Look what happens

When you get out of the habit of updating your blog daily -

1) You forget what the hell you have been doing for the last week
2) People stop visiting your blog and you fall off the blog chart numbers LOL

Now number 2 is just an observation because as I have said before this blog is just for me (see number 1 as to why LOL) but isnt it interesting how you give a few freebies away, and soar up to 25 or something ridiculous but then plummet like a stone when you stop giving away stuff? Gosh its a mercinary world we live in.

Mind, there has been a lot of blog activity in the scrapping world this week as some very talented and lovely ladies launched their new venture The Design Collective offering classes, private tutoring, a forum, crops and heaps of other online fun much on the lines of The Big Picture or Shimmelle's classes but far bigger, better and brighter with some big names from the scrapping world. The launch of this exciting enterprise didnt go as smoothly as it should have done though. Instead of welcoming new ideas that are going to help put British scrapping on the map, help newbies and old hands alike, and plug a huge hole in the market that the loss of our British scrapping mags left,there has been heated words, much nastiness, and some very hurt feelings. So there has been a frenzy of bloggworld reading as the scrapping community (nosy cows that we are) tried to find out who was saying what about whom.

Personally I wish the girls well in the new business. I would wish anyone brave enough to start up their own business good luck. The way of things in this country just now makes anything a huge risk with no support should you fall,even if you think you are in a 'safe' profession (just look at the state teaching and nursing are in right now).

I also think the scrapping world needs more diverse ideas, more ways in. When I started there were hardly any places you could get stash and certainly only online or at shows. I watched with glee and mounting excitment as more and more online shops and then real bricks and mortar shops opened, but then the competition and the profit margins became too much and sadly many of those shut down again. Now there are very few places selling a really wide range of goodies, and lots of those entraupenures are going over to specialising in kits or albums or such. You cant believe the problems I have had just being able to source Herma at a reasonable price because of this.

Then there is the advent of digi scrapping and now hybrid (which is basically what most of us have always done, I mean I started from day one printing out my labels and using clip art to make embellishments). Hardly heard of a year ago and now there are literally hundreds of sites and blogs giving away digi freebies or pointing you in the direction of kits for sale (Hey I know I tried it myself).

And this is why I ask we give more variety a chance. It seems our nature to either jump on a new idea and flog it to death at the expense of all the other good ideas, or dis it without even trying first. Yes kits are great but wouldnt it be even better if I could ALSO get some Herma from a shop without having to have a full pizza box of other stuff just like I used to when I started out?

Which is why I love the idea of what the DC are doing. It may not be a new idea to sell classes on line. It may not be different to set up a hints and tips forum or an on line cybercrop, but to have it all in one place without having to spend hours searchng online, to know that the class I am going to get is one in a style I will like (because I know the work the girls do). How many times have we all read posts or posted threads claiming to have 'lost our mojo' 'run out of inspiration'? What good is a scrap room full of stash if it never gets used or we dont know how to use it? now instead of having to google for hours, search huge galleries, flip through pages of mags until that little bit of 'me' time is gone and there is no time left to scrap anyway, there it will all be, with the talent and knowledge of these terrific girls but a click away.

Its something ELSE not INSTEAD of I can choose to spend my money on. And guess what? I am not stupid. I want value for money. So if I dont think it is what I want., if I dont like it or my spending priorities change then no one is twisting my arm up my back and making me buy. So if I do find that elusive Herma I can spend my money on that instead of a class.

If I like a class one month but dont have the right bits and bobs to make it I can use my following months money on stash and catch more classes the following month. How terrific is that? No more subbing up front for a year only to find the company has gone belly up two months down the line and no way of getting any money back. No more 'well I love the layout shown in this mag but I cant buy all the stuff they are sourcing because I've spent all my money on the sub'. No more 'well two months ago this mag really suited my style but now its gone all way out but I am stuck with it for another 10 months'.

They say no publicity is bad publicity, maybe that is true, maybe all the heartache the DC girls have gone through this month will give their idea one hell of a kick start. Lets hope so, lets hope that something good comes from all the pain, because this industry should be supporting new initiatives not putting them down. If the idea is bad or wrong then it will fall of its own accord (personally I dont think this one will). Businesses are hard to keep afloat and will only work if the ideas are sound, the managment strong, and the talent brilliant. I personally think the DC have all three of these things. Time will tell.

So to all the DC girls - good luck, and I wish you well in your new venture.