www.paperartistsonline.com

Is it just me, or do the CS digi kits seem to have an abundance of "stuff".... like flowery crap, or I dunno.... stuff that just looks too, well, too digital to me? I've got several of the early CS kits, as well as a ton of freebies and some from another monthly digital club, and these new CS ones just seem so much less than the old ones. Is it just me? I'm thinking of getting the classic kit digital collections from CS, as I love all those kits in paper form, but even those have those silly cluster thingies. WTH? sorry.... random thought and wanted to share! Lolz!

Monica

I don't think it is just you. The kits have changed from being more like a digital copy of the paper kits to a kit that is more like the digi kits you can get (cheaper) elsewhere.

CS digital never impressed me much. I got a couple when I wanted to do something digital to supplement a paper kit. Even when I was new to digital scrapping, I knew that there was stuff in the CS digi-kits that didn't make sense. Why give you a digital image of a brad that was three times the size of the brad in non-digital format? Why give you three copies of a 'stamp' in different sizes? Just give me one big one and I'll make it smaller if I want.

Are they still giving you a 12" length of digital ribbon? You can't put a 12" length of digital ribbon diagonally across a page. You can't even slant it!

I don't currently get the digital CS, so I can't answer the ribbon question. I was pondering buying the CS Classics kits as I either don't have paper for them because they were before my time or have already used it and need more for photos, and I would like the Cats one in digi since I have a ton of cat pictures to scrap (she's my child), and I only have one paper kit.

Monica

I absolutely hate most of the embellishments that come with the kits, and I've said so there and here. The cheap plastic flowers and leaves, the twisted up ribbons, the outdated-style clusters to name a few. And the papers? I'm so tired of wrinkled up papers and colors that I can't do anything with. Very few of their kits have solids anymore - just patterned, and in some pretty huge patterns at that. I went through every kit in my CS folder last night looking for a decent forest/dark green - nothing. Like Jean said, you can get a lot more for a lot less at other stores. I downloaded a freebie the other day that had 63 pieces in it, and that was just for one day of a 15 day free kit. Why keep paying for what I'm really not liking anymore? As for the remix kits - I don't ever remember Color in B&W having that florescent green in the paper version of that kit, which was one that I had. Don't get me wrong - there have been some kits that I loved, but I'd love them a lot more if they'd spend some time studying the current trends in digital kits and try to get with the groove.

You know what cracks me up after reading your comments, Pam? Seems like it wasn't too long ago that someone commented about that on the CS forum and Jac piped up that the changes were done to keep up. My thought was "Umm... what???" I have some of those blog train freebie ones that had a ton of stuff, and if it weren't for my total fear of going near 4shared I'd still be doing them. I only want the patterned papers and digital stamps for the cat one as I like the style and am way too cheap to buy 6 or 7 more paper kits of it. CIAB I really just liked the looks of the patterns, but I'd be happy with templates of them that I could place over any papers I wanted to, and ditto that for Fossils. Refresh is one of my favorite kits, and By the Seashore would be a handy one as well.... my in-laws have a plant nursery and BIL sails. But there again, I really just want a digital version of the paper kits!!! I only have an FFC version of By the Seashore as the original was before my time, but I still have a lot of Refresh. Wonder if DH has a 12X12 scanner at work? If I don't share it, that's not violating any copyrights, is it?

Monica

Monica wrote: Wonder if DH has a 12X12 scanner at work? If I don't share it, that's not violating any copyrights, is it?

Monica

That's a good question. I wonder. I know that they recommend scanning or printing the UM paper sheet, so that's not violating a copyright. I wonder if it just applies to selling the artwork or the completed projects. Hmmmm? Anyone know?

The By The Seashore kit is in digi now.
Just came out today

I saw her comment and almost spit out my drink. Their digi kits are not keeping up with trends, but neither are the paper kits for that matter. But I do love the texture of their paper, and I have become very spoiled as far as paper quality because of them.

I'll have to look at By the Seashore to see if it's anything like the paper version. I've really been disappointed with the paucity of files in the remixes compared to the cost.

I get most of my freebies from two places - Divine Digital and Raspberry Roads. Neither of them use 4shared, which I refuse to use because of the interminable wait to download.

I went. I looked. Yuck. The digi version is just not doing it for me. The colors are nowhere near the original kit, which had a dark sand, light sand, ivory and a teal(ish) blue. What's there now is just the same blue they seem to be using a lot, white and black. It doesn't say "beach" to me at all.

As for scanning those papers yourself and creating your own digi pieces, I don't think you'd be violating anything as long as a. you're not sharing or selling them and b. you're not representing them as being your designs. And you're right - they do encourage copying and digitizing the old B&B and stamp sheets.

In that case I'm going to hunt down a scanner and make my own version of them. The FFC version of By the Seashore is teals and tans, which work perfectly with beach pictures. I think I still have the Cats one untouched, so I can scan it in.... and Heaven knows I've still got a pile of Refresh!! lolz! I'll go check out those sites... thanks for the recommendation!

Monica

Start here for Raspberry Roads:
http://raspberryroaddesigns.blogspot.com/

You can get free stuff from scrapbook elements too.
sign up for their newsletter and you'll get frr things every month and a couple things weekly.
Sign up for the forum and do some of the challenges and they give you a free item for getting into the challenge.

http://www.sbelements.com

My digi collection is so flippin' huge that I refuse to spend any time downloading anything else - free or otherwise. Even though I've got every digi kit that CS ever produced, up through about three months ago, I just don't gravitate towards those - and I think part of it is that the embellishments are weird. I nearly grabbed the comics digi kit, but then I really studied it. I adore the paper kit. However, I don't think I'd really get that much mileage out of the digi, because I generally start with a quick page and then use the embellies to add extra stuff - titles, or whatever I need to fill in a gap. And the quick pages are strange to me. I think what bugs me, is when elements are added that don't even come close to something I'd use on a paper layout. So like, the ink pens on the quick pages? Those just struck me as odd. So I just ordered the paper kit and passed on the digi.

If you are into digital artistry, then some of what certain designers are doing might make more sense. But I've always approached digi scrapping exactly the same way that I'd do paper scrapping. I don't use digi embellishments that I wouldn't use on paper, and I rarely use effects that couldn't be achieved on paper. I like the effects - don't get me wrong. It's just not how I work and I don't often think of it. And all of that means that most of my digi kits just go to waste - CS or otherwise.

fuzzylover wrote:

Monica wrote: Wonder if DH has a 12X12 scanner at work? If I don't share it, that's not violating any copyrights, is it?

Monica

That's a good question. I wonder. I know that they recommend scanning or printing the UM paper sheet, so that's not violating a copyright. I wonder if it just applies to selling the artwork or the completed projects. Hmmmm? Anyone know?

I'm sure someone from CS who reads this forum will pop in to answer your questions, Monica! Or email you privately.

Their copyright policy must be on their website.

pbp908 wrote:I went. I looked. Yuck. The digi version is just not doing it for me. The colors are nowhere near the original kit, which had a dark sand, light sand, ivory and a teal(ish) blue. What's there now is just the same blue they seem to be using a lot, white and black. It doesn't say "beach" to me at all.

I just saw it, too. They are still stuck on that turquoise/aqua color. Maybe if your beaches are in tropical locations that might work along with Castaway andALL the other kits with those colors.
The good thing about the old By the Seashore was they were good cold water ocean and beach colors. Grayed greens and blues, the tans with the greyish designs on them. That's the ocean and beaches I grew up with in NJ.