October 22, 2005 Roll call

[Timon]

awww shucks guys..now I want to see some of Sandi's photos!!!

Do you have any posted online Sandi??

I hadn't realized until recently that you three cruised together before!
How cool is that? And you all booked the same date together on purpose again?

 

[scrapperjill]

Yea....Our three families met on the last cruise...Well before the cruise here on the boards...and just hit it off. Threesmiths DD and our DD are close to the same age..and became e-mail pen pals prior to the cruise...Which made it sooo nice. But after well all met onboard...we just really hit it off and by the end of the cruise decided how nice it would be to do it all again. So here we go..

I do have some of my scrapbook layouts online...on two peas....but other than that none of just my unscrapped photos. My two peas album is under the "Disney" catagory...and I'm listed as "Scrapperjill" over there also. That reminds me...I was going to upload some more pages...I have two more cruise albums to add to the site.

I saw over on the scrappbook fourm you were looking into the HOF contest from Creating Keepsakes..Did you ever do it? The dead line is comming up soon I think. I tryed to find the area where you posted the question...to see if you entered...but I couldn't find it.

 

[Timon]

Well, that's great! Now you know each other really well and get to share another cruise as friends!

I will have to take a peek over at 2 Peas a little later on...

Yeah, I entered the HOF contest but I don't expect to be chosen for the final 25. All my layouts were digital and they normally don't choose digital scrapbookers, in fact, I don't think they ever have, not for the HOF anyway. I was just passing some time and was getting some practice in for my DSB business.

 

[scrapperjill]

Timon...You never know...they (Creating Keepsakes) have been publishing ALOT more computer generated layouts in the past few months. Even comming out with the special book full of computer layouts and tips on how to. So you never know.

Good luck.

Are you just starting a DSB bussiness? How long have you been doing DSB? I've really been thinking of giving it a try...but I'm not sure what programs I need. I heard on the 2peas site there are quite a few free demos out there to try...I just haven't taken the time to search.

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Sandi,

Just checked out your Disney scrapbook at two peas....so cute! The New Friends pages with Sydney and Kaylee brought tears to my eyes....but I'm emotional anyways!

Let us know if/when you post the photos you took in San Juan. Your photos of the scenery there (esp the ones you took in the cemetery and on the streets) are really great.

As I float around these boards and read about other people's experiences, I think of all the different things we're going to do this time around (not to mention some things we'll do differently.) Can't wait.....but have to

 

[afoss]

Upgrade opinions. We are thinking about going from our Cat 9 to a Cat 6. Is it really worth the extra $1200? The veranda would be nice for somewhere to go while kids are napping/bedtime and if I get motion sickness. (helps me to be out in the wind looking at the horizon). It's so much money though..

Also, the only reservations left for a Cat 6 is a GTY. This makes me nervous but I have heard that sometimes this is a good thing because you could end up with an upgrade?

 

[scrapperjill]

afoss...GTY's arn't bad...you'll get a cat 6 for sure..with the possablity of an upgrade...but for sure the cat 6. One thing to think of is...Where is your cat 9 room? and where are the possable cat 6 rooms? Looks like the cat 9's are on decks one and two..and the cat 6's are on either deck 5 or 6. We had a cat 8 on our last cruise on deck 7 and thought of doing upgrading when we rebooked...but decided to save the money and use it towards excursions...and souviners. It's alot of money. I'm sure we'd LOVE a room with a verhanda...but it's alot of money...and would probley want to keep booking rooms with verandas from then on...

But it's really up to you...I'm sure you'd love it..but you can alos get all the deck "open air" feel on decks 9&10 24 hours a day....+ having the rooms with the windows (cat. 9) you'd still get to see the horizon.

I'm sure others will be able to help you out a little better..seeing that we have never had a room with a verhanda....so I'm not one to say if it's worth it or not. We did venture out on American Scrappers verhanda one evening...and it was REAL nice.

 

[afoss]

Good news! Just as we were thinking about getting a veranda, our TA e-mailed me saying a better cabin on deck 2 Cat 9 opened up. It's mid-ship yet closer to the aft stairs to up straight to the restaurants and Flounders Reef.

Maybe we'll try the veranda on a different cruise line sometime. Disney just charges so much compared to others I have been on (RCCL, Princess, Carnival. etc) Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they are wonderful though

 

[American Scrapper]

Timon - Good Luck on your entry for HOF! That is great, we will keep our fingers crossed for you. Think positive. With so many scrappers going to digital, they will need to eventually take them into consideration. After all, you put just as much work into it as any other person.

Afos, you will get alot of different replies about the Veranda. I personally love it, but we booked a veranda on our first cruise, and cannot do anything less now. I guess I am spoiled. We do use it often. My DH goes out there in the mornings with his coffee and I spent a good 45 mins or so out there in the evenings after a long day. It was very relaxing for me. I would spend time sometimes before dinner also.

Kathy

 

[scrapperjill]

Just wanted to say I posted some more of my layouts on the two peas site...I'm in the middle of the Puerto Rico section .... It's still listed in the "Disney" catagory...under "Scrapperjill" @ Two Peas.

Afoss...I'm sure I'd would be in the same place as American Scrapper..."can't do without it"...If we ever booked a verhanda room...It happened with the room we had last time...we booked a Cat 12 gty and recieved an upgrade to a cat 8 on deck 7...now we can't do anything less...we loved the big window...We had REALLY thought of doing a verhanda this time...but knew if we did we'd never want to go back.

 

[American Scrapper]

Sandi,

Great pics! I just took a look at your album and they are looking good!! I especially liked the Senor Frogs pics (with Tarzan!)

Kathy

 

[scrapperjill]

Yea...I decided to leave the shot of Tarzan at Atlantis out of the online book...It was a bit more "personal"...(with him and is gal friend...smooching in the pools) .

I can't stop laughing now...just thinking of the guys everytime "Tarzan" walked into a room...or on deck...or in the bar...or..well anywhere. I wonder what Tarzan thought everytime he saw us.

 

[Timon]

scrapperjill,

I checked out your layouts on 2peas. Great job! Looking at all your pages made me remember how fun it was to scrap my Disney Cruise in 2002! It also got me even more excited about our cruise in October looking at all your great photos!

A few months ago we talked our friends into going with us, it will be their first cruise . I gave them the DCL DVD and an itinerary and I printed out menus and excursions for them since they haven't been all that excited about it yet. Well they FINALLY watched the DVD the other night and my friend called me and said Cass!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!

scrapperjill & American Scrapper,

Thanks for all your well wishes for the HOF thing, but I won't hold my breath I haven't been digitally scrapping for very long, only since October and well, I haven't really done that much, I've been busy with selling the house and moving. I started the business in December but I haven't really done any advertising or anything, so I'm not sure how much effort I really want to put into it yet. After our cruise, hubby and I want to start a family
but it's going to be tough since I have Lupus and need to find a different medication to control my pain but with being able to get pregnant on since the meds I am on now, I can't have kids, so it's going to be a tough year ahead of us (one of the reasons for the cruise) and I'm not sure how much time I will be able to dedicate to it.

I've been watching the Perfect Proposal shows this week, and to see the Magic on TV is soooo cool! I can't wait! I've gotten back to working out (finally) and this week I've been doing my Elliptical while watching PP on TLC, so it's given me lots of motivation!!! Need to lose weight so I can eat all those chocolate croissants on board!!

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Sandi -- Just saw your San Juan layouts! I know Kathy really likes the fact that she will forever be close to Tarzan....well, at least in your scrapbook! I'm so jealous !

I really had a lot of fun looking through your pages...it brought me right back to the cruise. I now see just how valuable the photo swap is to the scrapbook process. Keep us updated as you post more!

Timon, so exciting that you have a new business going and that you have plans to start a family. We are trying to have another. I actually think I need to take a break otherwise I'll be too pregnant to cruise! I wish you lots of luck in both ventures!

 

[American Scrapper]

Sandi, you are right! Everytime I see him or think of him, I think the same thing. The guys were not discrete in any way when it came to noticing him! I still think about him and his girlfriend dancing in the bar that night! Too funny!!

Stacy & Timon, I will keep my fingers crossed for you both. It is great that you are both planning on starting or adding to a family. Timon, just imagine how much you will scrapbook then!!

Timon, it is great that your friends will be joining you on the cruise. I think it makes it more fun when you know someone sailing with you. Although Sandi, Stacy & I did not know each other before sailing (other than chatting here) we knew alittle about each other. The cruise meet made it possible for us to get to know each other more, which made the cruise that much better! I am really glad we met and hit it off so well. It made it even better that our DH's hit it off well too. Maybe too much!!!!

Kathy

 

[scrapperjill]

Timon...I checked out your business site...Very cool. Where did you come up with your idea of starting a DSB? Jesse and I had seriously discussed me starting a scrapbook business...the traditional way with paper and stuff...but I could never decided how to price it. This was YEARS ago...and now I see there all over the web. (well not all over...but theres a good number of them out there) I'd still love to do it...but I wouldn't know where to start....
I can't beleive some of the prices people are charging for having albums done. But then again...that was one of the reasons I couldn't figure out what to charge. I know what goes into them...time and money.

ThreeSmiths..American Scrapper...Did you guys notice all your photos...in my album from the swap? We spent sooo much time at the cemetary in San Juan...that by the time we made it up to El Morro...we decided to no go in. It was very deceving from the entrance...it didn't look like you could roam around so much...everything looked blocked and roped off....after seeing the ropes and what not...we didn't even ask what the admission price was...I read some where not to long ago what it was...and I was VERY suprised on how little it was. After seeing all your guys pictures...I was wishing we went in. But that's one great thing about the swap...We were able to see in El Morro from your eyes...(camera)

 

[scrapperjill]

Kathy,

We must have been posting at the same time.

TARZAN....I can't stop laughing. The bar dancing was to much.

Everytime I need a good laught I just have to think of one word...TARZAN...then I just can't stop...

Stacy...I see your light is green... You must also be on the boards some place. Sydeny and Kaylee need to start e-mailing one another again...Sydney keeps wanting to call her...But by the time she askes it's always too late in the day...We've told her it would be good to do sometime on the weekend...Since it free air time all weekend long...and they'd have all day...not just limited to after school.

 

[Timon]

scrapperjill,

My husband has been bugging me for a couple of years now to start my own SB business (regular SBing). I even went as far as making up a flyer and passing it around but there were no takers.

I did a lot of math with the pricing and for me to do it, I would have to charge quite a bit.

I didn't think it would work out for the following reason:

I figured there's two kinds of people:
Scrappers and Non-Scrappers

Scrappers will do their own scrapping. They know how much money supplies cost and know how much time a layout can take and they willingly invest their time and money maybe because it's also a hobby and it's fun!

Non-Scrappers (targeted clientele) have NO idea just how much money we scrappers actually spend and how much time we dedicate to scrapping. While they go on and on about how wonderful our SB's are, when they find out how much $$$$ it will cost them to have the same thing, they start thinking hmmm is it really worth it? And I think most people would say no, it's not worth it.

I can't remember exact figures now but I couldn't justify doing a 12x12 album for less than $15 per page, (plus the album cost) since it would cost me about $5-$6 per page for supplies, that leaves me with only an hourly rate of approx $10/hr, which unless you are doing a lot of albums, isn't all that great for your own business as you have other costs too like consultation with the clients, advertising, upkeep and care of your SB tools etc.

So..even for a basic 12x12 SB with just the 20 pages, no refills (which to me is a little too small) you're looking at about $320-$350 MINIMUM, more like $400 if you wanna make any money at all.

The reason that I started the digital SB was because my friend asked me for a wedding SB right after I packed my SB supplies so I tried a DSB, which she loved and showed everyone at work and a LOT of people asked her where she got it from and how they could get something like that.

I punched out the numbers and figured I could do a DSB for a little less than a traditional one and then I just went for it. Like I said, I need to work on it a lot more than I have and I'm not sure how well it will work out but I figured might as well try, since it's something I can do at home and it's something I love.

 

[American Scrapper]

Wow Cass! I just checked out your business. What a great job you have done on it!

OK Ladies, I have started to check out the Rebel and just am not sure what I want to do. The one thing that I do not like about it is that you have to look through the view finder to take a picture. I guess I am just spoiled with my other digital that I feel like I am going back a step. I just did a quick look at it, now I really need to find someplace that will answer all of my questions about it before I take the plunge.

Kathy

 

[disneyfan551]

Cass...Great job on your digital scrapping! I have been dying to get into it for about 3 yrs now, and have done a few things. I just don't have the time to do it! (Only when I'm at work... ) However, I finally purchased the DIP program and am so excited, I can't wait to get started! Your work is great! I've pm'd you before about your traditional scrapping, because it was always great too! I hope your business does well.

American Scrapper... Regarding cameras, have you checked out a few review sites, such as dpreview.com? I have found the message boards there invaluable when selecting a camera! You will hear the good & the bad regarding each camera, from novices to professionals!

Hope everyone has a super weekend! We'll be heading to Atlanta for a weekend getaway, celebrating our "new" anniversary! (My dh surprised me with a vow renewal on Valentine's Day last year! ) Our sweet little angel (in reality..wild child ) will be staying with her grandparents!