Welcome!!

One of my 2009 New Year’s Resolutions is to start a craft blog. Well, what better day then April 1st (my birthday) to launch ‘Cat’s Craftivity Corner’. No fooling! I’ve been blogging my personal life for several years now and love telling stories of life happenings. I’ve been a crafter all my life and in order to fulfill another resolution (to become a ‘real’ Design Team member), blogging is the perfect venue to get my name out there. I’ve started to participate in craft challenges, utilizing my gallery at SplitCoast Stampers to post my creations. Since my initial readers are probably my wonderful friends and family, let me try to explain the whole Design Team Dream for you. If you’ve ever walked down the craft section of a big box store or been blessed to visit a craft specialty store, you’ve seen LOTS of cool products. Most of the manufacturer’s of these products know word of mouth is one of the best sales methods. They recruit the USERS of their products to help spread the word. Typically an official DESIGN TEAM (DT) is created for the product/manufacturer. The teams consist of UBER talented crafters who are gracious enough to share their ideas and talents with the rest of the world. DT’s vary in size and most abide to a standard set of guidelines. Membership is often limited to a certain time frame (a few months to a few years); members agree to create X amount of projects based on the current ‘challenge’ and spread the word through their own blogs; members are compensated in some manner (free product, $$, or exposure in the crafting world). Sometimes a DT member has the opportunity to launch their own product line (I’ve watched some grow into huge businesses). For example, Company XYZ has a new line of markers. These aren’t your ordinary elementary school markers. These markers can write on paper, glass, wood, metal, cardboard, rubber and just about any other surface you can think of; BUT, they don’t write on human skin! Plus they have a super-high-tech eraser that will remove the writing from your surface without damaging it. Company XYZ has a DT that LOVES all of their products. The DT members receive a set of the new markers (prior to their release in stores) and are given the task of creating projects showcasing the versatility of the markers by X date. They agree to keep the full details under wraps until the markers are available for purchase. Usually the DT will post ‘teasers’ on their blog about a FAB new product they will be sharing in the next few days. The DT goes wild testing out every scenario possible and sends in their projects (usually just via email and photos) to the Company. On the day the markers are available for purchase, Company XYZ adds the projects to their website so consumers can see real life uses for the markers. In addition, each DT member posts an entry on their blog about the markers, pictures and details of the projects they made, and links to the other DT member’s blogs. Crazy crafters, like me, visit these blogs (daily at a minimum) searching for inspiration and are wowed by the amazing markers. Everyone rushes to the store/website to buy them. Make sense? I’m sure this blog will evolve over time, but for now it’s going to be pretty basic. I’ll post my creations, the details how they were made, and a ‘brief’ explanation of why I made it. I know, you’re shaking your head thinking Cathy is NEVER brief. I admit when I’m reading through my Google Reader list of almost 200 blogs I follow, I tend to just look at the pictures to get ideas. Don’t worry, if you want to read my life stories, just check out my personal blog. The majority of my craft projects are currently focused on rubber stamping. I LOVE to scrapbook and hope to get back into my albums soon. Eddie and I are STILL working to get our house in order and one day (another 2009 resolution) my craft studio will be more than a room filled with cardboard boxes. For now, I tend to do my crafting on the weekends so I don’t expect I’ll have lots of posts. Hopefully that will change as I continue towards my goal. THANKS for coming along to enjoy the ride! Oh yeah, if anyone knows of 'real life' markers like those in my example, let me know!