Hi My Paper Crafting Friends!
I had to sit down and just say hi to everyone and chat about something that I was thinking about. Last night I sat down at a tiny table in the back room of my house…not my large craft room/studio where I film and really create. Just a small table. I had some cardstock, patterned paper, scissors, adhesive and some Viva Pens and I just started creating. I went through some photos that I’ve been meaning to scrapbook for a LONG time, and organized photos in envelopes. I also just decided, why not just scrapbook for fun. Don’t worry about writing up instructions, videoing the how to, I do that every week usually two or three a week these days. I LOVE doing it – its really a passion of mine, but it was really great to sit down and just “throw” some stuff together because I wanted to. I had no reason to, I didn’t worry about having my Cricut ready for the perfect title or image. I just used what I had right there by me and had a blast with it. Of course I took a few pictures with my cell phone, but nothing fancy at all… I’ll share a snap shot or two, but realize, its just because for fun stuff. Totally self-indulgent! 🙂
Then I got to thinking about something that I read on a message board a little while back…. Let me share the question here:
“How do you find the time? I can get so caught up in the MB or looking at peoples blogs and just linking…connecting…lurking…linking…looking…and never scrap a thing!
Seriously, I have had the best intentions to have a scrap day – start on the MB and the next thing I know – the whole day is blown. I keep adding peoples blogs to my favorites for inspiration…and then I actually do not scrap anything at all!
How do you all post all the time and post on blogs and actually find time to scrap?
I need some lessons in time management 🙁 “
I feel as though recently I’ve seen lots of questions about blogging, scrapbooking, cardmaking and such and I just really wanted to share a few thoughts on it.
First I guess I really wanted to say – I just feel so blessed to have a supportive husband who loves that I love my hobby. He really is a huge encourager and support to this crafting thing that I love so dearly. But I am a mom and a wife first, and that hasn’t changed even with turning Above Rubies “Studio” into more of a business in the sense with Club Ruby and some of the DVDs. I still do this blog and sharing for fun, because I enjoy it and because its an outlet for me when Mommy/Wife life feels overwhelming. Creating and sharing and teaching has always been a huge part of my life, and while I’m still a “baby” in the online crafting world to some, I’ve been very much a part of crafting and teaching for a long long time.
My intentions were never really to do any more than share when I started. I had my Cricut for quite a long time before joining the Cricut Message Board and really looking into blogs and such that were out there.
Through my husband’s encouragement and experience in the online world, he set up a quick blog for me and helped me get started with videos and such of things I was making around the time of my sister’s wedding. I had been blogging for a while before, but it was more a personal journal of my life, didn’t really want people to read it or care to help anyone other than get my thoughts out. Its still up, but I rarely write in that anymore.
Anyway, over time I had started developing a list of materials and settings that worked best for the Cricut and save your paper from tearing and ripping and just hours and hours of frustrations with getting your blade depth, speed and pressure just right on your Cricut Machine for whatever project you were working on. So out of that the Original Cricut Cutting Guide was born! I got involved more and more in the Cricut Message board and community and saw how many questions CONSTANTLY there were about frustrations with paper ripping or not cutting all the way through the paper, or other related paper cutting with the Cricut questions. So, again I turned to my husband and said, can we use this? So he created the whole download system for the Cricut Cutting Guide and out of that Above Rubies Studio has continued to grow. That developed into the A to Z DVD series that we have and continue to expand upon! (Yes MORE A to Z DVDs are coming out VERY SOON – and also our shorter length mini-series DVDs of 123 videos are all in the works!) They’ve been a huge help to many many crafters and I still feel so blessed to get almost daily emails of people sharing their thanks and success stories in creating from these helpful videos and I just have YOU ALL to thank! 🙂
Still, the questions of time, the questions of will, and the questions of viewership of blogs still gets asked alot. I can only really answer a few things for myself in that:
Time for Blogging and Creating:
- It comes from a dedication and love for it! Consistency in doing it – every week – every month – everyday – whatever you set out for it to be.
- It comes from support of family and spouses, if you are spending all your time trying to blog and make something out of your creations and you are taking away from your family time, it can be to detriment of the blog and family. I can’t encourage enough that it shouldn’t become that.
Getting People to Follow Your Blog:
- I do fun things from time to time and I like to spread the word what we do at Above Rubies Studio, but getting followers has happened over time. Being a part of the community and just sharing openly what I have done in different places has lead to daily viewership that you all take part in and I thank you for it!
- Above Rubies Studio got many followers from the release of the Cutting Guide, which we offered for free. We have made an email list from those who have chosen to download the guide, and while have sent out emails to those people on occasion, its all related to the the Cricut and what the Cutting Guide is all about, updates and such. I’d also like to mention – people don’t have to receive any emails from us if they wish not to, we believe everyone has that right and option and hate spam just as much as EVERYONE else! 🙂
- Giveaways and prizes: Something that we love to do from time to time and have had troubles doing them in the past. We do them for everyone’s enjoyment and fun and it comes from us! While we get lots and lots of comments when we have a giveaway, that’s all we generally require to win anything!
Blog Sponsorship and Getting Paid to Blog:
- We are not sponsored or paid for blogging from any outside company, and I don’t intend to go that direction this is not something we intent to pursue. I can say this for Above Rubies Studio, we’ve had offers for more steady sponsorship and have not moved forward with anything like that as of now. Not saying it will never happen in the future, but for now… While I do receive some “free gifts” from time to time and different places will sponsor a giveaway once in a while. Above Rubies Studio projects and products and most giveaways are shared and shown because it what I use in Crafting on a regular basis and what we want to giveaway. Something I’m very passionate about! From time to time I do guest designer work for different retail locations and may share what I do and use for and from them, but again, its because I want to do it not because I’m get paid for it, because frankly it wouldn’t pay bills to do that either!
Finally I guess I really want to refer over to another wonderful gal’s blog… OkieLadybug – She couldn’t have said it any better what the whole blogging/crafting thing is all about! 🙂 I would love for you all to read her write up about this very topic! I love Okie just wanted to share! 🙂 This is the start of Okie’s post right here….follow the link to read the entire contents – 🙂
So thats about that – I just felt the want to share my thoughts, and such! Hope you all are having a great day and I’ll see ya Tuesday for another video! 🙂
“How do you find the time? I can get so caught up in the MB or looking at peoples blogs and just linking…connecting…lurking…linking…looking…and never scrap a thing!
Seriously, I have had the best intentions to have a scrap day – start on the MB and the next thing I know – the whole day is blown. I keep adding peoples blogs to my favorites for inspiration…and then I actually do not scrap anything at all!
How do you all post all the time and post on blogs and actually find time to scrap?”
Thanks for that… sometimes I find myself in the where is the time I need to start… but then when the mood is right I find I have lots of time and ideas. Right now I have more ideas but not a lot of time to work on them. My daughter is about to have her first baby and she did not find out what the sex of the baby is so I am making not one but 2 growth charts one for each sex. I saw a pic of one someone made and the idea has taken hold so I am trying my best to do my own version of one. I have the incentive to do this with so little time left… so panic mode has hit. (Baby is due this week and dr said could come any day now… he said that last week)
Reading your post was a good thing for me… thanks!
I’ve started carrying a little notebook with me. I use it to keep track of my day and to write down ideas, sketches and where I got inspiration. That way when I have time, I remember what I wanted to do lol.
I love sharing things I’ve made. But the easy part for me is the making lol. The hard part is keeping track of everything I did, taking the photographs and writing the how-to. Ten minutes to make the card, 45 minutes to do everything else lol.
My blog started as a means of sharing my “cute as a button gypsy file”. Although unlike Okie I never had to sit through hours of emails lol.
As I added posts, I’ve had ask myself “why” I wanted to blog and if I could do it without needing a lot of comments or *any* comments lol. I love getting comments, but I have to “release” the posts and let them be what they are if that makes sense.
Papercrafting is helping me get “unstuck”. I would reach a point in a project and not know what to do, and get tangled in overthinkng. And put it down, sometimes for years lol. I’m embracing the joy of not worrying. I made a pagoda card that was one of those everything that can go wrong did. But then I just took a deep breath, picked out the useable bits and made something better. Dorie is right, and “Just keep swimming.” is one of my daily affirmations :D.
I’ve really learned a lot from your blog and others about new techniques and inspirations. And the DVDs are amazing. Keep up the good work, and I’m really glad you just had fun making something : D
thanks for sharing. I started a blog last november. I have not done much over the summer, but i do love it. I love showing what i do. I love your blog. thanks
Thanks for sharing. Good information and something to think about doing for myself writing stuff down and stop trying to overload my brain Lol. Thanks again. vswaddy620@yahoo.com
TFS your thoughts, I think we all feel the same. Just wanting to
share our projects, because we enjoy makeing them.
Thank you Megan. I only wish there had been blogs when my two children, now 24 and 28, were little. The time goes so fast and I never thought, in my busy “had to get it all done” mode, that I should write down the little things they did or said so I would remember later. Now, I am trying to get 2 scrapbooks done, from day one, and work full time. My outlet is your blog and cardmaking because it is fast. Maybe some day I will get scrapbooks done for my kids-maybe I should do what Meghan did and just sit at a small table and work on some pages. You never know! Thank you for all you do Megan-you’re great.
Megan, Just want to say thank you so much for all of your hard work and effort. You are truly an inspiration both in scrapping and life. I see the joy on your face while you do your video’s and it inspires me. Please keep doing what you’re doing.
I do a lot of scanning the blogs. Getting ideas, then forgetting some, puttimg some in my favorites, which by the way is extremely long, and spending a lot of time just “looking”. I could be scrapping. By the time I finish my scanning I have other things that need to be attended too. So,I have lots of ideas in the back of my head, some done, most not. Now I need to get busy. Thanks, Megan. I am glad I am not the only one.
Thank you for that lovely post. I’m by no means a professional, but I love crafting! I tried working at a Scrapbook Store as an instructor and loved it, but sooo much work went into preparations and conception that it just wasn’t as fun anymore…not quite the hobby I enjoyed. Plus I was spending TOO much! LOL I had several people ask if I had a blog, and so when I resigned my job I started my blog. It’s still SO new but I’m learning–by mistakes mostly. But it’s for fun. And since my husband is military, now my friends and family can see what I’ve made–as I don’t live close enough for them to “drop in”. I also have a very loving/supportive husband and children. And that makes this journey amazing! Thank you again for all you do.
I don’t have a blog but find myself spending all my craft time looking at blogs for inspiration. I love Ohhh Snap’s idea of keeping a journal of things I like and where I found them. I have even ordered something to make a project and then couldn’t remember which site I had originally found the project. Since I work full time, I have so little time to craft that I don’t want to spend all my time on the computer but I just can’t come up with ideas like I use to when I was younger (and of course with CRS syndrome I don’t remember how to do the techniques when I sit down to craft-LOL!)
thank you for your thoughts It is hard to find time for all of this when a person has other things to attend to. And it is great that your husband supports you in all you do
Megan, thanks for sharing from your heart! It is very refreshing and energizing to just create with no rules! Be blessed today and always!
Hey Megan, Thank you so much for puting this information in writing. I have been searching the blog/cricut world on how everyone has started and it turned out to be a business. I am in the direct sales market and I have a Card class each month. I am starting my blog to help my students with creating and ideas from our how to’s, step by step instructions for our cards we make in class and other ideas as well. I totally understand about searching all day on other blogs to find ideas. The next thing you know it has been hours that have passed and I didn’t get half the stuff I needed to get done that day. I have recently had foot surgery that has taken over my life this year. But with that I have been blessed to be able to have the time and see that I can too do (How To Video’s) and things like that. I love, love, love your blog and Above Rubies Designer Club. You have done so much for me in so many ways that must sound weird to you. I was so frustrated with not knowing the inside and outs of my Cricut machine that I had a personal Cricut for almost a year and did nothing with it because I didn’t really know how to use it. There were no guides really from the Provocraft Company to help the user. So when I found your site and The A-Z DVD’s I was soooo happy I purchased them right away and have viewed them several times and continue to use them. I did try and contact some of the gals that seemed to be some of the top blog sites and with a little frustration all the reply I got was. “If you love scrapbooking do what you love”. No informaiton on how that person got started on the development of their blog, basically nothing. All I was looking for was what you have written here. So Thank you once again for being so truthful and sharing with all of us. Your blog and Tammy’s are the only ones I check in on now. You have provided such great information and I did love your break down on the Stamp 123 video’s that was so great because that is what I do with my Card Class gals. I work in a high stress environment as a Rad Tech/Coordinator/Clinical Instructor/ in a hosptial setting. So paper crafting is my outlet so to speak and I like to help others realize that they too can create. So just like you I love to share what I am using and the different products that are out there for them to try. So thank you again for all that you do and for helping me know that I can be successful with my papercrafting.
Brandi
Thanks so much for this post from your heart.
I find that I sometime spend so much time planning my project that I end up not having time to carry out my plan. My resolution now is to not overthink my projects.
Pat
It is very evident that you love what you do and I’m so glad that you sat down and scrapped for fun 🙂
I appreciate all you and am very impressed with how your blog has grown…I remember finding your first Youtube videos when you started posting them and thinking that you lived in an upstairs apartment (above some lady named Ruby 🙂 Boy, I was way off, and the sad thing is that I love that verse!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for being so “real” and true to yourself. I really enjoy your blog but can’t afford Club Ruby. I do need to be more disciplined about crafting (and cleaning for that matter) and I am working on that. Thanks again
Boy, if I didn’t know better, I would say that I wrote the comment about looking at the MB or blogs and not getting any scrapping done. I love seeing everyone’s projects. I just need to start working on my own. Love your blog. hope to join Club Ruby one day.