I actually have an unpublished blog of despondency from a few days ago, which is better off unread to say the least. Today is both the last official day of the mid-term school holiday break, and my husband’s birthday. Again, the weather is overcast and gloomy, but we are to make the most of it.

First a trip into town, to drop off my passport. We successfully have re-mortgaged our house to payoff our credit cards, and will perhaps next year be looking at selling the house. I appear to still be unsuccessful at finding a part-time job, and aren’t even getting rejection letters anymore - just silence.

As my husband had a somewhat silent birthday party this morning (in the present department, that is) I am about to add more to my credit card, and take him out to lunch, and to the cinema. We’re hopefully going to see Ratituolle (probably spelt wrong, but I can’t be bothered looking it up). Then I’m cooking his favourite - a big roast chicken for our Friday night dinner.

My daughter is enjoying the week off as best we can, although it’s upset our normal routine - the dog notices it, lol, and so do I - I’ve barely got anything done S4O-wise, or on Digiscrap Zine (the later I keep musing over simply shutting down). And that is about it. Now we’re off to town for a few hours.  

Some Digital News found frontpage on Digiscrap Zine. Shutterfly is sponsoring both the big Scrap-A-Faire online virtual event, and that of Digital Scrapbooking Day. Go read, if interested.

And while there, check out the Big Drool award winning layout Jane has chosen recently. I’m always one for animal layouts (must be something inherited) so the layout chosen by Jsgus out of the DST gallery is definitely pulling my own tail.

Finally, a great offering from a local printer within the U.K. I’ve just been playing around with the new Pixum Photobook Creation Software. Having a couple of weeks ago, ordered a Shutterfly photobook from the U.S. for my promotional scrap for others album, I still await it’s delivery two weeks after Shutterfly inform me it’s been dispatched. Not looking good, and an expensive option (sitting on my unpaid credit card, lol).

Now Pixum have come out with a great range of photobooks, heavily customisable and reasonably priced for U.K. scrapbookers.

Unlike Shutterfly who have a 20 page minimum, Pixum’s offerings start at a minimum of 26 pages and you can add all the way up to 96 pages. Pixum have three different cover options also - hardcover (and you can provide individual designs for both front and back cover), linen cover (with one photo on the front) and softcover - again this can be individually designed for cover images. The Hardcover and linen covered photobooks are available for 8 1/2 x 11 inch an 8 x 8 inch square formats. A 5 x 5.5 inch mini book is also available in the softcover range. The Hardcover price for an 8x8 inch album with 26 pages is £16.70 for the print and shipping. It also already includes the VAT tax.

In comparison, my recent Shutterfly order cost me $30 for the actual production plus another $20-$25 on shipping, making that approximately £26 on the one album production at today’s exchange rates. 

Pixum appears to provide an great service, cheaper for U.K. locals, however that’s without trying to work out the template requirements on Pixum’s offerings. Also, Pixum doesn’t do 12 x 12’s so that’s a bit of a bind. The Square format is not quite 8x8 inch either (which they state quite clearly - and Shutterfly is truly sixed at 7.95 inch square as a comparison also).  When using the one image (a scrapbook layout) on one page in the Pixum album, I’ve found it best to use it as a background - however I still need to play a lot with the layout formation itself as some text and elements on the page appear to be cut off on the sides. Perhaps resizing to 7.95 will help.

As Pixum operates with a downloaded executable which allows you to create and save all your albums on your own hard-drive, then it’s an easy matter of playing around to get the correct look on these photobooks, and I intend to create some templates for myself with guides towards where my important details should appear on the image. I’ve used Pixum previously for printing out 12x12 inch layouts - back when everything was in Dutch and someone on UK Scrappers had to provide me with a language conversion to help me through the software. The quality on individual layout prints was very good, and I look forward to testing their photobook options out in the near future. Pixum also is currently providing a promotion discount for previous customers - it comes through as a newsletter. And they provide a small discount percentage on bulk orders.

Lastly, I sound like some kind of affiliate here, but I’m not. Although it might be a good idea to use Pixum for my Scrap for Other’s business as an affiliation also. I just feel thrilled to find what looks to me like a good local printer for my own photobook requirements. I am sure that there are more and more to come.  

Link : Pixum Photobooks.

For a different offering, MyPhotobook.co.uk also does photobooks bound in different sizes. Hardcovers (with images), softcovers, linen covers, and the alternative of spiral bound. Whilst Pixum does all kinds of different prints such as calendars and cards, MyPhotobook also offers canvas prints.

 

 

DiSc Talk Radio > Shows > Dishin' the Digi - Coast 2 Coast

The Week 4 Results are up for the Stand Up and Scrap digital contest - and I must admit, I love just about all of them. Colours are a funny thing, though. As I went through the winner list, taking them into my inspiration file, most spoke to me - but of the three that perhaps didn't quite so much, I started analysing why and why not.

This must have been a very difficult theme to judge from any account. Colours are so - well - personal. To use one colour to show an emotion is fraught with some confidence that those judging the contest layout also share the same emotion with the colour chosen.

What I became aware of in my own analysis is that I don't personally like the colour brown - and it's layouts using brown which didn't float my own boat quite so much, no matter how many cute baby photos might be on it. But for other colours chosen, I also had to have the choices explained to me by reading the actual blurb given in the posting and credits of the layout. Often, for me, I wasn't quite sure what the colour should be construed as showing.

Colours like green and red have an easier interpretation, towards energy, nature, youth, or anger, high emotions for the later. But the orange layouts, which were quite striking - needed me to read the actual blurbs to work out the context. I am also not a high admirer of the colour pink - I'm not sure what it's meant to be saying to me personally, other than - hello, here's a girl baby - or this is a nice calm prison wall here. I rebel against pink, of course - it's the colour choice of my very girly daughter, and one I am for-ever forced to buy when looking for new clothers for her. I often buy from the boy's department just to avoid it, although she is now rebelling because she doesn't want to look like a boy.

If I'd had the inclination to enter the contest myself, my choice would have perhaps been green, to do with nature. The theme was meant to be towards your fondest memory, and conveying it with one colour. I mused over using a green landscape, full of tree ferns etc - and a memory of my home country of New Zealand, but basically I just saught after something "green" perhaps enhanced by the gloominess of such overcast clouded days that October is providing here in the U.K. currently.

The layouts chosen as winners in Week 4 are all worth congratulations - most are absolutely stunning, and many are different from what we've previously seen. Once again, go check those colours and layouts out.

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Kaylie’s Digital World
An Open Letter to Digital Scrapbooking Kit Designers: « Kaylie’s Digital World

The above is Kaylie's blog post concerning her feelings and efforts in being true to her fledgling Scrap for Others business, and to the hundreds of TOUs out there. I thought I might comment on it, but realised that I have more power in simply linking to it from my own blog and commenting below.

Kaylie has said some things which many who have read my own blog here of late may recognise as frustrations I am finding myself. Like one of her commenters, I too am trying to form a business to make a little pin-money out there. It's a creative business, and certainly not one which is going to see me making any type of monies from it, getting rich, or presenting my ideas to the Dragon's Den (sorry, U.K. Reality TV reference). As such, I am learning this whole business thing slowly - but surely. As an aside, the accounting business is going to frighten the pants off me.

For me, I too suffer under the onslaught of trying to work out and maintain all the TOUs. As a pure consumer on personal usage, I must admit I simply filed the TOUs with the products I purchased, and very rarely read them. Why would I need to?

But now I do - every single one, and I'm confused and frustrated often, because I have spent literally hours doing this, sourcing some great and very generous designers for my scrap for hire minor business - but all this reading, researching, trying to literally understand non-specific terms and minefields of ifs, nos and buts - takes me out of actually doing any scrap for hire business. I've got some friends' orders for some Christmas cards to start designing up for, but I've spent the last two days trying to locate Christmas designs which can be used - and finding the TOUs has been near on impossible. I've failed miserably so far, but not one to give up on a challenge, I will not give up.

The Scrap for Others business is a new domain out there, and we are making up the business practices as we go. However, every single person I am aware of forming this new type of business is doing so as a strongly supportive business for the digital design industry out there. We care considerably about piracy, purchasing the correct goods, crediting designs and upholding Terms of Usage contracts.  It would be so much simpler to do this in the traditional paper-based form where you simply go and purchase consumable products where the designers do not have a worry about how you might use them (and looking at my local LSS craft store just lately - phenomenally it might even be a little cheaper to put together some good layouts nowadays - but that's perhaps another subject for the blog) - but we are all fully supportive of the digital design industry and morally we very much wish to support designers with their terms of usage, because we, of all people do appreciate the effort in putting this all together. But currently for all of us the business of scrap for hire has pretty much turned into one of a research analyst position.

Kaylie is not alone. The digital scrap for others business is growing exponentially, and we are a very supportive and enthused business group of women. I thoroughly understand those designers who don't wish to pursue this audience for their own designs, but even those could help with providing TOUs which are understandable and accessible. Many are not accessible until you actually download the products, and for me - accessibility is key. You've read previously of the costly mistake I made spending my last monthly allowance on a designer's goods which turned out to hold a S4O unfriendly TOU. That was an informational and access mistake. I did look all over the store and for the designer's blog or anywhere else to ensure my information was correct as to this particular designer's S4O friendliness, so I in no way blame the designer for my errors - other than the fact that the TOU appears to only be accessible via downloading a product.

One designer lately suggested in this type of discussion that we didn't understand how long it took to write or upload each TOU, into new products, old products and onsite of stores. No, I don't understand. That's not my business, but - what I do understand is that my business supports and needs such accessible and understandable TOUs and in return, I will purchase those designs (when I can) which do have this. My business also needs marketing plans, a website, terms and contracts of agreement, invoices, even taxes if I get good enough. It requires paperwork just like that of the designer's and for that I can understand both sides.

Read Kaylie's blog if interested, and as this Scrap for Others market does grow, consider your own options here too. I'd suggest that there are certainly some good gains to be made from both sides of the coin, if we work together, and I'm really thankful that so many designers do consider this an interesting market to investigate and work within.

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