design. It's like a kit from 2005.
I only liked the colors on Rosey Posey's kit, the rest were meh.
#23 these could look good if you changed the color of their hair.
http://www.sugarhillco.com/shop/Vector-Family-Pets/
#20 way to go. Smart thinking. Thanks!
I'm a fan of Gina Miller but kits are not her thing.
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Since when? She's always made kits. Do you mean she's not good at it or what? Honestly wanting to know as I'm confused by your comment.
20 - Thank you. It is funny how taste varies because the only one I like of those is Chelle's. Erin Kay's is alright too.
The only one I like is Rosey Posey. Funny how we all have different tastes.
Feeling sheepish. I'm 21, and I didn't realize there was both a Rosey Toes and a Rosey Posey. I see the similarities between Rosey Posey (not Rosey Toes) and Chelle's kits now, but couldn't figure out how anyone thought Rosey Toes and Chelle's kits were the same.
I will add Rosey Posey's kit as one I would buy.
No one thought that Rosey Posey's kit and Chelle's kits were the same, someone said they were similar colors, which they are.
The only one I like is Rosey Posey. Funny how we all have different tastes.
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You and about three others. Not so different after all :)
Chelle's kit is cute, but it's very similar to the kit she did for the first week of Iron Scrapper last year.
I'm disappointed with the Feature Pass at MSA. It was advertised as a kit each month. Yes, I only spent $5 and it still worth it for the few cents each kit cost (kind of, since I have yet to use a kit I've downloaded from them). But there's an expectation of what I'm going to get when I open that thread each month. I go in expecting to get a kit and I'm instantly disappointed when I see a few papers and a couple of elements. So whatever advertising the designer might have thought she was getting by signing up to do this, is ineffective when I end up annoyed by a mini kit. If it had been advertised as a mini kit each month, my expectations would have been lower and it might have worked out better.
How can Becky Higgins be a featured designer at The Digi Files this month when she didn't actually create/design the kit being featured? That was created by Nisa Fiin. I mean, I know that Becky created the Project Life concept, but she's not the designer behind ANY of the kits. Doesn't that seem contradictory to what the purpose of TDF is?
I could never use Kate Hadfield's stuff either, but she does a nice job of it.
__
I ditto this. She's extremely talented but I'd never buy anything from her.
#28 Yes Gina Miller makes kits, she has many in her shop although lately she doesn't focus on making kits.
She prefers making templates, journal cards, wordarts, elements.
Her kits don't have a wow factor for me but I love all her other products and I think I have purchased most of them.
That's what I meant.
Jealous much, Audrey?
Wow, Audrey - pretty ballsy of you to post under your real name. Especially since you have Persnickety Prints as one of the blogs you own.
Audrey's been in TDF at least a couple of times, and I don't think she even designs any more. Why would she be jealous? I wondered the same thing about Nisa's kit being marketed as BH.
I'm over Steph's obvious hard-on for PL. it's almost as bad as her Disney fixation.
How many digi show's have been on that topic now? Lame.
34 said: So whatever advertising the designer might have thought she was getting by signing up to do this, is ineffective when I end up annoyed by a mini kit. If it had been advertised as a mini kit each month, my expectations would have been lower and it might have worked out better.
---
ITA. I have no problem with the price ($5 for a year of kits? YES PLEASE!), but, like you, I expect a full size kit. These are minis. That's not a bad thing except that the Pass is marketed as a year of full kits. It's like McDonald's saying "$1 for a Whopper!" but when you go in and hand over your buck, they give you a quarter pounder. Not cool.
They don't look that bad, certainly not like they belong in a nursing home. If they had dark hair, they would look like young hipsters almost.
---
I think you and I differ on our definition of "young hipsters."
11 said "7- My family is very young too. My mom could probably easily pass for my sister.
But, there is no reason why you cant use those images. You might get a few of her sets (like the dress up boy and girl) and mix them up to get different hair/clothing options. That's what I would do. And today, they are inexpensive enough to get a few sets without busting a budget."
---
11, I'm post 7. I didn't see her other sets (I just looked for grandparents); thanks for the idea about switching stuff up. I have some of Miss Tiina's vectors, so I'm just gonna use those so that all the family ellies look similar. I don't need "actual old people" to make grandparent elements for my LO. :) I have to do my mom justice cuz I want to show her this LO when it's done. I think she'd cry if I made her look 30 years older than she is. And who could blame her?
Jealous much, Audrey?
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Moron much?
I think you and I differ on our definition of "young hipsters."
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Who cares?
43 - A whopper would still be a full sandwich, it's like they gave us a cheeseburger. Was it worth the $5/year for 12 minis, possibly, but that's not what was advertised.
About TDF - thanks for the previews. I actually like Roseytoes choice of colors. Not my style but it looks well done. The only one I would actually spend money on is Rosey Posey and only with a closer look at the elements. The colors of RP & Chelle are similar but that's where it ends. Never been a fan of Chelle's work. It always looks overly juvenile to me.
The NF/BH kit desperately needs a white of some kind. I can't see using it as is. KH isn't my style either, but I'm surprised she was allowed to just do doodles and not a full kit like the other designers.
Not a fan of the EK color choice, but otherwise looks ok. I like the FDD templates. JMAO.
*Sorry, quarter pounder #43. Also Whoppers are at Burger King. Big Macs are at McDonalds. hehe
Asking myself :
Who are the most well known designers?
I see some in differents stores and forums and i used to think that most well known designer are on DST...
It's false ! just some of designers i heard about here go on DST. For exemple i never heard about designers from sweet shop anywhere ...
thanks for you answers
re: TDF this month. I loved everything except Becky Higgins' portion. I'm not a fan of PL at all but putting that aside... the colors suck. Like someone else said, there needs to be a white paper, or just some neutral. Maybe those colors work in paper scrapping, but I'm strictly digital.
I hate both Rosey Toes' preview and Chelle's Creations' preview. They look like the elements were just puked onto the papers. Makes the kits look much worse than they really are.
So, I think it's a good month (especially compared to some of the stinkers they've had recently). But I hope other designers don't plan on doing PL stuff for their Files contribution. Do a set of journaling cards, fine. But don't cheat us out of an actual kit to go along with the cards.
What do you think of this kit? I'm debating whether I should get it.
http://www.myscrapbookart.com/xcart/product.php?productid=17549&cat=0&page&featured=Y
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nice advertising, MSA.
Well, *I* like it, 52. ;)
52, that's a cheesy advertising attempt. But here's my view anyway: there's absolutely nothing original in that kit. The colors are boring. But if that's your thing, go for it.
52 it's so weird that you would come to a smack blog and ask what to buy. Can't you tell from the preview? And if you're still not sure check out the stores of the designers who made it to get a feel for their work. That being said, I just unzipped it and I think it looks great.
Re Gina Miller's kit. I'm not even going to bother downloading it. It's a mini - yes and not my taste at all. Pass.
there's absolutely nothing original in that kit. The colors are boring. But if that's your thing, go for it.
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This exactly!
She prefers making templates, journal cards, wordarts, elements.
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Who doesn't? Those things are easy
Jealous much, Audrey?
------------------------
Of what, exactly, is she supposed to be jealous of? Not having her name on a mediocre kit?
K Studio is going to Scrap Matters.
#61 Good to know. Thanks.
#52 7 designers managed to make that mediocre kit?
I'm not impressed but for $1.99 I may buy it.
Do you see the boo boo here?
http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/sweetshoppe/product.php?productid=25303&cat=556&page=1
No, care to enlighten us?
Free Spirt?
I want some free spirt, when I figure out what it is.
Lazy, lazy CT for not picking that up!
And it's a collab...you would think someone(designer, a member of the 2 CT teams, someone) would have caught it before it went out!
None of the CT pages shown uses that element. Maybe that's why nobody caught the mistake?
Lazy CT? Unbelievable. It's not the CTs job to QC every single element in a kit. If I use it, I'll say something.
I don't CT for those designers, but it's only a typo. Not exactly front page news.
Yes, 69, it's a lazy CT. It is the CT's job to pick up on elements that have mistakes, they are the beta testers, if you will, of a kit.
Nobody said it was front page news but designers have been smacked for less and Free Spirt is a worthwhile smack.
None of the CT pages shown uses that element. Maybe that's why nobody caught the mistake?
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Or maybe that's why none of them used it, because of the mistake.
66: No, a CT scraps. A QC team checks that stuff. Like 69 said, if I see a mistake, then I'll tell the designer. But I don't QC. It takes a lot of time and effort to QC. I don't spend the extra time QCing when I should be CTing.
But yes, if someone on the CT saw it but didn't tell the designers, that seems rather rude.
I don't CT for those designers, but it's only a typo. Not exactly front page news.
_
Shut up.
^^^^^
Damn, you are so annoying but I guess that's our goal
Ugh!! *your goal not *our goal.
I'm 52 and not associated with MSA. It was an honest question. I was curious because there were kits that I thought looked great smacked here in the past. I guess I still don't have a good eye for telling things like bad recolors from previews.
That project life kit in TDF is really, really ugly - the colors are just awful.
I don't see why you'd say that Rosy Toes and Chelle's Creations previews look like the elements are puked onto the page. To me it looks like they both very carefully chose where to put those elements - they are grouped together in ways that make sense, to me. I am not a fan of the Erin Kay style minimalist preview.
As someone said above, goes to show you there are different tastes.
Ugh!! *your goal not *our goal.
----
You were right the first time.
About the MSA kit...
If a designer wants to make a smaller kit, make an AMAZING smaller kit. I'd be happy with that. The problem with Gina's kit this month is that it looks like it took 10 mins to make. It's bland, boring, and useless. I didn't even download it and it offers me ZERO incentive to check out more of her products.
If you don't have the time to put together a quality product, don't sign-up. You're only doing your reputation and your business a disservice.
The MSA kit:
I totally agree with you #79 and I'd like to add to that, that she knew she was going to be featured in November 2012 or something. Don't remember when you could purchase the pass for $5 but do remember that the designers were already announced.
80 I think I purchased the pass in November around either DSD or Black Friday. So yes.
I remember when a lot of the DST featured designer kits didn't quite meet expectations and those had a much higher price tag. Some designers went all out, while others barely bothered.
If you could design in any store, where would you choose?
79 said "If a designer wants to make a smaller kit, make an AMAZING smaller kit. I'd be happy with that. The problem with Gina's kit this month is that it looks like it took 10 mins to make."
---
^^^this^^^ Actually, when I saw the kit I thought, "This looks like she just threw a bunch of castoff elements together and recolored them to match a random swatch." And I like her stuff, so I was disappointed (more so than if I had never heard of her). And for some reason, it reminds me of something she's already made. A freebie or a BYOC thing. Anyone else think that? If I weren't so damn lazy I'd get out my EHD and search for it just cuz it's bothering me.
Yes! When I first saw Gina's kit I thought it looked so familiar, like I'd seen it before. I agree it is not her best work, I feel like its something she could have released in 2008. Then again she hasn't evolved much.
The MSA kit by Gina looks typical of Gina, which is why I've never been a fan of her designs.
4 pages in the SO so sneaky thread for this week. Not even a full page of new releases in the store and only one of those releases was a kit (by Bella Gypsy). Everything else is templates, 1 cu item, and an old release bundled.
None of those 4 pages even feature the newest kit.
What is going on over at SO?
87 I was wondering the same thing even the B-day releases were kind of lame and no where near the level the store had achieved in the past I am wondering if Kami's focus is more on conventions now than the store and designers in the store
#83: If you could design in any store, where would you choose?
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ScrapMatters or Scrap Orchard (despite all the recent changes).
Maybe one day I'll make it there!
Why would you want to design at SO? So you can open a store and have it closed within a month or less? Or maybe it's because of the lack of support by the store CT or when they do scrap with your product, their less than stellar pages?
Seriously? What's the appeal?
#83 The Lilypad
I don't think you can blame it all on their CT. I CT for a few designers at SO and they just aren't releasing anything. None of them even mentioned the birthday stuff to their personal CTs it's like the whole site is tired. It's disappointing because I loved SO, but I haven't been participating there in months because it's so dead.
I hope this new site design revitalizes them, but I'm not holding my breath.
it could also be that since insd is coming next month, designers are gearing up for that as well.
In one of my CT forums, a Honeybees said that she can only post using 100% SO products.If they use an outside SO template with a SO kit, they cannot post the layout to the gallery. Same for the SO template and outside SO kit.
Plus, as side note, their scrappin gallery still sucks.
92 it is like the whole site is tired and slowly shriveling up and it is sad I used to love it there also but have been searching out different sites now :-( maybe the site redesign will help but my opinion is the problem is much deeper like ct, designers and admin that just don't seem to care anymore...........
94 that has been the requirement for years for the honeybee's, no point in the SO CT advertising for other designers and honestly that has nothing to do with the site problems IMO. Taking on designers that aren't active seems more likely to be the problem.
I'm 90, I wasn't placing all the blame on the CT, but I believe they are part of the problem. I think 95 hit it right, it's like everyone just doesn't seem to care anymore over there.
I also think Kami and her faithful followers have burned too many bridges and pissed off too many people to get good CT, active designers, and good staff over there to help save the sinking ship.
So, why would anyone in their right mind still view SO as their dream store?
What bridges has Kami burnt? New here and I'm Just curious
You must be new, period. Kami just up and closes designers stores suddenly and often without any warning. I'd think that burns a lot of bridges.
I just unfriended Jen Barrette. SO tired of her "aren't I beautiful" mugshots (um, NO you aren't) with the focus on her ruby red lips and cleavage.
I know that we often don't know the reason a desinger's store was closed, but are you saying the designers don't know either, #99? If so I missed that one and I've been here awhile...
I'm not 99, but I remember Jen Labre's rant on FB about her store closing suddenly. I'm not sure how much notice she was given, but based on that, I'd say not much if any.
There have been several stores closed suddenly over the years. I know many guest stores that were closed with maybe a day or two's notice. That's not really notice IMO.
I'd guess many of the recent non-guest store closings were conducted the same way. Most designers who have been around awhile know what Kami is like.
#39, not jealous at all. As someone else pointed out, my products were featured twice on TDF, and I'm not designing anymore anyway. So no big deal. I was simply curious -- and really think that Nisa ought to be the one as the Featured Designer rather than Becky. That's all...
As for #40, I don't own Persnickety Prints' blog. I did a guest feature there for a few months, so I'm sure that the blog is still connected to my Google account. I'm not worried about anything I've said here -- nothing can be construed as smack, and I don't think the fact that I read here is going to reflect negatively on PP. If there is an issue, Chari is welcome to remove my name from her blog site. But since Chari and Gennifer have worked together for quite a while (formerly through a partnership between DHD and PP, and now through a similar partnership between PP and P&Co), I'm not sure that's going to happen. Like I said, I've not said anything that I wouldn't own up to in any forum or other location, so I don't have an issue with posting under my own name.
and that is why you commented accidentally under your real name up above, and then deleted it, and then re-posted? because you have "not said anything that I wouldn't own up to in any forum or other location"?
riiiiggggggght.
Audrey, YGG! And heavens, anybody who thinks you'd be jealous of that hot mess of NIsa/Becky's has a screw loose.
Wasn't Gina Miller at Scrap Artist? If so, she's been off my radar for that long.
this post won't make sense to everyone, probably only a couple hundred people or so who are in the facebook-group it pertains to, and that's ok. but I have to say, does anyone else think that if carly dee spent as much time scrapping as she did purchasing paper goods and then posting to brag about those purchases, that she'd actually be using all of the products she's buying and hoarding? ohemgee. she seems to spend a hundred bucks a day.
I blocked Carly Dee ages ago
I wish I knew where people were hanging out on FB! But even without that, Carly is absolutely obnoxious about paper. She spent all the chats during the month of challenges at TLP going on and on and on about it. It does seem like she's spending a huge amount of money too. I don't understand why the bragging, aside from "Look how much money I'm spending!!" because I don't think most people who do digi really care about paper.
105 yes Gina was at scrap artist.
From what I read here, and my own (limited) interaction with kami, I feel like she has split personalities!
110 - your keyword is "limited"
Jen Labre can rant all she wants, but she knows exactly why her shop was closed at SO. Just because Kami doesn't broadcast it doesn't mean she didn't have a reason.
Smacking someone because they spend too much money? Now that does sound like jealousy and I don't tend to say that.
Carly Dee has bragged about her spending for years. Why bring it up now?
and that is why you commented accidentally under your real name up above, and then deleted it, and then re-posted?
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We've seen this over and over again. Everyone tries to be anonymous, but sometimes people mess up and post under their name. They always try to delete it, not realizing that their name will still show up.
I have always admired Audrey, and this doesn't change anything.
I used to be a site CT at ScrapArtist and was appalled when they put on Gina, after they had already put on Rachel Young. Not because she's necessarily a bad designer but because her style was so similar to Rachel's and both of them were so different from what I expected to see at SA. It didn't surprise me in the least that it closed not long after that.
107 I blocked her ages ago too, but you can't block someone's posts from showing up in a group that you're both in. I am in a scrapping group on facebook that I joined to get inspiration posts. if you take her posts about purchases out of it, it's a great group but her posts are just wasted typing and clogging up the rest of the group. oh how I hope the group admins read here. . . .
I have no idea who Audrey is (except of course for her post here), and it doesn't change my opinion of PP. They still have great prints, even if Audrey posted here. FFS, I think 99% of the "top" designers read here if not actually post here. If people didn't read/post here *obvious alert* then there wouldn't be a blog.
Carly Dee has bragged about her spending for years. Why bring it up now?
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because it's annoying me right now, that's why.
Who is Carly Dee?? And where can I find her showing off spending?
112 - The reason couldn't have been that serious if a store like Scrap Matters took her on. I don't think Amber is that stupid.
Whether Kami broadcasts the reasons or not, she's quick to dump designers at the drop of a hat. Not exactly a sign of a stable store environment. Do your research before taking on new designers... seems like a logical business move that Kami has failed to make many times over.
That's all Kami and anyone who doesn't see that is blind as a bat.
if you take her posts about purchases out of it, it's a great group but her posts are just wasted typing and clogging up the rest of the group.
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A legitimate peeve, that would annoy the hell out of me too.
If Kami were to broadcast the reason she'd be labeled unprofessional. JL would be a fool to tell Amber why her store was closed at SO, so it's not a matter of Amber being stupid, it's that she's uninformed.
I just hope that JL learned her lesson, and it's a moot issue.
112 and 122- you are posting anonymous on a smack blog. So either pony up and spill the reason JL's SO store was closed, or STFU about Kami
Put your proverbial money where your mouth is
Uh, no. I may be anonymous, but I'm not stupid.
I am so tired of the serial CT members posting on FB how it's so hard to keep up. Boo hoo. Woah is me and now I have to step down before they kick me off. Wahhh
124-and clearly that also doesn't mean that you have any clue WTF you are talking about
Or it means that she's one of the few who knows exactly what she's talking about.
Or she has no clue.
#100- I've also thought the same thing about Jenn Barrette.
Why exactly was Jenn Labre's shop closed at SO? For having crappy products?
I agree. She's probably one of a very limited few who know the truth and to broadcast it would be potentially outing herself/himself by giving specifics.
Any thoughts on the new BYOC this month?
#86- Gina's kit for MSA looks tossed together at the last minute. It's terrible.
130 - If she's one of the "very limited few" it seems likely those in the know could easily narrow it down regardless of what is said. Very limited few means 3-4 people to me.
You're not holding onto any anonymity based upon what has been said so far. Kami obviously knows as does Jen. That leaves 1, maybe 2 more people who know.
It's not worth keeping a secret. If Jen did something wrong, people should know especially if it were piracy or something illegal. If it was just bad sales, then it's really not anything smackworthy - almost every designer in digi has bad sales.
131 - Overpriced as always. My "favorite" was Splended Fiins $4 raindrop overlay. One overlay (and 2 mist brushes) for $4. Sick.
I seriously did like a few paper packs, but I'll wait until DSD to buy them. I didn't like any of the element packs.
#133- I don't think Jen did anything illegal. I think her and Kami's personalites didn't mesh with one another.
#134- I saw that. I had no clue what it was.
Is it just me or are there more people who don't really understand post #125? I understand her/hus first part of it but the last part: ehm?
Perhaps if they had written *woe instead of *woah it might make more sense?
Not 125 - but I've seen no less than 3 serial CT members complaining on FB today that they are cutting their teams because they can't keep up and it makes them sad. I assume that they were getting pushback from the designers and stores for the CT person not fullfilling their obligations. I have no patience for this whining. No one made you join 22 teams.
I'd much rather just pay $5/6/7 for the kits I love and scrap at my leisure than be under all the pressure just to get kits I may or may not even love for 'free'. But then I wouldn't be OMGFAMOUS and EVERYONEPLEASELOVEME in the digi scrap world.
#139 and #140- Some people might have low self-esteem and need the 22 teams to feel good about themselves. Why else would one person be on that many teams?
#125- How do you know they are about to be fired from CT's? Maybe they just happened to get behind.
SO is pretty much overrated IMO.
#84- TLP says they are a place for unique handmade products. Why in the world is Gina Miller there? I don't know what is so unique and handmade about her stuff. Most of her packs seem to be just slapped together at the last minute.
grandfathered in?
re serial CTMs: Some people are on lots of teams because they think they can do it all. You know, they can do EVERYTHING, both IRL stuff and all their scrap obligations too. But of course they bite off more than they can chew, and inevitably they have to quit. ("YES, I'll head the PTA and I'll co-chair the Fundraising gala AND I'll promise to sew my dad's 60th birthday quilt in less than a week AND I'll scrap with 18 different products (most of which I'll get from my designers Thursday night for a Friday release)!") I'm sure you know someone like that IRL.
But I can see quitting CTs as being something to be upset about, esp. if you like the designer. Or you're worried that they'll see you still CTing for other teams and take your quitting personally (which you shouldn't).
I think people think they can handle lots of scrapping, but that's not what being on a CT means anymore.
Designers change requirements left and right and then add additional duties without notice. Designers can't expect scrappers to advertise, write blog posts, create freebies, leave gallery comments, enable, be active in the CT forum, be active in the store forum (or forums), etc. This will wear people out and they will leave - leaving you with a small team struggling to do all your shit for you.
It's asking too much from too few people. Designers - get a blog team, get an advertising team. There are people who are willing to do this without layout requirements.
And maybe, just maybe, do some of this shit yourself. It's YOUR BUSINESS. Your CT are not slaves to make YOU money.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Amen, #147.
And I'd add: Designers, get your shit together. It's not reasonable to expect CT members to do a LO in the wee hour of the morning because you couldn't get your kit assembled until the very last minute. A little planning will go a long way and will make everyone's life easier.
147 - I agree with that. Designers are the ones making money. If they want to advertise "seriously", either do it yourself, or hire someone to do it and PAY them money. CT should do CT work. Period.
A lot of designers are... cheap. They hope to make good money while paying nothing and doing the least they can do. If this is a business enough to need advertising, blog articles, CT, etc. then treat it like a business all the way. Too many want to get the benefit of a business but the cost/spending/involvement of a simple hobby (and have everyone else do the work for them).
147, you have a good point. A CT is a CT. A blog team is a blog team, and a promo team is a promo team, and a QC team is a QC team, etc etc etc.
Designers: Remember that if you don't have time to do all this stuff on your own, then it probably isn't right to require your CTMs to do all of it. For free. (Oh, sorry, not for free: for a kit worth $4 to $8.) I understand why you want others to do it: So you can focus on designing. That's totally cool. A good business owner has to delegate in order to save time and make money. But that doesn't mean demanding your CT does everything you don't want to do and expecting them to do it for the same amount of "pay" as before. (Just as an employee IRL would want a raise if you increased their responsibilities and changed their job title. Or as IRL calls it, a promotion.)
Amen to 147-150.
What kills me are the designers who get uptight because a CTM actually downloads products from their store - and uses them!
THE HORROR!!!!!!!!
A LO in exchange for a free kit is OK. A LO plus endless blogging, enabling, challenge layouts, freebies your required to make, posting to 4 plus galleries all for a free kit isn't.
^^^^^^^^^
Amen.
Especially a problem when the added responsibilities are not advertised in the call. Have had that happen and it led to me quitting. I had time for the advertised requirements, not the "extras."
Of course a designer will come on here and say we are being greedy little CTM's.
147-You are right on. I'm a CTM for a few designers. I've found that the best designers have a promo team, a blog team, a freebie team, in addition to the regular CTM that does layouts for advertisements. You'd be surprised at how much better the team participation is on the fully staffed teams.
Start naming names!
14-But then I wouldn't be OMGFAMOUS and EVERYONEPLEASELOVEME in the digi scrap world.
This is exactly why I quit CT work. I started out with the mindset that I was helping a designer with her business and learned real quick that it was a popularity contest. That's just not "my thing" so I had to get out of it - hated being a middle school student when I was one and I'm certainly not going back to that sort of world! I started with the best of intentions, though.
^^^
Ooops ... supposed to be 140, not 14.
#157- Alot of scrappers are quiting. Maybe designers will start to do their own jobs.
If a store shuts a designer down without warning there is probably a good reason as it is not in the the owners best interest. If the designer is guilty of some unscrupulous or bad behavior that is harmful to the store or other designers, an immediate shut down has to happen. Clearly it is not professional for the store owner to share the reasons why to the public despite the fact that some feel they are entitled to knowing every little detail and there is no reason for her to share the information with a competitive store either.
Hello Burger King, this is McDonalds and we are just calling to let you know out of respect for you and your business that the person you have just hired is a thief. I just felt it was my duty to you and the world to inform you. I'm sure you will believe me because of the trust we have for each other. Your welcome.
159 - that attitude pisses me off as a scrapper - I'm not on any CTs and I don't designs. But to say "maybe designers will start to do their own jobs"? Designers design. CTs get product in exchange for work. Usually CT members spend maybe 30 minutes on a layout. Instead of forking out for the kit. Not a bad exchange. Sure some designers ask WAY too much (which is why I don't CT). But sounds like sour grapes.
#161- I wasn't talking about CT work as in layouts and gallery posting. I was talking about the extras they expect you to do. Blogging, freebies etc. That is not my job.
I'm just wondering when fanpages became the place to post pictures of yourself going out. Traci Reed I don't really care to see how you look in your car to go get gardening supplies.
Wow, Traci has really chunked up.
I'm not sure that she chunked up but do we really need to see her self portraits on her fanpage?
As a designer I am a control freak and prefer to do my own advertising. I get annoyed when I see CTMs posting on designer's blogs. And if my girls want to make a freebie, that's great, but I would never ask them to. I think you're right, a lot of designers have gotten lazy, but then again, the income is not great for most of us. Good, but not great. They may honestly think they can't afford it.
The comments about Traci has me wondering, do you prefer knowing personal details about designers, or do you want it kept completely professional?
159-you said the CTM's spend maybe 30 minutes on a layout. If you only spend 30 minutes on a layout I know why you aren't on any CT's. I spend way more time on each layout than that-unless it's with a template and a minimalist type of layout. Most of mine are not that type however. I can't even remember a time when I only spent 30 minutes on a layout.
I wonder how much of the CT quitting is people "stepping up" like they started out for some not so great designers and now they are quitting them since they've picked up some better designers? I saw someone do this a couple of months ago. She spent forever going on and on about how she was going to stop doing teams and just cut back to her favorites, online life was just so stressful, blah, blah, blah. What really happened is she's gotten on a whole bunch of SSD teams and she's cutting the teams she started with.
It's frustrating to watch because I keep getting passed over for teams, only to see the same people get picked again and again. Like why did Kristin CB ask what teams people were on, only to choose the same girls on a million teams?
Also, not buying that very many of those CT girls spend more than 30 minutes on a page. Almost every page some of these girls post is a template. How much work are you doing if you're using a free kit, another CT's template and someone's shadow style pack?
#161, I CT and have CT'd for quite a few designers and stores, and not once have I made a layout in 30 min, more like 2-3 hrs and sometimes even more, so that's like, $2/hr and I LIKE to scrap, so I definitely don't want to put in additional time doing things I DON'T like such as enabling in those stupid designer product threads, blogging, etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this.
enabling has got to be the biggest waste of time. I can't believe anyone reads those threads aside from other CT's. The only thing more annoying is when they require you to play the praise game.
169-It's probably not that unusual for the CTMs to move up to better designers. That is good for the new girls just starting CTs also though, so it frees up a space for them to get their feet wet. I worked with very new designers when I first started. I'm still with a few of them because as I grew as a scrapper, they also grew as a designer. Over the years, several of the ladies I ct for have retired, or moved to stores I don't want to go to, or changed their requirements. That opened up some time for me to add some other teams. Good luck to you if CTing is what you want to do. I love it myself. If you are getting passed up continuously, I suggest you really look at your layouts and see if there is some way you an improve them. There is currently a call at DST from a new designer if you are interested.
#169 - If you're continually being turned down for places like SSD, you are probably aiming too high for your current skill level. Try newer designers and smaller, less popular stores, as well as really studying the layouts at places like SSD, SO, SM, TLP etc, and trying to be more objective about your skill level. KCB took on a ton of guest CTs, and they're not all well-known and on 20 teams.
#173- That was a big shock to me that she picked non well-known ladies.
170. My pages also take at least 2 hours. Lots of times I'll finish them, then go back and spend another 30-60 minutes or so tweeking one thing or another. Maybe the lady that thinks it's only 30 minutes is the one that isn't getting picked up for teams.
And also, your style. If you do minimalist, you aren't going to get many SSD spots. The style there is more fill-up-the-page-ish. If you do mostly fantasy pages, your style won't mesh with SO. And so on. You have to find the stores/designers that compliment your style.
TLP says they are a place for unique handmade products. Why in the world is Gina Miller there? I
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There's a long, long history there.
Katie creates announced she's selling at scrap flower
177- we have time. Do tell.
Why do we care about Katie Creates? Sounds like your her and just trying to advertise for you.
amen 163, I was thinking the same exact thing this afternoon. she's such an attention whore.
amen 163, I was thinking the same exact thing this afternoon. she's such an attention whore.
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Especially when she just posted on the SSD forum that she doesn't mix her private and business lives..ever.
if that photo was business-related, then by the transitive property this means she is a "professional" if you know what I mean. LMAO
#181- I'm glad someone agrees with me that Traci is an attention whore. How many customers are really going to care how she looks sitting in her car?
#183- She does Urban Gardening now.
185, do you not understand 183 was being sarcastic? she was making a joke about Traci being a whore. don't be so literal.
178 Okay and?
And 180, I CT for Katie and I can tell you that that is not her.
#186- I know what she meant. I was also making a joke. Your point is....?
Sure some designers ask WAY too much (which is why I don't CT). But sounds like sour grapes.
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Wait, you don't CT cuz some designers ask way too much, but you then say it sounds like sour grapes?! I'm confused: Either you don't CT cuz designers ask a lot (which means you understand what we're talking about) OR it's sour grapes. Can't be both.
169 said: It's frustrating to watch because I keep getting passed over for teams, only to see the same people get picked again and again. Like why did Kristin CB ask what teams people were on, only to choose the same girls on a million teams?
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I know others have already answered you, but I just wanted to say that if you're noticing a "trend" with the same CTMs being picked, then have you looked at your LOs in comparison to theirs? Like someone else said, you've got to match your style with the designer. And if you're not getting picked, don't take it personally. It took me over a year to get on a team I really wanted (she held a call and said "Thanks but no thanks" and then her next call I was accepted. My style and skill had evolved.) My point is, just because a designer said "No" this time around doesn't mean she always will.
I never CTed for other designers but I was one of those people that had way too many things on my plate with children, working and volunteer duties for many, many years. I'd run out of room on my calendar to write everything.
Quite honestly, now that my kids are grown, I really don't want to do anything I'm so burnt out.
I don't think being that busy is good for anyone.
Katie creates announced she's selling at scrap flower
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I wonder how long she'll be there. She doesn't stay in one place for too long.
177- we have time. Do tell.
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Nothing nasty. Just a long standing friendship. At one point, FPD (the original) and TLP was going to be one store with Amy, Gina, Tracy, Corinna et al but something or other happened and the two stores opened instead. Gina very, very briefly sold at FPD and then opened her own store.
192 Really? What are you talking about? This is only the first time she moved. She started in November selling at two stores and left one because two stores was too much. And the only reason she left Stuff To Scrap was because of what she was hearing about the owner. So how doesn't she stay in one place too long?
Katie is one of my favorite designers to CT for. She's not well known or popular...but because she's seriously one of the nicest people I've come across while digiscrapping. Why is she even being smacked? Because she was just being kind and going to help out at PDP...? because she didn't buy in like people said...she was never a co-owner. Lord forbid she or anyone else do something to try to help someone that everyone else doesn't like (Pamdelah in this case).
Again, her CT member here and I've been with her since she started...so I know.
The CT discussion (amount of work you do vs value of a kit) has me wondering if you were to create pages for a designer to sell, what commission percentage do you feel would be fair? I'm thinking along the lines of quick pages, stacked papers...the usual miscellaneous add ons to kits. In this situation, you would be creating 1-2 add ons per kit with 1-2 kits per month and paid directly by the shop. The designer would be doing all packaging and uploading to the shop.
I am a designer and I don't ask anything of my CT other than layouts and posting them in a few galleries and my facebook page. Enabling threads are a huge waste of time. My CT is always coming back and offering to do more - like freebies or blog posts. It feels like we really are a team working together.
Not all designers have ridiculous requirements. Then again, I'm not a big name designer so you won't ge an 'street cred' from being on my CT.
From Scraps by Missy's blog:
"I must say that I am saddened today. I had an incident with my store on the 2nd where my store accidentally marked everything down $35 instead of 35% for my Birthday Sale. Two wonderful ladies notified me and I fixed the problem, but not before over $300 worth of products were downloaded. I cannot believe how dishonest people can be. I know some of the people who ordered as customers and I am shocked. I would never have taken advantage of someone's hard work. I have spent hours working hard on each and every one of my designs and I treasure them. It's a sad day for me. ~Missy"
Um, shame on the customers for doing this. Isn't this entirely preventable though by double-checking how you have your sale set up in your cart software or am I missing something?
194 - good for you. stick up for your designer all you want; all that was originally said was that she had moved to Scrapflower. Big effin' deal. Scrapflower is a nothing shop...and sorry, Katie might be nice, but her designs are mediocre and common at best, poorly previewed and bad palletes.
Re: girls who always get picked and some never/almost never. It's not only because your style doesn't match with the designer but I am 100% certain it's also a matter of 1: ass kissing and 2: if you're friends with the designer or not. I have been told 'No' various times while I know my layouts are not that bad/match with the layouts of the girls that do get picked.
Re: designers requiring a lot
I'm lucky I don't CT for designers that ask blog posts and stuff. Already having a hard time sometimes keeping up with my normal CT duties. I don't mind playing the praise game, even though I hate the comments I get at DST.
Pretty sure that's an error on her part - she set up the sale too fast and didn't go back to double check / look at her store to check that things were marked correctly.
And blaming the customer(s)? How were they supposed to know exactly what the sale was supposed to be, or that it wasn't set up correctly? It's not the customer's responsibility, not at all. She should've double checked, bottom line.
I wouldn't apply to a CT that required blog posts or enabling threads or any of that. Again, it's easier to just buy the kit.
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