Well, I'll never do THAT again!

[Valgal]

So, a girl I know but haven't hung out with in a long time called me up and asked if I would make her soon to be SIL's bridal shower invites. I made her dd's birthday invites a few years ago and she loved them. I don't know how to say no, so...



Somehow I ended up being their all-out consultant on pretty much EVERYTHING, and even ordered them with the MOM'S credit card! She was sending me repeat texts, asking when they were going to be done and telling me her MIL was freaking out about the timing. I have a zillion things going on and I wanted to say, "Uh... you're not even paying me for this!!"

LIVE... AND... LEARN.

What stupid things have you done? loll!

[carrie1977]

Ugh...I do that all the time. I love making cards/invites but I have a friend that calls anytime she needs an invite and she always needs them last minute. She will offer to get me a pedicure or something in return and that never happens. PLUS, I don't necessarily want to have to sit with her and get a pedi. I'd much rather her get me a gift card because I love to go alone and just relax. LOL! She's just one of those friends you have to limit your time with.

[jovi_girl]

I was always everyone's photographer. I used to be a professional photographer so I understand why they always ask me, but the fact is, I got out of it proffessionally because I don't enjoy it! They all seem to think its just an hour out of my time to take their photos but they don't realise I spend hours editing them also. And I despise editing!!!! Since having my second baby I have managed to start saying no to everyone except family. My family is huge, so I still end up doing someone's photos every other month, but I do it out of love. And with the knowledge that I'm planning on painting my whole house in the next few months and I'll be calling each and everyone of them to come pay off their photo debts!

[lorigaud]

Ugh. Sorry Val! I have a hard time saying no, too.... but I'm getting better at it with age. I'm almost done with being a cub scout den leader after 8 years.... 2 more months!

[mummytothree]

Ugh...somehow I always get suckered into making the invited for my sister's kid's birthdays every year!!! Ugh...hello I have 5 kids...you have 2!!! Every year I always say I'm gonna say no and then I never do!!! Finally I bought her a copy of PSE and gifted it to her with a note that said...."where the [birthday invite] magic happens" hoping she would take the hint and stop assuming I would just do them.....it must have worked...I just got my nephew's birthday invite in the mail!!!

[MamaBee]

Ugh - been there... I had a big problem charging people I know the price I was worth for my scrapping - I always just charged for supplies and not the XXX number of hours it took to make that album! My last one was last summer, I agreed to help my uncle with redoing his church history book... it took me FOREVER and I even had to make a special trip (granted its the same town my dad lives in, so I was visiting him anyway) to take photos of the church. I got some money - but if you figured out the time it took me to design it and then change it a zillion times with his edits, I would have been lucky if I made min wage on it!

[joelsgirl]

Yuck. I avoid pressure, especially the kind without a reward. Hope you get it over with soon and say, 'Sure, if you wanna pay me." next time. ; )

[Sherri Tierney]

I have a hard time saying no. I have a group of friends who always come to me whenever they want something 'digiscrapped' whether it be a name to put on a coffee mug, an invitation, or a full out album. I've started to sense they have something up their sleeves and I start talking about how busy I am. That helps a little.

[LJSDesigns]

I can see where that would be a drag, but I just wish my family and friends were interested in anything creative I do. I have only had one person ask me to scrap for them and it was back when I did paper scrapping and I did an album from birth to graduation for my sister's god daughter. It took forever and I got nothing for it except her joy, but it made me feel good to do something special for some one.

[littlekiwi]

I'm always being asked if I can do this that and the other but I am slowly learning to say no occasionally

[jessica31876]

The only one who ever asks is my daughter but she already know I will say yes automatically. So I dont mind. I scrap most of the people I love so whoever you see in my layouts for the most part will be someone I really care about

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

Ugh...somehow I always get suckered into making the invited for my sister's kid's birthdays every year!!! Ugh...hello I have 5 kids...you have 2!!! Every year I always say I'm gonna say no and then I never do!!! Finally I bought her a copy of PSE and gifted it to her with a note that said...."where the [birthday invite] magic happens" hoping she would take the hint and stop assuming I would just do them.....it must have worked...I just got my nephew's birthday invite in the mail!!!

LOL! Brilliant!

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by Loriebug66

I can see where that would be a drag, but I just wish my family and friends were interested in anything creative I do.

I have NEVER thought about it that way. It's a good perspective.

[Arual]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

Ugh...somehow I always get suckered into making the invited for my sister's kid's birthdays every year!!! Ugh...hello I have 5 kids...you have 2!!! Every year I always say I'm gonna say no and then I never do!!! Finally I bought her a copy of PSE and gifted it to her with a note that said...."where the [birthday invite] magic happens" hoping she would take the hint and stop assuming I would just do them.....it must have worked...I just got my nephew's birthday invite in the mail!!!

Brilliant idea!

But now I MUST know, lol, were they created in PSE or did she get the hint but went with store bought invites? LOL! Not that it really matters because either way at least you didn't have to do them!!

[Jengerbread88]

Designing some photographers logos for 0 pay (one of them has been a nightmare in that she keeps asking for revisions, we found the perfect logo, she tried to use it as a watermark instead of a logo and it didn't show up, so she wanted me to re-do something all-new, and it didn't work, so she sent me this horrrrrrible font, and wanted me to just type out her studios name in it... blah!)

Also once I did a girl's baby shower invites. For free. With so much pressure and "that's not right. Now that's not right. Can you change it back to this font? No, I don't like that, nevermind."

It seems they all pick at miniscule details and it's just crazy.

[Arual]

I was asked to help with a 50th wedding anniversary and slide show for a surprise anniversary party. I said yes and I worked for weeks on it, all day and all night, bought the digi supplies I needed and wanted specifically for that project. Fast forward about 6 weeks into it - the other half of that family decided that a *digital* scrapbook is not what they wanted, and called the whole project off!!! SIX WEEKS INTO IT!
They knew from the beginning what I was doing, they see my stuff all the time, and out of the blue they decided they just weren't that into 'digital'. Hmmph. Never. Never. Never.... did I mention NEVER? Never ever again. Never!

[Freckles]

I did my kid's birth cards and then one for my brother's baby. Then my SIL's sister needed one, so I made it. I was lucky enough to be able to just do what I wanted and they were both very happy with the first design I made. But then the ball started rolling and more people asked for something. And I didn't enjoy it anymore at all. They asked for very specific things, like DONKEYS. I searched high and low for a donkey, changed my design 3 times until I finally drew a donkey myself and redid the entire design a 4th time. They were happy at last, but man, have I dreaded working on that card! Now my brother and his wife are expecting their second baby and they expect me to do their card again. I'm going to do it, but it's the last time! I won't do it anymore, not even if they pay me. I enjoy scrapping for ME and that's all I want to do. No more nagging about stupid little details, lol!

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by Arual

I was asked to help with a 50th wedding anniversary and slide show for a surprise anniversary party. I said yes and I worked for weeks on it, all day and all night, bought the digi supplies I needed and wanted specifically for that project. Fast forward about 6 weeks into it - the other half of that family decided that a *digital* scrapbook is not what they wanted, and called the whole project off!!! SIX WEEKS INTO IT!
They knew from the beginning what I was doing, they see my stuff all the time, and out of the blue they decided they just weren't that into 'digital'. Hmmph. Never. Never. Never.... did I mention NEVER? Never ever again. Never!

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! I would be livid. I did end up buying a new kit for this invite because I had nothing close to lemons, limes & oranges so I'm really glad they liked it.

I'm just glad it's done. She FB'd me and said "Thanks so much. Sorry if I drove you crazy " I was tempted to say something like, "No prob! I'm glad I could help!" And that I thought, nah, that would kind of be a lie and maybe by not responding she might not pounce on me that next time she needs something. So I didn't say anything at all, lol!