Natali - I think her kits are gorgeous, and they are previewed and showcased well. I'd never heard of her before just now (I don't shop at SBG) but I'm considering buying a couple things now. ---------
I'd recommend it. Even in the very early days of her design career, I never had a quality issue with her stuff.
so back to the Baersgarden/Scrapkitchen fiasco? I'm admitting to being clueless here on that one....will someone please let loose of the skinny on that one? --------
Not worth repeating, seriously. Some people couldn't see that the issue was about theft, rather than a shape, but hey, some people are stupid.
Did you see the products at that store? I checked the software specific sections, and they have one for Photoshop (which is not even PS specific) and a few for Paintshop but look at these: http://www.sugarshackdesignsinc.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=99 Do you think some scrappers or designers would need that? ----------
It's not my cup of tea and clearly not yours, but we aren't the only customers in the world.
Baersgarten purchased the album, and then apparently used the shape of it to make her own album, tracing the original. But she 'accidentally' ended up putting Scrap's original in the final product.
Scrap thought the album template looked familiar, purchased Baer's kit and found that the template was indeed hers, because she had marked it.
Scrap accused Baer of stealing, which Baer initially denied, and then changed her story to the above.
Maya 'fired' Baer from the store, only to have her return a few months later.
Some people thought the whole thing was about the shape, which cannot be copyrighted, when in fact it was about the stealing. It just happened to be a shape.
The entire fiasco left a bitter taste for a lot of people, mostly because of the whole 'shape' vs. 'theft' and the fact that Maya let Baer back into her store.
Sugar Shack Designs Inc. said... atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it... ^^^^^
Heaven forbid not all commenters/readers of this blog do not come from the great State of Georgia or any of the other States. Great way to attach your store to such ignorance.
And by the way -- at least is 2 words, as is a little
Heaven forbid not all commenters/readers of this blog do not come from the great State of Georgia or any of the other States. Great way to attach your store to such ignorance. --------
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it... -------------- Um, no... you actually do have a language problem. Simply put, you can't spell or capitalize. Oh, and you seem to enjoy run-on sentences, too. Fail.
Sugar Shack Designs Inc. said... atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it... ^^^^^
Heaven forbid not all commenters/readers of this blog do not come from the great State of Georgia or any of the other States. Great way to attach your store to such ignorance.
And by the way -- at least is 2 words, as is a little
July 26, 2011 8:18 PM
----------
Are you thinking she's talking about people using bad grammar and bad English? I'm pretty sure she isn't making fun of people who can't speak English. She's likely referring to people here using cuss words and such.
Sorry if I'm mis understanding you. But I can't figure out what else you could be talking about.
Sugar Shack Designs Inc. said... atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it...
July 26, 2011 5:33 PM
I counted 10 grammar, punctuation and semantic mistakes (this is a blog, not a "forum") in your sentence, and English is not even my mother language! Now who has the language problem? And btw, why on Earth someone should mention your store? Crawl back in your hole, please! Noone knows you!
Em-ka - Fantasy, but fun! I like the Oh Boy! kit a lot. Everything works together and it's previewed well. The CT layouts show it used in both fantasy and paper style, which is good. She must sell a lot of CU lace, since that was most of the first 2 pages. I'll admit, if I needed lace for a kit I would probably buy it, because who wants to extract lace?
MissVivi - She has a good mix of products, imo. It all seems useable. I owned some of her CU and never had problems with the quality. (that was some time ago) I love just about every swatch she used. I will probably buy a couple kits. (This review business is costing me money! lol) If I had to nitpick something, I would say that her packaging label could be about 1/4 that size.
Veronica - Nothing exciting or repulsive either way. The whole store just seems very blah to me. That purple kit is a bit too purple and the shades/hues doesn't even all work together. Personal peeve, I had when each product line has 40 products. Like: full kit, paper pack, element pack, qp pack, each qp individually, glitters, add on, etc etc. Other people probably don't find that offensive so whatever. Some nice papers, but again nothing exciting.
Rosey Posey - I'm having a hard time figuring out what her style is. The art kit is funky and fun. That Shabby Sun and Fun kit looks like an entirely different designer did it. But, it's not bad. The papers are boring but it's a bright fun kit. I will give her points for being able to appeal to a broad range of styles. Her templates are just flat out bad, and some of her kits are pretty bad, too, but it might just be the colors. The Glee kit? Yuck!
Ztampf - Those ribbons and bows? What year is it? And fetuses and headless pregnant paper dolls and "to breed or not to breed" word art? I don't get it.
Bethany - Another "I don't get it". I didn't understand it at SO, and I don't understand it at SBG. If I was one of the other designers, I'd be highly irritated that she clogs the new release category every week with this stuff.
Redju - Her CU is great quality, but she's too popular. If you want to have a nicely extracted flower in your kit, that is also in 59 other kits this week, this is where you should buy it. Some of her CU packs have been getting a bit random, she must have run out of ideas for a while.
Christina Renee - The first 2 pages look like repacks of the same stuff. I guess if you are in the market for old rusty things, this would be a great designer for you. I can see where it would appeal to the art journal crowd. The sofas and windows? I dunno. None of this is my style, so maybe I can't be objective. The botanical stuff is yuck.
Amanda - No complaints about her quality, although her 'designer workshop' was laughable. And $4 for a pack of buttons that it takes 2 seconds to extract is ridiculous. Her kits aren't terrible, but most of the time when she does one, it occurs to me she should stick to CU.
Dawn - I laughed at her using the PICTURE of Mickey Mouse in the obviously Disney kit, since Disney is a favorite topic around here. Having said that, her Disney kit is one of the least offensive looking ones I've seen. Kudos to her for not making a mouse head out of 3 black buttons. Some of her stuff is "ok" and some looks like it might be from a couple years ago. Nothing exciting here.
To be continued...
--NotSimon
PS: This takes a long time, I see why not a lot of people are doing it. :)
Charlize - She has definitely improved. I wish the elements were a bit smaller on the previews so I could see the papers better without clicking through. Papers are pretty boring. Almost all tone on tone basic patterns, which is fine for a couple, but some variety would help a lot. Not bad overall.
Rebecca - I have no idea what a "good" art doll is, so I can't comment. No sample layouts to help me along on most of her products, either.
Studio Q - Better than most of the other stuff, but seems more like 9th&B or MScraps before it went to crap. Nice papers, but most of her elements are a bit flat. Would like a couple buttons or something. Also, no alphas in the kits? I don't know if she does her own doodling or uses CU, but either way it's cute.
Boutique Cute Doll - Weird name. Her mini kits are cute, her full kits seem like a jumbled mess. The whole store seems hit or miss. The baby kits are too... blinding?
Julia - Reminds me of my paper days. Which I like for the most part. Really cute stuff, pulled together well, nice variety of papers in her kits. Most of her add on packs are cute, and not just 50 recolored ribbons or whatever like in a couple of the other stores. A couple of her kits miss the mark color-wise, but for the most part I found another new designer to shop with.
Redju - Her CU is great quality, but she's too popular. If you want to have a nicely extracted flower in your kit, that is also in 59 other kits this week, this is where you should buy it. Some of her CU packs have been getting a bit random, she must have run out of ideas for a while. ---------------
Agree. I think she has been (or was) battling a serious illness/injury recently, too. That may play a role in it.
Microferk - I really wish either this photo mask trend would end, or people would just make their own. I'm sick of seeing these big black blobs everywhere. Her previews are horrible, I wish designers would realize what a difference that can make. Although, this is another one of those designers that's been around forever and I don't know WHY. Nothing exciting at all. And way too much glitter. I don't need glitter and glittery elements in every kit. CT pages are terrible, but they didn't have a lot to work with.
Thaty - Pirate or not? I thought I heard that before, but not recently. Not that it would matter, Miss Tiina is still flying high. Unlike most of the other CU designers, I think I actually like her kits better than her CU. I bet I know which she makes more money on, though. The cherry kit is really cute and so is the cooking one. Normally I don't like a lot of digital looking elements, but these seem well done. Her templates are cute, too.
This was an interesting activity. I don't shop at SBG (in fact, I don't think I EVER have), so I found a few "new to me" designers that I'd consider shopping with. My biggest complaint about this store as a whole is the inconsistencies. I think some stores try too hard to appeal to a range of scrapping styles, and sometimes that backfires. I'm more likely to shop in a store that is mostly my style. If I go to check out the first few new releases and they're all things that don't appeal to me, I'm not going to keep going, and I'm not going to come back next week to look again. I can't say which way is right or wrong (all one style / variety of styles), only the way I shop. All I can say is that I'm not going to sift through 20 pages of word art and art doll stuff to get to the cute paper-style kit I never knew I needed. A lot of people complain about SSD being the same old thing (I don't shop there, either, so don't clutch your pearls yet), but I see why their customers are loyal. That's the kind of stuff they are looking for, and it's all in one place. If all the designers that I liked were in one store, I'd be loyal there, too.
Interesting read on SBG, although I tend to disagree (still a fun read, I like to see other peoples' thoughts on the stuff I like). I guess personal opinions are all so subjective, because I absolutely love almost everything from Rosey Posey, Flergs, Veronica and Ztampf!. Then again, maybe my view is not subjective because I spend about 85% of my scrapping budget at SBG.
Thank you to the person who reviewed SBG. I honestly did not want to wade through all the paper dolls, art journal, word art crap in hopes of finding a few gems. I love Natali, though. I would recommend her if you're considering buying from her. I also think Charlize has improved and find most of her elements really cute and fun.
By request, Gotta Pixel (part 1)
A+ Designs - Products are cheap and look cheap. Has some nice color palettes and some really gross ones. Everything is fuzzy looking between the weird elements and the overly grungy papers. Templates are cheap, dumbed down copies of what I've seen done better elsewhere. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Aprilisa Designs - Nothing new here. Her templates are copies of what others have previously done. Style varies from kit to kit and a few are mish mashy. I'm not sure if she's trying to be Mye or Connie, but she does make better patterned papers than both.
Armina Designs - I just don't get this designer. Her style is all over the place. Her forte seems to be extracted kits with lots of natural elements and blended papers, but she does all these wacky childrens kits. She makes some nice patterns and some are blah. Some of the colors are gross, too, but those are probably the store collab events they do. Templates are simplistic, but she adds some nice flair with swirls and doodles.
Bella Gypsy - I understand this is the one sister now. I don't remember which one, but it seems the production line has slowed considerably. Templates still look like cheap knock-offs and the kits are nothing new. The colors are really gross in most of the kits, but some are done well. Much better paper patterns than Connie, but the textures look fuzzy.
Colie's Corner - Mostly gross, gross color palettes. Kits are really cheap looking and her previews are flat and gross. Some kits have OK patterns and others barely have any. A lot of her templates look the same, just moved around a little here and there. This girl needs to find a neutral - stat.
Connie Prince - I know she is the designer everyone loves to hate, but she can really pump out the products. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's some thing. Most of her color palettes are obnoxious and apparently cater to people who don't know how to calibrate their monitors. I wish she added a neutral here and there to even things out. Her paper patterns are the same from kit to kit to kit with little variation. Her kits are also a little small for the higher price tag. I thought she used to have more reasonable prices for the size of her kits. I like Connie's templates for paper style pages. They are easy to use and don't have a lot of extras for me to delete.
Crisdam Designs - Most kits are mish mashy, but most of the color palettes are easier on the eyes. Makes mostly nice patterned papers. Every other kit has at least one owl in it, so if you like owls, look here. Most of her products seem a little high in price for what they are.
danimoy designs - See A+ Designs review. I thought they were the same person. Lots of blobby things, which must sell well. Gross templates with little to no style.
Duo-licious - I guess this is danimoy and A+ Designs. Makes sense since they're basically the same designer.
Just Jaimee - I don't have any of her CU so I can't speak to the quality. I don't see any CU in her store a designer with half a brain couldn't make themselves. Her kits have odd color palettes mostly and the papers are overly grungy. Some of the patterns are nice, but mostly not so much.
Kathryn Estry - Hideous previews. But then, the items themselves look awful, so I'm not sure how she could change that. This entire store looks like beginner stuff from 8 years ago. Doesn't stick to color pallette - in a bad way. Gross color palletes to begin with. Kits are mish mashy and just bad. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality. I couldn't make it past page 3. I wanted to vomit. I did glance at how many pages of products she has - 41 - and the stuff way in the back is old and expensive. It's sad to see she hasn't grown as a designer at all.
Kits4Kids - Familiar themes, but the little kids they use in their kits are cute if that's your thing (it's not mine). Papers are overly textured, but some have nice patterns. Elements are very digital looking, but are done well for that style. Does not stick to color palette and kits are a little mish mashy looking. Some of their prices are a little high for what they offer.
Kristmess - I'm already sick of looking at the same color palettes over and over again. Same style as Kits4Kids, so I assume one of that duo is this designer. Again, digital looking, but done well for that style. Most everything is overpriced as far as I'm concerned. Mostly gross color palettes (who picks these things at GP?), but uses the little cute kids in most of her kits. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Laitha’s Designs - Another designer this blog seems to love to hate. Personally, I like her stuff. I have some of her CU and it has always been good quality. This is a designer who has a style and sticks to it. I have a few of her kits and enjoy using them. Some elements are a little blurry at 100%, but have never printed poorly. Some of her color palettes are blah, but most are sophisticated. Any patterned paper is soft and non traditional. This works for this style of kit. Most of her papers contain a lot of brushwork, but they're blended nicely and most aren't overly textured. Some of her kits are a little mish mashy.
Laura Burger - Boring and mish mashy. Previews are flat and uninspiring. Overpriced for what you get as well. Style varies from kit to kit and within each kit. Doesn't seem to understand color, texture, or pattern. Her best kits are her shabby ones, although, they're seriously lacking in patterns. I still wouldn't download one of them for free, but they are her better kits. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Laurie's Scraps & Designs - If you like Connie, I'd check this designer out. Her products are a little less expensive and basically the same thing, but with better patterened papers. As with most here at GP, color palettes can be gross, but she has some nice ones. Needs better looking CT pages and previews (very flat). I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality. Boring templates done better elsewhere. Some kits are a little mish mashy.
Lindsay Jane - She's always been one of those designers I want to like, but there is something about her kits that's a real miss for me. Her papers are mostly boring and the elements just seem to lay there flat. There isn't enough contrast and interest in the elements. Even her "real" fabric flowers are flat and boring. I do like her "Scatterz". Her frames and borders are boring and near pointless. I also like her scallop and circle borders and think they're different. I may actually buy a set since they're cheap enough.
LorieM Designs - Very mish mashy. Mostly gross color palettes. I don't have any of her CU so I can't speak to the quality. Boring, simplistic templates. Her kits are also flat and the papers are boring. Many of the colors are very over saturated. Has many older kits in her store that don't seem to match her current style.
Mye De Leon - Another of the love to hate designers. Most of her kits are very mish mashy. Very. Has some with decent patterned papers, but most are very blah and boring. Her border packs and cluster packs are usually very nice. Her templates are also nice and reasonably priced. Her previews are a little bit of a mess, but some are done well. Her style is all over the place. Her products seem very inconsistent from one kit to the next. She has some nice CT pages.
North Meets South Studios - This is Connie and Trixie Scraps. They do a monthly template grab bag which is well priced and usually OK. The kits refelct both of their styles - mostly boring papers, but fairly cohesive kits. I do question the use of Chuck E. Cheese in their most recent kit, but not enough to do anything about it. Their kits are themed and seem to be done well for their style.
Silvia Romeo - Overpriced. I'm not really sure how to describe the elements. They're digital looking, but appear to be extractions. Boring papers and some very gross color palettes. Very mish mashy, but I understand she's trying for that vintage feel. The lighting and coloring on the elements is very off for me. Nothing about the color palettes says vintage to me. Her previews are mostly bad and very flat (I'm seeing this a lot in this store). She seems to have some interesting elements in her kit, but this style is really done better by others and for a lot less.
Spinky Dink Scraps - I have some of her CU and the quality has always been good. Some of her kits are better than others. Has some nice color palettes and some gross ones. Some paper patterns are really nice and some are blah and boring. Kit style varies from kit to kit, and some are a little mish mashy. Some of her better, fuller kits are more reasonably priced than her smaller, more boring kits. So, that's inconsistent to me. Has some cute doodles in some of her kits.
Trixie Scraps Designs - Another of the love to hate designers. Many of her kits are just too dark. Dark elements on dark papers just doesn't work. Her style also varies from kit to kit. I've had some issue with her quality in the couple kits I have of hers. They're no longer in her store, so I'm guessing I wasn't the only one. Her templates are nice, but have a lot of extras I would just remove. She does have nice, full kits, but her papers are mostly boring. She has very pretty "page starters". She makes a ton of products that coordinate with each kit. If you're looking for blogwear, she has a ton. Has some OK color palettes, but some are just gross. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Wordart World by Jennifer - She actually sells more than word art, so her designer name seems pointless. Most of her word art is OK and most are reasonably priced when on sale. Her other products are mostly over saturated and basic. Some of her other products are very overpriced for what you get (especially her alphas). I don't have any of her CU so I can't speak to the quality. Based upon what's in her store, she should stick to word art.
All in all, I think Gotta Pixel is an average store with mostly average to below average designers. Their entire store is filled with mostly the same, gross color palettes and it makes it difficult to want to keep looking. These products must be what sells at this store since most designers make a lot of them and sell them cheaply when they're featured.
For the same price, the average paper style scrapper can get more over at Sweet Shoppe (among other places) and get better color palettes and better looking papers to boot.
RE: Laurie's Scraps & Designs and Kathryn Estry's CU.
I bought some of Laurie's CU and I wound up asking for money back. Jaggies and strays all over the place. I bought it from her personal store and not from GP though. Presumably, if it had gone through a QC at GP, someone would have pointed it out to her.
Kathryn Estry's CU is blurry and her templates are just OK.
Referring to Simon's comment on the gross color pallets. I would have to agree that the majority of the gross ones at GP and most stores tend to be the "monthly color events" or collaborations. Finding a color pallet that meshes with every designer's style is very hard. If you aren't the one that picked out the swatch, it can be hard to find vision. That being said, I hardly shop those monthly color sales anymore, they just seem so forced an boring. Kinda like beating a dead horse with a stick. Time for some new ideas.
I agree with most of the GP reviews. I bet you could throw all the GP kits into a drum, mix them up, and randomly reassign them to a designer, and no one would know the difference.
I guess I missed the explanation of 'mish-mash' too beacause I was wondering about as well. Can 'Simon' explain again so I don't have to look through thousands of posts.
Mish mash - doesn't work together, doesn't flow. It doesn't necessarily mean that a designer should only use doodles or only real elements in a kit, but if they throw those elements together in a kit, they need to work together, be of a similar style. There's no point in having a really whimsical doodle in a kit filled with shabby chic. That's my take on it, anyway.
Ztampf - And fetuses and headless pregnant paper dolls and "to breed or not to breed" word art? I don't get it. ----------
This happens to be one of my favorite kits of hers. When it came out, there were not a lot of pregnancy or maternity kits out there and the ones that were around were cutesy grossness. I don't get why most of the pregnancy kits are still cutesy.
And I actually adore Miki Ferkul's kits. Her quality is outstanding, you get a great value and she's a sweetheart to boot. I think it's a matter of taste more than anything.
anyone who can only describe a kit as mishy mashy sure won't sway me one way or another. If these designers have mishy mashy kits you obviously have mishy mashy reviews. I honestly don't think there are many designers you like or who float your boat so if others are going by your reviews and pass up some of the designers you've rated and who I personally think don't deserve your mishy mashy reviews will keep an open mind and check things out for themselves.
anyone who can only describe a kit as mishy mashy sure won't sway me one way or another. If these designers have mishy mashy kits you obviously have mishy mashy reviews. I honestly don't think there are many designers you like or who float your boat so if others are going by your reviews and pass up some of the designers you've rated and who I personally think don't deserve your mishy mashy reviews will keep an open mind and check things out for themselves. July 27, 2011 6:35 PM
Sounds like Simon gave you a mish-mashy review.
If you think designers don't deserve that statement, say who and why. Don't just make some stupid, generic comment when you don't back anything up. You just sound bitter.
A review is just that, a review. It's someone's opinion. If anyone is going to be solely swayed by a review, of any kind on anything, well, that's their problem, isn't it?
Microferk has my vote too & I'm loving the new look to her kits at SBG although I have bunches of her SBE kits too. I have two designers that I check on regularly, Miki & Studio Lorie & sometimes Christina Renee. SBG gets the majority of money, that is if I buy something. I don't buy everything that those 3 designers make though.
Gotta Pixel is absolutely NOT a top-tier store. It's a store for beginner digiscrappers, who unload their money there until they learn what's really available in digiland. GP has got a few good designers right now, who will probably leave within the next few months... The rest of the less-creative run-of-the-mill designers are the type who cater to beginners and people who haven't learned about all that the digi community has to offer. Back in the day, even I got my start at shops like GP. Then I learned about the more unique, artistic designers at some of the top stores, and I haven't shopped at GP since. Customers' tastes will always evolve past a place like GP because they don't offer much that's unique.
June 6, 2011 1:15 PM
True! GP has always been - and will always be - mostly beginner digi-scrappers (excepting a few lifers who don't mind being stuck in Mediocre-Ville)
Once most scrappers start finding out about some of the really talented designers and top-notch shops, they tend to leave GP and not look back. Just like I did, and just like most other girls I met there. I actually do now shop regularly with a couple designers who used to sell at GP, but have moved on. They are both much more talented than most of the current GP girls. It would be fun to see a poll of which designers used to sell at GP at one time or another.
But looking back, when I was a beginning scrapper is when I probably spent the most money, since the hobby was new to me, and I didn't know how to make or even re-color even the most basic things myself. So maybe that is the goal: cater to new digital scrappers that spend the most money on even the most basic, simple things. Then they also aren't too picky, because they don't know any better. I think the newer a digi scrapper is, the more money they spend on it, so maybe it's not a bad strategy, from a store-owner's viewpoint. Stacy is probably cackling all the way to the bank.
cater to new digital scrappers that spend the most money on even the most basic, simple things. Then they also aren't too picky, because they don't know any better. ---------
Wow, just wow. When I started, I knew better. Just because someone is new at something, it doesn't mean they can't recognize quality when they see it. It also doesn't mean they spend it up. In fact, I've found it's the long term scrappers that spend more money.
Hmm, I've never shopped at Gotta Pixel but I just checked it out because of all the talk here. I can't see the difference between that store and Scrap Matters, Scrap Orchard, 9th & Bloom etc. They all look the same to me.
Have you ever thought maybe people shop at GP and other low tier stores as you put it, because they offer something the buyer enjoys?
Some people do not have their nose so far in air that they feel they can only shop at the stores that are high tier, that is just ignorant.
There are plenty of stores out there that have nice digital kits and designers that are not well known. So get your nose out of the air with your high and mighty attitude and you may discover some new talent.
No I am not a GP Designer either. In fact I cannot stand the woman that owns it. She has your attitude of thinking she is better than all.
People like myself shop where they want to shop no matter what store it is high medium or low grade.If they have something I enjoy then I am going to purchase it.
Get over yourself with your wanna be high class ass!
Places that cater to the beginner usually have some people hanging around in the forums who will help newbies, too. I always considered that purchases I made early on as part of the cost of my new hobby and the help I got in the beginning. The posh stores don't have a lot of people hanging around the forums, yes, some paid CT people, but they aren't very helpful and give short, terse answers from what I've seen, and tend to make one feel like a real tool.
Who are my favorites? I thought it was funny when I got pigeonholed into a style. Mostly because I appreciate all styles of scrapbooking and scrap more than one style myself. I'm not a fantasty style scrapper, but I recognize that most fanasty kits work great for more than just one type of page. I tend to just buy what I like and even if I only make one page with a kit, I've had my $5 worth of enjoyment. It's a cheap hobby.
I'm not store loyal, and I like to find new designers (to me). Here are my favorites by store:
Sweet Shoppe - I do shop here, but usually just from a couple different designers. Mostly Kristin Kronin-Barrow. Her kits are usually more for everyday scrapping and I like that as I have little need for kid themed kits. I also like Zoe Pearn and an occasional collab or sampler from the group. Cindy has nice templates, but they're too expensive.
9th and Bloom - I basically just look at Creations by Rachael and Fruitloop Sally. I will, however, put Agnes on my list now. I don't buy a lot from any of these designers, but I do follow their work and buy things I like.
After 5 - Nikki Beaudreau: makes cute little elements, but I wish she made more patterns. Occasionally Cinnamon Designs, and Kay Miller or Kristin Aagard if I want something cutesy. I also like MK Designs, but she's retiring - need to get my wish list purchased (she does a good type of mish mash).
Scrap Orchard - Irene and SuzyQ based on my mood and what I want at the time. Quality is never an issue with either of these designers. I worry a bit more with some of the others there.
Scrapbook Bytes - Mostly just templates from Connie Prince and JennCK. I buy an occasional kit from either if I need something more paper style and don't feel like making it myself. Their templates are easy to use and I don't have to delete 100 layers of crap. I occasionally get a kit or template pack from Trixie Scraps there as well, but again, the quality on some of her kits hasn't been great, so I just buy the templates now. I don't use a lot of templates, but having them all in one shop makes it easy when I want some. I may get a template or two from Mye after seeing them at Gotta Pixel. I refuse to give Stacy my money, so I'll get them at Scrapbook Bytes.
ScrapMatters - Jady Day when I want something paper scrappy, but her papers are sometimes really bad. Cute elements, though. I tried True Blue once for her templates and found too many jagged shapes, so I wont buy again. I also shop with KimB for CU and PU items. Quality has never been a problem.
The Lilypad - Kate Hadfield is my doodle go-to designer. They're always good quality, cute, and affordable. I also like Valorie Wibbens. Kaye Winiecki if I want some felt (she sells element packs, which is nice).
Scrapbook Graphics - Flergs for boy stuff on very rare occasion, Studio Natali and Studio Charlize. If Charlize sold just element packs, I'd shop with her more often as I'm not fond of her papers. I, too, prefer Thaty's kits to her CU and have a few of the kits and enjoy them. I have a few of Veronica Spriggs' kits, but sometimes the quality isn't there, so I don't have many.
The DigiChick - I like Nikki Epperson's templates, even with deleting a bunch of things. She does nice whitespace templates and they're reasonably priced like the others I buy. I tried Cluster Queen's templates, but spent more time deleting things than scrapping. I like etc by Danyale (so glad she's no longer at Gotta Pixel), Mari Koegelenberg, and Danielle Engebretson. I also buy occasional CU from Disasterpiece.
I also download the occasional freebie from Digital Crea.
I don't shop at 2peas (2expensive), Shabby Pickle (poor customer service), Gotta Pixel (too Stacy), or MScraps (too blah). Although, I do like an occasional template from Busy Bee. It's just very infrequent since I don't hit MScraps hardly ever.
I also buy from a sprinkling of other designers when I see something I like. The ones listed I've purchased from more than once and follow their work in case I see more I like. I'm sure I've missed some, but this list is a good start.
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks 2peas is 2$$$. One of my favorite designers moved there and increased her prices accordingly, I will not pay $8 for something she used to sell for $3.50-$4.00!!
How about some positivity? Go to the galleries and find a layout you love and post it here. I think it will be fun to see what "style" variety we have here.
Places that cater to the beginner usually have some people hanging around in the forums who will help newbies, too. I always considered that purchases I made early on as part of the cost of my new hobby and the help I got in the beginning. The posh stores don't have a lot of people hanging around the forums, yes, some paid CT people, but they aren't very helpful and give short, terse answers from what I've seen, and tend to make one feel like a real tool.
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I agree, although I think that TDC is a mid- or top-tier store that has a really welcoming attitude and lots of designers who are active in the forums and willing to help out. SO is also a place where there's lots of activity and a fun vibe. There may be other exceptions, too, but these are the ones I thought of immediately. Lots of the other stores that get talked about on this blog are the opposite, which always surprises me, like, why are these other stores so great? They're not very fun.
How about some positivity? Go to the galleries and find a layout you love and post it here. I think it will be fun to see what "style" variety we have here.
^^^^^^^^^
I'll be okay with that if you change from "galleries" to "stores" and from "layout" to "product". I don't see how singling out a scrapper's personal layout on a smack blog will do any good to anyone or the industry. Even if you are referring to or talking about it in a positive way, others anon posters here might not. It probably won't be such a "fun" thing for the scrapper. Plus there's already a lot of other places for praising layouts.
Sounds like Simon doesn't stray from the same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts. Obviously I'd be more inclined to listen to what she had to say if she shopped some of the low brow shops that actually have some very good designers but again it's the same old same old. I wonder what would happen if she tried someone brand new. LOL
Sounds like Simon doesn't stray from the same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts. Obviously I'd be more inclined to listen to what she had to say if she shopped some of the low brow shops that actually have some very good designers but again it's the same old same old. I wonder what would happen if she tried someone brand new. LOL
July 28, 2011 9:07 PM ------
Have you ever considered that there might be a legitimate reason that the "same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts"? You might consider that those designers are popular because their designs appeal to a large group of people. I like and purchase from almost every one one of the designers that Simon mentioned. And I know a lot of people who also buy from them. It's not because they want to be part of their popularity circle. It's because they like their designs and enjoy scrapping with them.
I think your statement that Simon should seek out the "very good designers" in the "low brow" shops is kind of strange. You are right that there are some talented designers spread out in the smaller shops. But "low brow" is a really weird term to describe those shops.
Have you ever considered that there might be a legitimate reason that the "same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts"? ------
You are right that there are some talented designers spread out in the smaller shops. But "low brow" is a really weird term to describe those shops. --------
So enlighten us, who are some of these talented designers in the low brow shops? I don't have a lot of time to browse through shop after shop, so I tend to stick with the few designers that I already know I like.
I agree with what was said about SBG for the most part except that I don't care for Flergs stuff at all. It's mostly CU stuff, however she is good at changing it up and it's too repeatative. I get tired of the same flowers, same glass hearts, and same filter forge frames in every kit. Plus I don't care for her paper patterns that often repeat in series of kits too. Her CU has some quality issues as well. However if she would sell her rhinestone style I would buy it because her gems are very good ... or maybe it's CU and I just haven't seen it anywhere
here's a simple request for simple simon Review "Oscraps" please .... I noted that you dont appear to shop there so should be an interesting review.
I don't shop at any of the stores Simon mentioned other than SBG and after checking them out dont intend too. I love to shop at Oscraps, Designer Digitals,after5 and Shabbypickle.... all of which are good stores in my book.. but Im loving the reviews so I can check out some new designers.
I don't shop at any of the stores Simon mentioned other than SBG and after checking them out dont intend too. I love to shop at Oscraps, Designer Digitals,after5 and Shabbypickle.... all of which are good stores in my book.. but Im loving the reviews so I can check out some new designers. July 29, 2011 3:03 AM
Simon stated she shops at after5.
I would like to know of these "low brow" stores with hidden gems as well.
I also don't think Simon's favorites are "herd mentality." I was surprised at how diverse the list was and included a few designers I've never even heard of.
So maybe Low Brow isn't the right descriptive word to use for other shops that have a lot of really good designers but never make the "popularity polls" because of course they aren't considered the hot spots or hot designers but they've been in business for a long time so either the store owners are stupid not to close up their stores or can their designers or there is a reason they have been around so long.
Natural Designs in Scrapbooking (NDISB) Theresa Hernandez Bernadette Hunt DeeBee Designs Aneczkaw and others
Digital Scrapbook Pages (Digitals) Betty Jo Martin Jennifer Maceyunas Joyce DeJong and others
3Scrapteers DeDe Smith Christine Smith
OScraps Vicky Stegall Merkeley Designs Paint the Moon Vera Lim and others
Here are some other designers who have their own Stoes Peppermint Creative NitWit Collections KB and Friends
Deviant Scrap if you like quirky Holliewood Studios Beth Rimmer
These are just a few. There are so many more out there but it's always the same ole same ole when it comes to popularity. I would suggest everyone try out someone new to them. Maybe they will become one of your most favorite and to hell with the popularity polls.
Is it just a coincidence that a week or two after WM2 releases her camping kit, Sahlin releases one and they have almost the exact same word art bits and add-ons?
Someone needs to check the meaning of "ocker". I'm sure there are some "regular" Aussies here but I very much doubt any "ocker" is reading this blog LOL.
Although Simon and cie have reviewed some large stores with a mix of types of products (but mostly PU), it would be interesting to see reviews of designer resources stores. I would love to find new GOOD resources without having to go through many stores, make purchases, and check. Yes, I am lazy but as a designer, if I can save time, why not?
We know that ideas are never exclusive but sometimes, similarities are giving an odd impression. This is such kind of similarities. Coincidence? maybe. Still odd.
My thoughts on "designer resource" stores. I am assuming you mean stores with only CU.
CU Designers with personal CU stores: Rachael's Scraps - Great for elements. She has a variety of elements and I have never found strays on anything I have bought. Sometimes she feathers the edge of an element more than I would like. That is easy enough to fix though. A few times I have found elements with a slightly darker edge. Also easy enough to fix. Generally I consider her a go-to designer for elements as any minor issues are worth the time saved.
Inspiredbydominic Designs - She is my go to designer for textures. She has some elements and other items in her shop as well, but I usually buy her overlays. I have also not found any strays or issues with the elements I have bought from her. She also has some styles I have bought and use regularly.
Those two are my go to designers that have personal shops. I used to shop with Redju and Amanda Rockwell, but less now that they have moved to SBG.
I will do a store review next based on my experiences or the previews.
My thoughts on "designer resource" stores. I am assuming you mean stores with only CU. --------- Maybe not necessarily ONLY CU stuff but a large selection of CU. I am thinking of Commercial Use, DigiScrapWarehouse, PBP, and similar whether the resources are elements, textures, overlays, templates, styles, actions, etc.
Some of Redju's prices increased quite a bit with the move. Initially there also wasn't a lot of product that I didn't already have. I checked back today and I see that since the end of last year her prices seem mostly back to normal so I may start checking her out again.
Amanda's prices also seem to have increased, although, I see she is having a sale now so I may do some shopping. She seems to have focused on CU4CU licenses which have taken over a good part of her store. It's too much to wade through.
I prefer personal stores for CU designers since they usually make it a lot easier to find products and I don't have to do through so much PU to get it.
Maybe not necessarily ONLY CU stuff but a large selection of CU. I am thinking of Commercial Use, DigiScrapWarehouse, PBP, and similar whether the resources are elements, textures, overlays, templates, styles, actions, etc.
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I don't shop at Commercial Use or DigiScrapWarehouse. I have bought too much that was just thrown away later due to quality. What is PBP? The only store I can think of is PickleBerryPop, but they are not a store with mostly CU.
The little word bits I could maybe understand, I mean there are only so many words and phrases to describe camping.
But those icons, now that is pretty sketchy.
Personally I don't get the fascination that people have with Sahlin Studios. I think she is a complete copy cat. This isn't the first time I have seen a designer release a product and a few weeks later she comes out with the exact same thing. Kitschy Digitals released a set of Sugar Flowers and maybe 2-3 weeks later Sahlin did. In fact she seems to have copied KD's whole style. Once KD picked up a little steam and got noticed by a few people Sahlin all the sudden was putting out Vintagy Kitschy things. If you look at her earlier stuff it's nothing like what she does know. And I know it takes time for a designer to find their style and but that was like a night and day style change.
Plus it's been brought up here that she has blatantly copied paper designs from big paper companies.
DigiScrapWarehouse raises their prices in order for them to have sales. Happened the past couple iNSD & DSD events.
The owner was made aware of it last year, but it happened again this year. I refuse to give them my money ------------ Oh my! that is definitely not good. Was it a store wide situation or only some "stubborn" designers? If it is store wide, I surely would feel the same. If it is only a handful of not-so-honest designers, was the owner informed again this year? I know some owners are not always honest and will cover up, but sometimes, I think that the designers are sneaky, hoping the honest owner won't find out.
Since I don't shop there regularly, I would probably not notice those practices. Do you have specific names or is it all across the board?
I personally can't review a lot of CU resources since I don't use much at all. Someone else will have to swing that rope.
As for the "herd mentality" comment. Really? Maybe for KCB and Connie Prince, but I've rarely seen any of the others on any sort of "popularity poll." I don't shop with those designers for any other reason than they make what I like/need at the time.
I will definitely review OScraps, though. I've been wanting to check that store out a little more based on all the feedback I've been hearing.
As for the list presented for good designers at "low brow" stores -
NDISB - this store has so much pure crap in it, it's never been worth my time to weed through it all to find some nice stuff. Theresa Hernandez - Mish mashy and poor looking previews at that. Blurry. Some gross color palettes. Bernadette Hunt - Gross mish mash again. Poor lighting on extracted items mixed with acrylic, digital elements, etc. Horrible previews and mostly gross color palettes. Does not stick to palette and not in a good way. DeeBee Designs - This person has 12 items in her store and most are ready made albums. How she has "been around forever" is a little difficult to see. Aneczkaw - Some gross color palettes, but the kits themselves look usable. Too bad I can't get past the colors. Isn't really doing anything other designers aren't, and they use better colors. and others - I seriously doubt it.
Digital Scrapbook Pages Betty Jo Martin - Boring, flat previews. Some gross color palettes. Nothing original and for the price, I can get a lot more elsewhere. Looks like cheap tagger crap. Patterns are basic and boring when they're even present. Jennifer Maceyunas - Has some nice, affordable word art. Gross color palettes for kits. Looks like cheap, digitally made junk from 8 years ago. Expensive for what you get, too. Joyce DeJong - Mish mashy, horrible color palettes. Combination of poorly lit extracted items and cheap digital action items. and others - also doubt it.
3Scrapteers - this store is beyond gross. You can't even make the previews large. Which is probably a blessing in disguise. DeDe Smith - horrible color palettes. Just worse than gross. Very expensive for junky, cheap looking items. Christine Smith - Really? This is the gem all of us KCB fans have been missing out on? http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=7998 Give me a break.
OScraps - Will review in full at a later time Vera Lim - I'm pretty sure she makes "popularity polls" and she's hardly an unknown and overlooked designer.
Here are some other designers who have their own Stores Peppermint Creative - I get her freebies from time to time and also love her alphas. She's an occasional shop I hit, but I find most of her items too expensive for what you get. A lot of single items recolored 10 ways packs. NitWit Collections - She's also an occasional store. Most of her stuff is too cutesy for me, but I do have a few of her things. KB and Friends - I'm not an altered art fan.
Deviant Scrap if you like quirky - not a fan. I did get their huge collab that was featured in a magazine. Nice way to try out a bunch of new to me designers. I deleted about 75% of it due to quality issues. No thanks.
I think that the herd mentality comment (while slightly funny) is total bs. I don't believe that people spend their money on product that they don't really like, just because everyone else is doing it. And how does that make sense anyway, since a. most of us are not in highschool anymore, and b. we are all online and have no way of knowing what everyone else has purchased.
People buy from designers whose product they like to scrap with. Almost certainly, every scrapper could find new designers that they would love too. But does that mean that the "discovered" designers are all worthless? I don't understand the logic that "popular" designers are all crap.
Christine Smith - Really? This is the gem all of us KCB fans have been missing out on? http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=7998 Give me a break. -------------------------------- This made me LOL!
I personally can't review a lot of CU resources since I don't use much at all. Someone else will have to swing that rope.
Well I now know I definitely wouldn't bother with your reviews. Most of what you said about the designers that were pointed out are just that what YOU feel but what ISN'T fact in the least. Many of these designers have been around for a long time and do very well since I know them all, since I have purchased from them or designed with them, etc., etc, etc. That is why your reviews is such a load of crap and anyone new on this blog should take your reviews with a grain of salt because you really don't know what you are talking about and shouldn't bother with your critiques.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
Well, I, for one, and it seems many, happen to agree with Simon on almost all reviews. I'm sure plenty of designers "do well", but that's just as relative as the review itself. I've asked designers what "doing well" means to them and I get an answer that varies from $100/month in sales to over $1000/month in sales.
I also find designers lie. A lot.
I think Simon's reviews of the list that was posted from low brow stores was spot on. That one kit she linked to is laughable. I'm sure all those designers do well for beginner scrappers or for taggers. I understand both markets can be very lucrative. But that doesn't mean they make good products quality wise.
I also tend to agree with most of Simon's reviews, which is why I asked who her favorite designers were - many happen to be mine as well. Was I upset I wasn't on that list? Maybe a little, but that's just it. Everyone has different tastes for what they like. Take everything here with a grain of salt.
Well I now know I definitely wouldn't bother with your reviews. Most of what you said about the designers that were pointed out are just that what YOU feel but what ISN'T fact in the least. Many of these designers have been around for a long time and do very well since I know them all, since I have purchased from them or designed with them, etc., etc, etc. That is why your reviews is such a load of crap and anyone new on this blog should take your reviews with a grain of salt because you really don't know what you are talking about and shouldn't bother with your critiques.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
July 29, 2011 1:46 PM --------
Did you by chance list yourself as one of you own favorite "very good designers in a low brow store"?
You can't be upset that the review of your list of designers wasn't all wonderful. You put yourself and those other designers out there by listing them here. You had to know you were asking for a review/comments/criticism by doing that here.
I agreed with Simon's reviews on your list. However, I do love Vera Lim, so you got that one right for me at least.
And as a side note, many of the designers that Simon listed as her favorites (to repeat your own words) have been around for a long time and do very well as well. Although, I think your definition and my definition of "doing very well" are probably not the same.
I agree that you have to take the reviews with a grain of salt. It's all based on someone's own personal taste. For instance, I think that those neon colored sparkly kits with half naked girls in them are hideous. But a lot of people love them or they wouldn't be there. Who am I to say those designers aren't good? Someone obviously thinks they are.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'd like to see them, too.
Most of Simon's reviews I've disagreed with and that's because it's subjective reviews, not objective reviews. Were it object, if would solely concentrate on the quality of kits...not on whether Simon though the colors were "gross" (remember, they're gross, not lousy) or fit her style.
Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be those who will read those reviews and, based on them, won't give a designer a try and end up missing out on something they may have liked.
Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be those who will read those reviews and, based on them, won't give a designer a try and end up missing out on something they may have liked. ------ Or on the contrary, it will peak someone's curiosity and they might want to try that designer "to make a liar out of Simon" and might just end up sticking with those designers. If we have Simon here, maybe we should get John, and Steve and Suzy, and a ton of other "judges", even judging the same stores. Why not?
I was going to review the Design Factor Challenge 6 kits, but the site isn't working for me at all. Anyone else having problems?
As for reviewing kits and speaking to the quality... I can't really do that based upon a preview. I can to a point, but without seeing the actual items, I can't say if they are "quality" or not. Even that would be subjective! It's why I stated I wouldn't review CU. I assumed, and maybe incorrectly, that a review of that would be wanted based upon quality of items - not on a preview. If I'm wrong, let me know!
Clearly people are putting themselves up here to be reviewed and getting ticked off when I say something about their designs. If what you make sells well for you, then why do you care what I think anyway? If what you make isn't selling as well as you'd like, maybe my review might help. Maybe it wont.
People do well (whatever that means) in all sorts of shops making neon kits with half naked ladies (as previously mentioned). If I reviewed something like that, I would most certainly say it was gross. My saying something is gross isn't saying it wont sell. That singing bass fish was one of the best selling products a few years back. Hideous and totally pointless. But it sold.
As for reviewing my own products, how do you know I haven't? I'm pretty hard on my own products, too. It pushes me to improve. I don't care how long you've been designing, everyone has room for improvement.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
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LMAO Apparently someone took their critique personally? Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well. Take what was said and learn from it.
Would Scrappity Doo Dah be considered a top or middle tier store?
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Please tell me you're joking? Low tier for sure, have you seen that site?
Almost everything from Challenge 6 is horrible. I downloaded Binty's kit for the peas and don't see anything else I can use. Although, 2 AM's coffee kit is kind of nice.
I don't see how Simon not using CU can make her reviews invalid. You don't have to be a designer to see that color palette's are ugly or that elements are unusable.
I don't see how Simon not using CU can make her reviews invalid. You don't have to be a designer to see that color palette's are ugly or that elements are unusable.
-------- You also dont have to use CU to be a designer. I very rarely use CU.
I was having trouble with the Design Factor (DSC) site today too. In fact, I've had trouble at least once a week trying to get on the site. Perhaps there is too much traffic for their site. But it seems to be OK now, so I would love to hear what you have to say. From my look through I've seen 2 OK Kits, 3 Fun and Original ideas and the rest are either ugly or boring. I'll put up a better review once the deadline is over. And I think I might review some stores too. I do agree with a lot of 'Simons' opinions, but I have a different outlook on cutsy kits (I like them and with small children I use them too). -Randy (lol)
Almost everything from Challenge 6 is horrible. I downloaded Binty's kit for the peas and don't see anything else I can use. Although, 2 AM's coffee kit is kind of nice.
LMAO Apparently someone took their critique personally? Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well. Take what was said and learn from it.
Nope never critiqued me but I'm sure she'd probably not be very complimentary seeing what she said about some of my fellow designers who I think are pretty darn good. Be that as it may, I do just fine and always have even though I've never been in the list of popular designers. I get emails and comments on my work and I have repeat customers so......As far as I'm concerned much of what she said is not fact just one person's opinion. Also a color swatch is a personal choice. Some will like it some won't. I tend to use Kuhler for some of my swatches since I like what is put out and also another resource.
Please tell me you're joking? Low tier for sure, have you seen that site?
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I am a relatively new designer and a few months ago would have disagreed with you. It was one of the beginner stores that I wanted to apply to once they had a call. But they've recently brought on a few designers who are - less than appealing - and I really didn't want to be associated with them so I didn't apply to their recent call. It's sad how a few novice designers really just destroy a store.
(I am having problems with the keyboard, the m is stuck and I can't control it, it pops on every single word! Grammar police, don't eat me alive!)
Here are my reviews.
Scraps by Mara Not bad, neither good. I've never liked generic items (tags, buttons etc) on mini kits.
Starving artist Just bad. The colors are gross. This is not chocolate color, it's dirt.
Farynar's Wings Here come the cupcakes! Nothing special, such kits are all over the freebieland.
AM designs The paper (or is it fabric?) flowers are ok, the rest is just a waste of digital space. The nuts drove me nuts! Unusalbe. And ugly. Period.
Nana's Scraps The 80's are back, and in the worst form! I am pretty sure the quality sucks.
Kuper Doodles It's so flat. Some of her doodles are interesting. But flat.
Snackpack designs I had a hard time trying to figure what this bunch of crap on the right is. It's a birthday cake! For your enemies, of course!
Ramona Memories Dear God! Those mushrooms must be poisonous!
Studio Linda Renee It looks cheap. Like clipart for taggers. The alpha was a bad idea. The red patterned paper would be better if textured.
Rumki Watermelon. Yes, so original! Flat. Ugly.
Ronda's Scrap bits That brown scrap under the jar is a hot dog. God help me! The colors don't match.
Mandy King I like the word paper. The rest is a unsuccessful mix of styles.
Sugarkissed designms Original idea, eventhough sushi itself is disgusting. I'll keep it.
Key of D designs A bitten croissant? Sometimes realistic elements are just bad.
One of a kind Why is it so flat? Some of the shapes are ok. But flat.
Little birdie Yet another cupcake. And ugly.
Designs by Angel The combination makes me vomit. The milk shake looks ok.
Binty Cute cupcakes on this one. Not very original though.
Palma I think I downloaded, and the quality was never there. It's a pitty, it's quite original (for a freebie).
Dana's footprint I have a thing with realistic elements (and untextured digital ones): I hate them!
Brine designs I wish it wasn't so flat! That style reminds me of Oscraps.
Just Jaime I kept only the WA. The preview looks busy.
Sherry Davis Oh no! A paper clip with a real strawberry? Somebody's joking on us!
Chris Mattis Interesting theme. The bow is out of place. I'll keep it.
2 a.m. designs I kept only the WA. The color are too pale.
Katlen Kreations I'm speechless!
Digital Harmony One of the most original and well done. I would like more bubble elements (yes, I am greedy). I would also prefer a more pop frame, the brown color is too much. Thanks God there wasn't any real chewed gum! Miss Tiina has a very similar kid face with a bubble gum, maybe she got the idea from there.
Angela Drummond I have to agree with the previous comment about the poo cupcake.
scrapN2Nspire Ugly colors, busy preview.
Rebecca Myers The main elements are interesting, the rest don't actually match. I'll keep some ellies and the patterned papers.
I am a relatively new designer and a few months ago would have disagreed with you. It was one of the beginner stores that I wanted to apply to once they had a call. But they've recently brought on a few designers who are - less than appealing - and I really didn't want to be associated with them so I didn't apply to their recent call. It's sad how a few novice designers really just destroy a store. ________________________________
Ok now you have to name names and tell the story behind :)
I tried to review the challenge 6 contestants. After giving it my best shot, I have to say that Simon and a couple of the other reviewers have been doing a really good job. It's difficult to say anything constructive on some kits. And it's kind of time consuming to review them. I think I started out ok, but by the time I got to the end, I had less patience to look for anything redeeming in the really bad kits.
Also, some of the logos on those challenge kits are terrible. Make your logo readable. How are people supposed to know it's yours if you can't read the logo? Because of that, I may have named the designers incorrectly. I did my best.
Rebecca Myers: The “say cheese” theme is a cute idea for a kit. The cheese wedges are cute and I like the swatch except for the pinkish color. The doodled flowers are very flat looking and the bow is colored very strangely.
N2N: The snow cone theme is fun. The strings over the buttons need shadows between the string and the button, as does the tag. I hate the swatch. It's way too bright and saturated. I don't understand why there are some shadows on the elements on the preview and not on others. Consistency is helpful. The alpha is kind of a cute idea. It reminds me of the letters on the outside of an ice bag freezer.
Angela Drummond: Hate the colors. They don't say cupcakes to me at all. The doodles on the patterned papers are huge and strangely spaced. The tag seems kind of pointless to me.
Digital Harmony: The bubble gum theme is cute, but it would have been better to stick to the pinks, whites and browns. The primary colors thrown in are weird and distracting. I think the bubble gum machine and the bubble blowers are cute.
Katlen Kreations: The choco cherry chunk theme isn't really working for me. The bows and ribbons are ugly and badly colored. The frame looks stretched out. None of the colors are consistent throughout the papers and the elements. The string through the tag should be shadowed over the tag.
2 AM: I like the color combo. The paper coffee cup is cute, as is the bow and the jumbled letters. I like the "keep calm" tag but the one that says "don't make me kill you" is weird.
Chris Matthis: school lunch is a cute theme. This is one of the better contributions so far IMO. I hate the texture of the grapes, it makes them look old and fuzzy. I thought that the cookies were potatoes at first. The doodles on the patterned papers would look better if they were not so evenly distributed, IMO.
Sherry Davis: The extracted elements are badly lit, and badly shadowed on the preview. The papers are ugly.
Just Jaimee: I don't understand why the cupcakes aren't more prominent for a cupcake theme. The papers are way too grungy and busy. The frames would have been cuter without the doodles patterned over them.
Brine, I like pear theme or a pea theme but peas and pears together seem like a weird combo. The paper elements sit a bit too flat on the preview, but overall I think this kit has kind of a pretty look and I like the swatch
Dana's Footprint: I kind of hate this one. The green is obnoxious and there are about 18 orange shades. The sliced oranges look old and yucky and the chocolate is kind of plastic looking.
Pamla Klenczar: where is your logo? It's nice to be able to see who did a kit right on it. The doodled elements are cute, but they don't match the swatch in the papers at all. and everything looks completely textureless.
Binty: Hate the swatch. The papers are too grungy for the elements. The doodled cupcakes are kind of cute, but the outline around them doesn't look refined, and they are a bit shakily drawn. I like the ribbons and stitching
Angel: Cute idea for a theme. The french fries look un cooked and the box they are in looks like it's lit from the right, but it's shadowed to the left. The string on the paper button thing looks odd. The blue stripes on the straw need a shiny bevel to match the white part. The guest check is cute and I like the little sign with the hanging bow. The papers are not my favorite.
Little Birdie: everything looks very flat and devoid of texture. The swirled ribbon doesn't look well done. I almost like a couple of the paper patterns and I like the cupcake border.
One of a Kind: I think this is a fun theme. I like some of the doodles but they need something. Maybe a little shading or texture. They seem very flat. The papers are kind of a miss for me.
Key of D: The logo needs to be more easily readable. The designer's name is tiny. The idea behind peanut butter and jelly is kind of fun. I'm not a fan of how this was done. The photographed elements are strangely lit. The patterned paper is unusable. The shadows on the preview are a mess. The tan bow is unshadowed, and the photographed elements are lit from the left and shadowed from the right. Fixing the shadows on the preview would help some, but not enough.
Sugar Kissed. I love that this is an Asian food themed kit and the colors and the elements actually feel Asian themed. That said, there are an awful lot of doodled elements, but not a whole lot of scrappy elements. I can't imagine a completed page using this. The elements and the papers have a clean feel to them and are consistent. I like the color swatch, though it's a bit neon-ish. The preview packaging takes up like half the preview. It needs to be more kit, less packaging.
Mandy King: The color swatch is ugly. I don't like the mix of digital elements, doodled elements and the scanned grape leaves. The apple border is kind of cute.
Ronda's Scrap Bits: This doesn't feel like picnic in the park. The pitcher of juice is the only food themed element I can find. What is that brown thing under the juice? The preview is a mess, The shadowing needs work...namely, the elements need to be shadowed. All of them, not just one or two. The color swatch is hideous.
Rumki: What is it with no shadows on the previews? Haven't these designers ever scrapped a page? Shadows are key to making a page or a preview appealing. I don't mind the swatch, the watermelon theme is boring. It's just one shape repeated all over the place. The ribbon looks like it was stepped on right before it was badly colored.
Studio Linda Renee: First off, the colors are terrible. There is no texture on the veggies or anywhere else. The patterns are not cute.
Ramona: I don't get the theme at all. Mushies on Maples? Why? What would you use this to scrap? THe colors are terrible. The extracted elements look blurry. The lace bow is super bad. Yuck.
Snackpackgu: I wish designers would never preview their papers like that. It's not attractive. The bevels on everything are not attractive. The cake was a good idea, but poorly executed. The balloons look heavy.
Kuper Doodles: The colors feel very late 80's to me. The paper patterns are very beginner. I like the idea of the arrow and the scatters, and some of the doodles are kind of cute.
NanasScraps: Why is the bear sitting on a banana? And covered with strawberry polka dots? The extracted basket is blurry and badly lit. The colors for the kit are not attractive. The extracted leaves are way too saturated...as is everything else.
AM: Another half shadowed preview. The nuts theme could be fun, only the only word art included is a big long and lame quote. The shiny bow is kind of pretty.
Farynar's Wings: I like the colors. The sprinkles are cute on the doughnut too. I don't like the shiny bevel on all of the doodles. It didn't really work on the cupcake wrapper and the doughnut. The patterns on the paper are lame. Some patterning tutorials would do the designer wonders.
Starving Artist: Again, I don't like the shiny bevels. The drip at the top is a cute idea. This kit doesn't say chocolate to me. Not even a little bit. The apple doesn't belong there, and there is an overload of badly shadowed/badly colored rolled flowers.
Mara: Hate the palette. Hate the bevel on the doodles on the patterned papers. The papers are too grungy and the texture is too heavy. The extracted leaf looks weird with the digital elements.
Someone needs to check the meaning of "ocker". I'm sure there are some "regular" Aussies here but I very much doubt any "ocker" is reading this blog LOL. --------
Clearly you aren't Australian. The OP who used the word can continue to do so. Looking things up doesn't always give you the right answer, especially with regard to language use.
Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be those who will read those reviews and, based on them, won't give a designer a try and end up missing out on something they may have liked. -------------
Really? You think that there are people out there who won't be able to make up their own mind? Isn't this going back to the whole herd mentality thing again?
And how does that make sense anyway, since a. most of us are not in highschool anymore, and b. we are all online and have no way of knowing what everyone else has purchased. ----------
a. since most of you continually talk about top tier etc, it smacks of high school, even if you aren't there anymore. you also talk about what you've purchased and where.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best. -----------
Your statement is laughable. You sound like a ticked off nine year old.
Almost everything from Challenge 6 is horrible. I downloaded Binty's kit for the peas and don't see anything else I can use. Although, 2 AM's coffee kit is kind of nice.
********************
This was mine and I confused Binty, with Brine...obviously, since there are no peas in Binty's, lol!
I LOLed at the "Randy." We definitely have enough Paula's around here.
I finally managed to get on the Design Factor. Thank you to those throwing out some reviews! I love reading others reviews, too! I followed through the reviews while I looked and these things to add. We all seem to be in agreement for the most part. Bad is just bad. :)
Ronda's Scrap bits The hot dog. Sheesh. Wow.
Mandy King "Pick a good one" I can't stop laughing...
Sugar Kissed Designs Loved this one, actually. Sushi kits are hard to come by and she did a really nice job. She has gotten better this contest and that's nice to see. I downloaded this one. After downloading, the doodles have some rough edges and the coloring on the sashimi is a little creepy up close (especially on the ebi). The worst thing she did was not separate the elements! Please, please, please separate these things. How lazy can you be? The texture on the papers is weird, too. The patterns are great. Best I've seen in this contest.
Key of D designs I think the bitten croissant is actually a smidge of peanut butter. Either way, it's weird looking.
One of a kind I downloaded this one, too. It is flat, but I wanted to see more. After downloading, textures are a little boring, but not offensive. They're much nicer on the elements than on the papers. The brown one needs the texture adjusted so you can actually see it. The cookies and milk paper pattern is bad. The realistic bow doesn't mesh. Not sure why she didn't texture the leaf. Those things really accentuate how flat the rest of the kit is. The realistic elements should enhance the doodles. The frames are cute. I don't like the yellow around the one, though. A plain frame would have been nice. Extraction on the green ribbon isn't great. Appropriate font choices. I'll keep the oreo and wish I had some.
Brine Designs I downloaded this one, too. I want to like her stuff, but the quality has been junky on the past ones I've downloaded. I'm really shocked FPD keeps this stuff in the store. I know most people think the owner is a bitch, but I thought she had good quality standards. After downloading, please don't ever shadow a FONT on an item. Some of her patterns are badly done, but some are nice (I like the wordy paper with the pear). I like the passion fruits, but the peas are a little weird. I do like the swatch, but I'm sick of pink and brown. The pea pod is slightly jagged. The stitch is bad quality, but thank you for not shadowing that (and the staple). I'll keep some of the elements and about half the papers.
Just Jaime Showed some promise, but her past few kits have been bad, bad, bad. She actually got worse during the contest.
Chris Matthis Designs Nothing I would use, but the textures look nice. I agree about the bow. The kit title is stupid since all the elements are about lunch. She must get her bread at the same store as Hot Dog. The crusts look like dirty chocolate.
Digital Harmony I thought the idea was cute, too, but why the pepto bismol pink? And brown? She had such nice colors in the gum balls.
Rebecca Myers A swing and a miss. The mouse holding the cheese is cute, though. Nice paper textures.
Digilicious Designs Cute idea, but wth does a blue birdie have to do with pickles and ice cream? Elements are a bit mish mashy.
I've enjoyed reading your previews much more than the chic who had nothing but negative things to say ( I don't think it was Simon). But I have to say that I think you simply don't like bevels. That seemed to be your pet peeve :)
I've enjoyed reading your previews much more than the chic who had nothing but negative things to say ( I don't think it was Simon). But I have to say that I think you simply don't like bevels. That seemed to be your pet peeve :)
July 29, 2011 8:30 PM ----------------------
When something is objectively bad, there are not many positive things to say about it. My reviews are based on "I like it-I don't like it", I don't download everything, and I can't judge like a designer (shadows, clustering etc). But I can tell you that badly photographed realistic elements are not what got me into digiscrapping.
Digilicious designs I like her idea to connect pickles and icecreams with a pregnancy (a thing the designer of "fries and milkshakes" didn't do!). I didn't notice the bird on the paper, though. Yeah, it's irrelevant.
Am I the only one who didn't like the sushi kit? I didn't like the sushi pieces at all. I love the idea, just didn't like the execution. _________________________________
I didn't like it either. In fact I thought it was pretty darn awful!
I have one quick favor to designers. STOP USING 4SHARED / MEDIAFIRE!
It costs maybe$20 for domain hosting.
----------------------------- I'm a new designer and have 4shared, but I paid for the direct download option so it links directly. (at least there is no waiting on the DL) I would love to have suggestions for domain hosting options. I get some space through my site/blog, but not enough for minis, blog trains and freebies.
Problem is - to the person who claims expertise on $20 for hosting - I call bull on that. Even if you get it cheap ($4) - that's $48/year for freebie hunters. Sure, yeah, it can be worth it. But it's usually more than that.
Concerning the design factor kits ... Part of the requirements included a bow, which is why some of them don't fit. Bows in a food theme kit is kinda dumb. And the yucky browns were part of the palette given even though they didn't have to use that one, but the light color wasn't much better.
I have one quick favor to designers. STOP USING 4SHARED / MEDIAFIRE!
It costs maybe$20 for domain hosting.
__________
(A) What you don't realize is that when it comes to things like blog trains/etc. many sites (like miine, which I do host myself and do pay for... premium "unlimited" hosting/bandwidth) get so much traffic that most hosting companies will give you a hard time and/or shut you down temporarily if you have a sudden spike in bandwidth used. The average blog train freebie is about 20MB. When almost 1500 people download it in just a few days (my average), it causes problems.
(B) I've seen some designers offer people a choice between the free file sharing sites (4shared, mediafire, dropbox, box, etc.), and I think this is a good solution as it leaves it to the freebie hunter to decide which service they want to use.
(C) The bitter part of me wants to say: if you people would stop being so selfish about freebies (acting as though they're a requirement from designers and not what they are = a gift), more designers would likely try harder to help you out. I know that's not a good public relations statement, but true nonetheless... and this is a smack blog, so there you have it.
I host with Host Monster - they are on sale right now for $5 a month. I use them for all of my freebies (add on to my kit, facebook freebies and the blog trains). According to bit.ly stats, my download count for the last blog train freebie is just over 4,100. Over half that was the first 7 or so days.
I understand about being bitter about the freebie mongers and it pisses me off too at times. But I've noticed it does help my sales.
"I understand about being bitter about the freebie mongers and it pisses me off too at times. But I've noticed it does help my sales."
I agree, and I offer freebies at times because it's a good marketing tool. The blog train is actually part of my marketing plan, and has worked brilliantly for the past few go-arounds. Though I will admit it's often hard to see my designs mixed in with the horrid messes that are there from every other tom dick and harry... "Which blog train? Does the DST one get that many hits? Maybe I should try it one month."
Yes, the blog train at blogtrainblog.blogspot.com (commonly referred to as the DST train, though it has no affiliation, really) gets quite a bit of traffic (though I doubt people are really getting 4000+ downloads; I routinely get 1500-2500 a month, and I am an established designer in a well-known store. Most other top-level designers I know are getting similar traffic).
"If you don't like the freebie hunters, then don't offer the freebies. It's really that simple."
Regarding being pissed about freebie mongers, I'm not (in general). Their existence itself doesn't irk me, but their behaviour does. I find most of them won't leave comments unless they are having trouble DL'ing (maybe 5% leave comments or thank yous, which is horridly low, though routine), and just last week I visited a blog where a freebie hunter got snotty with a designer about the size of her freebie (something like, "are you sure you could spare that?"). This is the behaviour I was referring to, in my post above. It doesn't make designers want to go out of their way to go the extra mile... if you get my drift.
"The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent (or Strine).[1] The typical ocker is "usually found in a blue singlet and rubber thongs (foot wear) with a tinnie in his hand propping up a bar"
As the previous person stated, I also don't think there are too many ockers here.
Just like digiscrap layouts, bad lighting/shadowing/perspective leads to very flat previews. Raised elements especially those extracted from real items such as ribbons, flowers and greenery, etc. look like flat stickers on the page/preview instead of real ones as they should. In other words, flat previews can't showcase the kit to its full potential (assuming it has potential, of course...)
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. one of the newer people (she sells at NSDIB or whatever the order of initials is) - and is constantly in the DCR spouting off her opinions (which are always negative). She is one that claims to use NO CU products, and disrespects anyone who does. Terra, if you read this - you have alot to learn. Such as - have an opinion, but respect others and their right to have one also. You have a LONG way to go - so drop that attitude!!!!
Is anyone else bothered by the "designers" who aren't associated with SBG, yet they have "Studio" as part of their design name? ------------------------------ This is stupid. SBG doesn't own the rights to the word 'Studio'. People have the right to name their designs whatever they want. Wow - still amazed at the stupidity of this comment.
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. one of the newer people (she sells at NSDIB or whatever the order of initials is) - and is constantly in the DCR spouting off her opinions (which are always negative). She is one that claims to use NO CU products, and disrespects anyone who does. Terra, if you read this - you have alot to learn. Such as - have an opinion, but respect others and their right to have one also. You have a LONG way to go - so drop that attitude!!!!
Scraps by Mara - passable (sp?), but nothing great
Starving Artist - can't get past the preview. When the preview is ugly then the kit doesn't have a chance.
Farynar's Wings - not thrilled w/ the patterned papers. They should either have a pattern or be solid/plain, not just random images scattered on the page. Elements are lacking anything exciting.
A.M. Designs - Don't care for this one at all. Yucky (yes, I just used the word yucky and I'm over the age of 12) papers and elements are not cohesive.
NanaScraps - Is that a strawberry tree? Do strawberries grow on trees now?
KuperDoodles - I like the colors as far as matching the kit theme, but the doodles are lacking any texture and depth. I would have liked some cross hatching on the ice cream cone at least. I do like the cherry paper though.
Ramona Memories - Does this kit even have papers? Not a theme I would ever use and the elements are sloppy at best.
Studio Linda Renee - Again with the 'textureless' elements. Come on people, add some depth to your designs.
Rumki Designs - The color palette isn't consistent throughout the kit. The idea is ok, considering I actually have pictures w/ watermelons and kids I could scrap, but I wouldn't use this kit to scrap them.
Ronda's Scrap Bits - The elements don't go together - flat paper and 'real bows'. I'm worried about the hotdog (?) it looks really sick.
Mandy King - Not an original ideas (we'll see lots of apple picking kits in the fall...in fact, I might even make one), but at least the colors go with the theme and the kit. The elements go pretty well together except the random maple leaves (too 'real' with the other elements).
SugarKissed Designs - I do love the idea and the theme, but won't download it b/c I don't know what type of sushi pictures I have. The colors are ok, but might be out of gamut as some seem a bit bright. I don't like the 'dallops' of wasabi and (?) = looks like poop.
Key of D - Cute idea, but executed very well. Too many styles of elements and the bread paper is ugly. I think the colors go well with the theme.
Would you like to give a rookie any advice? Most of the abbreviations don't speak to me but I understand some are store names and designer names. I have dl'ed some freebies but deleted some of them right after unzipping and find I can make many of the things that I need in no time, I have bought some elements by Kate Hadfield and made some backgrounds with them. I have bought a grabbag at Zigzagscrap.. that's about it. Are you willing to give me any advice? Many thanks.
Ok, I just typed another group of reviews and for some reason it didn't post them, so now I'm annoyed and will do the rest later if anyone wants to hear them.
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. one of the newer people (she sells at NSDIB or whatever the order of initials is) - and is constantly in the DCR spouting off her opinions (which are always negative). She is one that claims to use NO CU products, and disrespects anyone who does. Terra, if you read this - you have alot to learn. Such as - have an opinion, but respect others and their right to have one also. You have a LONG way to go - so drop that attitude!!!!
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First, it's clear she doesn't use a lot of CU because most of her products are awful. Second, I agree about her holier-than-thou attitude. Very bizarre coming from such a noob.
No. Last time I checked, SBG doesn't have trademark on the word.
---------------
You actually checked?! LMFAO! Thanks for the giggle.
ITA, but I will say also that it DOES seem odd when designers suddenly name themselves "Studio __(something)__" almost as though they're trying to fool others into thinking they're more than they really are.
------- You actually checked?! LMFAO! Thanks for the giggle.
ITA, but I will say also that it DOES seem odd when designers suddenly name themselves "Studio __(something)__" almost as though they're trying to fool others into thinking they're more than they really are. --------
I'm not even the poster but give me a break. "Last time I checked" is a pretty common phrase.. generally a sarcastic one.
And the whole "studio" bit. Thinking they are more than they really are? Let's get specific here ::
1. the workroom or atelier of an artist, as a painter or sculptor.
2. a room or place for instruction or experimentation in one of the performing arts: a dance studio.
Let's just say that anyone who creates digital scrapbooking designs aka digital ART is an artist. That doesn't make them a GREAT artist, but it makes them an artist all the same. The room in which their computer is in would be their studio. Thus, they have every right to say Studio My-Art-Sucks or Studio Dances With Wolves or Studio *insert name here*
Not the OP about "studio" and I get all the "SBG doesn't own the word" reasoning here, but I would definitely avoid it as part of my design name. I'd hate to think that some might see it as an attempt to associate myself with the store, the way the OP obviously did.
Would you like to give a rookie any advice? Most of the abbreviations don't speak to me but I understand some are store names and designer names. I have dl'ed some freebies but deleted some of them right after unzipping and find I can make many of the things that I need in no time, I have bought some elements by Kate Hadfield and made some backgrounds with them. I have bought a grabbag at Zigzagscrap.. that's about it. Are you willing to give me any advice? Many thanks.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IF you are a newbie designer....then the first piece of advice I can give you is this: Kate Hadfields elements are PERSONAL USE ONLY. you can NOT make your own backgrounds with them and sell them. IF you are using them for your own personal use....then never mind.
Not the OP about "studio" and I get all the "SBG doesn't own the word" reasoning here, but I would definitely avoid it as part of my design name. I'd hate to think that some might see it as an attempt to associate myself with the store, the way the OP obviously did.
July 30, 2011 1:04 PM
--------- Same here. It looks kind of desperate. But I think with the studio thing, maybe it's sometimes unintentional?
It's kind of similar to when designers copy another designer/store's packaging. I remember when SPD first opened and suddenly a hundred wanna be designers were packaging their designs on a bracket shape with a black strip across the middle. I noticed the same thing happening after 9&B opened with their packaging. I don't undestand why you would want it to look like you sell at a store at which you don't actually sell.
IF you are a newbie designer....then the first piece of advice I can give you is this: Kate Hadfields elements are PERSONAL USE ONLY. you can NOT make your own backgrounds with them and sell them. IF you are using them for your own personal use....then never mind.
Hey, thanks for answering. Yes I read that on the product itself. PU and it also says so in the files. I am not intending to sell digital sccrapbooking supplies. Just thought I mentioned what I thought was worth my dime so far. I was not happy with the grabbag from zigzagscrap. Any opinions on that store? After I burned my fingers on the last bag I am reluctant to buy another thing. I am new to making pages, so if you would like to give me any advice... I would love to hear it. Many thanks in advance
Any advice you want to give me? What, for excample, do you think about the grabbags out at the moment? _________________________________
Honestly, who do you think you're asking? At any given time there's probably hundreds of different people reading this blog - scrappers, designers, ct members and they all have a dog in this race.... meaning they're going to direct you to something either they made or someone they work for made. OR they will direct you to something that is specifically suited to their taste. Is it your taste? There are no experts here or taken another way, everyone is an expert here as evidenced by the number of reviews were seeing.
If you're going to ask a question like this, you'd be better served asking it on DST where you can see the author and you'd know why they're suggesting such and such a product.
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Go to it without the s in the http part. The s stands for secure and they don't have a security certificate so you get that warning. It's annoying and they should stop using the link with the s if they don't have the certificate.
Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well. -----
What a silly thing to say.
-----
Silly? So in your opinion, if one person does not like your designs, it is NOT possible that other do as well. Really? Who's silly?
I would say that there definitely are those who don't particularly like my designs but there also many who do like my designs so not really a silly thing to say. I would bet that there isn't a designer out there who don't have customers who like them and others who don't or why would they continue to design?????
"The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent (or Strine).[1] The typical ocker is "usually found in a blue singlet and rubber thongs (foot wear) with a tinnie in his hand propping up a bar"
As the previous person stated, I also don't think there are too many ockers here. -----
Did you look that up? I bet you did. If you lived in Australia, you'd know that that is an outdated explanation.
I would bet that there isn't a designer out there who don't have customers who like them and others who don't or why would they continue to design?????
-------------
Is it me or does anyone else have trouble wrapping their brain around this sentence? Too many double negatives or something.....
To the person posting asking for advice this is not really the place for it but I imagine you know that already. If you want advice go to digishoptalk.
Jeeez bitches! would it kill you to suggest something for the poor girl?
You can try Pickleberrypop.com, right now they have a bunch of grab bags (lollybags) for their BD celebration. I bought quite a few and I'm happy with what I got.
Hey, I found a great new site http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/ And no, I am not the owner, and NO, I'm not doing any shameless advertising either!
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. ------
I'm not buying her personality, but her product.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
never said anything about that. I'm talking about from a person who checks the DCR for information point of view...and she is obnoxious. You go right on ahead and buy from her. I'm sure she will be nice to you since you purchased. Don't ask her for any advice, tho.
I am just an average scrapper, not a designer. I am not active on any CT's, although I have been in the past. I am not active in any "scrapbook community", I don't post on the message boards, and I don't post my layouts online anymore. I read the Digi boards for entertainment, and am constantly amazed at what people share on the internet. I freely admit to reading the scrapbook smack blogs, it is a guilty pleasure.
You can email me at: DSTHallofFame@gmail.com
2,452 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2201 – 2400 of 2452 Newer› Newest»Natali - I think her kits are gorgeous, and they are previewed and showcased well. I'd never heard of her before just now (I don't shop at SBG) but I'm considering buying a couple things now.
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I'd recommend it. Even in the very early days of her design career, I never had a quality issue with her stuff.
so back to the Baersgarden/Scrapkitchen fiasco? I'm admitting to being clueless here on that one....will someone please let loose of the skinny on that one?
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Not worth repeating, seriously. Some people couldn't see that the issue was about theft, rather than a shape, but hey, some people are stupid.
Did you see the products at that store? I checked the software specific sections, and they have one for Photoshop (which is not even PS specific) and a few for Paintshop but look at these:
http://www.sugarshackdesignsinc.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=99
Do you think some scrappers or designers would need that?
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It's not my cup of tea and clearly not yours, but we aren't the only customers in the world.
Not worth repeating, seriously. Some people couldn't see that the issue was about theft, rather than a shape, but hey, some people are stupid.
-------
Some people are obviously curious too.
Sigh.
Scrapkitchen made a bracket album template
Baersgarten purchased the album, and then apparently used the shape of it to make her own album, tracing the original. But she 'accidentally' ended up putting Scrap's original in the final product.
Scrap thought the album template looked familiar, purchased Baer's kit and found that the template was indeed hers, because she had marked it.
Scrap accused Baer of stealing, which Baer initially denied, and then changed her story to the above.
Maya 'fired' Baer from the store, only to have her return a few months later.
Some people thought the whole thing was about the shape, which cannot be copyrighted, when in fact it was about the stealing. It just happened to be a shape.
The entire fiasco left a bitter taste for a lot of people, mostly because of the whole 'shape' vs. 'theft' and the fact that Maya let Baer back into her store.
^^^
Good summary. Easy to read. Curious mind satisfied now.
^^^^
Thanks. It was a long time ago, maybe four years, something like that.
ah - ok. Thanks. I had heard about the bracket album thing itself, but not WHO was involved. and Maya took her back, huh? LOL. Figures.
Sugar Shack Designs Inc. said...
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it...
^^^^^
Heaven forbid not all commenters/readers of this blog do not come from the great State of Georgia or any of the other States. Great way to attach your store to such ignorance.
And by the way -- at least is 2 words, as is a little
Heaven forbid not all commenters/readers of this blog do not come from the great State of Georgia or any of the other States. Great way to attach your store to such ignorance.
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Huh?
^^^
Did you read this part quoted?
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum, etc
That should answer your "huh"
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it...
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Um, no... you actually do have a language problem. Simply put, you can't spell or capitalize. Oh, and you seem to enjoy run-on sentences, too. Fail.
Did you read this part quoted?
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum, etc
That should answer your "huh
----
No, it doesn't. I still have no idea what the state of Georgia has to with it.
Interesting name for a kit:
http://www.scrapswithattitude.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18665
^^^^
There are currently 58 users online. I wonder how many of them are from here?
No, it doesn't. I still have no idea what the state of Georgia has to with it.
------------
Check her blogger profile.
Sugar Shack Designs Inc. said...
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it...
^^^^^
Heaven forbid not all commenters/readers of this blog do not come from the great State of Georgia or any of the other States. Great way to attach your store to such ignorance.
And by the way -- at least is 2 words, as is a little
July 26, 2011 8:18 PM
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Are you thinking she's talking about people using bad grammar and bad English? I'm pretty sure she isn't making fun of people who can't speak English. She's likely referring to people here using cuss words and such.
Sorry if I'm mis understanding you. But I can't figure out what else you could be talking about.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
No, I think she's that ignorant.
She's likely referring to people here using cuss words and such.
-------
That was my thought too.
Sugar Shack Designs Inc. said...
atleast i dont have a language problem like some of the stuff i read on this forum and i will always stand up for what is right...and when it comes to that oh well if i am alittle cranky get over it...
July 26, 2011 5:33 PM
I counted 10 grammar, punctuation and semantic mistakes (this is a blog, not a "forum") in your sentence, and English is not even my mother language! Now who has the language problem?
And btw, why on Earth someone should mention your store? Crawl back in your hole, please! Noone knows you!
ANYway... lol
Em-ka - Fantasy, but fun! I like the Oh Boy! kit a lot. Everything works together and it's previewed well. The CT layouts show it used in both fantasy and paper style, which is good. She must sell a lot of CU lace, since that was most of the first 2 pages. I'll admit, if I needed lace for a kit I would probably buy it, because who wants to extract lace?
MissVivi - She has a good mix of products, imo. It all seems useable. I owned some of her CU and never had problems with the quality. (that was some time ago) I love just about every swatch she used. I will probably buy a couple kits. (This review business is costing me money! lol) If I had to nitpick something, I would say that her packaging label could be about 1/4 that size.
Veronica - Nothing exciting or repulsive either way. The whole store just seems very blah to me. That purple kit is a bit too purple and the shades/hues doesn't even all work together. Personal peeve, I had when each product line has 40 products. Like: full kit, paper pack, element pack, qp pack, each qp individually, glitters, add on, etc etc. Other people probably don't find that offensive so whatever. Some nice papers, but again nothing exciting.
Rosey Posey - I'm having a hard time figuring out what her style is. The art kit is funky and fun. That Shabby Sun and Fun kit looks like an entirely different designer did it. But, it's not bad. The papers are boring but it's a bright fun kit. I will give her points for being able to appeal to a broad range of styles. Her templates are just flat out bad, and some of her kits are pretty bad, too, but it might just be the colors. The Glee kit? Yuck!
To be continued...
--NotSimon
Ztampf - Those ribbons and bows? What year is it? And fetuses and headless pregnant paper dolls and "to breed or not to breed" word art? I don't get it.
Bethany - Another "I don't get it". I didn't understand it at SO, and I don't understand it at SBG. If I was one of the other designers, I'd be highly irritated that she clogs the new release category every week with this stuff.
Redju - Her CU is great quality, but she's too popular. If you want to have a nicely extracted flower in your kit, that is also in 59 other kits this week, this is where you should buy it. Some of her CU packs have been getting a bit random, she must have run out of ideas for a while.
Christina Renee - The first 2 pages look like repacks of the same stuff. I guess if you are in the market for old rusty things, this would be a great designer for you. I can see where it would appeal to the art journal crowd. The sofas and windows? I dunno. None of this is my style, so maybe I can't be objective. The botanical stuff is yuck.
Amanda - No complaints about her quality, although her 'designer workshop' was laughable. And $4 for a pack of buttons that it takes 2 seconds to extract is ridiculous. Her kits aren't terrible, but most of the time when she does one, it occurs to me she should stick to CU.
Dawn - I laughed at her using the PICTURE of Mickey Mouse in the obviously Disney kit, since Disney is a favorite topic around here. Having said that, her Disney kit is one of the least offensive looking ones I've seen. Kudos to her for not making a mouse head out of 3 black buttons. Some of her stuff is "ok" and some looks like it might be from a couple years ago. Nothing exciting here.
To be continued...
--NotSimon
PS: This takes a long time, I see why not a lot of people are doing it. :)
I'm loving these reviews. I have to say, I agree with most of what has been said so far. Interesting.
Charlize - She has definitely improved. I wish the elements were a bit smaller on the previews so I could see the papers better without clicking through. Papers are pretty boring. Almost all tone on tone basic patterns, which is fine for a couple, but some variety would help a lot. Not bad overall.
Rebecca - I have no idea what a "good" art doll is, so I can't comment. No sample layouts to help me along on most of her products, either.
Studio Q - Better than most of the other stuff, but seems more like 9th&B or MScraps before it went to crap. Nice papers, but most of her elements are a bit flat. Would like a couple buttons or something. Also, no alphas in the kits? I don't know if she does her own doodling or uses CU, but either way it's cute.
Boutique Cute Doll - Weird name. Her mini kits are cute, her full kits seem like a jumbled mess. The whole store seems hit or miss. The baby kits are too... blinding?
Julia - Reminds me of my paper days. Which I like for the most part. Really cute stuff, pulled together well, nice variety of papers in her kits. Most of her add on packs are cute, and not just 50 recolored ribbons or whatever like in a couple of the other stores. A couple of her kits miss the mark color-wise, but for the most part I found another new designer to shop with.
Be right back with the last few!
Redju - Her CU is great quality, but she's too popular. If you want to have a nicely extracted flower in your kit, that is also in 59 other kits this week, this is where you should buy it. Some of her CU packs have been getting a bit random, she must have run out of ideas for a while.
---------------
Agree. I think she has been (or was) battling a serious illness/injury recently, too. That may play a role in it.
Microferk - I really wish either this photo mask trend would end, or people would just make their own. I'm sick of seeing these big black blobs everywhere. Her previews are horrible, I wish designers would realize what a difference that can make. Although, this is another one of those designers that's been around forever and I don't know WHY. Nothing exciting at all. And way too much glitter. I don't need glitter and glittery elements in every kit. CT pages are terrible, but they didn't have a lot to work with.
Thaty - Pirate or not? I thought I heard that before, but not recently. Not that it would matter, Miss Tiina is still flying high. Unlike most of the other CU designers, I think I actually like her kits better than her CU. I bet I know which she makes more money on, though. The cherry kit is really cute and so is the cooking one. Normally I don't like a lot of digital looking elements, but these seem well done. Her templates are cute, too.
This was an interesting activity. I don't shop at SBG (in fact, I don't think I EVER have), so I found a few "new to me" designers that I'd consider shopping with. My biggest complaint about this store as a whole is the inconsistencies. I think some stores try too hard to appeal to a range of scrapping styles, and sometimes that backfires. I'm more likely to shop in a store that is mostly my style. If I go to check out the first few new releases and they're all things that don't appeal to me, I'm not going to keep going, and I'm not going to come back next week to look again. I can't say which way is right or wrong (all one style / variety of styles), only the way I shop. All I can say is that I'm not going to sift through 20 pages of word art and art doll stuff to get to the cute paper-style kit I never knew I needed. A lot of people complain about SSD being the same old thing (I don't shop there, either, so don't clutch your pearls yet), but I see why their customers are loyal. That's the kind of stuff they are looking for, and it's all in one place. If all the designers that I liked were in one store, I'd be loyal there, too.
That's all I have for now. Flame on.
--NotSimon
No flames here. I agree. And I also don't get Bethany. Her wordart is simple - but someone must buy it?
Interesting read on SBG, although I tend to disagree (still a fun read, I like to see other peoples' thoughts on the stuff I like). I guess personal opinions are all so subjective, because I absolutely love almost everything from Rosey Posey, Flergs, Veronica and Ztampf!. Then again, maybe my view is not subjective because I spend about 85% of my scrapping budget at SBG.
I'd like to see FPD and TDC reviewed =)
I'd like to see TDC reviewed as well!
Good luck with that. There are so many designers there now, it would take forever to get through!
Thank you to the person who reviewed SBG. I honestly did not want to wade through all the paper dolls, art journal, word art crap in hopes of finding a few gems. I love Natali, though. I would recommend her if you're considering buying from her. I also think Charlize has improved and find most of her elements really cute and fun.
By request, Gotta Pixel (part 1)
A+ Designs - Products are cheap and look cheap. Has some nice color palettes and some really gross ones. Everything is fuzzy looking between the weird elements and the overly grungy papers. Templates are cheap, dumbed down copies of what I've seen done better elsewhere. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Aprilisa Designs - Nothing new here. Her templates are copies of what others have previously done. Style varies from kit to kit and a few are mish mashy. I'm not sure if she's trying to be Mye or Connie, but she does make better patterned papers than both.
Armina Designs - I just don't get this designer. Her style is all over the place. Her forte seems to be extracted kits with lots of natural elements and blended papers, but she does all these wacky childrens kits. She makes some nice patterns and some are blah. Some of the colors are gross, too, but those are probably the store collab events they do. Templates are simplistic, but she adds some nice flair with swirls and doodles.
Bella Gypsy - I understand this is the one sister now. I don't remember which one, but it seems the production line has slowed considerably. Templates still look like cheap knock-offs and the kits are nothing new. The colors are really gross in most of the kits, but some are done well. Much better paper patterns than Connie, but the textures look fuzzy.
Colie's Corner - Mostly gross, gross color palettes. Kits are really cheap looking and her previews are flat and gross. Some kits have OK patterns and others barely have any. A lot of her templates look the same, just moved around a little here and there. This girl needs to find a neutral - stat.
Connie Prince - I know she is the designer everyone loves to hate, but she can really pump out the products. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's some thing. Most of her color palettes are obnoxious and apparently cater to people who don't know how to calibrate their monitors. I wish she added a neutral here and there to even things out. Her paper patterns are the same from kit to kit to kit with little variation. Her kits are also a little small for the higher price tag. I thought she used to have more reasonable prices for the size of her kits. I like Connie's templates for paper style pages. They are easy to use and don't have a lot of extras for me to delete.
Crisdam Designs - Most kits are mish mashy, but most of the color palettes are easier on the eyes. Makes mostly nice patterned papers. Every other kit has at least one owl in it, so if you like owls, look here. Most of her products seem a little high in price for what they are.
danimoy designs - See A+ Designs review. I thought they were the same person. Lots of blobby things, which must sell well. Gross templates with little to no style.
Duo-licious - I guess this is danimoy and A+ Designs. Makes sense since they're basically the same designer.
Just Jaimee - I don't have any of her CU so I can't speak to the quality. I don't see any CU in her store a designer with half a brain couldn't make themselves. Her kits have odd color palettes mostly and the papers are overly grungy. Some of the patterns are nice, but mostly not so much.
By request, Gotta Pixel (part 2)
Kathryn Estry - Hideous previews. But then, the items themselves look awful, so I'm not sure how she could change that. This entire store looks like beginner stuff from 8 years ago. Doesn't stick to color pallette - in a bad way. Gross color palletes to begin with. Kits are mish mashy and just bad. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality. I couldn't make it past page 3. I wanted to vomit. I did glance at how many pages of products she has - 41 - and the stuff way in the back is old and expensive. It's sad to see she hasn't grown as a designer at all.
Kits4Kids - Familiar themes, but the little kids they use in their kits are cute if that's your thing (it's not mine). Papers are overly textured, but some have nice patterns. Elements are very digital looking, but are done well for that style. Does not stick to color palette and kits are a little mish mashy looking. Some of their prices are a little high for what they offer.
Kristmess - I'm already sick of looking at the same color palettes over and over again. Same style as Kits4Kids, so I assume one of that duo is this designer. Again, digital looking, but done well for that style. Most everything is overpriced as far as I'm concerned. Mostly gross color palettes (who picks these things at GP?), but uses the little cute kids in most of her kits. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Laitha’s Designs - Another designer this blog seems to love to hate. Personally, I like her stuff. I have some of her CU and it has always been good quality. This is a designer who has a style and sticks to it. I have a few of her kits and enjoy using them. Some elements are a little blurry at 100%, but have never printed poorly. Some of her color palettes are blah, but most are sophisticated. Any patterned paper is soft and non traditional. This works for this style of kit. Most of her papers contain a lot of brushwork, but they're blended nicely and most aren't overly textured. Some of her kits are a little mish mashy.
Laura Burger - Boring and mish mashy. Previews are flat and uninspiring. Overpriced for what you get as well. Style varies from kit to kit and within each kit. Doesn't seem to understand color, texture, or pattern. Her best kits are her shabby ones, although, they're seriously lacking in patterns. I still wouldn't download one of them for free, but they are her better kits. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Laurie's Scraps & Designs - If you like Connie, I'd check this designer out. Her products are a little less expensive and basically the same thing, but with better patterened papers. As with most here at GP, color palettes can be gross, but she has some nice ones. Needs better looking CT pages and previews (very flat). I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality. Boring templates done better elsewhere. Some kits are a little mish mashy.
Lindsay Jane - She's always been one of those designers I want to like, but there is something about her kits that's a real miss for me. Her papers are mostly boring and the elements just seem to lay there flat. There isn't enough contrast and interest in the elements. Even her "real" fabric flowers are flat and boring. I do like her "Scatterz". Her frames and borders are boring and near pointless. I also like her scallop and circle borders and think they're different. I may actually buy a set since they're cheap enough.
LorieM Designs - Very mish mashy. Mostly gross color palettes. I don't have any of her CU so I can't speak to the quality. Boring, simplistic templates. Her kits are also flat and the papers are boring. Many of the colors are very over saturated. Has many older kits in her store that don't seem to match her current style.
By request, Gotta Pixel (part 3)
Mye De Leon - Another of the love to hate designers. Most of her kits are very mish mashy. Very. Has some with decent patterned papers, but most are very blah and boring. Her border packs and cluster packs are usually very nice. Her templates are also nice and reasonably priced. Her previews are a little bit of a mess, but some are done well. Her style is all over the place. Her products seem very inconsistent from one kit to the next. She has some nice CT pages.
North Meets South Studios - This is Connie and Trixie Scraps. They do a monthly template grab bag which is well priced and usually OK. The kits refelct both of their styles - mostly boring papers, but fairly cohesive kits. I do question the use of Chuck E. Cheese in their most recent kit, but not enough to do anything about it. Their kits are themed and seem to be done well for their style.
Silvia Romeo - Overpriced. I'm not really sure how to describe the elements. They're digital looking, but appear to be extractions. Boring papers and some very gross color palettes. Very mish mashy, but I understand she's trying for that vintage feel. The lighting and coloring on the elements is very off for me. Nothing about the color palettes says vintage to me. Her previews are mostly bad and very flat (I'm seeing this a lot in this store). She seems to have some interesting elements in her kit, but this style is really done better by others and for a lot less.
Spinky Dink Scraps - I have some of her CU and the quality has always been good. Some of her kits are better than others. Has some nice color palettes and some gross ones. Some paper patterns are really nice and some are blah and boring. Kit style varies from kit to kit, and some are a little mish mashy. Some of her better, fuller kits are more reasonably priced than her smaller, more boring kits. So, that's inconsistent to me. Has some cute doodles in some of her kits.
Trixie Scraps Designs - Another of the love to hate designers. Many of her kits are just too dark. Dark elements on dark papers just doesn't work. Her style also varies from kit to kit. I've had some issue with her quality in the couple kits I have of hers. They're no longer in her store, so I'm guessing I wasn't the only one. Her templates are nice, but have a lot of extras I would just remove. She does have nice, full kits, but her papers are mostly boring. She has very pretty "page starters". She makes a ton of products that coordinate with each kit. If you're looking for blogwear, she has a ton. Has some OK color palettes, but some are just gross. I don't have any of her CU, so I can't speak to the quality.
Wordart World by Jennifer - She actually sells more than word art, so her designer name seems pointless. Most of her word art is OK and most are reasonably priced when on sale. Her other products are mostly over saturated and basic. Some of her other products are very overpriced for what you get (especially her alphas). I don't have any of her CU so I can't speak to the quality. Based upon what's in her store, she should stick to word art.
All in all, I think Gotta Pixel is an average store with mostly average to below average designers. Their entire store is filled with mostly the same, gross color palettes and it makes it difficult to want to keep looking. These products must be what sells at this store since most designers make a lot of them and sell them cheaply when they're featured.
For the same price, the average paper style scrapper can get more over at Sweet Shoppe (among other places) and get better color palettes and better looking papers to boot.
Thanks for the review. Can you elaborate on what you mean by mish-mashy?
RE: Laurie's Scraps & Designs and Kathryn Estry's CU.
I bought some of Laurie's CU and I wound up asking for money back. Jaggies and strays all over the place. I bought it from her personal store and not from GP though. Presumably, if it had gone through a QC at GP, someone would have pointed it out to her.
Kathryn Estry's CU is blurry and her templates are just OK.
Thanks for the review. Can you elaborate on what you mean by mish-mashy?
July 27, 2011 1:57 PM
***
I believe this has been discussed already in talking about the Design Factor.
Referring to Simon's comment on the gross color pallets. I would have to agree that the majority of the gross ones at GP and most stores tend to be the "monthly color events" or collaborations. Finding a color pallet that meshes with every designer's style is very hard. If you aren't the one that picked out the swatch, it can be hard to find vision. That being said, I hardly shop those monthly color sales anymore, they just seem so forced an boring. Kinda like beating a dead horse with a stick. Time for some new ideas.
Thanks for the review of GP. Here's a big store request - twopeasinabucket.com The digital store of course.
I agree with most of the GP reviews. I bet you could throw all the GP kits into a drum, mix them up, and randomly reassign them to a designer, and no one would know the difference.
I guess I missed the explanation of 'mish-mash' too beacause I was wondering about as well. Can 'Simon' explain again so I don't have to look through thousands of posts.
Rosey Posey - Her templates are just flat out bad
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I personally love her blended templates, but not her other ones. What exactly is 'flat out bad' out her templates? Not flaming, just curious
Mish mash - doesn't work together, doesn't flow. It doesn't necessarily mean that a designer should only use doodles or only real elements in a kit, but if they throw those elements together in a kit, they need to work together, be of a similar style. There's no point in having a really whimsical doodle in a kit filled with shabby chic. That's my take on it, anyway.
Another not Simon.
Ztampf - And fetuses and headless pregnant paper dolls and "to breed or not to breed" word art? I don't get it.
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This happens to be one of my favorite kits of hers. When it came out, there were not a lot of pregnancy or maternity kits out there and the ones that were around were cutesy grossness. I don't get why most of the pregnancy kits are still cutesy.
And I actually adore Miki Ferkul's kits. Her quality is outstanding, you get a great value and she's a sweetheart to boot. I think it's a matter of taste more than anything.
anyone who can only describe a kit as mishy mashy sure won't sway me one way or another. If these designers have mishy mashy kits you obviously have mishy mashy reviews. I honestly don't think there are many designers you like or who float your boat so if others are going by your reviews and pass up some of the designers you've rated and who I personally think don't deserve your mishy mashy reviews will keep an open mind and check things out for themselves.
anyone who can only describe a kit as mishy mashy sure won't sway me one way or another. If these designers have mishy mashy kits you obviously have mishy mashy reviews. I honestly don't think there are many designers you like or who float your boat so if others are going by your reviews and pass up some of the designers you've rated and who I personally think don't deserve your mishy mashy reviews will keep an open mind and check things out for themselves.
July 27, 2011 6:35 PM
Sounds like Simon gave you a mish-mashy review.
If you think designers don't deserve that statement, say who and why. Don't just make some stupid, generic comment when you don't back anything up. You just sound bitter.
A review is just that, a review. It's someone's opinion. If anyone is going to be solely swayed by a review, of any kind on anything, well, that's their problem, isn't it?
I agree with the person that like's Microferk's kits. I love her style of designing and her previewing.
OK Simon, who are your favorite designers and why? Anyone at any store.
Microferk has my vote too & I'm loving the new look to her kits at SBG although I have bunches of her SBE kits too.
I have two designers that I check on regularly, Miki & Studio Lorie & sometimes Christina Renee. SBG gets the majority of money, that is if I buy something. I don't buy everything that those 3 designers make though.
Gotta Pixel is absolutely NOT a top-tier store. It's a store for beginner digiscrappers, who unload their money there until they learn what's really available in digiland. GP has got a few good designers right now, who will probably leave within the next few months... The rest of the less-creative run-of-the-mill designers are the type who cater to beginners and people who haven't learned about all that the digi community has to offer. Back in the day, even I got my start at shops like GP. Then I learned about the more unique, artistic designers at some of the top stores, and I haven't shopped at GP since. Customers' tastes will always evolve past a place like GP because they don't offer much that's unique.
June 6, 2011 1:15 PM
True! GP has always been - and will always be - mostly beginner digi-scrappers (excepting a few lifers who don't mind being stuck in Mediocre-Ville)
Once most scrappers start finding out about some of the really talented designers and top-notch shops, they tend to leave GP and not look back. Just like I did, and just like most other girls I met there. I actually do now shop regularly with a couple designers who used to sell at GP, but have moved on. They are both much more talented than most of the current GP girls. It would be fun to see a poll of which designers used to sell at GP at one time or another.
But looking back, when I was a beginning scrapper is when I probably spent the most money, since the hobby was new to me, and I didn't know how to make or even re-color even the most basic things myself. So maybe that is the goal: cater to new digital scrappers that spend the most money on even the most basic, simple things. Then they also aren't too picky, because they don't know any better. I think the newer a digi scrapper is, the more money they spend on it, so maybe it's not a bad strategy, from a store-owner's viewpoint. Stacy is probably cackling all the way to the bank.
cater to new digital scrappers that spend the most money on even the most basic, simple things. Then they also aren't too picky, because they don't know any better.
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Wow, just wow. When I started, I knew better. Just because someone is new at something, it doesn't mean they can't recognize quality when they see it. It also doesn't mean they spend it up. In fact, I've found it's the long term scrappers that spend more money.
Hmm, I've never shopped at Gotta Pixel but I just checked it out because of all the talk here. I can't see the difference between that store and Scrap Matters, Scrap Orchard, 9th & Bloom etc. They all look the same to me.
^^^ITA
Have you ever thought maybe people shop at GP and other low tier stores as you put it, because they offer something the buyer enjoys?
Some people do not have their nose so far in air that they feel they can only shop at the stores that are high tier, that is just ignorant.
There are plenty of stores out there that have nice digital kits and designers that are not well known. So get your nose out of the air with your high and mighty attitude and you may discover some new talent.
No I am not a GP Designer either. In fact I cannot stand the woman that owns it. She has your attitude of thinking she is better than all.
People like myself shop where they want to shop no matter what store it is high medium or low grade.If they have something I enjoy then I am going to purchase it.
Get over yourself with your wanna be high class ass!
Places that cater to the beginner usually have some people hanging around in the forums who will help newbies, too. I always considered that purchases I made early on as part of the cost of my new hobby and the help I got in the beginning. The posh stores don't have a lot of people hanging around the forums, yes, some paid CT people, but they aren't very helpful and give short, terse answers from what I've seen, and tend to make one feel like a real tool.
Who are my favorites? I thought it was funny when I got pigeonholed into a style. Mostly because I appreciate all styles of scrapbooking and scrap more than one style myself. I'm not a fantasty style scrapper, but I recognize that most fanasty kits work great for more than just one type of page. I tend to just buy what I like and even if I only make one page with a kit, I've had my $5 worth of enjoyment. It's a cheap hobby.
I'm not store loyal, and I like to find new designers (to me). Here are my favorites by store:
Sweet Shoppe - I do shop here, but usually just from a couple different designers. Mostly Kristin Kronin-Barrow. Her kits are usually more for everyday scrapping and I like that as I have little need for kid themed kits. I also like Zoe Pearn and an occasional collab or sampler from the group. Cindy has nice templates, but they're too expensive.
9th and Bloom - I basically just look at Creations by Rachael and Fruitloop Sally. I will, however, put Agnes on my list now. I don't buy a lot from any of these designers, but I do follow their work and buy things I like.
After 5 - Nikki Beaudreau: makes cute little elements, but I wish she made more patterns. Occasionally Cinnamon Designs, and Kay Miller or Kristin Aagard if I want something cutesy. I also like MK Designs, but she's retiring - need to get my wish list purchased (she does a good type of mish mash).
Scrap Orchard - Irene and SuzyQ based on my mood and what I want at the time. Quality is never an issue with either of these designers. I worry a bit more with some of the others there.
Scrapbook Bytes - Mostly just templates from Connie Prince and JennCK. I buy an occasional kit from either if I need something more paper style and don't feel like making it myself. Their templates are easy to use and I don't have to delete 100 layers of crap. I occasionally get a kit or template pack from Trixie Scraps there as well, but again, the quality on some of her kits hasn't been great, so I just buy the templates now. I don't use a lot of templates, but having them all in one shop makes it easy when I want some. I may get a template or two from Mye after seeing them at Gotta Pixel. I refuse to give Stacy my money, so I'll get them at Scrapbook Bytes.
ScrapMatters - Jady Day when I want something paper scrappy, but her papers are sometimes really bad. Cute elements, though. I tried True Blue once for her templates and found too many jagged shapes, so I wont buy again. I also shop with KimB for CU and PU items. Quality has never been a problem.
The Lilypad - Kate Hadfield is my doodle go-to designer. They're always good quality, cute, and affordable. I also like Valorie Wibbens. Kaye Winiecki if I want some felt (she sells element packs, which is nice).
Scrapbook Graphics - Flergs for boy stuff on very rare occasion, Studio Natali and Studio Charlize. If Charlize sold just element packs, I'd shop with her more often as I'm not fond of her papers. I, too, prefer Thaty's kits to her CU and have a few of the kits and enjoy them. I have a few of Veronica Spriggs' kits, but sometimes the quality isn't there, so I don't have many.
(part 2)
The DigiChick - I like Nikki Epperson's templates, even with deleting a bunch of things. She does nice whitespace templates and they're reasonably priced like the others I buy. I tried Cluster Queen's templates, but spent more time deleting things than scrapping. I like etc by Danyale (so glad she's no longer at Gotta Pixel), Mari Koegelenberg, and Danielle Engebretson. I also buy occasional CU from Disasterpiece.
I also download the occasional freebie from Digital Crea.
I don't shop at 2peas (2expensive), Shabby Pickle (poor customer service), Gotta Pixel (too Stacy), or MScraps (too blah). Although, I do like an occasional template from Busy Bee. It's just very infrequent since I don't hit MScraps hardly ever.
I also buy from a sprinkling of other designers when I see something I like. The ones listed I've purchased from more than once and follow their work in case I see more I like. I'm sure I've missed some, but this list is a good start.
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks 2peas is 2$$$. One of my favorite designers moved there and increased her prices accordingly, I will not pay $8 for something she used to sell for $3.50-$4.00!!
How about some positivity? Go to the galleries and find a layout you love and post it here. I think it will be fun to see what "style" variety we have here.
Places that cater to the beginner usually have some people hanging around in the forums who will help newbies, too. I always considered that purchases I made early on as part of the cost of my new hobby and the help I got in the beginning. The posh stores don't have a lot of people hanging around the forums, yes, some paid CT people, but they aren't very helpful and give short, terse answers from what I've seen, and tend to make one feel like a real tool.
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I agree, although I think that TDC is a mid- or top-tier store that has a really welcoming attitude and lots of designers who are active in the forums and willing to help out. SO is also a place where there's lots of activity and a fun vibe. There may be other exceptions, too, but these are the ones I thought of immediately. Lots of the other stores that get talked about on this blog are the opposite, which always surprises me, like, why are these other stores so great? They're not very fun.
How about some positivity? Go to the galleries and find a layout you love and post it here. I think it will be fun to see what "style" variety we have here.
^^^^^^^^^
I'll be okay with that if you change from "galleries" to "stores" and from "layout" to "product". I don't see how singling out a scrapper's personal layout on a smack blog will do any good to anyone or the industry. Even if you are referring to or talking about it in a positive way, others anon posters here might not. It probably won't be such a "fun" thing for the scrapper. Plus there's already a lot of other places for praising layouts.
^^^^^^^
Agreed.
How about some positivity?
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Uh, where's the negativity? I'm assuming you see it as you are requesting positivity.
All I see is discussions about reviews, which are obviously going to be subjective.
When did embellishments aka embellies, become ellies?
ellies is short for elements ... which is what I've always know them as ... not embellishments.
Ellies is short for elements.
Essentially the same thing as embellishments.
When did embellishments aka embellies, become ellies?
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Most scrappers I know refer to them as elements hence ellies.
Sounds like Simon doesn't stray from the same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts. Obviously I'd be more inclined to listen to what she had to say if she shopped some of the low brow shops that actually have some very good designers but again it's the same old same old. I wonder what would happen if she tried someone brand new. LOL
Sounds like Simon doesn't stray from the same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts. Obviously I'd be more inclined to listen to what she had to say if she shopped some of the low brow shops that actually have some very good designers but again it's the same old same old. I wonder what would happen if she tried someone brand new. LOL
July 28, 2011 9:07 PM
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Have you ever considered that there might be a legitimate reason that the "same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts"? You might consider that those designers are popular because their designs appeal to a large group of people. I like and purchase from almost every one one of the designers that Simon mentioned. And I know a lot of people who also buy from them. It's not because they want to be part of their popularity circle. It's because they like their designs and enjoy scrapping with them.
I think your statement that Simon should seek out the "very good designers" in the "low brow" shops is kind of strange. You are right that there are some talented designers spread out in the smaller shops. But "low brow" is a really weird term to describe those shops.
Except for some purchases at SBG, I don't shop at any of the stores that Simon mentioned, not a one.
When I started digi scrapping, we called them embellies, not ellies. I never saw that until recently.
Have you ever considered that there might be a legitimate reason that the "same stores and same designers that always get mentioned at DST in the popularity posts"?
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Yeah, it's called a herd mentality.
You are right that there are some talented designers spread out in the smaller shops. But "low brow" is a really weird term to describe those shops.
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Agreed.
Yeah, it's called a herd mentality.
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Actually I call it not wanting to have to browse through all the vomit inducing previews that crowd most of the "no-name" stores.
^^^^
Right, herd mentality.
So enlighten us, who are some of these talented designers in the low brow shops? I don't have a lot of time to browse through shop after shop, so I tend to stick with the few designers that I already know I like.
^^^^
First, explain to me what a low brow shop supposedly is.
I agree with what was said about SBG for the most part except that I don't care for Flergs stuff at all. It's mostly CU stuff, however she is good at changing it up and it's too repeatative. I get tired of the same flowers, same glass hearts, and same filter forge frames in every kit. Plus I don't care for her paper patterns that often repeat in series of kits too. Her CU has some quality issues as well. However if she would sell her rhinestone style I would buy it because her gems are very good ... or maybe it's CU and I just haven't seen it anywhere
Lots of Poms and Ockers on today, all these references to shop instead of store.
First, explain to me what a low brow shop supposedly is.
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did we already do a review of SM? ;)
here's a simple request for simple simon Review "Oscraps" please .... I noted that you dont appear to shop there so should be an interesting review.
I don't shop at any of the stores Simon mentioned other than SBG and after checking them out dont intend too.
I love to shop at Oscraps, Designer Digitals,after5 and Shabbypickle.... all of which are good stores in my book..
but Im loving the reviews so I can check out some new designers.
I don't shop at any of the stores Simon mentioned other than SBG and after checking them out dont intend too.
I love to shop at Oscraps, Designer Digitals,after5 and Shabbypickle.... all of which are good stores in my book..
but Im loving the reviews so I can check out some new designers.
July 29, 2011 3:03 AM
Simon stated she shops at after5.
I would like to know of these "low brow" stores with hidden gems as well.
I also don't think Simon's favorites are "herd mentality." I was surprised at how diverse the list was and included a few designers I've never even heard of.
So maybe Low Brow isn't the right descriptive word to use for other shops that have a lot of really good designers but never make the "popularity polls" because of course they aren't considered the hot spots or hot designers but they've been in business for a long time so either the store owners are stupid not to close up their stores or can their designers or there is a reason they have been around so long.
Natural Designs in Scrapbooking (NDISB)
Theresa Hernandez
Bernadette Hunt
DeeBee Designs
Aneczkaw
and others
Digital Scrapbook Pages (Digitals)
Betty Jo Martin
Jennifer Maceyunas
Joyce DeJong
and others
3Scrapteers
DeDe Smith
Christine Smith
OScraps
Vicky Stegall
Merkeley Designs
Paint the Moon
Vera Lim
and others
Here are some other designers who have their own Stoes
Peppermint Creative
NitWit Collections
KB and Friends
Deviant Scrap if you like quirky
Holliewood Studios
Beth Rimmer
These are just a few. There are so many more out there but it's always the same ole same ole when it comes to popularity. I would suggest everyone try out someone new to them. Maybe they will become one of your most favorite and to hell with the popularity polls.
Is it just a coincidence that a week or two after WM2 releases her camping kit, Sahlin releases one and they have almost the exact same word art bits and add-ons?
WM2 (released first)
http://shop.scrapmatters.com/product.php?productid=9464
http://shop.scrapmatters.com/product.php?productid=9463
Sahlin (released today)
http://www.the-lilypad.com/store/product.php?productid=5680&cat=0&page=1
http://shop.scrapmatters.com/product.php?productid=9463&cat=0&page=1
Wow, looks pretty close to me.
The link for 2nd Salin should be
http://www.the-lilypad.com/store/product.php?productid=5681&cat=0&page=1
Someone needs to check the meaning of "ocker". I'm sure there are some "regular" Aussies here but I very much doubt any "ocker" is reading this blog LOL.
Although Simon and cie have reviewed some large stores with a mix of types of products (but mostly PU), it would be interesting to see reviews of designer resources stores. I would love to find new GOOD resources without having to go through many stores, make purchases, and check. Yes, I am lazy but as a designer, if I can save time, why not?
Anyone up to it?
Sahlin has a spelling error
"were roughin' it" should be "we're roughin' it"
We know that ideas are never exclusive but sometimes, similarities are giving an odd impression. This is such kind of similarities. Coincidence? maybe. Still odd.
My thoughts on "designer resource" stores. I am assuming you mean stores with only CU.
CU Designers with personal CU stores:
Rachael's Scraps - Great for elements. She has a variety of elements and I have never found strays on anything I have bought. Sometimes she feathers the edge of an element more than I would like. That is easy enough to fix though. A few times I have found elements with a slightly darker edge. Also easy enough to fix. Generally I consider her a go-to designer for elements as any minor issues are worth the time saved.
Inspiredbydominic Designs - She is my go to designer for textures. She has some elements and other items in her shop as well, but I usually buy her overlays. I have also not found any strays or issues with the elements I have bought from her. She also has some styles I have bought and use regularly.
Those two are my go to designers that have personal shops. I used to shop with Redju and Amanda Rockwell, but less now that they have moved to SBG.
I will do a store review next based on my experiences or the previews.
Those two are my go to designers that have personal shops. I used to shop with Redju and Amanda Rockwell, but less now that they have moved to SBG.
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Curious mind here; any particular reason you shop less with them since their move?
My thoughts on "designer resource" stores. I am assuming you mean stores with only CU.
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Maybe not necessarily ONLY CU stuff but a large selection of CU. I am thinking of Commercial Use, DigiScrapWarehouse, PBP, and similar whether the resources are elements, textures, overlays, templates, styles, actions, etc.
Some of Redju's prices increased quite a bit with the move. Initially there also wasn't a lot of product that I didn't already have. I checked back today and I see that since the end of last year her prices seem mostly back to normal so I may start checking her out again.
Amanda's prices also seem to have increased, although, I see she is having a sale now so I may do some shopping. She seems to have focused on CU4CU licenses which have taken over a good part of her store. It's too much to wade through.
I prefer personal stores for CU designers since they usually make it a lot easier to find products and I don't have to do through so much PU to get it.
Maybe not necessarily ONLY CU stuff but a large selection of CU. I am thinking of Commercial Use, DigiScrapWarehouse, PBP, and similar whether the resources are elements, textures, overlays, templates, styles, actions, etc.
_________________________
I don't shop at Commercial Use or DigiScrapWarehouse. I have bought too much that was just thrown away later due to quality. What is PBP? The only store I can think of is PickleBerryPop, but they are not a store with mostly CU.
DigiScrapWarehouse raises their prices in order for them to have sales. Happened the past couple iNSD & DSD events.
The owner was made aware of it last year, but it happened again this year. I refuse to give them my money.
The little word bits I could maybe understand, I mean there are only so many words and phrases to describe camping.
But those icons, now that is pretty sketchy.
Personally I don't get the fascination that people have with Sahlin Studios. I think she is a complete copy cat. This isn't the first time I have seen a designer release a product and a few weeks later she comes out with the exact same thing. Kitschy Digitals released a set of Sugar Flowers and maybe 2-3 weeks later Sahlin did. In fact she seems to have copied KD's whole style. Once KD picked up a little steam and got noticed by a few people Sahlin all the sudden was putting out Vintagy Kitschy things. If you look at her earlier stuff it's nothing like what she does know. And I know it takes time for a designer to find their style and but that was like a night and day style change.
Plus it's been brought up here that she has blatantly copied paper designs from big paper companies.
DigiScrapWarehouse raises their prices in order for them to have sales. Happened the past couple iNSD & DSD events.
The owner was made aware of it last year, but it happened again this year. I refuse to give them my money
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Oh my! that is definitely not good. Was it a store wide situation or only some "stubborn" designers? If it is store wide, I surely would feel the same. If it is only a handful of not-so-honest designers, was the owner informed again this year? I know some owners are not always honest and will cover up, but sometimes, I think that the designers are sneaky, hoping the honest owner won't find out.
Since I don't shop there regularly, I would probably not notice those practices. Do you have specific names or is it all across the board?
I personally can't review a lot of CU resources since I don't use much at all. Someone else will have to swing that rope.
As for the "herd mentality" comment. Really? Maybe for KCB and Connie Prince, but I've rarely seen any of the others on any sort of "popularity poll." I don't shop with those designers for any other reason than they make what I like/need at the time.
I will definitely review OScraps, though. I've been wanting to check that store out a little more based on all the feedback I've been hearing.
As for the list presented for good designers at "low brow" stores -
NDISB - this store has so much pure crap in it, it's never been worth my time to weed through it all to find some nice stuff.
Theresa Hernandez - Mish mashy and poor looking previews at that. Blurry. Some gross color palettes.
Bernadette Hunt - Gross mish mash again. Poor lighting on extracted items mixed with acrylic, digital elements, etc. Horrible previews and mostly gross color palettes. Does not stick to palette and not in a good way.
DeeBee Designs - This person has 12 items in her store and most are ready made albums. How she has "been around forever" is a little difficult to see.
Aneczkaw - Some gross color palettes, but the kits themselves look usable. Too bad I can't get past the colors. Isn't really doing anything other designers aren't, and they use better colors.
and others - I seriously doubt it.
Digital Scrapbook Pages
Betty Jo Martin - Boring, flat previews. Some gross color palettes. Nothing original and for the price, I can get a lot more elsewhere. Looks like cheap tagger crap. Patterns are basic and boring when they're even present.
Jennifer Maceyunas - Has some nice, affordable word art. Gross color palettes for kits. Looks like cheap, digitally made junk from 8 years ago. Expensive for what you get, too.
Joyce DeJong - Mish mashy, horrible color palettes. Combination of poorly lit extracted items and cheap digital action items.
and others - also doubt it.
3Scrapteers - this store is beyond gross. You can't even make the previews large. Which is probably a blessing in disguise.
DeDe Smith - horrible color palettes. Just worse than gross. Very expensive for junky, cheap looking items.
Christine Smith - Really? This is the gem all of us KCB fans have been missing out on? http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=7998 Give me a break.
OScraps - Will review in full at a later time
Vera Lim - I'm pretty sure she makes "popularity polls" and she's hardly an unknown and overlooked designer.
Here are some other designers who have their own Stores
Peppermint Creative - I get her freebies from time to time and also love her alphas. She's an occasional shop I hit, but I find most of her items too expensive for what you get. A lot of single items recolored 10 ways packs.
NitWit Collections - She's also an occasional store. Most of her stuff is too cutesy for me, but I do have a few of her things.
KB and Friends - I'm not an altered art fan.
Deviant Scrap if you like quirky - not a fan. I did get their huge collab that was featured in a magazine. Nice way to try out a bunch of new to me designers. I deleted about 75% of it due to quality issues. No thanks.
I think that the herd mentality comment (while slightly funny) is total bs. I don't believe that people spend their money on product that they don't really like, just because everyone else is doing it. And how does that make sense anyway, since a. most of us are not in highschool anymore, and b. we are all online and have no way of knowing what everyone else has purchased.
People buy from designers whose product they like to scrap with. Almost certainly, every scrapper could find new designers that they would love too. But does that mean that the "discovered" designers are all worthless? I don't understand the logic that "popular" designers are all crap.
Christine Smith - Really? This is the gem all of us KCB fans have been missing out on? http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=7998 Give me a break.
--------------------------------
This made me LOL!
I personally can't review a lot of CU resources since I don't use much at all. Someone else will have to swing that rope.
Well I now know I definitely wouldn't bother with your reviews. Most of what you said about the designers that were pointed out are just that what YOU feel but what ISN'T fact in the least. Many of these designers have been around for a long time and do very well since I know them all, since I have purchased from them or designed with them, etc., etc, etc. That is why your reviews is such a load of crap and anyone new on this blog should take your reviews with a grain of salt because you really don't know what you are talking about and shouldn't bother with your critiques.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
Well, I, for one, and it seems many, happen to agree with Simon on almost all reviews. I'm sure plenty of designers "do well", but that's just as relative as the review itself. I've asked designers what "doing well" means to them and I get an answer that varies from $100/month in sales to over $1000/month in sales.
I also find designers lie. A lot.
I think Simon's reviews of the list that was posted from low brow stores was spot on. That one kit she linked to is laughable. I'm sure all those designers do well for beginner scrappers or for taggers. I understand both markets can be very lucrative. But that doesn't mean they make good products quality wise.
I also tend to agree with most of Simon's reviews, which is why I asked who her favorite designers were - many happen to be mine as well. Was I upset I wasn't on that list? Maybe a little, but that's just it. Everyone has different tastes for what they like. Take everything here with a grain of salt.
Well I now know I definitely wouldn't bother with your reviews. Most of what you said about the designers that were pointed out are just that what YOU feel but what ISN'T fact in the least. Many of these designers have been around for a long time and do very well since I know them all, since I have purchased from them or designed with them, etc., etc, etc. That is why your reviews is such a load of crap and anyone new on this blog should take your reviews with a grain of salt because you really don't know what you are talking about and shouldn't bother with your critiques.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
July 29, 2011 1:46 PM
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Did you by chance list yourself as one of you own favorite "very good designers in a low brow store"?
You can't be upset that the review of your list of designers wasn't all wonderful. You put yourself and those other designers out there by listing them here. You had to know you were asking for a review/comments/criticism by doing that here.
I agreed with Simon's reviews on your list. However, I do love Vera Lim, so you got that one right for me at least.
And as a side note, many of the designers that Simon listed as her favorites (to repeat your own words) have been around for a long time and do very well as well. Although, I think your definition and my definition of "doing very well" are probably not the same.
I agree that you have to take the reviews with a grain of salt. It's all based on someone's own personal taste. For instance, I think that those neon colored sparkly kits with half naked girls in them are hideous. But a lot of people love them or they wouldn't be there. Who am I to say those designers aren't good? Someone obviously thinks they are.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'd like to see them, too.
Most of Simon's reviews I've disagreed with and that's because it's subjective reviews, not objective reviews. Were it object, if would solely concentrate on the quality of kits...not on whether Simon though the colors were "gross" (remember, they're gross, not lousy) or fit her style.
Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be those who will read those reviews and, based on them, won't give a designer a try and end up missing out on something they may have liked.
Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be those who will read those reviews and, based on them, won't give a designer a try and end up missing out on something they may have liked.
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Or on the contrary, it will peak someone's curiosity and they might want to try that designer "to make a liar out of Simon" and might just end up sticking with those designers. If we have Simon here, maybe we should get John, and Steve and Suzy, and a ton of other "judges", even judging the same stores. Why not?
Yes seriously, if you don't think Simon's reviews are objective enough, by all means, post your own objective reviews! I'd love to read them.
I was going to review the Design Factor Challenge 6 kits, but the site isn't working for me at all. Anyone else having problems?
As for reviewing kits and speaking to the quality... I can't really do that based upon a preview. I can to a point, but without seeing the actual items, I can't say if they are "quality" or not. Even that would be subjective! It's why I stated I wouldn't review CU. I assumed, and maybe incorrectly, that a review of that would be wanted based upon quality of items - not on a preview. If I'm wrong, let me know!
Clearly people are putting themselves up here to be reviewed and getting ticked off when I say something about their designs. If what you make sells well for you, then why do you care what I think anyway? If what you make isn't selling as well as you'd like, maybe my review might help. Maybe it wont.
People do well (whatever that means) in all sorts of shops making neon kits with half naked ladies (as previously mentioned). If I reviewed something like that, I would most certainly say it was gross. My saying something is gross isn't saying it wont sell. That singing bass fish was one of the best selling products a few years back. Hideous and totally pointless. But it sold.
As for reviewing my own products, how do you know I haven't? I'm pretty hard on my own products, too. It pushes me to improve. I don't care how long you've been designing, everyone has room for improvement.
Monkey Mesh is off to Scrappity Doo Dah - lol
http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showthread.php?t=283236
Would Scrappity Doo Dah be considered a top or middle tier store?
I've never heard of her.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
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LMAO Apparently someone took their critique personally? Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well. Take what was said and learn from it.
Is it just me or does this thing really look like poo?
http://www.digiscrapconnect.com/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/1693-preview-cupcakecutie/
An idea for a WA: "Eat shit!"
Would Scrappity Doo Dah be considered a top or middle tier store?
********************************
Please tell me you're joking? Low tier for sure, have you seen that site?
Almost everything from Challenge 6 is horrible. I downloaded Binty's kit for the peas and don't see anything else I can use. Although, 2 AM's coffee kit is kind of nice.
I don't see how Simon not using CU can make her reviews invalid. You don't have to be a designer to see that color palette's are ugly or that elements are unusable.
I don't see how Simon not using CU can make her reviews invalid. You don't have to be a designer to see that color palette's are ugly or that elements are unusable.
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You also dont have to use CU to be a designer. I very rarely use CU.
I was having trouble with the Design Factor (DSC) site today too. In fact, I've had trouble at least once a week trying to get on the site. Perhaps there is too much traffic for their site. But it seems to be OK now, so I would love to hear what you have to say.
From my look through I've seen
2 OK Kits, 3 Fun and Original ideas and the rest are either ugly or boring.
I'll put up a better review once the deadline is over. And I think I might review some stores too. I do agree with a lot of 'Simons' opinions, but I have a different outlook on cutsy kits (I like them and with small children I use them too).
-Randy (lol)
Almost everything from Challenge 6 is horrible. I downloaded Binty's kit for the peas and don't see anything else I can use. Although, 2 AM's coffee kit is kind of nice.
--------------------------------
I don't like either one of those.
LMAO Apparently someone took their critique personally? Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well. Take what was said and learn from it.
Nope never critiqued me but I'm sure she'd probably not be very complimentary seeing what she said about some of my fellow designers who I think are pretty darn good. Be that as it may, I do just fine and always have even though I've never been in the list of popular designers. I get emails and comments on my work and I have repeat customers so......As far as I'm concerned much of what she said is not fact just one person's opinion. Also a color swatch is a personal choice. Some will like it some won't. I tend to use Kuhler for some of my swatches since I like what is put out and also another resource.
Please tell me you're joking? Low tier for sure, have you seen that site?
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I am a relatively new designer and a few months ago would have disagreed with you. It was one of the beginner stores that I wanted to apply to once they had a call. But they've recently brought on a few designers who are - less than appealing - and I really didn't want to be associated with them so I didn't apply to their recent call. It's sad how a few novice designers really just destroy a store.
(I am having problems with the keyboard, the m is stuck and I can't control it, it pops on every single word! Grammar police, don't eat me alive!)
Here are my reviews.
Scraps by Mara
Not bad, neither good. I've never liked generic items (tags, buttons etc) on mini kits.
Starving artist
Just bad. The colors are gross. This is not chocolate color, it's dirt.
Farynar's Wings
Here come the cupcakes! Nothing special, such kits are all over the freebieland.
AM designs
The paper (or is it fabric?) flowers are ok, the rest is just a waste of digital space. The nuts drove me nuts! Unusalbe. And ugly. Period.
Nana's Scraps
The 80's are back, and in the worst form! I am pretty sure the quality sucks.
Kuper Doodles
It's so flat. Some of her doodles are interesting. But flat.
Snackpack designs
I had a hard time trying to figure what this bunch of crap on the right is. It's a birthday cake! For your enemies, of course!
Ramona Memories
Dear God! Those mushrooms must be poisonous!
Studio Linda Renee
It looks cheap. Like clipart for taggers. The alpha was a bad idea. The red patterned paper would be better if textured.
Rumki
Watermelon. Yes, so original! Flat. Ugly.
Ronda's Scrap bits
That brown scrap under the jar is a hot dog. God help me! The colors don't match.
Mandy King
I like the word paper. The rest is a unsuccessful mix of styles.
Sugarkissed designms
Original idea, eventhough sushi itself is disgusting. I'll keep it.
Key of D designs
A bitten croissant? Sometimes realistic elements are just bad.
One of a kind
Why is it so flat? Some of the shapes are ok. But flat.
Little birdie
Yet another cupcake. And ugly.
Designs by Angel
The combination makes me vomit. The milk shake looks ok.
Binty
Cute cupcakes on this one. Not very original though.
Palma
I think I downloaded, and the quality was never there. It's a pitty, it's quite original (for a freebie).
Dana's footprint
I have a thing with realistic elements (and untextured digital ones): I hate them!
Brine designs
I wish it wasn't so flat! That style reminds me of Oscraps.
Just Jaime
I kept only the WA. The preview looks busy.
Sherry Davis
Oh no! A paper clip with a real strawberry? Somebody's joking on us!
Chris Mattis
Interesting theme. The bow is out of place. I'll keep it.
2 a.m. designs
I kept only the WA. The color are too pale.
Katlen Kreations
I'm speechless!
Digital Harmony
One of the most original and well done. I would like more bubble elements (yes, I am greedy). I would also prefer a more pop frame, the brown color is too much. Thanks God there wasn't any real chewed gum! Miss Tiina has a very similar kid face with a bubble gum, maybe she got the idea from there.
Angela Drummond
I have to agree with the previous comment about the poo cupcake.
scrapN2Nspire
Ugly colors, busy preview.
Rebecca Myers
The main elements are interesting, the rest don't actually match. I'll keep some ellies and the patterned papers.
I am a relatively new designer and a few months ago would have disagreed with you. It was one of the beginner stores that I wanted to apply to once they had a call. But they've recently brought on a few designers who are - less than appealing - and I really didn't want to be associated with them so I didn't apply to their recent call. It's sad how a few novice designers really just destroy a store.
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Ok now you have to name names and tell the story behind :)
I tried to review the challenge 6 contestants. After giving it my best shot, I have to say that Simon and a couple of the other reviewers have been doing a really good job. It's difficult to say anything constructive on some kits. And it's kind of time consuming to review them. I think I started out ok, but by the time I got to the end, I had less patience to look for anything redeeming in the really bad kits.
Also, some of the logos on those challenge kits are terrible. Make your logo readable. How are people supposed to know it's yours if you can't read the logo? Because of that, I may have named the designers incorrectly. I did my best.
Rebecca Myers: The “say cheese” theme is a cute idea for a kit. The cheese wedges are cute and I like the swatch except for the pinkish color. The doodled flowers are very flat looking and the bow is colored very strangely.
N2N: The snow cone theme is fun. The strings over the buttons need shadows between the string and the button, as does the tag. I hate the swatch. It's way too bright and saturated. I don't understand why there are some shadows on the elements on the preview and not on others. Consistency is helpful. The alpha is kind of a cute idea. It reminds me of the letters on the outside of an ice bag freezer.
Angela Drummond: Hate the colors. They don't say cupcakes to me at all. The doodles on the patterned papers are huge and strangely spaced. The tag seems kind of pointless to me.
Digital Harmony: The bubble gum theme is cute, but it would have been better to stick to the pinks, whites and browns. The primary colors thrown in are weird and distracting. I think the bubble gum machine and the bubble blowers are cute.
Katlen Kreations: The choco cherry chunk theme isn't really working for me. The bows and ribbons are ugly and badly colored. The frame looks stretched out. None of the colors are consistent throughout the papers and the elements. The string through the tag should be shadowed over the tag.
2 AM: I like the color combo. The paper coffee cup is cute, as is the bow and the jumbled letters. I like the "keep calm" tag but the one that says "don't make me kill you" is weird.
Chris Matthis: school lunch is a cute theme. This is one of the better contributions so far IMO. I hate the texture of the grapes, it makes them look old and fuzzy. I thought that the cookies were potatoes at first. The doodles on the patterned papers would look better if they were not so evenly distributed, IMO.
Sherry Davis: The extracted elements are badly lit, and badly shadowed on the preview. The papers are ugly.
Just Jaimee: I don't understand why the cupcakes aren't more prominent for a cupcake theme. The papers are way too grungy and busy. The frames would have been cuter without the doodles patterned over them.
Brine, I like pear theme or a pea theme but peas and pears together seem like a weird combo. The paper elements sit a bit too flat on the preview, but overall I think this kit has kind of a pretty look and I like the swatch
Continued-
Dana's Footprint: I kind of hate this one. The green is obnoxious and there are about 18 orange shades. The sliced oranges look old and yucky and the chocolate is kind of plastic looking.
Pamla Klenczar: where is your logo? It's nice to be able to see who did a kit right on it. The doodled elements are cute, but they don't match the swatch in the papers at all. and everything looks completely textureless.
Binty: Hate the swatch. The papers are too grungy for the elements. The doodled cupcakes are kind of cute, but the outline around them doesn't look refined, and they are a bit shakily drawn. I like the ribbons and stitching
Angel: Cute idea for a theme. The french fries look un cooked and the box they are in looks like it's lit from the right, but it's shadowed to the left. The string on the paper button thing looks odd. The blue stripes on the straw need a shiny bevel to match the white part. The guest check is cute and I like the little sign with the hanging bow. The papers are not my favorite.
Little Birdie: everything looks very flat and devoid of texture. The swirled ribbon doesn't look well done. I almost like a couple of the paper patterns and I like the cupcake border.
One of a Kind: I think this is a fun theme. I like some of the doodles but they need something. Maybe a little shading or texture. They seem very flat. The papers are kind of a miss for me.
Key of D: The logo needs to be more easily readable. The designer's name is tiny. The idea behind peanut butter and jelly is kind of fun. I'm not a fan of how this was done. The photographed elements are strangely lit. The patterned paper is unusable. The shadows on the preview are a mess. The tan bow is unshadowed, and the photographed elements are lit from the left and shadowed from the right. Fixing the shadows on the preview would help some, but not enough.
Sugar Kissed. I love that this is an Asian food themed kit and the colors and the elements actually feel Asian themed. That said, there are an awful lot of doodled elements, but not a whole lot of scrappy elements. I can't imagine a completed page using this. The elements and the papers have a clean feel to them and are consistent. I like the color swatch, though it's a bit neon-ish. The preview packaging takes up like half the preview. It needs to be more kit, less packaging.
Mandy King: The color swatch is ugly. I don't like the mix of digital elements, doodled elements and the scanned grape leaves. The apple border is kind of cute.
Ronda's Scrap Bits: This doesn't feel like picnic in the park. The pitcher of juice is the only food themed element I can find. What is that brown thing under the juice? The preview is a mess, The shadowing needs work...namely, the elements need to be shadowed. All of them, not just one or two. The color swatch is hideous.
Rumki: What is it with no shadows on the previews? Haven't these designers ever scrapped a page? Shadows are key to making a page or a preview appealing. I don't mind the swatch, the watermelon theme is boring. It's just one shape repeated all over the place. The ribbon looks like it was stepped on right before it was badly colored.
Continued-
Studio Linda Renee: First off, the colors are terrible. There is no texture on the veggies or anywhere else. The patterns are not cute.
Ramona: I don't get the theme at all. Mushies on Maples? Why? What would you use this to scrap? THe colors are terrible. The extracted elements look blurry. The lace bow is super bad. Yuck.
Snackpackgu: I wish designers would never preview their papers like that. It's not attractive. The bevels on everything are not attractive. The cake was a good idea, but poorly executed. The balloons look heavy.
Kuper Doodles: The colors feel very late 80's to me. The paper patterns are very beginner. I like the idea of the arrow and the scatters, and some of the doodles are kind of cute.
NanasScraps: Why is the bear sitting on a banana? And covered with strawberry polka dots? The extracted basket is blurry and badly lit. The colors for the kit are not attractive. The extracted leaves are way too saturated...as is everything else.
AM: Another half shadowed preview. The nuts theme could be fun, only the only word art included is a big long and lame quote. The shiny bow is kind of pretty.
Farynar's Wings: I like the colors. The sprinkles are cute on the doughnut too. I don't like the shiny bevel on all of the doodles. It didn't really work on the cupcake wrapper and the doughnut. The patterns on the paper are lame. Some patterning tutorials would do the designer wonders.
Starving Artist: Again, I don't like the shiny bevels. The drip at the top is a cute idea. This kit doesn't say chocolate to me. Not even a little bit. The apple doesn't belong there, and there is an overload of badly shadowed/badly colored rolled flowers.
Mara: Hate the palette. Hate the bevel on the doodles on the patterned papers. The papers are too grungy and the texture is too heavy. The extracted leaf looks weird with the digital elements.
Someone needs to check the meaning of "ocker". I'm sure there are some "regular" Aussies here but I very much doubt any "ocker" is reading this blog LOL.
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Clearly you aren't Australian. The OP who used the word can continue to do so. Looking things up doesn't always give you the right answer, especially with regard to language use.
Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be those who will read those reviews and, based on them, won't give a designer a try and end up missing out on something they may have liked.
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Really? You think that there are people out there who won't be able to make up their own mind? Isn't this going back to the whole herd mentality thing again?
And how does that make sense anyway, since a. most of us are not in highschool anymore, and b. we are all online and have no way of knowing what everyone else has purchased.
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a. since most of you continually talk about top tier etc, it smacks of high school, even if you aren't there anymore. you also talk about what you've purchased and where.
b. see point a. above.
If you are a designer I would love to see YOUR designs as I bet if you do design you must have mishy mashy kits with lousy color swatches, blurry items.....should I go on. Your critiques are laughable at best.
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Your statement is laughable. You sound like a ticked off nine year old.
Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well.
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What a silly thing to say.
Almost everything from Challenge 6 is horrible. I downloaded Binty's kit for the peas and don't see anything else I can use. Although, 2 AM's coffee kit is kind of nice.
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This was mine and I confused Binty, with Brine...obviously, since there are no peas in Binty's, lol!
Ok now you have to name names and tell the story behind :)
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IMO, Dylabel and Sweet Mesquite are just -- bad.
It's not even bad designers...the site design is so ugly, there's no reason to even look at the kits. It was much cuter before.
^^^^^
I'm not one to judge a book by it's cover, but the site design really is ugly.
I LOLed at the "Randy." We definitely have enough Paula's around here.
I finally managed to get on the Design Factor. Thank you to those throwing out some reviews! I love reading others reviews, too! I followed through the reviews while I looked and these things to add. We all seem to be in agreement for the most part. Bad is just bad. :)
Ronda's Scrap bits
The hot dog. Sheesh. Wow.
Mandy King
"Pick a good one" I can't stop laughing...
Sugar Kissed Designs
Loved this one, actually. Sushi kits are hard to come by and she did a really nice job. She has gotten better this contest and that's nice to see. I downloaded this one. After downloading, the doodles have some rough edges and the coloring on the sashimi is a little creepy up close (especially on the ebi). The worst thing she did was not separate the elements! Please, please, please separate these things. How lazy can you be? The texture on the papers is weird, too. The patterns are great. Best I've seen in this contest.
Key of D designs
I think the bitten croissant is actually a smidge of peanut butter. Either way, it's weird looking.
One of a kind
I downloaded this one, too. It is flat, but I wanted to see more. After downloading, textures are a little boring, but not offensive. They're much nicer on the elements than on the papers. The brown one needs the texture adjusted so you can actually see it. The cookies and milk paper pattern is bad. The realistic bow doesn't mesh. Not sure why she didn't texture the leaf. Those things really accentuate how flat the rest of the kit is. The realistic elements should enhance the doodles. The frames are cute. I don't like the yellow around the one, though. A plain frame would have been nice. Extraction on the green ribbon isn't great. Appropriate font choices. I'll keep the oreo and wish I had some.
Brine Designs
I downloaded this one, too. I want to like her stuff, but the quality has been junky on the past ones I've downloaded. I'm really shocked FPD keeps this stuff in the store. I know most people think the owner is a bitch, but I thought she had good quality standards. After downloading, please don't ever shadow a FONT on an item. Some of her patterns are badly done, but some are nice (I like the wordy paper with the pear). I like the passion fruits, but the peas are a little weird. I do like the swatch, but I'm sick of pink and brown. The pea pod is slightly jagged. The stitch is bad quality, but thank you for not shadowing that (and the staple). I'll keep some of the elements and about half the papers.
Just Jaime
Showed some promise, but her past few kits have been bad, bad, bad. She actually got worse during the contest.
Chris Matthis Designs
Nothing I would use, but the textures look nice. I agree about the bow. The kit title is stupid since all the elements are about lunch. She must get her bread at the same store as Hot Dog. The crusts look like dirty chocolate.
Digital Harmony
I thought the idea was cute, too, but why the pepto bismol pink? And brown? She had such nice colors in the gum balls.
Rebecca Myers
A swing and a miss. The mouse holding the cheese is cute, though. Nice paper textures.
Digilicious Designs
Cute idea, but wth does a blue birdie have to do with pickles and ice cream? Elements are a bit mish mashy.
Scrappity-Doo-Dah has really gone downhill fast and their hill was small to begin with. The site design is gross. GROSS!
July 29, 2011 6:20 PM
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I've enjoyed reading your previews much more than the chic who had nothing but negative things to say ( I don't think it was Simon). But I have to say that I think you simply don't like bevels. That seemed to be your pet peeve :)
I have one quick favor to designers. STOP USING 4SHARED / MEDIAFIRE!
It costs maybe$20 for domain hosting.
Am I the only one who didn't like the sushi kit? I didn't like the sushi pieces at all. I love the idea, just didn't like the execution.
Anonymous said...
July 29, 2011 6:20 PM
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I've enjoyed reading your previews much more than the chic who had nothing but negative things to say ( I don't think it was Simon). But I have to say that I think you simply don't like bevels. That seemed to be your pet peeve :)
July 29, 2011 8:30 PM
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When something is objectively bad, there are not many positive things to say about it. My reviews are based on "I like it-I don't like it", I don't download everything, and I can't judge like a designer (shadows, clustering etc). But I can tell you that badly photographed realistic elements are not what got me into digiscrapping.
Digilicious designs
I like her idea to connect pickles and icecreams with a pregnancy (a thing the designer of "fries and milkshakes" didn't do!). I didn't notice the bird on the paper, though. Yeah, it's irrelevant.
Am I the only one who didn't like the sushi kit? I didn't like the sushi pieces at all. I love the idea, just didn't like the execution.
_________________________________
I didn't like it either. In fact I thought it was pretty darn awful!
I have one quick favor to designers. STOP USING 4SHARED / MEDIAFIRE!
It costs maybe$20 for domain hosting.
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I'm a new designer and have 4shared, but I paid for the direct download option so it links directly. (at least there is no waiting on the DL) I would love to have suggestions for domain hosting options. I get some space through my site/blog, but not enough for minis, blog trains and freebies.
^^^
Google "free hosting"
Problem is - to the person who claims expertise on $20 for hosting - I call bull on that. Even if you get it cheap ($4) - that's $48/year for freebie hunters. Sure, yeah, it can be worth it. But it's usually more than that.
Concerning the design factor kits ... Part of the requirements included a bow, which is why some of them don't fit. Bows in a food theme kit is kinda dumb. And the yucky browns were part of the palette given even though they didn't have to use that one, but the light color wasn't much better.
How do 'new designers' even find this blog?
You know what would be interesting? To take a poll on how you (general you) found this blog.
The kit title is stupid since all the elements are about lunch.
^^^^^^^
It is stupid, but if you read her little blurb under the preview there was a cute story behind it.
I have one quick favor to designers. STOP USING 4SHARED / MEDIAFIRE!
It costs maybe$20 for domain hosting.
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(A) What you don't realize is that when it comes to things like blog trains/etc. many sites (like miine, which I do host myself and do pay for... premium "unlimited" hosting/bandwidth) get so much traffic that most hosting companies will give you a hard time and/or shut you down temporarily if you have a sudden spike in bandwidth used. The average blog train freebie is about 20MB. When almost 1500 people download it in just a few days (my average), it causes problems.
(B) I've seen some designers offer people a choice between the free file sharing sites (4shared, mediafire, dropbox, box, etc.), and I think this is a good solution as it leaves it to the freebie hunter to decide which service they want to use.
(C) The bitter part of me wants to say: if you people would stop being so selfish about freebies (acting as though they're a requirement from designers and not what they are = a gift), more designers would likely try harder to help you out. I know that's not a good public relations statement, but true nonetheless... and this is a smack blog, so there you have it.
I'm the OP re: hosting.
I host with Host Monster - they are on sale right now for $5 a month. I use them for all of my freebies (add on to my kit, facebook freebies and the blog trains). According to bit.ly stats, my download count for the last blog train freebie is just over 4,100. Over half that was the first 7 or so days.
I understand about being bitter about the freebie mongers and it pisses me off too at times. But I've noticed it does help my sales.
Which blog train? Does the DST one get that many hits? Maybe I should try it one month.
Yes, the DST train. But I also tweet about it, include in my newsletters, Facebook, etc.
If you don't like the freebie hunters, then don't offer the freebies. It's really that simple.
Digital Harmony
I thought the idea was cute, too, but why the pepto bismol pink? And brown? She had such nice colors in the gum balls.
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Looked like bubble gum pink to me and therefore appropriate to the kit.
The kit title is stupid since all the elements are about lunch.
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I loved the title of the kit, but then again, I don't like obvious names.
What should she have called - School Lunch? How boring.
"I understand about being bitter about the freebie mongers and it pisses me off too at times. But I've noticed it does help my sales."
I agree, and I offer freebies at times because it's a good marketing tool. The blog train is actually part of my marketing plan, and has worked brilliantly for the past few go-arounds. Though I will admit it's often hard to see my designs mixed in with the horrid messes that are there from every other tom dick and harry...
"Which blog train? Does the DST one get that many hits? Maybe I should try it one month."
Yes, the blog train at blogtrainblog.blogspot.com (commonly referred to as the DST train, though it has no affiliation, really) gets quite a bit of traffic (though I doubt people are really getting 4000+ downloads; I routinely get 1500-2500 a month, and I am an established designer in a well-known store. Most other top-level designers I know are getting similar traffic).
"If you don't like the freebie hunters, then don't offer the freebies. It's really that simple."
Regarding being pissed about freebie mongers, I'm not (in general). Their existence itself doesn't irk me, but their behaviour does. I find most of them won't leave comments unless they are having trouble DL'ing (maybe 5% leave comments or thank yous, which is horridly low, though routine), and just last week I visited a blog where a freebie hunter got snotty with a designer about the size of her freebie (something like, "are you sure you could spare that?"). This is the behaviour I was referring to, in my post above. It doesn't make designers want to go out of their way to go the extra mile... if you get my drift.
Her previews are horrible, I wish designers would realize what a difference that can make.
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Her previews are very flat
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I am seeing this a lot in these reviews. What is a very flat preview? And what is a kit's good preview? Samples please...
"The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent (or Strine).[1] The typical ocker is "usually found in a blue singlet and rubber thongs (foot wear) with a tinnie in his hand propping up a bar"
As the previous person stated, I also don't think there are too many ockers here.
Who's behind this blog?
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
Just curious. :)
^^
It says under the posts - "posted by Jennifer Conlon"
Places like hostmonster, etc often run sales. I've had my own domain for a few years - the sale prices aren't offered when you renew.
Is anyone else bothered by the "designers" who aren't associated with SBG, yet they have "Studio" as part of their design name?
What is a very flat preview?
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Just like digiscrap layouts, bad lighting/shadowing/perspective leads to very flat previews. Raised elements especially those extracted from real items such as ribbons, flowers and greenery, etc. look like flat stickers on the page/preview instead of real ones as they should. In other words, flat previews can't showcase the kit to its full potential (assuming it has potential, of course...)
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. one of the newer people (she sells at NSDIB or whatever the order of initials is) - and is constantly in the DCR spouting off her opinions (which are always negative). She is one that claims to use NO CU products, and disrespects anyone who does. Terra, if you read this - you have alot to learn. Such as - have an opinion, but respect others and their right to have one also. You have a LONG way to go - so drop that attitude!!!!
Is anyone else bothered by the "designers" who aren't associated with SBG, yet they have "Studio" as part of their design name?
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This is stupid. SBG doesn't own the rights to the word 'Studio'. People have the right to name their designs whatever they want.
Wow - still amazed at the stupidity of this comment.
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. one of the newer people (she sells at NSDIB or whatever the order of initials is) - and is constantly in the DCR spouting off her opinions (which are always negative). She is one that claims to use NO CU products, and disrespects anyone who does. Terra, if you read this - you have alot to learn. Such as - have an opinion, but respect others and their right to have one also. You have a LONG way to go - so drop that attitude!!!!
July 30, 2011 10:07 AM
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ITA!
Is anyone else bothered by the "designers" who aren't associated with SBG, yet they have "Studio" as part of their design name?
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No. Last time I checked, SBG doesn't have trademark on the word.
I have to say, I have a few friends new to digital scrapbooking and was pretty happy to shoo them over to
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
It's nice to finally see a site that posts DECENT freebies and not pure crap.
Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well.
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What a silly thing to say.
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Silly? So in your opinion, if one person does not like your designs, it is NOT possible that other do as well. Really? Who's silly?
Design Factor Reviews (my take on them)
Scraps by Mara - passable (sp?), but nothing great
Starving Artist - can't get past the preview. When the preview is ugly then the kit doesn't have a chance.
Farynar's Wings - not thrilled w/ the patterned papers. They should either have a pattern or be solid/plain, not just random images scattered on the page. Elements are lacking anything exciting.
A.M. Designs - Don't care for this one at all. Yucky (yes, I just used the word yucky and I'm over the age of 12) papers and elements are not cohesive.
NanaScraps - Is that a strawberry tree? Do strawberries grow on trees now?
KuperDoodles - I like the colors as far as matching the kit theme, but the doodles are lacking any texture and depth. I would have liked some cross hatching on the ice cream cone at least. I do like the cherry paper though.
Snackpackgu - Flat and elements look too digital.
Ramona Memories - Does this kit even have papers? Not a theme I would ever use and the elements are sloppy at best.
Studio Linda Renee - Again with the 'textureless' elements. Come on people, add some depth to your designs.
Rumki Designs - The color palette isn't consistent throughout the kit. The idea is ok, considering I actually have pictures w/ watermelons and kids I could scrap, but I wouldn't use this kit to scrap them.
Ronda's Scrap Bits - The elements don't go together - flat paper and 'real bows'. I'm worried about the hotdog (?) it looks really sick.
Mandy King - Not an original ideas (we'll see lots of apple picking kits in the fall...in fact, I might even make one), but at least the colors go with the theme and the kit. The elements go pretty well together except the random maple leaves (too 'real' with the other elements).
SugarKissed Designs - I do love the idea and the theme, but won't download it b/c I don't know what type of sushi pictures I have. The colors are ok, but might be out of gamut as some seem a bit bright. I don't like the 'dallops' of wasabi and (?) = looks like poop.
Key of D - Cute idea, but executed very well. Too many styles of elements and the bread paper is ugly. I think the colors go well with the theme.
Would you like to give a rookie any advice? Most of the abbreviations don't speak to me but I understand some are store names and designer names. I have dl'ed some freebies but deleted some of them right after unzipping and find I can make many of the things that I need in no time, I have bought some elements by Kate Hadfield and made some backgrounds with them. I have bought a grabbag at Zigzagscrap.. that's about it. Are you willing to give me any advice? Many thanks.
Ok, I just typed another group of reviews and for some reason it didn't post them, so now I'm annoyed and will do the rest later if anyone wants to hear them.
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell. one of the newer people (she sells at NSDIB or whatever the order of initials is) - and is constantly in the DCR spouting off her opinions (which are always negative). She is one that claims to use NO CU products, and disrespects anyone who does. Terra, if you read this - you have alot to learn. Such as - have an opinion, but respect others and their right to have one also. You have a LONG way to go - so drop that attitude!!!!
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First, it's clear she doesn't use a lot of CU because most of her products are awful. Second, I agree about her holier-than-thou attitude. Very bizarre coming from such a noob.
No. Last time I checked, SBG doesn't have trademark on the word.
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You actually checked?! LMFAO! Thanks for the giggle.
ITA, but I will say also that it DOES seem odd when designers suddenly name themselves "Studio __(something)__" almost as though they're trying to fool others into thinking they're more than they really are.
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You actually checked?! LMFAO! Thanks for the giggle.
ITA, but I will say also that it DOES seem odd when designers suddenly name themselves "Studio __(something)__" almost as though they're trying to fool others into thinking they're more than they really are.
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I'm not even the poster but give me a break. "Last time I checked" is a pretty common phrase.. generally a sarcastic one.
And the whole "studio" bit. Thinking they are more than they really are? Let's get specific here ::
stu·di·o
[stoo-dee-oh, styoo-]
–noun, plural -di·os.
1. the workroom or atelier of an artist, as a painter or sculptor.
2. a room or place for instruction or experimentation in one of the performing arts: a dance studio.
Let's just say that anyone who creates digital scrapbooking designs aka digital ART is an artist. That doesn't make them a GREAT artist, but it makes them an artist all the same. The room in which their computer is in would be their studio. Thus, they have every right to say Studio My-Art-Sucks or Studio Dances With Wolves or Studio *insert name here*
^^^^^
Not the OP about "studio" and I get all the "SBG doesn't own the word" reasoning here, but I would definitely avoid it as part of my design name. I'd hate to think that some might see it as an attempt to associate myself with the store, the way the OP obviously did.
Would you like to give a rookie any advice? Most of the abbreviations don't speak to me but I understand some are store names and designer names. I have dl'ed some freebies but deleted some of them right after unzipping and find I can make many of the things that I need in no time, I have bought some elements by Kate Hadfield and made some backgrounds with them. I have bought a grabbag at Zigzagscrap.. that's about it. Are you willing to give me any advice? Many thanks.
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IF you are a newbie designer....then the first piece of advice I can give you is this: Kate Hadfields elements are PERSONAL USE ONLY. you can NOT make your own backgrounds with them and sell them. IF you are using them for your own personal use....then never mind.
Not the OP about "studio" and I get all the "SBG doesn't own the word" reasoning here, but I would definitely avoid it as part of my design name. I'd hate to think that some might see it as an attempt to associate myself with the store, the way the OP obviously did.
July 30, 2011 1:04 PM
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Same here. It looks kind of desperate. But I think with the studio thing, maybe it's sometimes unintentional?
It's kind of similar to when designers copy another designer/store's packaging. I remember when SPD first opened and suddenly a hundred wanna be designers were packaging their designs on a bracket shape with a black strip across the middle. I noticed the same thing happening after 9&B opened with their packaging. I don't undestand why you would want it to look like you sell at a store at which you don't actually sell.
IF you are a newbie designer....then the first piece of advice I can give you is this: Kate Hadfields elements are PERSONAL USE ONLY. you can NOT make your own backgrounds with them and sell them. IF you are using them for your own personal use....then never mind.
Hey, thanks for answering. Yes I read that on the product itself. PU and it also says so in the files. I am not intending to sell digital sccrapbooking supplies. Just thought I mentioned what I thought was worth my dime so far. I was not happy with the grabbag from zigzagscrap. Any opinions on that store? After I burned my fingers on the last bag I am reluctant to buy another thing.
I am new to making pages, so if you would like to give me any advice... I would love to hear it. Many thanks in advance
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How did you find this blog? I'm just curious.
How did you find this blog? I'm just curious.
Figured there must be a meta DST forum or something so I eventually googled dst* under blogs.. it's the first listing so nothing much to it reallly.
Any advice you want to give me? What, for excample, do you think about the grabbags out at the moment?
Any advice you want to give me? What, for excample, do you think about the grabbags out at the moment?
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Honestly, who do you think you're asking? At any given time there's probably hundreds of different people reading this blog - scrappers, designers, ct members and they all have a dog in this race.... meaning they're going to direct you to something either they made or someone they work for made. OR they will direct you to something that is specifically suited to their taste. Is it your taste? There are no experts here or taken another way, everyone is an expert here as evidenced by the number of reviews were seeing.
If you're going to ask a question like this, you'd be better served asking it on DST where you can see the author and you'd know why they're suggesting such and such a product.
my2cents.
What is up with 9&B?
https://ninthandbloom.com/
I'm getting this message:
There is a problem with this website's security certificate.
The security certificate presented by this website has expired or is not yet valid.
Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you or intercept any data you send to the server.
We recommend that you close this webpage and do not continue to this website.
https://ninthandbloom.com
Go to it without the s in the http part. The s stands for secure and they don't have a security certificate so you get that warning. It's annoying and they should stop using the link with the s if they don't have the certificate.
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Ok, that makes sense. Thanks!
Sorry sweetie, but if one person thinks your designs suck, it's quite possible more do as well.
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What a silly thing to say.
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Silly? So in your opinion, if one person does not like your designs, it is NOT possible that other do as well. Really? Who's silly?
I would say that there definitely are those who don't particularly like my designs but there also many who do like my designs so not really a silly thing to say. I would bet that there isn't a designer out there who don't have customers who like them and others who don't or why would they continue to design?????
"The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent (or Strine).[1] The typical ocker is "usually found in a blue singlet and rubber thongs (foot wear) with a tinnie in his hand propping up a bar"
As the previous person stated, I also don't think there are too many ockers here.
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Did you look that up? I bet you did. If you lived in Australia, you'd know that that is an outdated explanation.
RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell.
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I'm not buying her personality, but her product.
First, it's clear she doesn't use a lot of CU because most of her products are awful.
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This is a joke, right? There are plenty of designers out there who do use Cu and their products are still awful.
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
It's nice to finally see a site that posts DECENT freebies and not pure crap.
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Meh, not my style and some are not so decent.
I would bet that there isn't a designer out there who don't have customers who like them and others who don't or why would they continue to design?????
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Is it me or does anyone else have trouble wrapping their brain around this sentence? Too many double negatives or something.....
Digital Paper Press - "now open" - who is Casey Krause (former owner of Pretty Scrappy)?
Anonymous said...
Digital Paper Press - "now open" - who is Casey Krause (former owner of Pretty Scrappy)?
July 30, 2011 7:57 PM
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I think she's the formerX2 owner, not the one with the SSD thing.
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
- thanks for posting that link. it has some nice stuff posted, especially for someone new to digi scrapping who would like to try it out.
To the person posting asking for advice this is not really the place for it but I imagine you know that already. If you want advice go to digishoptalk.
Is anyone else bothered by the "designers" who aren't associated with SBG, yet they have "Studio" as part of their design name?
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No. Why would it bother me?
Jeeez bitches! would it kill you to suggest something for the poor girl?
You can try Pickleberrypop.com, right now they have a bunch of grab bags (lollybags) for their BD celebration. I bought quite a few and I'm happy with what I got.
Hey, I found a great new site
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
And no, I am not the owner, and NO, I'm not doing any shameless advertising either!
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
It's posted about already - like 5 posts up
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New space please :)
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RE: the sushi kit. Its 'ok', and thats about it. HOWEVER - the person behind the kit is a snippy little bitch with attitude from hell.
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I'm not buying her personality, but her product.
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never said anything about that. I'm talking about from a person who checks the DCR for information point of view...and she is obnoxious. You go right on ahead and buy from her. I'm sure she will be nice to you since you purchased. Don't ask her for any advice, tho.
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