Whee...

.

I actually got ALL my freight out before I had to leave today and did not have any help at all.

Not only did I get the freight out, I got up my sign for the new Cricut Imagine endcap and priced the placards that show the cartridge selections.  (The display box had come in this week's freight and Daniel, a stockperson, brought it out to me.)  So my new Imagine endcap is beginning to look completed.   I ran out of time before I actually got the last two items up on it that I have to put there-- the mats and ...hmmm...now just what was it...oh, 12 x12 vinyl  sheets.


When I first began working in the scrapbooking department, I actually thought that I might like to try my hand at it.

Well, maybe I would like to, but I found out not to far into the game that this hobby is not for someone on my payscale.   It is a very expensive hobby.  And it is still expensive even if you are right there for every sale and have an employee discount.

For example, the die cut machines that we stock run from $149 to... well, now that the Imagine has come in.... to $499.  And that may be all well and good if you could make an investment like that in a machine that you used a whole lot and that was the end of its expense.  But...

NOT SO.

Every cartridge you buy-- which gives you options for cutting different things-- is an additional expense.   They run $50 apiece for the Slice machine and $70 to $80 a piece for the Cricut.  Sometimes Cricut puts them on sale 2/$99....  And it requires mats which must be replaced regularly and cutting blades which evidently get dull and also must be replaced.

Like I say, not on my payscale.

But, I wouldn't have to buy a diecut machine even if I did have to listen to other scrappers rave about how they couldn't do without theirs.

I could just buy premade stuff instead of making my own.

No, wait.   One package of a 3-D embellishment can run $4.99 a package.   And we are not talking about a large package of stuff.   Just a few pictures put together to illustrate one idea.     For example, if you had a doctor visit maybe YOU would like to buy....


I suppose it would look nice, but what I overheard one lady say to another today as they were shopping my aisles is VERY true.   She said, "You can expect to put $10 into every page you do."   When you consider all the ways that scrappers embellish those pages, I don't think that was a far-fetched statement.   That means a normal scrapbook of 20 pages could end up being quite an expensive creation.   And that's not counting all those machines and cartridges.

So, if I ever scrap, I've already decided that I'll "do it my way" -- which means I'll just figure out my own ways to create a page without buying all that premade stuff to decorate with.   And it won't end up looking like this one does.   At least not because I bought a machine and several cartridges to cut out letters and leaves and ... whatever.