My Promise to You, My Customers

So I am a new Close to my Heart demonstrator but I've been a scrapbooker for more than 22 years. I learned to stamp from a DOTS demonstrator back in the day and I have always loved their products. I've been thinking about a few things that are important to me...

I firmly believe that there is room in the creative world for everyone and every brand. CTMH is a wonderful company but they are not the be all, end all and the only people who are exclusively loyal to CTMH are some folks who sell it. That will never be me. I'm a papercrafter first and a demonstrator second. 

My promise to my customers is that I will not become one of those demonstrators who loses her objectivity in favor of her salesmanship. If CTMH has an outstanding product, I will be happy to tell you all about it. I will not lead you towards products that I haven't used personally. 

My promise to my customers is that I will never (yes I know that's a strong word) put out unfinished no-photo layouts in order to sell you stuff. I see it quite often but I just can't get on board that train. A scrapbook page from my desk will always be finished because above all else, I am a genuine authentic scrapbooker. I have no interest in pages without photos. I don't work that way and I don't expect you to. 

My promise to my customers is that I will always use my real photos on my scrapbook pages because that is what scrapbooking is. Ordinary photos--generally undoctored and most of them taken with an iPhone. (There may be the occasional photo stolen from social media, but I'll let you know if that's the case.) I believe that there is intrinsic value in showing a completely finished page. It demonstrates that this is a doable process. It demonstrates that there is value in the struggle of a completed layout. It gives perspective. And let's not discount what can be learned from the photos themselves. 

My promise to my customers is that I will always encourage storykeeping as well as creativity. I do not believe that the two are mutually exclusive. In my view, a well-designed page has four components--story, photo, title and embellishment. I'm ever pursuing good design through good balance of each of those components. 

If these ideas appeal to you, I hope you'll hang around and let's make things together.

Love,

Sarah