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Ok, I am drowning in paper here and am, once again, thinking of switching to digi. I get so confused by all the options over there that I leave and don't do anything. Can anyone tell me what I have to buy to get the following? I would like the designs on the papers and the stamps or stencils. Period. I want to be able to put the designs on any color paper and to resize them. No drop layouts, no ribbons, no flowers, no little embellies.

I thought that buying the backgrounds would get me what I want but on some it looks like all you get is the blank background without the designs. Does anyone know from actual experience?

I couldn't say, but I could tell you how to get some of the designs off the paper.... It's amazing what you can do in Photoshop.

I'm not sure you can get just what you're asking for. It sounds like you'd like the papers actually separated into the plain textured colored stuff, and transparencies for the design - and you'd just want the transparencies? I've seen them include overlays on occasion, but towards the end of my digi membership, they weren't even including the actual paper that was in the paper clubs - the digi "paper" was completely different. That was part of why I quit that digi club. I have millions of buttons and ribbons and flowers and randomly colored papers.

You can get a digi stamp set - I can't recall if that includes anything that represents the stencil. But you'd have to just shop for it ala carte each month, I think. I don't think you can subscribe to just the stamp images without the rest of a kit. I could be wrong on that though - I don't remember being able to do it, and it was something I'd considered trying once.

That was one of the concerns I addressed with Karen at Club Scrap Headquarters after our ReCreate retreat last October. The ladies there gave me some really good input on what they liked and didn't like about the digital kits and as a Crafter Rep I passed them on (several times in fact), but I'm not sure that any changes were made. I really don't know how to do digital myself, but I like the sound of what you are describing.

Cynthia in SC

Go check out the digi store.
you can buy just the stamps, embellishments, or papers separately

I HAVE checked out the digi store and wasted many hours there trying to work out what they are doing now. It is much different from the old digi kits. I know I have heard many people here complain about the newer kits and it seems to be with good reason.

Yes, Julie, that is about right. I would like the papers from the Sr. kit with the designs on and maybe in layers so you can manipulate them yourself plus the UM stamps they sell separately. I know I could remove the designs from the backgrounds but that gets messy especially with my skills.

Maybe I will just have to ask CS. I think the last digi kit I bought was Natural Resources and they have probably changed them again since then so I can't go by that.

I've voiced my opinion of the kits on the board and it did no good. I hate to say this, but I don't like 50% of the kits because they're so different from the paper kits. I'm sick to death of the scanned silk flower embellishments, the twisted ribbons are getting old, and I hate hate hate wrinkled papers. I'd rather add wrinkles, etc. as a separate overlay. And don't get me started on the price, which is too high. The only reason why I'm staying in is that I can shop GHM as a member.

You cannot get the paper designs as they are in the paper kit; you can only get the new digital backgrounds that seem to be a combination of images and colors from the kits. If you buy what's called digi stamps from the kit you will get all of the images from the SR kit both WM and UM; if you want the images from JR and ST you will need to buy the expansion set that comes out on the 20th (that has all of those images).

Sounds like what you want is the digi stamps and the expansion kit.

This is actually one of the reasons I don't get Club Scrap anything these days. It's just too complicated to get the things that you want. It's a strange mish-mash of items.

The digi kits are a lot more simple than they used to be, where you had hearty appetite, Jr., Sr., GTG and a couple of other options. To my way of thinking, it's very simple now. I think you might be able to sign up for just the backgrounds and the expansion set, but a call to Rita could confirm that.

Thank you, Pam, Rachelle, and Jean for the feedback. I have a gift cert for $10 so I think I will pick a digi kit and see what it is like and what I can do with it. I would just really rather not get all the clusters, ribbons, etc. which I do not like and do not want to use.
My reason for asking all of this is most of the time, I like the designs in the kit but I don't like the colors they have chosen to print them on. All the brights, the neon green, so much turquoise, purple (yuck!), etc. etc. I don't like them and here they sit in the paper kits.
Maybe I just need to forget CS and use my stamps to create my own patterned papers. I think that is where I am headed. But like Pam says, I'd like a subscription to something to GHM when I do want something. You know, as soon as I unsub, they will bring out kits I can't live without

"I've voiced my opinion of the kits on the board and it did no good. I hate to say this, but I don't like 50% of the kits because they're so different from the paper kits. I'm sick to death of the scanned silk flower embellishments, the twisted ribbons are getting old, and I hate hate hate wrinkled papers. I'd rather add wrinkles, etc. as a separate overlay."

Pam, that's pretty much the message that I gave "the powers that be" last Fall and I reminded them that some of you are "old-timers" like me and they would do well to keep you happy. Maybe if we keep complaining...

I know it costs more money for a kit if you're not a member, but I'm at the point where I'd rather spend a few extra bucks and just pick and choose what I like, as opposed to have stacks of things I don't really want. I subscribed when I saw Comics (for stamp) and will likely unsub just as soon as the next kit is unveiled. It's not quite that simple for digi, but on the other hand, digi isn't as expensive as paper and there's no shipping. So I just wait to see something I like, or maybe give something a little extra consideration if I have a coupon.

I'm letting my shopping habits speak for how I feel about their kits lately.

Oh, can you buy a digi kit if you are not a member? I didn't know that.

Sure. I've done it.