Acceptance and Judgement...

Do you know what I think is the #1 cause of death of the spirit of the scrapbooker?

Acceptance and Judgement

Acceptance keeps making little cameo appearances in this wacky world of paper crafting, and I'm beginning to wonder if it really should have a place here. The need for acceptance of our work, the desire to be accepted into the folds of the elite, the race to be accepted into positions that could speed up our ascension up that imaginary ladder. Those are the types of acceptance that I think the scrapbooking industry could do without. The good old fashioned acceptance of each other as individuals with different design perceptions... well that poor thing has been kicked, prodded and sentenced to a lifetime sentence in the dungeons of public opinion. Which brings me to judgement.

I swear if I say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder one more time, somebody take an eyelet setter to me. Judgement is the worst thing to happen to this industry, to this craft for that matter. The problem with judgement in scrapbooking is that even in it's most well meaning form, it is a determination that one (or some) person (people) are capable of producing better work than their peers. That in turn lays a firm foundation for glory seeking and yes, even more judgement. The sad thing is that while all of this judgement is going on, somewhere someone is packing up their scissors and paper because they don't feel that have "what it takes". Sadder still is that somewhere someone is struggling with a hobby that is supposed to fun and from the heart because she is trying to modify her work to make her more acceptable to those who judge her.

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I swear, it just makes me want to scream sometimes. I've been there; I hung up my paper trimmer for almost 6 months because of the judgement/acceptance game. I tried to be what I was told I needed to be to get where I thought I needed to get. I wound up chipping away at a scrapblock until I found my own style, albeit a style that was a representation of who I am as a crafter and not what I was being told what the industry dictated to be "in"...*gasp*. When I did that, I found myself eternally an undesirable... well, my family and friends thought I was good at what I did...but that still wasn't enough. I set myself on an impossible mission to achieve the goals that I felt I needed to achieve, while remaining true to my sense of style and design. It was an uphill battle in roller skates... and it almost cost me my hobby.

I walked away from scrapbooking completely. I closed up my craft room and resigned myself to do 'other things' during the time that I would normally be scrapping. I nursed my emotional wounds for 5 or so months. I did my soul searching and vacuuming at the same time (you should try it). One day, everything that I wrote in the last post hit me and it was like a bomb went off in my head. I rushed into my scrap room, dusted everything off, reinventoried, and reinvented myself. Well, actually... there was no need to reinvent... I just learned to accept myself. Since that day, the only acceptance that I've allowed myself to need is my own.
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I'm not going to be so stupid as to say that judgement and acceptance hasn't paved the way for many scrappers to take their craft to different levels (with or without ascension up the ladder), there is no doubt that it has pushed some who would've otherwise not pushed themselves. But sometimes it gets to the point where the judgement and acceptance are wielded like a razor edged sword and people really get hurt. That has no place here. How can a hobby that is geared around preserving memories so easily make room for the practice of ripping someone elses work apart for not other reason than the beholder not caring for it. There is always going to be some incredulous and crude comment about how 'so and so shouldn't have put that layout in a public gallery'; that can't be stopped unless you have a way to keep people from voicing their judgemental opinions. The problem with this is that it takes liberties with that scrapbookers that it has not right to. Really, who are we to tell someone that their work sucks simply because it doesn't appeal to our own personal sense of style? What right do we have to dictate that a person's work doesn't deserve a LO of the Day title because it doesn't meet our own unpublished list of guidelines for acceptable design? What right does anyone have to tell someone who chooses not to put a lot of embellishments on their layouts that they need to 'take it to the next level"?

I think that the main thing that is being forgotten in this industry is that scrapbooking is a form of artistic expression. [I don't give a hairy rats behind whether or not OTHER artists and scrappers see scrapbooking as artistic... that's just that whole judgement thing again. I see it as an artistic expression... and well, that's my opinion.] That expression is, at least for me, an extension of who I am. If the layouts that I create are an extension of how I see the world, what right does anyone else have to pass a judgement based on their own personal filters?

Critique Groups:
I can't sweep the good old critique group thing under the rug because it's a good thing when done correctly. Unfortunately, having seen some of the critiques that people get, much of the time the advice that they receive is little more solicited judgement. A critique, IMO, should be a tool with which to help the seeker bring continuity to their style of artistic representation. A critique should not attempt to lead the scrapper towards a path of creative expression that will be in conflict with her own creative spirit. All that gobbledygook simply means that if a critique of a layout includes telling an obviously clean and linear scrapper to "tilt this", "doodle here", "put some buttons and flowers there", despite the fact that he/she doesn't want any of that incorporated into her pages, then that critique becomes a judgement. A judgement based on the critiquers desire to change the layout to suit HER personal tastes. It really is hard to critique art because you have to step outside your personal preferences and sidle up next to the personal style of the person you are critiquing...otherwise you run the risk of giving advice that would create conflict with someones creative spirit.

You have to be able to accept the truths presented to you before you can work to affect them.

Sometimes, the scrapper might request a critique that could help her incorporate a style outside her comfort zone onto her pages. This should be the only instance where the above mentioned critiquing behavior should be employed; you've been asked to assault her creative spirit and she is ready to do battle with it to evolve. That too is a good thing.


Sadly, many have fallen into the habit of seeing pages that are not of their taste to be less than what they would deem acceptable. In doing this they have taken up the mettle of being judge, jury and executioner in the court of public opinion. I've gotten into the habit of checking my thoughts at the door before they run down the hall to my mouth or worse to my fingers, and it's really not that hard to train yourself to accept what is different.

• Is it really that much harder to accept that perhaps the layout is simple because the scrapper likes clean, graphic pages?
• Is there any possibility that the layout that is chocked to bursting with doodling and swirls is simply the inner workings of a playful mind instead of a 'ununified mess'?
• Perhaps the scrapbooker chose to use those colors or those types of patterned papers because she personally liked the way that they make your eyes cross and your nose bleed when you view them together. Everyone has a right to make a statement and nobody has the obligation to agree with it.

The masses have pretty much proven that they aren't willing to use acceptance and judgement in such a way that they do more good than harm, so I think it needs to go back to the depths from whence it came. The attitude of acceptance of ones differences should be celebrated once more instead of ridiculed. It doesn't help that the magazines have fertilized this atmosphere of nonacceptance with their insistence on selecting works for publishing that follow the set trend while overtly ignoring the rest of the majority (yes, we are the majority). So it's easy to see how some equate work that doesn't emulate the trends to inferiority. If the mags don't think it's worthy enough to be on the pages of the mags then why should their readership tolerate it's presence elsewhere in their lives?

If mama teaches you to ignore, disregard, or devalue work that is not like what you see in her magazine, how long do you think it will take for your readers to use that newly honed eye of judgement to tear down the work of others? Sometimes, mama is wrong.

I think that a large part of the responsibility for reinstating the attitude of general acceptance rests with the magazines that gave it the boot to begin with. If magazines would just take a chance on the public they might just be surprised. Yes, those who are loyalists will no doubt pull out their hair and gnash their teeth at the first sign of a layout that they consider "mediocre", but once the mags open the doors of acceptance to all of the scrapbookers out here who are not like what they deem to be "hot", they'll be surprised at the outcome.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone has ever thought of coming up with a Hippocratic oath for scrapbooking... I really think we need one.

Back to Basics... Please?

When I first started scrapbooking, Creative Memories' get'r done style was all that I knew. I had my cardstock (CM of course). I had my patterned paper (CM...of course). I had my stickers (guess). AND I had my creative imagination (as in cerebral, not the company itself). I would sit at my desk and scrap my little heart out without a care in the world. I would occassionally consult with one of their design pamphlets to get a better grasp on a particular design principal but for the most part, I was flying by the seat of my artsey fartsey pants.

Then I dared to venture into the scrapbooking section at a local store and thine eyes were forced open. The different mediums and paper patterns and textured cardstock took my breath away. I wanted more of THAT! Suddenly, what I'd been doing started to fall in my personal popularity poll. I kept on chuckin' along but incorporated a few of the "contraband" goodies that I bought elsewhere into my work.

Then, I discovered the whole online arena. With that came the prospect of getting published and garnering validation from my peers. That folks, was my undoing. Suddenly I couldn't put down a piece of ribbon without worrying about whether it would follow a design principal. I couldn't construct a layout without worrying about how it would be perceived..not by me or my family...but by people who didn't know me from Adam. My stash grew and with it the indecisiveness that too many choices affords us. I had a scraproom full of stuff and I had a creativity block the size of Texas standing in my way.

When I sit back and think of the good old days when I loved everything that I did and everything I did was good...I feel a little arterial tug. I didn't do the sticker sneeze thing...it looked kind of out of place. I did, however, indulge myself in some very liberal use of punches and minor doodling. I just made pages and it was ALL about preserving memories. It's really sad when I look at my daughter's scrapbook and realize that I know more about her days of infancy than I do about her toddler years because of the way I let myself be influenced. The detailed stories have been replaced with little journaling blocks and store bought embellishments. I've never really gotten away from the 2-page & multiple picture layouts, but there are less of them than in the beginning. I feel as if somewhere along the way, I lost myself and it makes me sad.

Now when I sit at my desk I'm overwhelmed. I have hundreds of sheets of cardstock to choose from, twice that much patterned paper, and every embellishment that tickled my fancy for 2 years. Alas, for some reason, I struggle with every layout. I just don't really know where to begin anymore. I didn't sign up for this.

How about with the basics?

That has been my pledge for 2007 and I invite anyone who happens to read this to join me on my crusade. I haven't bought any scrap stash since December and I feel great. It's odd really because I have all of these gift certificates for scrapbooking stores and I don't want anything. I'm thinking about maybe oneday rak-ing them to someone who is still caught up in the buying frenzy, but that would be advocating for something that I've come to despise, wouldn't it?

It has been a blessing and a curse to have allowed myself to lose touch with the retail scrapbooking mosh pit, but I think it's the right thing for me. I can't fix the industry's problems but I can fix my own and that's exactly what I've been workin' on.

Back to basics... Eureka...who woulda thunkit?

How does one go about getting Back to Basics?


1. Write "There is no RIGHT way. There is no WRONG way. There is only MY way." on a sheet of paper and stick it where you can see it often. Read it. Know it. Love it.

2. Swear off new purchases of scrapbooking items that you already have. Patterned paper, cardstock, rubons, stickers, ect. Replacement of tools is perfectly acceptable because don't we need those to work our craft. Implementing a new type of tool is a thin-ice issue because it's up to you to determine whether the tool is a need or a want and whether the frequency of usuage will outweigh the cost.

3. Vow to ONLY use what you have in your stash. If you run out of black cardstock, perhaps there is another comparable color that would work just as well. Not enough sheets of a particular patterned paper? Spread that baby thin and perhaps consider incorporating complimentary pp with it. It's known fact that many women who go into a store for a $.75 piece of paper walk out with their wallets $1-$15 lighter. MAKE DO!

4. Set a goal for yourself, and make it reasonable AND flexible. Commit yourself to finishing a layout, or a few layouts within a time period. Commit yourself to finishing an album or going back and adding the journaling that you'd put off for later. Scrap what YOU want to scrap. Just because you have committed yourself to finishing your dogs album doesn't mean that Fluffy gets center stage everytime you think about scrapbooking.

5. Constrain yourself. This works well if you are like me and have far too many choices. I pick some paper, some cardstock and a few generic embellisments (i.e., alpha rubons, ribbon, blossoms, ect.) and I ziplock them. That is what I have to work with. Then I find pictures that would work with my paper choices and have at it.
When and ONLY when, I've gone through the supplies I've alotted, I then allow myself to go through my more specific embellishments to see if I have anything that I might want to add to the layout (i.e., a tag that says "Kitty" or whatever). I find that by creating the layout and THEN embellishing the layout, the focus stays on the memory that I want to preserve and the embellishments are no longer given the power to become the focal point of the layout.

6. Know what you have. Know what you will actually use. Take all of that paper off the pedestal and make plans to use it. I find that by taking a few minutes each Friday to go through and observe what I have in stock, I know what I have to choose from. Sometimes this very act motivates me to lump like items together to make a kit. All of my supplies have been demoted so there are no longer papers that are too pretty to use or rainy day embellishments. I'm rutheless. You should be too.

7. Ask yourself "Do YOU like it?" and answer yourself. If you do, give a reason why.
If you don't give yourself a reason why not, and address those issues. It's so important that you do this because it becomes the foundation for validation. I have an online gallery full of layouts that I like...many don't, but I do and I'm good with that. I didn't ask anyone else their opinion, so their opinion doesn't matter. I did however, ask myself and if it's in that gallery, you can bet your sweet behind that I like it. That is a good thing.

8. Abolish the notion of getting caught up. You aren't truly caught up until the ability to generate memories is dead. You pretty much have to cease brain function for that to happen. So why would you volunteer to be brain dead?

9. Smile when you work. Okay, some people are allergic to smiling. Connect with your pictures...how about that. If you are scrapping pictures without feeling any emotion for the pictures that you are working with, then are you really preserving a memory or just making a scrapbook page. If you allow yourself to be embraced by the emotion of the picture (or in the case of those stalwart/expressionless heritage pictures, the emotion of the era), then hopefully you will be able to bring more to your layout.

10. Remember that this is supposed to be a hobby. Hobbies, by their very nature are intended to be a release, of sorts, from the daily grind. Releases can be fun...should be fun, really. If you are more tense after scrapbooking than you were before you started...maybe you need to rethink your strategy.

Multiple DT Gigs...Greed or An Earned Right?

Disclaimer: I have been on Design Teams before. I have participated in a more DT calls than I've successfully walked away from. I don't possess the proverbial sour grapes. I was once wrapped up in the pursuit of DT assignments, but I chose to walk away after what I saw myself becoming. I am writing my thoughts here because I think it's an issue that needs to be written about...without emotion, without defensiveness.
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Why do some people feel the need to be on 10+ (even 5+) Design Teams, Creative Teams, Dream Teams?

Why does a person who already holds DT positions with major manufacturers, and some of the more popular online stores, feel the need to throw their names in the hat for DT calls held for small upstart companies as well?

Mind you, I'm not being mean spirited, not in the least. Those questions have been asked time and time again in the past. It never fails though, that every time the question is raised, some acquisitive scrapbooker gets defensive (and even ugly) about having her intentions questions.

Why not question it? Do we not question everything else in our world?

Why not ask, "When is enough enough?"? My mother always taught me that just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. That lesson went hand in hand with the whole sharing thing that was drilled into my head from the earliest years that I can recollect.

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Typical Scenario: Suzy Multi-DTer is being questioned about her decision to try to acquire as many DT positions online as she can:

Why do you submit for DT calls when you know that you already have tons of DTs under your belt? You already have the experience.Do you not have and advantage over the other gals who are trying to cut their teeth?
SM: DT calls are made to the general public. That means that everyone is given the opportunity to show the store owners what they have to offer. If the other applicants don't have what the owner needs to propel her store then they need to hone their craft more. I can't help it if the store owners picks my layouts over the other entrants.

Yes, you can. The store owner can't select a layout that isn't submitted.

SM: Why should I sit out a call so that others can get their "fair shake" at getting a DT position? If I can handle all of the responsibilities that I'm heaping on my plate, then it should be no body's business but my own.

Why shouldn't you? Do you ever say, "okay, I have enough". Do you ever ask if being on that particular team will help you grow anything other than your resume? True, you are the master of your own fate. You have your impressive resume, and that can pretty much woo any new store owner to snatch you up. But, do you have the time to commit to the site because of your other team commitments? I don't mean the bare contractual minimum posting/participation requirements. I mean, the true dedicated commitment, like that which the lesser experienced scrappers who've been with the site from the word "jump" have proven to have.

SM: I tried for the DT. I got picked up for the DT. Did I know that I would? No...it's a crap shoot, fair game for everyone. My experience speaks for itself and if people can't bring their A game into the call, then they shouldn't apply. How I manage my time is my business. I fulfill my contractual agreement and I receive the promised compensation for lending my talent to the store. Everyone gets what they came for. Everyone is happy.
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Everyone except the people who were passed over for someone who'd never bothered to grace the site with her presence until the DT call hit the wires. Everyone except the owner when she discovers that she has lost some of the people who stood by her when she first opened because, despite her constantly praising their work and their loyalty, she saw dollar signs when she saw your resume and went with her wallet instead of giving her true supporters a chance to help her grow. She has loaded their DT with a bunch of heavy hitters who are not truly interested in the success of the site...just how much product they can get out of their meager contribution.

It isn't really an ethical question.
It's not a moral one either.
Is it about good sportsmanship?

I don't get it, really. Personally for me, every DT that I've tried out for has been for a site that I'd decided was a good fit for my personality. I've gone to a site for a call and spent weeks trying to see if I could contribute to the site only to walk away without submitting because it felt like championing for that site would start to look like work because I didn't fit in. I wasn't so arrogant as to think that I was a shoe-in, but what good is it to play to lose? I knew that, IF chosen, I wouldn't be able to support the store as much as a person who was really enamoured with it...so I left.
It never ceased to amaze me how suddenly all of these extremely published and DT heavy scrapbookers show up towards the end of the DT calls. Suddenly, the site is declared so "Rawkin' " (even if it doesn't have a gallery yet and the store inventory is still a work in progress) and they are "nervous" (as seasoned as they are) about the call but excited for the "lucky" girls (knowing that they'd probably be one of them). They sidle up to the owner with high prasie for the "rawkin'" site/store and coddling and they try to be everyone's bestest friend. When the results are announced they were so "shocked" if they are picked (don't you think the shock of winning would wear off after say the 10th one?) or they are ghost if they didn't get picked up. I've only witnessed one instance where a known scrapbooker stuck around despite not getting picked up...and she was gone within 2 weeks.

There was one special instance that I recall where one of the Super DTers hadn't acknowledged her acceptance into the surprise semi-final round of a smaller site's DT call. Surprise, because none of the applicants were aware that there would be a semi-final round. I hadn't made it to that level, but I liked the site so I was trying to deal with my feelings of dejection. Well, I received my Scrapsubmit call email and went to check out some of the sites that had calls going. I needed motivation to pull me out of a productivity slump and I thought a DT would do that. I found the MIA semi-finalist on 5 other sites that were hosting calls. She was at full throttle laying it on thick. At first I thought that it served her right to not know about her semi-finalist status, she was obviously so uninterested in the site that she couldn't be bothered with going back to congratulate the winners. Then my conscience weighed in and I figured that she probably didn't know that they'd announced a semi-finalist round and probably assumed that she hadn't been picked. So I pm'ed her and let her know that she'd been selected as a semi-finalist. Her reply?
"Oh, thanks for letting me know! Do you have a link to it?".
I was so shocked that I didn't even reply. True, I used the abbreviated name for the site, but if she was as excited about the site that she had professed to be on the boards, wouldn't she know the site, even under truncated name? As it just so happened, she had an application in for so many calls in that she had a time keeping track of them. She obviously figured it out because she came swooping back in a blaise of shocked gratitude for "being given the opportunity to possibly represent the store" the next day. When the DT was announced, she didn't get picked up, so at least I didn't have to see her posts all the time (yes, she too disappeared).

DT calls are fair game.
True, that's how they are intentioned to be. But are they? Really? Or are they simply yet another arena that the perceived 'haves' can manipulate to their advantage? I overheard some pretty frank comments from someone who I assumed to be a super-DTer while shopping in Michael's last winter. She was with another lady in the next aisle over and was talking about a call that ended that night. Her friend/sister/mom/lover/whoever asked her if she wasn't already on like 200 DT's, to which the Super-DTer laughed in agreement. Then she said, "I know, but I can't help it, it's like taking candy from a baby. I show up and they swoon". They both thought it was so funny that lesser experienced loyal members didn't stand a chance. I was disgusted. First by the fact that she thought it was so funny and then by the fact that she'd actually resurrected and interjected the word "swoon" into the common English language of our day. The conversation is stuck in my head because of that word! But I also had to give her credit for at least being honest and finally answering the darned question.

I can't help but think that there is more truth in the mentality of that woman that there is in the entitlement chant that is prevalent on the message boards whenever the same questions are raised there.
Does doing it because "you can" really get anyone very far? Remember Monopoly? Did it really get you far to buy up all of the property that you could? What about when you wound up on you opponent's single property but had no money to pay the penalty and had to sell your own real estate to clear your indebtedness? Bill Gates has the resources to buy up so much, but he doesn't; he is selective about how he spreads himself and his wealth. He knows when enough is enough.

I don't hunger for DT's anymore. I am not in the market to barter my skills for product or accolades. I don't have time to commit myself to a site. I don't desire to see my name in print other than on my novel should I ever finish writing it. I just want to see some honesty, once and for all. I just want someone to finally answer the question that has been skirted every time it's raised. Why do you NEED to be on that many DTs? When is enough enough?

Scrap Slump? Are the 'Glory' days of Scrapping gone?

I took a trip to Pat Catan's this weekend. I wasn't in the market for any additional scrap stash, I was just in the area, saw the sign, and pulled into the driveway.

I remember the good old days of PC shopping. The scrapbooking/stamping aisles were always full of people picking over their scrapbooking goodies, lugging loaded baskets around while they searched out the next great deal. And THAT was happening in the middle of the week during lunch!

I went in this weekend and had I wanted anything scrapbooking related, I could've had my choice of aisles to plop down and lay claim to. I spoke to an associate that was in the process of moving some items to the clearance bins upstairs. She informed me that they have been noticing a decline in scrapbooking sales/interest over the past 3 or 4 months. She also informed me that they've recieved smaller quatities of the scrapbooking/papercrafting magazines that they used to have and now instead of having a rack full of them, you have to search them out on aisle hangers. I figured that she was either not a scrapbooker or not one who had an expanded database of online scrap communities from which to garner knowledge. Why? Because she said, "we just can't figure out why...".

I looked around the store and sure enough, there were people everywhere. In the floral department, in the woodcrafting sections, painting section, and the bead section was packed, so I didn't even bother. There seemed to be a lot of people shopping that day (I know this because I stood in line for 10 minutes to buy a bucket of plastic foamie shapes for my daughter), but nobody was flocking to the scrapbooking area. Trust me, I've been going to that store for almost 2 years now and it was truly an anamoly.

All of this brought to mind the possibility of the industry truly drying up. I know that there is a constant influx of new (and not so new) product, but what does this mean if people aren't buying it? Is everyone really shopping online? I swung over to Joanne's after Pat's and it was pretty much the same story there.

I like to think that the negativity in the industry is small potatoes when compared to the other issues that could be having an impact on the register sales of all things scrapbooking:

*Too much too similar product by too many too similar designers/companies.
*Over priced/packaged products that just don't offer the bang for the buck feature that many scrapbookers look for.
*A decrease of the number of people who are trying to be published and a return to the basics with an emphasis on using one's existing stash first and foremost. Perhaps these people made a habit of running out and buying the latest and greatest while they were persuing publishing?
*A small scale exodus from the scrapooking hobby by people who either have given it up or no longer have time for the hobby.
*Growing dissatisfaction with the industry as a whole and the major magazine's as a facet.
*The ability to get more for less from online store.


I've noticed that even for myself, all of those factors have had an impact on how much scrapbooking I do. I no longer pursue publishing or DT work and I have the freedom of creation that I've always wanted. I really don't care one way or the other if the industry implodes... I think it's overdue anyway. Am I worried that when I finally go through my stash that I won't be able to replenish my supplies? Nope, I'll probably wind up selling off my stuff before I get to that point... or I'll be scrapping until I'm 80.

Do we really need trends dictated to us?

When I first started scrapbooking, I wielded my craft with a blissful ignorance of what was "in" and what was "out". I used what felt good and the ideas were plenty free flowing. I would actually sit down and do 3 or 4 pages in a night and I would be pleased with the work I was doing. My sole focus was on doing what felt right to me.

My ignorance of scrapbooking magazines and the online arena allowed me to find comfort in doing what I liked and following my own aesthetics prerequisite.

Then I discovered the online world. Shortly after that, I discovered magazines. Shortly after my discoveries, scrapbooking became a bit more difficult. I discovered that there were trends and styles of scrapbooking. The idea of publishing capabilities was introduced to me, the prospects for being a part of a design team entered my sphere of conscious reasoning. Suddenly, there was a right and wrong way to scrap (despite what people were telling me, the magazines were sending an all together different message) and I wasn't doing it right.

It took 2 years to break away from the sticky grasp of the trends and I have no desire to venture back in that direction. That is part of the reason why I chose to walk away from Design Teams and Publishing. I am much more comfortable doing my own thing and if that means that I only scrap for myself and my family, then so be it. Recently, I walked away from magazines because what they were offering by way of inspiration was really trend pimping...and my whoring days were over. Now I seek my inspiration through galleries and my past work. Now, I'm finally happy again.

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I don't like trends. Well, I don't mind trends that are left to their own volition. Unhampered trends burn out and move on. Unfettered trends exist without denouncing the existence of past trends and those who don't choose to follow the trend. Those are the only trends I can stomach.

The trend wave of scrapbooking is anything but free flowing and natural. The way that the magazine editors select one person's way of scrapbooking and then commence to shove it down the consumer's throat is disconcerting at best. When I first saw Elsie's work, I thought it was fun, whimsical and somewhat of a signature to her way of viewing the world. That's it. I didn't want to adopt it, I didn't want to pull aspects of it into my own work. I wanted to appreciate her unique style and move on. CK had other plans in mind. Suddenly her work was labeled and featured and declared the hottest thing. It was the hottest thing and the masses ran with it until the industry was over saturated with Elsie-like layout offerings. The magazines gobbled up the 'freestyle' work that was being submitted (mind you by the same people that they'd been publishing before freestyle came on the scene) and the viewing public perceived that if they wanted a shot at 15-seconds of fame, they'd have to step up to the plate. Suddenly scrappers were 're-inventing' their style to resemble the latest trend. Some succeeded and they turned out spectacularly designed layouts, others weren't so lucky.

Why do we need this? Why do the magazines have to pimp trends to us? Why is it that one person can present a new way of doing things and it becomes the current style?

I would be much more accepting of a magazine that featured, for the most part, different styles of layouts, from different scrapbookers first and foremost. This magazine could feature the unique styling of a scrapbooker like Elsie in an "Outside the Box" section that would encompass a relatively small portion of the magazine. By doing things this way, the various styles of scrapbookers would still be able to gleam a little industry acceptance. There would be little need for people to 're-invent' themselves with every new thing because there would be a general acceptance of all types of scrapbooking styles. The public would be able to see the works of someone who is doing things a little 'differently' and decide whether they can take anything from it. If a trend is going to catch, let it be because a majority of the viewing public liked what they say and chose to emulate it, not because a magazine has declared that we should all strive to "be like Mike".

The way that things are going now in the industry has resulted in an over saturation of the products market because the manufacturers are trying to keep up with the dictated trends. Everyone has to have some sort of flourishing in their product offerings. Everyone has to offer buttons in their product lines. Something has to be made of chipboard. Something has to be a rub on for of product. The industry lives, breathes and poops the trends, whether we all follow them or not.

The dark side of all of this trend surfing is that it the announcement of a new trend chums the waters with money making prospects. The magazines and manufacturer's beat the proverbial dead horse to make that dollar. For the duration of this frenzy, a major demographic of scrappers is being left behind and/or disregarded. The people who don't worship the magazines or self-proclaimed scrap celebrities are stuck on the sidelines looking at product that they don't really care for. People who do follow the magazines but don't care for the trend are forced to wade through row after row of trend specific merchandise (and magazine pages) in search of anything that will support their non-trend way of scrapbooking. The work of these scrappers is mostly disregarded by magazines/manufacturers and are crudely labeled 'outdated' by those who are nose deep in the trends. The trend is not allowed to die, not until something else comes along that the magazines deem to be worthy.

What will it take for the magazines to take a good hard look at the way the public is reacting to the trends? Do they even consider the views of those who don't follow the trends to be valid? If the majority of scrapbookers scrap their own way, then why is it so necessary to declare a 'hip' way of doing things? How signature is a style if it's going to be pimped to the general public to an extent that facilitates it being non-signature? How would you like to see the magazines restructure their offerings?

Pea Validations...Do YOU Pea?

I was led to this post on 2peas from a poster on Scrap Smack and I must say that if the responses in that thread are any indication of why there is a growing 'us against them' rift in the scrapbooking metropolis, then I don't know how much more proof a person would need. The opening poster posed the question of what the other peas think when they run across a person who is oblivious to the existence of 2 Peas in a Bucket.

Check it out: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2203073

As the poster on Scrap Smack stated, the inference is that you aren't 'in the know' or a REAL scrapbooker if you aren't a member of the 2Peas family.

*Personal preference? Phooey! Anyone who wants to get anywhere with their craft will Pea.
*Lack of access to the .net? Not an excuse! You can get your does of veggies from the library!
*Don't like the 'environment' there? Puleeeze! If you're a real scrapper, you'll feel at home!

I don't usually throw the 'p' word around, but today is the day! Pretentious! There! I said it.
I would like to know, exactly what vein of superiority people are drinking from that allows them to easily discount the validity of another scrapbooker simply because they don't choose to join a site. I don't care how popular the site is, as American Idol has shown us, the quality of your offerings don't matter much when you are buffered by drama fiends. That thread is one of the main reasons why I don't frequent 2peas outside of the occasional like track.

This isn't about 2peas. It's about the attitude of superiority. It's about the underlying tone of nonacceptance. It's about the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ostracizing of people who have the audacity to share your hobby but not your tastes. If I were a person new to the online scrapbooking world, that post would definitely NOT have propelled me into membership. Right from the word go I would've felt the pressure to assimilate or die trying. That post, however 'well intentioned' only served to highlight some of the reasons that people CHOOSE not to frequent the site. The way that people answered the question and justified their snobbery was downright embarrassing! There are hundreds of thousands of people who engage in the hobby, to devalue their work because they don't align their interests with what you deem to be important is just plain idiotic. That is not my idea of community.

Community is a group of beings sharing a like interest. It's not a group of beings sharing 1 collective braincell. Community doesn't hold validation hostage.

Honestly, if I were the owner of that site, I'd be cringing right now. That's assuming that they don't also hold dearly to the same non-truth. Think about it. How many lurkers are reading that elitist post and seeing that negative connotation between the lines of loving pea loyalty? One poster went so far as to say that not knowing about 2peas was akin to not being serious about scrapbooking. If I were the OP, I would be checking myself in at the nearest clinic to get my head out of my...ahem... you know where I was going with that.

Scrapbooking was in existence long before computers and the world wide web sprouted up. The hobby of scrapbooking is significantly older than the owners of the 2peas site. There are lots of scrapbookers who have realized their goals of publishing and Design Team employment without the help of an affiliation with vegetables. Many of them would blow the GG offerings off the map! It's pretty obvious that those devout members of the pea-nut gallery are oblivious to the stigma of negativity and cliquish behavior that the #1 site carries, so much so that it's unfathomable that anyone would achieve any success or knowledge in the scrapbooking arena without being affiliated. Perhaps they should read that thread to gain some insight as to how anyone could possibly not want to Pea.

So at what point did the priviledge of being considered a "real" scrapbooker fall on any one online site? When did it fall on anyone other than the person who is doing the scrapbooking?

What I got from that post is that it's okay to get your start elsewhere, even if it's not from an Internet or media linked source, BUT if you don't find your way to pea-dom, then you're just playin' with your mama's make-up. I'm almost perturbed enough to use the 'A' word! Not THAT one!...the OTHER 'A' word...arrogant). I joined the site 3 years ago and it only took a couple of days to decide that it wasn't for me. I came back 2 years later, and it's still not the place for me.
I honed my skills in nurturing evironments of acceptance and none of them were named after vegitables.

I have been in an LSS and overheard Peas ask other women if they "Pea" and I've seen the looks ranging from pity to incredulity and even disgust when the answer they get is 'no' or if the person that they ask has no clue why they are being asked about their elimination practices.

It's a sad, sad world indeed when we start grasping at green straws in our attempts to somehow elevate ourselves. The next time someone that I perceived to be a pretentious prat asks me if I "pea" will no doubt here me say, "Only when I can't find someone else to kick me in the teeth".

Integrity in the Scrapbooking Industry... or is it all 'just business'?

Someone brought up something in yesterday's comment section that I think really warrants further thought if not discussion. What I got from the comments (and it wouldn't be the first time that I've been a little off in my assessments) is that the importance of integrity within the ranks of the scrapbooking 'powers-that-be' appears to be an after thought rather than a founding business principal. There are companies, stores, and possibly magazine editors who do believe in giving everyone a fair shake, but on the otherside of the fence are just as many that are more focused on the money side of the industry and only address integrity when it is called into question.

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Prima Marketing:
I mentioned the Prima Marketing impropriety scandal in the last entry. In a nutshell, Prima contracted with a store to sell necessary items for a big contest and not only allowed the owner to enter, but granted her the 1st place prize. Prima's fix to the uproar was to 1) deny any intentional impropriety, and 2) insure that for the next contest, the entry requirements and restrictions would be much more clear. Is this a case of a lessened priority being put on integrity (on the parts of both the store owner and Prima)? I suppose that Prima assumed that their popularity and foothold in the industry would be sufficient enough to ride any wave of controversy and still walk away smelling like a rose.

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Bug Buzz:
The Cricut/Provocraft fiasco of 2006 was another example of questionable integrity if you ask some of the LSS owners. Some retailers allege they were told that the machine would only be shipped to them, while others allege they were promised to get their machines ahead of any big box manufacturer. What happened was what usually happens in business, the company with the most money to spend (i.e., 2000 machines versus 6 machines) reserves the power to dictate the instore date from the supplier. Delivery logistics was just the springboard for all of the other problems that errupted when Provocraft released that portable electronic die cutter, so I can't bring myself to say that flawed integrity was a primary player here. If anything, the whole situation was borne of a combination of unrealistic retailer expectations, overzealous sales/marketing representatives and a profit-seeking interests on the part of all involved parties. The Cricut fiasco was, in another nutshell, the resultant sum of all of it's parts.

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Making Memories Idol:
Most recently, the integrity issue has been brought to the surface in the Making Memories Idol contest that is currently running. There has been much speculation as to the fairness of the voting, particularly when the contestants who are well known scrappers are allowed to enter. The main point of contention seems to be that even witholding the names of the contestants isn't enough when you're dealing with an individual who is so prevalent in the industry that pictures of their friends and family, when coupled with their individual style, can be used to easily identify the scrapbooker. Suddenly, in the middle of the contest, it is decided that the next rounds offerings will be nameless AND utilizing stock photos in an attempt to level the voting field. This obvious attempt to interject some form of integrity standards into the contest was welcomed, albeit a little too late in the game to make a real difference. If this tactic had've been employed from the start, perhaps it would have slightly better than a snowball's chance in hell at succeeding, once the contestants are narrowed down, it's pretty easy to discern the work of at least one of the contestants, particularly if his/her style was signature.

Alas, even this noble attempt to make things right has been thwarted because the word is out that one of the contestants has taken it upon herself to mass email people to offer hints as to which of the layouts belongs to her! THAT is another blog entry in and of itself!

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HOF/ MASTERS:
How many times have we heard about people being 'personally' invited to drop an entry for HOF or MM Masters? The speculation for this years contest was ear-splitting, and when much of it turned out to carry a degree of truth, the screaming only got louder. I see a severe lack of integrity and a blatant disregard for the public when contests like this preselect winners but have them enter as if they are a regular contestant. What ever happened to excluding contests to friends, family, affiliates and associate? Would it be accepted easier if these companies just handed the shoe-ins their 'crowns' and held the calls for the rest of the 'nobodies'? Do they owe us our unruffled feelings?

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Publication and Design Team Calls:
Magazines aren't immune to questionable ethics scandals by any means. How is it that with hundreds of layout entries received for every call, the magazines seem to always publish the layouts of some of the same faces, over and over again. And I'm not talking about the inhouse staff either. You will never convince me that those few people are the only talented scrapbookers out there! You won't even convince me that those are the only talented scrapbookers out there who are submitting work! It has been said, time and time again that knowing someone on the inside is key, and I now believe it wholeheartedly. At first glance, it would appear that the magazines are more interested in sticking with their tried and true 'formula for success' than they are in really listening to the primary complaint from it's readers; "New faces, Different Skillsets"! How much better is it to present your mag as a fair and balance representation of the diversity of the scrapbooking arena than to present a magazine that isn't only what the editors consider "HOF worthy"? If the demographic for scrapbookers is so multifaceted and varied, then why is it so distasteful or risky to present a magazine that embraces that? Why are clear and concise prerequisites mentioned in their page calls? How many people would they turn away if they requested layouts that follow their selection criteria or layouts from people with prior publishing experience?

The store Design Team Cal (online)l selection process is an integrity timebomb. Yes, it is initially in the better interest of a store owner to hire talent that can inspire the people who visit his/her site to create, preferable with products purchased from that particular store. But does that necessarily mean that that person has to be a 'known'/well DT-ed scrapper? Particularly one that only popped up for the call and will most likely only commit the bare minimum of effort to the store because of his/her other obligations? If the skill set of scrappers who are members of that store's message board are varied (particularly if it's a new site), then why not present a variance in the skillsets of your Design Team members?

The first site that I became a member of had a very top heavy DT. Their work, was beautiful, it was darned near perfect in execution and brilliantly designed. It was also so intimidating to me as a newby that I ran head-first into a scrapblock that lasted months. Their work that was intimidating, their nonchalant attitude was disconcerting as well. But they were uber published for the most part, so it was all good, right? Wrong! Much of the team had no concern for helping others hone their skill, and they even went so far as to not announce Pub calls and DT calls until they were tooting about winning a spot...that got old fast.

The means by which the new teams are chose is also a big part of the problem. It has become common practice to allow the current DT members to have a hand in the selection process for the new team. Is there any doubt that favortism is always waiting in the eaves? What about the owners who allow themselves to be courted by some of the applicants until it becomes pretty obvious (to everyone else) that they are shoe-ins? Much of the time the judging isn't blind and there have even been instances of voting collusion amongst members to ensure that DT favorites/friends get on the team. Is that 'just business'?

Then there is the Manufacturer Design/Creative Team selection process. It's almost commonplace for the advertisments for these calls to invite scrapbookers of all talent levels to apply. Just as it's almost commoplace for only scrapbookers of a certain accomplishment/skill level to be selected the majority of the time. Is it a lack of integrity that allows the manufacturers withhold the known selection criteria from prospective entrants? Is there really anything wrong with leading scrapbookers into false hope just to increase your sales (after all...it is free will, right?)?

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I think that integrity does play a very big role in the industry, I've only touched on the topic from the 'toe in the door' stand point. There is still the whole ugly 'how you treat the people you hire' and idea stream manipulation ball of wax that I haven't touched. I don't doubt for a minute that the drive to succeed has allowed many to underestimate the importance of integrity in this industry and the significance of the impact when it falls by the wayside. Many reputations have been tarnished and many more will suffer similar fates until something is done to reiterate the importance. Until all of the scrapbookers form a collective voice that demands ethical business dealings, the problem will continue to fester. 1 person won't matter, 10 people won't matter, heck, 100 people won't matter!

The fact that I stopped subscribing to any scrapbooking magazines (or even buying them) won't do a thing to change the way they select their layouts for publishing.
The fact that I haven't purchased a scrapbook related item in 4 months won't stop the infulx of new product everytime somebody sneezes.

It has to come from the top and trickle down. The industry, as a collective, has to hold themselves to a higher standard and demand the same of anyone that they interact with. It was the industry that turned this craft into a cut throat, by any means necessary melee and the more scrapbookers are exposed to unprinipaled business practices, the more they adopt an acceptance of those behaviours which can only lead to a lot more negativity and questionable behaviour.

We have already gotten to the point where it means more to win a contest than to win a contest on the merits of your talent. It's now more impressive to be able to list 10 or 15 Design Teams on your resume than it is to list 3 or 4 teams that you dedicated yourself to. It's no longer common practice to work your way up because there is a much speculated glass ceiling that only certain people are allowed to breech. How much further are we willing to go?

What exactly is "success" in scrapbooking?

If ever there was a loaded scrapbooking query, this would have to be it.

What determines whether or not a scrapbooker is a 'success'? Is there such a thing as success in scrapbooking? If there is, does that also mean that there is such a thing as failure in scrapbooking? How can a success or failure meter be attached to memory recording?

In my little world, I consider myself to be a failure in the scrapbooking aspect of my life. Not because I lack adequate magazine publications or because I have a Twiggy thin scrap resume. No, I consider myself a failure because I have the attention span of a puppy with 6 tails when it comes to crafting. I bead, I sew, I scrapbook, I draw, I write and I am always looking for new ways to spread my creative spirit thin. My loss in the popularity poll is personal and is not influenced by external opinions. I think that would be the perfect time to add that I am a Gemini and therefore blame my constant need for change on my mother and father's timing.

Outside of my little warped world, that is always talk of so and so being a successful scrapper and so and so predicted to fail in his/her endeavours. Every time I read about the successes and failures in scrapbooking I do a Scooby Doo, complete with cocked head (huh?). We are preserving memories...or at least I thought we were. Some people have taken it a step further to include purposefully attempting to inspire others by their memory preservation skills. Still others have opened different avenues within the memory preservation metropolis for us to explore. Are they successful because they are 'known'? Is it the fact that they have moved their focus outside their personal sphere of existence (sort of)? Is it the fact that they are sought after?

In a perfect world, the success of a scrapbooker (providing such a thing exists) would be gaged not by whether the masses believe that person to be successful, but rather on whether or not that scrapbooker feels that they have attained all that they set out to attain. Once weight is given to the peer opinion, we are met with the dilemma of conflict between the people who feel that we're brilliant and those who think we need to hang out in a little padded room. When the determining factor of success is the number of people (outside of family/friends) who like what we do, I think we set ourselves up to be affected by the opinions of the people who don't like our creations.

What the heck am I talking about? Beats me, I'm just trying to clear out some mental clutter, so bear with me.

I remember in grade school I had this thing about collecting bugs. I was a shy child, so I didn't make friends easily, particularly because friends generally want you to talk to them and I wasn't fond of talking to people. I would spend my recess period behind school buildings collecting bugs and playing with them. Eventually I was joined by another socially reclusive kid, I think his name was Michael, and we would spend countless recesses collecting bugs together. I don't recall speaking more than 10 words to that kid during the school year. One day, a girl named MaryJo discovered what I was doing behind the building and brought her band of guppies along to do it too. I remember feeling popular because I there were a bunch of kids looking for bugs behind buildings with me. I was validated and I didn't have to change a bit! MaryJo and her band were rather talkative so naturally their fascination with me wore off pretty quickly. One Monday afternoon, MJ and the guppies confronted me and told me how stupid I was for collecting pill bugs and proceeded to snatch my little paper box and dump out the contents and stomp on the bugs that I'd put in it. That was the first time that I began to feel bad about doing what I liked to do. I stopped collecting bugs a few days after that and took to sitting on the sidelines on the playground.
The point isn't that I was doing something wrong. It's not even that I being a recluse is a bad thing. The point of my story is that up until the point where I gaged the validity of what I was doing on the opinion of someone else, I was happy doing it. The second that they withheld validation, I felt 'less than'.

I think that a similar phenomena is plaguing the scrapbooking arena. How many times have you read a disclaimer from someone posting in a gallery that states that their work isn't perfect or that a layout isn't their all time favorite? How many times have you heard people say that they aren't good at scrapbooking?

Being good or successful in scrapbooking, to me is a misnomer that does little to embrace the founding intent of scrapbooking. I'd rather that someone base their success (if they must speak in terms of success or failure) on whether they have accomplished what they set out to do with their craft, not on whether or not others feel that they are worthy. I had a publishing goal for a quick minute a while ago. I told myself that I would try to get published. I almost walked away because it wasn't happening for me. I began to compare the work of other published scrappers with mine own and came to the conclusion that I wasn't good enough, trendy enough, or versatile enough. I let others (unknowingly) set my standard for success, and I almost walked away from scrapbooking because I felt like a failure. It wasn't until my husband, in a brief moment of brilliance, explained to me that I was indeed a success because I did try to get published. That pearl of wisdom coupled with the overwhelming acceptance of my work from friends and family brought my way of thinking around full circle. I didn't toss my stash in the fire place. I didn't declare to the world that I'd quit. I didn't give up something that I love doing.
Instead I stepped away from that goal and reprioritized. I don't feel like a failure for not having been published, and after spending a lot of time evaluating what I want to get out of this, I've realized that I don't want to be published. I just want to be appreciated. I got that and I'm happy with it.

Now if I could just get a set of blinders maybe I could get some pages done.

There is nothing wrong with attributing success to the number of publications one has or how sought after a scrapper is, but there are dangers in it. The most significant of the perils resides in the arena of public opinion, and we all know how fickle that lot can be. When external factors weigh in on our success meters we put ourselves at the mercy of others. I personally find more inspiration in the scrapbooker who continues to keep doing what he/she is doing regardless of the level of appreciation/acceptance the masses grants him/her. My selfish perspective has allowed me to avoid the trend traps and the validation wars that are running rampant now.

And I like it that way... I like it a lot.

I am the last person to dictate what a person should or shouldn't do with their craft. We all have to do what is right for us. All I can do is hope that oneday, we will be able to stop grading each other's work because it truly is a gift to be able to see value in our differences.

TFR (thanks for reading)
CS

The Label Game...a study of precocious behavior?

There has been a lot of heated debate over the labels that scrapbookers give to themselves, how they view and address their scrap-environment and the way that some scrapbookers interact (or choose not to interact) with other scrapbookers of a skill caliber that varies from their own.

In a nutshell, I really don't care if you call yourself a life-artist, a premiere paper manipulator or a memory diva. That is all your ball of wax and it really has nothing to do with me. It's all about live and let live to me.

But there are some who are bothered by it, and that tells me that it's a topic that is worthy of discussing...to death...again.

So we have the scrapbookers (so named Suzy) who sees her craft as just that, a craft. Suzy sees things pretty much as she thinks they are and any additional fluff is nonsense. Suzy sits at her dining room table or in her craft room/guestroom and scraps her pictures. Being published may or may not be within the scope of her crafty radar but her 1st and foremost goal is to get those danged pictures on paper and in an album.

Then we have the 'Artists' who feel that they have taken their craft to the next level and that the aesthetic value of what they produce is worthy of being labeled 'art'. The Artists work with 'mediums' in their 'studios' and strive (most often) to gain or retain a foothold in the industry.

Are either of these versions of the scrapbooker 'wrong'? I personally don't think so, but again, this isn't all about me. Where my concern comes in is where the rift between the two groups continues to widen; the acceptance of each other. To many scrapbookers the idea of assigning a name that smells faintly of grandeur is egotistical and self absorbed. To some, the work that they are creating is valued as something grand and/or they have received sufficient accolades to warrant perceiving themselves to be a step 'above' the rest.

Why does anyone care? In this day and age where people have the ability to reinvent themselves whenever they possess the resources and desire to do so, why do we take time to care about how someone else sees themselves? Why is there so much focus on validating whether or not someone is or isn't an artist? Why does the act of calling oneself an artist have to be equated to a lowered opinion of the 'scrapbooker'? Is that lowered opinion originating from the person who calls herself an Artist? or is it coming from the Scrapbooker who feels that what she does isn't worthy of being considered art? Again...why does it matter?

There are some well known scrapbookers who have chosen to label themselves and to conduct themselves with an air of superiority within this industry (complete with fan girls and autograph sessions).

• Is the fact that they have managed to gain popularity and therefore elevate their perception of their craft a bad thing?
• If you go to a blog and read about someones atelier (at'l ya) how is the onus of your offense on the person who wrote the blog entry? Wasn't it free will that put you into a situation where you find yourself reading that blog?
• Does it matter if someone calls their workspace a scrap space, a studio, or a fire waiting to happen? Is it really any of our concern that a scrapbooker calls herself an artist? I used to call my scraproom a rats nest, then I called it my scrappin' hole, then my craft room. The name I chose for my scrapping environment is representative of how I view my craft; I assume that the same holds true with the ladies/men who call their scrappin' hole a studio. I don't have anymore right to tell anyone how to view their crafting environment or what they create within the confines of it than anyone else has to tell me what to name mine or what to call myself. So why all of the contention over something as mundane as how someone else views themselves? Why this need to project our views of this craft on others and insist that they assimilate their views to mirror our under threat of persecution?

Webster's New World Dictionary defines an artist as: 1. One who is skilled in any of the fine arts. 2. One who does anything very well. 3. A professional in any of the performing arts.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter what anyone is calling themselves, and until self labeling effects the price of gasoline or starts a war, I won't concern myself with it. It's a battle that is not only not worth fighting, but is a losing one. It's highly irrelevant, petty and only serves to cast a negative light on those who chose to make it an issue. I'm not saying that anyone is wrong for thinking that a scrapbooker calling herself an artist is wrong; that's your personal value system at work. I think that we cross a line when we look down upon, chastise or otherwise devalue the contributions of another crafter simply because their perceptions of self are different from our own.

I think the most important question in all of this is Why Does It Matter?

Critic/Critique Blogs... Fit or Flop?

I've been a frequent peruser and not so frequent poster to many of the 'critic/critique' blogs that have cropped up in the past year and while I am at first entertained by the platform offerings in the beginning, it never fails that I find myself disappointed in the end. My disappointment usually stems from that hydra-esc question of the feasibility of the blog's existence. That question leads to whether the blog is serving as a critiquing platform or a critic's soapbox. Then comes the inquiry into what exactly it is that is being critiqued and worse yet, what credential do the critics bring to the arena. It never fails that I get tired of reading the blogs, particularly when they reduce themselves to nothing more than a run away train chocked full of vulgar language, incessant spam and overtly ridiculous stereotypical insults.

I know that for me, the critic/critique blogs served to fill a void, an empty space if you will. Or at least they did...now that space is filled with other hobbies and focuses. I was frustrated with the industry and my visits with the scrapbooking message boards only showed me a world full of people with blinders on. I wanted a place to go to voice my frustration with Heidi Swapp and the way that Advantus failed to handle my complaint about the non-rubons and adhesive-less adhesive chipboard. I took it to one of the message boards and got nothing but a poor attempt at a verbal spanking for daring to complain about something as minuscule as product quality. I wanted a place to ask about the feasibility of a person being on 10 or 15 design teams and I was smacked in the face with the jealously card and pretty much accused of being a talentless nobody who would never be allowed to play with the "elite". When I found my first critic/critique blog I felt like I'd been holding my breath for years and I'd finally been granted license to exhale. I had a voice for once...one that others could identify with and it felt good to just TALK about what was bugging me. I didn't need a fix for my problem (though one would've been nice), it was enough for me to know that I wasn't alone in my frustration and I certainly wasn't a pariah for daring to have expectations.

Then came the name calling. In walked the stereotypical statements. Someone left the door open and let the proverbial dogs in. My feelings of victory over my frustration with the industry was t-boned by my frustrations with the human condition. Suddenly, one's weight, how they dressed, looked, and talked became springboards for some of the most vicious character attacks that I'd ever seen. I knew that women could be catty, my husband informed me of that fact years before, I'd just never seen it with that type of in-your-face magnification. Freedom of speech took an extended field trip back to the school yard.

Then came the hand slappers, the envy abaters and the jealousy patrol. Suddenly every claim, factual, personal, or guerrilla in nature, was labeled as unvalidated and jealousy/inadequacy based. I found myself sitting on the sidelines in the same school yard, watching a battle of wills between guerrillas and the elitists. It was the best of times (?) ... it was the worst of times (!).

I've tried several blogs since the first one and they have all fallen just short of the 1/2 way mark because of these two oppressive groups. It's almost as if someone is bound and determined that intelligent discussion must be thwarted at all cost and the wheels of change must be slowed no matter what. Why?

• Why can't women manage to get together and discuss what grates on our nerves without resorting to behaviour that is stereotypically 'catty'? If anything, wouldn't it be in our best interest to discuss our craft without contributing to any negative stereotypes?
• Why is there this fear of disclosure amongst the bands of the 'elite'? Is is based on the fear of character defamation or is it just a case of not wanting the the getting that's been going so good to stop?
• Do we need critic/critique blogs? Particularly if they are falling short of the expectations of many?
• If the intent of the critic/critique blogs is to effect change then why is there so much focus on things that really shouldn't matter? (i.e., the fact that someone is fat, out of style, or in possession of unappealing DNA replicas are outside of the scope of effected change)