Confessions of a Designing Dummy!

Well, I've been debating on whether to share this or not, so I did the old pros and cons thing and well the pros won out, so I have decided to just "let it all hang out" so to speak.

As most of you know, I have been officially digitally scrapbooking since June, (yes those who have known me for a long time know I dabbled years ago when I was a paper scrapbooker)but as far as giving up paper (mostly) and becoming a real part of the digital scrapbooking community I started in June. A few months later, I decided to try my hand at designing and decided I loved it so I offered my first freebie. Maybe some of you remember it was called Magellan.

Much to my surprise, a dear sweet friend of mine gave Magellan to a well known store owner who reviewed my kit and said that while I showed promise, my extractions weren't clean and I needed improvement, SO I went back and learned how to make everything perfect. I figured out that if I checked each element on a white, black, and red, background I couldn't go wrong!!! Then I threw Magellan out to the masses and had an amazing response.

Shortly there after, the phenom known as Kasia Kimla contacted me with an invitation to design at her brand new high end store Scrapbook Art Avenue. I was thrilled and in awe that she would want me and promptly got off the computer did a very embarrassing happy dance in front of my family then gave her a resounding yes!

She sent me a contract clearly outlining the dos and dont's which I skimmed over-I mean really who cares what it said, I would probably have signed it even if it directed me to shave my head, drape myself in sack cloth and roll around in a pile of dirty uniforms at the local boys locker room! I wanted in!!

So, thus began my illustrious designing career.

Okay this is getting a bit long winded so I'll skip through all the boring parts where I scratched my way through wind and rain and dead of night trying to produce kits worthy of the amazing Kasia which, of course, NEVER happened. Seriously,that would be like Rosanne Barr trying to jump up and reach the bar that Marilyn Monroe set! In your dreams sister!

So, yesterday morning I wake up, the sun is shining through the crack left by the warm taupe damask drapes hung over the bedroom window, the sweet little songbirds have been fooled by the amazing weather to believe it's spring and are merrily singing their happy song, and my youngest son has crawled into bed with me for his morning snuggle (ya- when you tell your friends this story you can leave that part out Spencer is like a little skunk sweet and adorable unless you aggravate him.)ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh life is good!! So I hop out of bed whistling along with the songbirds and head to the kitchen for my morning cup of joe. I sit down and contentedly sip on my morning salvation, as I lovingly call it, and decide to see what's going on in cyber land. Hmm, April at the Color Room thinks my layout is sweet, awesome-your so kind April, Matt reminds me Samuel is going to Supercross, thanks, Matt, you know how bad my memory is, oh and look a message from Kasia- now what does that subject line say? My eyes are still a bit blurry first thing in the morning, so I squint and focus in, "Quality issue" oh how sweet she wants to spend some "quality time" with me.

As I begin to read I become keenly aware that the lovely weather outside is taking a quick change for the worse, the storm clouds are gathering as the ominous sound of thunder crackles in the distance, the songbirds have stopped singing in lieu of seeking shelter for the impending storm and what were once the sweet sounds of pre-dawn quite now become an unsettling and nearly insufferable silence which leaves a pit in my stomach and the nape of my neck burning like overexposed skin under a hot summer sun. -okay, I suppose I'm being a tad overdramatic here, but doggone my great day had been shot to craps and I felt like I could PUKE!

Kasia's email was to inform me that I had put out a product that was well- SUCKISH for lack of a better word, and that she had received a rather bad report from a very dissatisfied and valued customer, further more she wanted to see the photos I extracted from because they appeared to have been found online. Gulp! I felt a pressure in my chest building like a balloon being squeezed to the point of explosion.

Um, yes, Kasia it is true, I am to stupid to do my research and realize you can't use online photos for extractions, and yes, Kasia, the quality of that product is indeed Suckish and shouldn't have been done at 2 in the morning with the hopes of getting something in this week before the deadline, and yes, Kasia, I understand you have to let me go because you are a brand new store trying to make it in an oversaturated market and you want only the highest quality and best reputation...
I think you are getting the gist here. I got the boot!! and rightfully so, Kasia is building an amazing store with undeniably the BEST designers and highest quality products in the industry.

So, what does this mean to you all, Well first of all any of you who are thinking of designing, I hope you will learn 3 lessons from my mistakes,

1. NEVER use anything in your extractions but your own photos.
2. Quality over quantity always double and triple check your product and if you are doing CU items make them HUGE so the designer can tweek them without worrying about clarity.
3. DO NOT become a designer until you have been doing this for a long time and researched the ins outs ups and downs of the industry. If I had gone searching for the information that I have been scouring the internet for since yesterday to see where I went wrong before I started designing, I never would have made the costly mistakes that I made.

Okay I'm going to add one more thing, I spent literally hundreds of hours and allowed my house and children to suffer for what amounted to a few hundred bucks and a big heartbreak, in hind sight, the loss of losing my designing dreams is really a gain for my family! Be sure you aren't sacrificing the time you should be giving to the things that really matter the most like God and your family for the things that NO ONE will care about in the end.

I love you all and hope the best for each of you! Especially Kasia who gave me a chance and even though I flopped miserably it was an exciting adventure for me!! I hope you will all check out her amazing store, I can assure you she stands behind everything she sells!!!! Scrapbook Art Avenue