Just Thinking Out Loud

I scan through several hundred blogs per day via my Google Reader. I probably do 10-15 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening and end up seeing many, many cards each day. I have the design teams from companies like My Favorite Things, Flourishes, Papertrey, Gina K, and many others all bookmarked.

I am noticing that these companies have releases and you see those designs over and over and over for a few days by the dozens. Then the release happens and there will be another batch about 2 weeks later (as people receive their orders) when you see cards made with the sets. Then what seems to happen is that you almost never see those images again. It is like people use them only when they are new and then put them away, never to be seen again--or rarely to be seen again. It is like the images don't stand the test of time.

So, today, I went through some galleries of some companies and looked at dates of submissions. Sure enough, with rare exception, photos are uploaded right after sets come out and then in some cases, another card is never seen again using those images.

Do people buy sets and use them only when they are new? Do people just use the sets for a month or so and then move on?

I don't think it used to be like this. I saw SU's Roses in Winter cards all over blogs for a good continuous 2 years. I can think of many others that were used and reused for long periods of time before people seemed to move on. Is it that there are just so many options out there and people have so much expendable income that they can use a set for a few weeks and then retire it?

I find myself going back to my favorite sets over and over. I have some sets that are 11 or 12 years old that I still use regularly.