Tim Holtz announced on October 3 that effective immediately he was stepping down as Creative Director of Ranger. He will stay on as a designer and his Distress Inks and other lines will continue.
Do you think this is a good move for him and Ranger?
Announcement can be read here
Sounds like Tim is being eased out.
ReplyDeleteTired Distress products and alcohol inks are where he started out with Ranger. Aside from adding new colors, there's nowhere else for them to go.
Who is the new Creative Director?
This may be blasphemy but I never cared for Tim Holtz's style, to me it looked dark and spooky.
ReplyDeleteWatching the HSN craft shows. Anna Griffin has sold her soul to Cricut, they are slapping her name on everything. I used to think she was classy but she is basically a shill now.
Dark and spooky is what I like about TH's unique, quasi-gothic style. It's loads of fun to work with.
ReplyDeleteHe lost his edge around 3 years ago by relying on bad DT's and run-of-the-mill independent designers. This Ranger situation is the result. He went stale and sales lagged.
However, he's still a headliner at Sizzix and 3 or 4 other major companies. Sizzix would probably crash without Tim because all of their top notch designers left long ago. Possibly because of his dominance.
I think Sizzix has a lot more competition, so many companies are putting out dies now.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be more handslappers lately on Two Peas Refugees which makes it less fun.
ReplyDeleteI usually sign up to win something free on scrappy blogs/Facebook and never have gotten picked. When I see a recognizable scrapper like a person who is on multiple DTs win it sometimes bugs because they already get a lot of free product. Bah humbug! ;)
ReplyDeleteAgree 100%!!
DeleteAm I crazy or are MFT stamps and dies so much more expensive than other companies? New release stamps are $18 and some of the matching dies are $30!
ReplyDelete9:22 a.m., Sizzix still has no competition in steel rule dies and that's where Tim's wildly successful Alterations designs live.
ReplyDeleteAll everyone else makes are stamped out, tin can wafer dies that will only cut paper and they're sold at outrageous prices. Especially in stamp and die sets. Cheaper Sizzix steel rule dies will easily cut through almost anything up to 1/8" or so thick.
8:54 you're right.
ReplyDeleteMFT doesn't produce anything in high enough volume to keep their manufacturing costs down. They've always been overpriced. I have a few of their dies, but stopped buying their stuff long ago.
Designers who work for Ranger would do well to negotiate contracts. Tim's departure was sudden, and his blog comment suggested it wasn't his idea. Those with long industry memories may remember Ranger did the same thing to Suze Weinberg. She was everywhere and everything with melt art, then suddenly gone and out of the industry. She still blogs but hasn't worked visibly since. Maybe it was her choice, but it was sudden, and she didn't announce it ahead of time. Could be melt art ran its course; could be Tim overdid the blueprint stamps, but he and Suze are extremely talented and versatile. If Tim got stale it was because Ranger told him to get cutesy, and he wanted his job. I hope he goes back to being himself.
ReplyDeleteRanger has never been "cutesy". Tim just ran out of gas and Ranger was losing business. Nothing else can be wrung out of expensive Distress stuff and alcohol inks. Consumers are bored with them.
ReplyDeleteAgreed about the blueprint stamps. I don't like them. However, they were manufactured by Stampers Anonymous, not Ranger. Their designer was a son of Tim's boyfriend Mario, not Tim. That steampunk theme is wearing thin.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a huge fan of Tim Holtz's style, though I do appreciate his creativity and passion. I wish him the best moving forward and am curious to see where Ranger goes.
ReplyDeleteDoodlebug posted on Facebook they are coming out with a big announcement on Monday. Anybody have any idea what it is? People are guessing it is planners.
ReplyDeleteI noticed their Storybook albums are mostly gone in the online stores so maybe new albums? I have one of their Storybook albums and I really like it, I prefer to not have the metal edges on my albums like WRMK has.
DeleteScrappy stuff this time of year doesn't excite me because everybody is pushing their Halloween/Fall lines and I am not into Halloween and we don't do much for fall to scrapbook.
ReplyDeleteWRMK announced their new MISTI-style stamp setter for under $40. The MISTI starts at $60 for a card-size model. Should be an interesting competition because WRMK makes excellent tools and they have a huge following.
ReplyDeleteI think the MISTI is a useful tool but I will never buy one because it's very overpriced, SCS has turned into a giant PR factory for it, and I've seen a lot of complaints about it cracking over time and the woman who owns the company not providing very good customer service.
DeleteSome of Tim's work for Ranger did get cutesy. Some of these 12 tags of 2015 are plenty cutesy and not Tim's own style:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.etsy.com/listing/258765484/download-tim-holtz-12-tags-of-2015?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-craft_supplies_and_tools-other&utm_custom1=e06283b5-5f80-4ad5-9d62-96a81b8e878f&gclid=CLef_bKizs8CFQwYgQodZJsBLQ
Steampunk was only part of his style. His style was grunge, much broader than steampunk, but Ranger wanted him to broaden out even more, which hurt him as an artist. His metal work got reduced to "Prima-like" findings, and the "pastel" additions to Distress colors expanded the line's reach at the cost of the original idea. Yes, that's good business. But my point is Tim as an artist is better off without Ranger if he doesn't give up.
Tim does the Prima-style crap for Sizzix, not Ranger.
ReplyDeleteSizzix is also the company that designs and pays for his fancy decorator CHA exhibits. He goes along with whatever they want because most of his Steampunk junk is simply grunged-up, public domain Victorian stuff that sells big.
Ranger only pays for portions of trade shows, TV appearances and workshops that feature their products. Overseas travel included. At CHA, Sizzix and Ranger exhibits are entirely separate.
Sizzix in-house designs went to the dogs long ago. All of their designers, excluding Tim, either left or were fired and none of the hot licensed lines like Hello Kitty were renewed. All of the designers who left Sizzix seem to be doing well elsewhere.
Ranger has the contractural relationships with Stampers Anonymous and Ellison (Sizzix). These are not Tim's independent efforts. Look at Stampers Anonymous' Web site. They manufacture all Ranger designers' stamps.
ReplyDeleteTim gets a huge chunk of anything his name is licensed for at 5 or 6 different companies. He's filthy-rich. Unless he loses contracts, he doesn't care who does what as long as his products sell. Sounds like he wore out his welcome at Ranger. They might be giving him a chance to resign gracefully rather than get fired.
ReplyDeleteSizzix die designs are awful now. They look like the separate label crap Ellison always does for clunky grade school crafts.
He's going to stay with Ranger and concentrate on his Distress Inks line.
DeleteI don't know about Sizzix but Spellbinder's customer service leaves a lot to be be desired. I'm told they take forever to ship orders from their website. Their dies are really nice though.
ReplyDeleteWhat can be done with Distress inks aside from making them archival? They're totally overworked.
DeleteSizzix has great customer service. Spellbinders' website isn't a good place to shop. Many of the popular online stores sell their dies at substantial discounts and ship them much faster.
He has the inks, stains, sprays, markers, crayons and I don't know what else. People can't seem to get enough of them. I have a few myself but they aren't a must have for me.
DeleteTrue! I've gotten some great deals from sites like Scrapbook Pal and even Amazon.
ReplyDeleteScrap Mart often has 40% discounts on Spellbinders dies. They sell out almost immediately. Sale flyers via e-mail.
ReplyDeleteOne place to never buy from is ucutathome.com in Utah. They claim to be major Spellbinders and Sizzix dealers, but often don't have advertised items in stock.
ReplyDeleteThey take your money and claim they sent your orders, but they often get "lost in the mail". They won't send refunds or replacements and you're left to wrangle with the Post Office.
There have been major threads about these thieves at SCS. They lie like cheap rugs still owe me $54 for missing stuff.
Ucutathome SUCKS. I can't stand them! I made the mistake of ordering from them once. Everything showed as in stock but the day after I ordered I got an email saying they were all out of stock. I stupidly waited nearly TWO MONTHS before demanding they cancel my order. They were incredibly rude about it. Total scammers. That's why they have such huge coupons, to lure people in.
Deleteucutathome.com seems to be the last of the scrapbooking crooks. Both Stop and Scrap in NY and another company in Utah whose name I forgot are out of business.
ReplyDeleteA NY nurse and her IT husband lured in customers with properly filled orders early in their scam, then they switched to prepaid pre-orders which were never delivered. People lost thousands of dollars with them. Reportedly, they and their kids still live in an affluent Long Island town.
The defunct outfit in Utah was just as bad. Like the NY thieves, they didn't reply to phone or e- mail messages either. They just pocketed cash from sale-priced orders that were never sent to wholesalers. Hundreds of orders for expensive items like Silhouette machines and large collections of Sizzix steel rule dies they didn't stock. However, the Utah State Consumer Protection Board made them issue cash refunds to all of their cheated customers with Cashiers Checks. They were probably fined heavily as well.
Was it Oh My Crafts?
DeleteYes, 1:47.
ReplyDeleteAfter a failed comeback attempt, NY-based Stop and Scrap finally threw in the towel. Their junk domain name has been selling for around $2,500 for a long time. Understandably, no one wants it.
ReplyDeleteAlmost immediately after those thieves shut down their first online store, they opened a second, bare bones one under an alternate company name. It died fast, so the FTC might have caught up with them by then. Posted complaints about thousands of dollars in unfilled orders and stolen money were coming from as far away as France.
I placed one order with Stop and Scrap when they first opened and had no problems. Whatever I bought was actually in stock, not on a prepaid pre-order that never arrived.
ReplyDeleteS&S attracted hordes of customers with 15% to 20% discounts, plus no tax and free shipping. However many people at SC and scrapbook.com were badly stung by them. There were long threads about them in both forums.
If interested, Brother dropped the price of their ScanNCut2 from $299 to $249 from 10/17 through 10/25/2016. Free shipping from the online big boxes. Also sold in stores by Michaels, Joann etc.
ReplyDeleteanother one bites the dust, lain ehmann is done with her scrapbook business!
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised about Lain Ehmann because
ReplyDeletetraditional scrapbooking hit the wall a while ago. CHA made that very clear over the past few years.
Older celebs are fading bores and there's no new graphics talent in the pipeline. The industry can't attract professionals after firing most of them in 2012. However, product development remains hot in cards, mixed media and planners despite the fact that Ranger all but axed Tim Holtz.
Fancy planners aren't my thing, but Prima's new ones by Frank Garcia (champagne) and Julie Nutting (pale mint green) are class acts. Both are shown on Prima's YouTube channel. MSRP: $62.99, excluding numerous coordinated embellishments. Those probably bring up the packages to $100 or more, but there's nothing junky about them. Julie's planner looks like a lot of fun and Frank's is Paris-elegant.
http://www.teresacollinsdesignsblog.com/2016/10/seth-got-married-deeply-personal.html#.WAj21TKZOV4
ReplyDeleteWhy does it still bother her after a year? .....
I quit following her a long time ago. I just couldn't look at one more picture of her with her mouthing hanging open. It creeped me out a bit....
DeleteWhy do you waste time meddling with TCW's private life?
ReplyDeleteWhy does TCW write about her personal problems on her very public blog for al the world to see????
DeleteI am going with attention? she needs more....hence keeps bringing it up to the forefront so all can pat her on the back etc.
ReplyDeleteYup. As a company who hired her to represent, I would have a little talk with her. You don't air out dirty laundry when representing products.... I never met her but what I read from her blog, she has some issues.
DeleteLooks like Lain Ehmann is becoming a motivational speaker. If so, she has the street creds: Published author who maintains a 6-figure income, plus a degree from uber-prestigious Stanford U. I can see where she was bored stiff by catering to SAHM-types.
ReplyDeleteThere's a new Cricut Explore Air at Joann for $249.99. As opposed to the Cameo, it cuts anything from paper to leather.
ReplyDeleteSame as the Brother ScanNCut2's sale price through Sunday, but the Bluetooth-enabled Cricut Air is said to read and cut 2x faster than anything in its price class. Also, your own designs can be uploaded to it for free.
Sounds like CHA competition is starting. What, if anything, will Sizzix and Silhouette come up with? Silhouette's last attempt at a major Cameo upgrade was a total flop.
All of the elaborate Halloween projects on Tim Holtz's blog were done by other designers again. Cluttered, expensive stuff using as many of his products as they can cram into one small space.
ReplyDeleteTim isn't working on the edgy holiday theme he says is his favorite. It was Halloween that made him famous. Admittedly, he's just collecting unused "inspiration" from social media sites. Is he fading away too or dealing with creative block? Most of the stuff on his 2016 blog was underwhelming tags that shill Ranger and Sizzix products.
Shimelle is even worse. No adult designs from her any more. All of her infrequent Glitter Girl videos feature her boring kid who's age 2 or so. Wonder Boy's name is still a State Secret, but she plasters his face on the Internet at every chance she gets. Will she have another ugly AC paper collection at CHA 2017?
justrite-papercraft.myshopify.com just sent an ad for "hundreds" of retired Spellbinders dies at 50% off.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see Tracie Claiborne's layout as guest designer for pretty little studio? No wonder she hitches herself to whomever coat tails she can latch onto. So unimpressive....
ReplyDeleteAgreed 3:38. Those Tracie Claiborne designs are awful. They're just ScanNCut doodles any six-year-old could do.
ReplyDeleteHer journaling mentions her daughter Christina having academic difficulties in school. Sounds like Tracie needs to spend less time chasing rainbows and more time with her child.
What's up with Teresa Collins Webber suddenly going TMI and overly personal with the grieving widow posts? Seems like a delayed reaction considering she was remarried within 6 months. Now she's posting about not being able to get out of bed? Doesn't seem to fit with her blog and Instagram posts at the time. She rewrites history. Trouble in Paradise for TCW?
ReplyDeleteTC has fell off the radar. She is now shilling for silhouette. She hasn't had anything new since she married wonder boy and her home decor crap is already in HomeGoods. So of course she is going to whine and get her minions to have pity for her.
DeleteThis isn't the scrap smackblog anymore. Stop it already!
ReplyDeleteHi TC!
DeleteSo glad I have FELL off the radar. TC isn't the one who needs pity here.
DeleteI agree with 4:53... hi Tracie! Anybody want to share the link to her free 'video' podcast? Poking the bear.... ha, ha.
DeleteWith her impending empty nest, bored TCW has been relegated to The Idle Rich. She's looking for attention from any source, her usual tasteless M.O. She looks great for an age 50+ woman, doesn't need pity and her private life is no one's business but her own.
ReplyDeleteShe makes it everyone's business by posting it online. It's not like anyone is searching through her garbage to find this information. She's not Part of the idle rich. Idle = Does not work for a living. Her and her husband both work for a living.
DeleteWhat TCW and her husband do isn't "work". Both are essentially self-employed in high-paying professions. He's a partner-attorney in a major law firm and she plays around in hobby and upscale lifestyle design businesses. These aren't 9-to-5'ers.
DeleteShe puts her personal life online to stay in the public eye because she hasn't done any significant "work" for a long time. She doesn't have to.
Seriously does she have lock jaw? Why is her mouth hanging open in. every. single. picture.
DeleteNovember 2nd...9:57 am...I literally just spit out water! Seriously always wondering the same thing with that apparent open mouth pose.....lol!
DeleteShe had a major stroke while pregnant at age 29. The jaw/mouth might be a complication of that. It's a body part frequently affected by strokes.
ReplyDeletenope that is how she smiles. Her girls do it as well.
DeleteCHA-Phoenix starts on January 19, but there isn't even a hint of sneak peeks yet. Will anything exciting show up?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen anything I'm crazy about for ages, don't need anything and am steadily losing interest in paper crafts. All of the local support for them is gone, never to return.
Hobby-wise, I have a wonderful Swiss sewing machine and will be spending more time with that. Knitting also beckons.
I love CHA sneak peeks but I really do not need to buy anything
DeleteIs the demand for the professional scrapbooker coming back ?
ReplyDeleteJust read the Pink Paislee design team call and looking at their blog with all staged projects:
Ability to create projects within deadlines
Creative and unique project ideas
Amazing photography: clear, sharp photos for online and print media
Strong online presence (Facebook, Instagram, personal blog, Pinterest, Twitter)
Videography skills for taping short instructional videos is a plus
To apply, email your creative portfolio and social media handles/profiles to ppsocial@americancrafts.com by November 25, 2016. Creative portfolios should be limited to 1 styled image and 1 eye candy image of each of your top 3 projects.
Do you agree ? Do you want to see staged projects on manufacturers blogs, or is it too much for layouts ?
I want to see inspiring, professional grade work that helps me develop my crafting skills and justifies the hobby's high expense.
ReplyDeleteThe finished look I want is skillfully handmade, not clumsily homemade.
Some of the home décor they show on the scrapbooking blogs looks like it was made by grade school kids.
DeleteIt appears that Shimelle has shifted gears. All the faded Glitter Girl gives you now are a monthly dose of Wonder Boy and ads for classes she's teaching.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the 100+ Glitter Girl videos done for 2Peas are still on YouTube. They offer a lot of useful information.
How about a new post for November blog master?
ReplyDeleteTHOSE NSBR GIRLS ARE SOME BITCHES when it comes to politics. MEOW!
Somebody opened up a new blog for TwoPeasRefugees because of the political fighting but I don't think they got any takers
ReplyDeletehttp://2peasrefugeesnewhome.blogspot.com/
I am done spending money on scrapbooking and am really going to avoid looking at the Black Friday sales. Seriously. I am starting to feel guilty when I look at all the stuff I own, I need to use it up. I do love everything I have and am not going to get rid of it. I can't believe the people like Elennah who have spent thousands of dollars on the stuff only to give it away.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how Bella Blvd's new digital stuff is doing? If I was into digital I can't see using their stuff, I would think it is a flop.
ReplyDelete2peasrefugee site is dead. Most threads get very few responses. The political threads are the same 10 people arguing with themselves endlessly. Doesn't appear as if those people have anything else to do in life but sit on that site 24/7.
ReplyDeletejennyap from the UK started the 2peasrefugees site and had her name as the admin the first few days, then made herself annonymous and asked everyone who knew who she was to keep it quiet. She banned about a dozen people right away, then not much happened for a while. I log in every few weeks and now she's banning tons of people again based on the political threads. No wonder the site is dying.
ReplyDeleteDid she ban them or did they get angry and leavete? Several announced they were leaving. I don't know if these are the ones you think she banned.
DeleteSo ironic that jennyap is not an American and is quoting the first amendment. Her banning is extremely inconsistent, all based on her personal opinion. It's her board, she can do what she wants, but she's a dictator when it comes to moderating. Red flag, be wary.
ReplyDelete2:26 a.m., I'm totally with you on shopping and the stash. Ignore Elannah. Hostile, destructive and delusional, she's an admittedly medicated mental case who hates her shrinks. One of the original 2Peas' NSBR witches, she has plagued various message boards for ages.
ReplyDelete8:16 if cowardly jennyap came from the pathetic UK Scrappers website, failure of 2PR and it's spawn are guaranteed. Even though I never liked the original 2Peas and didn't belong to it, none of the genuinely talented people there migrated to 2PR. All their GS board has are airheads and clueless newbies.
This is what jennyap wrote about banning people:
ReplyDeleteNov 11, 2016 at 12:01pm mimima, chlerbie, and 98 more like this QuotePost Options Post by admin on Nov 11, 2016 at 12:01pm
"We" aren't banning anyone, I am, either temporarily or permanently, as I have done before and will continue to do. The rest of you don't usually know about it, as it is between me and the individual involved, and again that's how I intend it to remain.
My criteria are either clear breaches of the Proboards TOS, or to be frank, when I simply cannot bear to read another word from you. Repeated or particularly vicious personal attacks on individuals are by far the most likely to get you banned. Sharing someone else's personal information without their permission will definitely do it.
Are there people who maybe should have been banned in the past but weren't? Almost certainly
Is my patience wearing especially thin right now? For sure
Are there others who have come close to being banned in the last few days? Definitely, and there are a few people who could yet be if they don't rein it in.
Ultimately, I can't give you a clear-cut list of things that will or won't be tolerated, because it comes down to my judgment on any given day. 99.9% of the time I prefer to let the community self-moderate, and I've no plans to change that. This will never be somewhere where lots of people are banned (after 2 1/2 years they still number in single figures, setting aside spammers) but I've never promised that no-one would be.
(Oh, and the 1st Amendment only grants the right to be free from government censorship, and I'm definitely not the government so I'm not impinging on anyone's freedom of speech.)
LOL She's a real first amendment expert as she randomly bans people based on who pisses her off that day. Watch out everyone, your head could be next.
She's correct. The First Amendment applies only to government interference with free speech. Others are not protected. That's why we can sue private people and corporations for slander and libel.
Delete2:22 - I tried posting on that site, there's no way you can post anon so no one will use it.
ReplyDelete11:55 and 12:30 jennyap showed her true colors. She's a babbling dimwit with a bruised ego. This hobby doesn't need her.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine anyone wanting to become involved with her lame websites. If that Brit twit thinks she can tell Americans what the First Amendment means, she's in for a rough awakening.
I bought a digital cutter and while I am impressed at all it can do it takes forever to make things. Sometimes I almost miss my early days of scrapbooking where I would sit down and make a few pages at a time with premade stuff. Also this was before I had the internet so I didn't have that distraction. I spend way more time pinning ideas and window shopping for new supplies than I do creating.
ReplyDelete4:02 I was tempted to buy a digital cutter a couple of years ago when Sizzix came out with the Eclips2, but came to my senses. I'd never use it enough to justify the cost.
ReplyDeleteMy trusty Vagabond and Big Shot bought at deep discounts have always done what I want. Looking at unused stuff bought last year, I'm at a WTH?!! stage where papercrafting is concerned. I don't need anything.
What is the thing about copycats lately. I am seeing so many similar designs lately without any credit. One scrapper especially seems to find inspiration from others and calling it her own more often than others. @madamerosenrot Why isn't anyone calling out against this kind of behavior ?
ReplyDeleteYeah and then these kind of people are on each design team smh! With social media things got really bad...10 years ago she would have been banned from the community. In my mind a DT should consist of people that are better than average, you know, where you ask: wow, how did she do that?! I want to be able to look up to talented people, I want to be inspired. I hope things change!
DeleteI agree with both of you 100%!!! I'm disgusted. This type of behavior is so demotivating. It makes me want to not share anymore, or apply for DT calls.
DeleteIs it a millennials thing ? A lot of these copycats are younger and have been part of the scrapbook community for a short time. Hoping this is just a phase and that they get tired of being a scrapbook copycat kiss-ass and move away from it leaving the inspirational part to the ones who are actually creative .
ReplyDeleteCanning graphics professionals and moving to dizzy DT's was a huge mistake. With few exceptions, all the industry got were hair-flippers, SAHM's and plagiarists, all no-talents with ego issues.
ReplyDeleteThey now realize the error of their ways and are starting to advertise for professionals. However, they won't get anyone significant because abused graphic designers moved on and they rightfully don't trust them.
A notable exception in the amateur swamp was Heidi Sonboul's DT. From the US and UK, they were extraordinary and their workmanship was flawless. They took some of the ugliest stuff available and made it look lifestyle magazine-hot. Too bad Heidi's lousy company tanked and put them out of work.
Heidi moved from beautiful Southern California to a redneck backwater in Missouri where she's happily doing her Mormon SAHM thing. No indication that she'll return to the industry.
I wish skilled, innovative designers like Christine Middlecamp and Kristina Contes were still on the scene.
ReplyDeleteUnless designers with that type of high-level talent and style development skills are found, traditional scrapping is dead. The only crafting materials it will get are paper, glitter and glue left over from dominant mixed media and card sales.
All of the successful manufacturers diversified their product lines several years ago. None of them are scrapping specialists any more. They dislike that image and they intend to avoid it.
There are some talented ladies out there, too bad the wannabes flood the social media these days with boring copied projects.
ReplyDeleteI would love to read name of "new" innovators in scrapbooking. Who are trendsetters these days ? Most trendsetting PL scrappers, cardmakers, layout scrapbooker, off the page scrapbooker and mixed media scrapbookers out here ??
Another problem in the industry is that manufacturers come out with new products all the time and not just twice a year like before... No big hype around releases.
2:47, as 8:24 a.m. said, there aren't any genuine innovators these days. Most of them were scared away by manufacturers and mean girls years ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat else can Ranger do with TH's overworked Distress colors? Package them in cake frosting and food coloring sets? They already flopped in short-lived Stickles that were taken out of production.
Prima seems to have the edge in mixed media, but at the rate they're going, they'll price themselves out of business.
Even though Glitter Girl went down the tubes, shimelle.com often features very creative guest designers. One who's currently there did some fun mixed media layouts with London Red themes.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the only US forum that still kisses Shimelle's butt is 2PR. The airheads over there can't get enough of her online classes. However, Shimelle's message board is only open to paying customers so nothing is known about her class content.
Christmas is a nostalgic time of year for people who live in areas where all of the LSS's and meetup friends are gone. The only alternative for me is online shopping and that isn't much fun.
ReplyDeleteSpecial Holiday crops and potlucks just a few years ago were great, as were Christmas crafting parties for kids. Now there aren't even any SU reps where I live. No big boxes either.
I bought a few Christmas stamps trying to get into the card-making spirit, but that didn't work. There's absolutely no interest in paper crafting or appreciation for it around here. Can't find anyone who wants to do it.
Becky Higgins keeps posting about her trip back to where she grew up in Maryland. Get a load of her parents driveway, looks like they had money and then Becky marries a doctor. No wonder she can afford to start her own business.
ReplyDeleteI followed for awhile a scrapbooker whose style I loved. Unfortunately she got bit by the DT bug and now has changed her style to paint splatters and random strings on her pages. ugh
ReplyDeleteRegardless of where she came from, Becky Higgins bores me stiff. So does PL. I never liked it or her.
ReplyDeleteBecky Higgins is not creative, she just knows how to market those who are. You can tell she is dull and tries to fit in with her silly employees.
ReplyDeleteBella Blvd and Doodlebug's DT work is very amateur looking
ReplyDeleteAmerican Crafts designers are amateurish too
DeleteCrate Paper used to have great scrapbookers, but not anymore.
ReplyDeleteMME - maybe one designer with talent
Fancy Pants Designs - a few with styles you recognize anywhere
Echo Park Paper - No one with a signature style - too many cards
Simple stories - boring
Prima - they all have the same dark style..
We R Memorykeepers No one with a signature style (they are trying to show more staged projects)
Right, 11:36 and 1:57. I'm not a Bella Blvd. fan and Doodlebug is just repetitious kidstuff from AC.
ReplyDeleteSnooty BH took her hysterical groupies for a royal ride. However, it seems that PL addicts finally realized they'd bought into huge amount of work that cost a fortune. They went ape at Michaels every time a new ripoff kit arrived and a lot of them have buyers' remorse.
Now they're stuck with thousands of drab 3x4 cards, heaps of smelly plastic pocket pages and junky cardboard albums. That's worse than having too much stuff in a conventional scrapping stash because ugly PL is self-limiting.
BH albums do feel cardboard. I am a traditional scrapbooker but I got sucked into buying one of those PL kits from HSN (Lisa Bearnson could sell snow to an eskimo) and got stuck with a cheap looking and feeling album and too many duplicate cards (7 of each style..who the heck needs that many duplicates?). Plus half the PL cards said Hello on them which I would not use more than once.
Delete8:44 you're right on all points except for Prima. Their products are anything but "dark". Look at their catalog, blog and YouTube videos. They didn't even do anything for Halloween this year.
ReplyDeleteAside from a few whimsical Julie Nutting stamps Prima isn't my style, but their large collections have loads of bright, shabby chic-pastel and rich metallic colors in various coordinating formats. Head designer Frank Garcia's elaborate projects are downright flashy.
Evil BH was probably the final nail in the original 2Peas' coffin.
ReplyDeleteIn dire financial straits with trashed credit, Jeff and Kristina stupidly agreed to a PL Exclusive deal with Becky. She immediately undercut them, selling the same stuff at discount through Amazon and Michaels.
Did you hear this from a reliable source? We never really "heard" what happened at the end of Two Peas. I believe your explanation could be another nail in their coffin true. I don't know what the Whites could have done differently to fix their business. They had the customer base. Everyone shopped at Two Peas. Maybe they needed a high powered retail advisor to help them earlier on. There are people and companies who do this for a living. This could have saved the business. I am not saying they didn't try it. I am just suggesting if they didn't do it, it may have helped.
Delete11:47, just ignore 11:20. This is the same bitter hag who has bloviated about the same tired stuff for YEARS. Literally, years.
DeleteShe has some personal grudge against Jeff and Kristina White, against 2 Peas, and against every single manufacturer that she thinks "canned professional graphic designers" in favor of white trash moms.
This one-note bore sounds like someone who wanted desperately to fit in with scrapbooking's cool kids, but whom was ultimately rejected and who can't get the hell over it already.
She knows everything about everything, don't you know? So of course she knows exactly what happened when Two Peas went out of business.
I wish Admin would do us all a favor and let us know where this idiot's IP hails from. Maybe then we could figure out who she is and why she's so bitter. She sounds too smart to be Traci Claiborne or Angela Holt.
Bad management, obscenely high shipping charges and loss of business credit killed the 2Peas store. Aside from a bit of shopworn old paper, it was literally empty because the Whites couldn't afford to re-stock it.
ReplyDeleteBasically, all they sold prior to the failed deal with Becky was AC crap. People couldn't get any of the hot, new products they wanted, so they left 2Peas and happily shopped elsewhere.
I ordered once from Two Peas and my paper was bent and looked like it had been through the wringer and 2 of the items I ordered were out of stock but they didn't tell me ahead of time so didn't realize it until I got the order. I can see why they went out of business.
DeleteObscenely high shipping? They offered free shipping at $25 for years and then switched it up to $50, but that's still reasonable for this industry. Of course, you had to be smart enough to look for the coupon code, so I'm sure there are some morons out there who are still upset over shipping fees from 13 years ago. (cough, cough, 1:18.)
DeleteYeah, their selection really sucked at the end and was sparse for the last year, at least.
But before then? It was the best store on the web, IMO. I spent a ton of money there and other places, but they had great selection, fair prices and free shipping at a certain $$ amount.
I just don't understand why so many people are so personally upset over the closure of a store. This harpy has personally been beating this drum for YEARS.
Who cares anymore? TwoPeas is dead and Jeff and Kristina White are no-names. No one brings them up but you.
Back to the copycats. What's the best way to call them out so we don't have to see them on all kinds of design teams ?
ReplyDeleteI would probably comment on the photo of the copycat item. "Beautiful! It reminds me so much of ______ (link to original) that I saw back in April...."
Delete4:01 Tell all of the manufacturers whose DT's they're on what you think of the copycats/ plagiarists.
ReplyDeleteLet them know you won't buy any of their products until they get some reputable designers who can produce original work. Money is the only language manufacturers understand.
5:18 loads of people complained about receiving damaged goods from the 2Peas store and about paying for items that were out of stock. All they received for extortionate shipping charges was shopworn junk that was carelessly packaged.
ReplyDeleteIt's normal to still be complaining about high shipping and damaged product from a store you shopped at like 15 years ago.
DeleteEven more normal when that store has been out of business for, what, 5 or 6 years?
YOU ARE AN OBSESSIVE WEIRDO WHO CAN'T LET GO OF THE PAST.
5:36 2Peas went out of business only 2 or 3 years ago.
ReplyDeleteFor many years, thousands of Peas were very loyal to that store and website. They spent a ton of money there and they have every right to discuss their experiences.
You have no right to censor anyone, especially since you don't know what you're talking about. You sound like a whacko from the old smack blog.
Maybe it's an old Garden Girl sticking up for Two Peas because they seem to be taking the unflattering (but true) comments about Two Peas personally.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that anyone is sticking up for Two Peas at this point, especially the Garden Girls. The only survivors among them appear to be Shimelle and Wilna. Old Peas just get nostalgic and talk about the boards and store from time to time.
ReplyDeleteEven in Two Peas' heyday, I didn't like it. I never joined the group or bought anything from their store. As opposed to other scrapbooking forums, it seemed like a personality cult.
I hated how Two Peas created a mean girls environment, I mainly lurked. I wish that Two Peas Refugees would have just started a new scrapbook board instead of keeping the "Peas" mentality.
DeleteThere must be something seriously wrong between Tim Holtz and Ranger because neither one of them could issue a coherent statement about his immediate demotion last month. Either that, or he has health issues that forced him to slow down.
ReplyDeleteThe brief, conflicting statements seemed like they were written in a panic and not well thought out. Like their globally idolized Creative Director of 14 years is stepping down immediately to spend more time creating Distress products and alcohol inks. The same crap he started with at Ranger 14 years ago. Still no word on who the new Creative Director is.
By this time of year, TH's blog is usually covered with photos of Ranger displays in progress and photos of friends helping him prepare a huge CHA booth. There's nothing on the blog yet and he isn't even mentioning Ranger.
I wonder if Tim and Sizzix will split the blanket. They recently introduced the improved, motorized Big Shot Express. It's in direct pricing competition with the new Holtz Vagabond2 which is a much better machine.
She's baaaaaaaack.......
ReplyDeleteNo CHA sneak peeks yet?
ReplyDeleteNo CHA sneaks seems odd to me too. No excitement again. No one has hinted at anything about new products.
ReplyDeleteIs Paige Evans is leaving Pink Paislee? She'll be teaching a Milwaukee class for Bella Blvd. when she returns to the US next October. She said it's the first of many events she'll be doing, but she didn't give details of the others.
In her case, crime pays.
What's your problem 2:15 p.m? Tim Holtz's job situation at Ranger is the Admin's most recent editorial topic. She asked for opinions on it, so people are entitled to say whatever they want.
ReplyDelete7:44 I agree with you. Some of those women on the NSBR are the most vicious humans I've ever seen and it's all the same people at 2PR. I just don't get how they sit on that site all day handslapping people - you can see it's the same people responding all day long. That's all they do with their lives, they're so pathetic.
ReplyDeleteAfter the election I couldn't resist reading some of the political threads on NSBR and even though I agree politically with some of the posters they are so bitchy and handslappy with their posts it makes me cringe.
ReplyDelete7:44 p.m. The only "Peas" mentality I noticed at 2PR comes from the NSBR group. That seems to be where hags and nutcases from the original board hang out.
ReplyDeleteGiven what happened at 2Peas, I don't know why 2PR even has a NSBR board. Those witches shouldn't be hosted by any of the paper craft forums because they aren't involved with the hobby.
The rest of the Refugees appear to be harmless newbies and airheads dimwit jennyap can push around. That forum will never attract anyone interesting.
I posted something on the General Scrapbooking board and got viciously handslapped for it so I think people are too afraid to speak up so that's why that board is mostly "newbies and airheads"
ReplyDeleteYou know Tracie Claiborne is still reading Two Peas Refugees. They all do, I notice how they will pop out of the woodwork to protect their own or promote themselves.
ReplyDeleteBella Blvd is pushing the Illustrated Faith products hard. Laura Vegas left Bella because they were going in a different direction, wonder if it was because of the Illustrated Faith stuff?
ReplyDeleteI commented above about Bella Blvd going digital, their stuff to me just doesn't translate well to digital.
ReplyDeleteSaw that Suse Fish deleted her FB, IG and blog again. What's the point of deleting everything... Social media can't be that addictive. Isn't she still on design teams or has the quit them all too just to withdraw again than create that mysterious illusion ??
ReplyDeleteSuse Fish posted on NSBR. I can see her point in a way, but if she was really serious about it she wouldn't be on design teams.
ReplyDeletePapercrafteradvocate on NSBR is a total bitch. Geez some of those women are nasty
ReplyDeleteAnother wacko at NSBR is Lili. There are some real mentals posting there
ReplyDeleteI live in Ireland and met some women that run a craft group and shown them scrapbooking and when I tried to explain that there is a whole world and hierachy of paper manufacturers, design teams, forums, proper designers and yummy mummy designers, brand leaders and blogs devoted to slagging all the above - they looked at me like I was crazy and said - "It's paper". Oh if only they knew!
ReplyDeleteI suppose you'd class me as an 'airhead newbie' when it comes to art, and I know this post is ages old, but I stumbled across it and had to comment. What a lot of bitches you are. I have never read such malcontent vitriol. You stick things in books of paper ffs. These design teams that you hate, none of whom I have heard of, with the exception of Holtz, are only there to offer ideas for their companies. If you don't like don't follow. What's the big deal? What sad lives you must have.
ReplyDeleteWOW WOW WOW!!! How odd it is to go threw and read all the replies in regards to just sharing some new.. people being negative and shitty about him and his brand etc. Yet the year is now 2020 it's been 4/5 years and he is going strong dare u say doing very well!!! How's that stale and dark working for you all now ?!?!
ReplyDelete