My addiction is a terrible one.
Really.
I collect clip art like I collect purses (if you know me, you know this is a serious issue!). It started out simple enough. I wanted things to be cute and my master teacher introduced me to DJ Inkers.
Yes, it all began with Kidillywinks.
I should have known.
I should have seen it coming.
But I didn't, and an addiction was born.
At first it was simple. Things I made needed to be in comic sans (remember that font?) and they HAD to have cute clip art from the aforementioned clip art collection. For three years I was good. I stayed within the confines of what I had and then...I changed schools.
With a new school came new co-workers and friends, and these friends were like me. They liked cute. They created cute things. And they knew about clip art. Yes, friends, that is how I increased my DJ Inkers collection from 1 to over 20 collections. We fed each other titles like they were candy. We shared new finds with excitement and that only served to strengthen the addiction.
Fonts became part of the addiction too, of course. How could they not? I found a (now defunct) scrapbook site that had a hundred free fonts. Well, there went comic sans never to be seen or heard of again.
Now my classroom creations and parent letters were creative and cute like nothing I had made before. I had crossed a line and I would never go back. I would never pass out or send home anything plain or ordinary again.
My district decided to try pushing teacher websites on us. The excitement I had was short lived when I saw the plain boring sites they wanted us to create. I couldn't. I wouldn't. Not after what I had seen online. Not after seeing the class sites I followed. Especially not after Dina (my good friend, compatriot, and fellow addict) found ThistleGirl Designs.
Not having children afforded me the ability to spend discretionary money on items like clip art, so naturally, I became a lifetime club member.
Now the addiction was in full swing. Still, like most addicts, I believed I could control it.
I was in denial.
I lived in denial for a long time.
Then the collections started to become more numerous than I could readily count. I was buying adoptables (What? You don't know what these are? They are themed clip art designed with your name on them.) Like this one:
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| Adoptables by ThistleGirl Designs |
First, I had just a few. Then several. At last count (and really, who's counting?) I had three Christmas, two Thanksgiving, two Halloween, a Valentine's Day, and several other adoptables. Are you beginning to believe me now about the addiction?
Then...and then...I rediscovered Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT). [Rediscovered because when it first launched my parents wanted me to join and become a seller. I refused because at the time I envisioned it as something other than what it has become. Yes, this is a decision I regret each day and a situation where my parents were SO RIGHT.] I purchased resell licenses for DJ Inkers and ThistleGirl Designs. I discovered Hello Fonts, Melonheadz, Graphics From the Pond, Creative Clips, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Whimsy Clips, and several others like KG Fonts, Pond Fonts, KPM Doodles, and Dots of Fun. [I could go on and on but then I would only be fostering your likely addiction too. (Don't you see how I am already subversively doing so by adding the links to all of these?)] Most of these I came across as I found lessons or units that I liked on TpT, others I discovered via teachers I follow on Instagram.
Ah, yes, Instagram, this is how I fell deep into the midst of my addiction.
You see, I thought I did things ultra-cute. Then Instagram came into my life. It showed me just how much cuter things could be. I felt like the entire Instagram collective made me feel like they were saying:
Of course they weren't.
Rather they were making me rethink how I do things.
Being a 1:1 teacher I am not creating as many things for the kids to do as they are generating most of the things they create (rather than a handout or document generated by me I mean). Now I have time for cute anchor charts, for upping the ante on the appearance of my classroom (which I already love!), and other projects I hadn't considered before.
The final decedent into my addiction occurred when a Silhouette Portrait was delivered to my house earlier this month. I've seen the things this machine can do! I've ordered vinyl (in two colors thank you very much). Iron-on transfers, sketch markers, transfer paper...all have been ordered. I received $35 in gift cards for the Silhouette Studio (for those of you who don't know...this is the company's design studio). Well, this resulted in the purchase of EVEN MORE graphics and fonts. You know, because the ones I have already were not enough.
I'm a clip art (and font) junkie.
They say the first step of recovery is admitting you have a problem. The question now is: Do I want to stop?
No.
Of course I don't.
Now what I really need is an external hard drive to store all of my graphics and fonts.
Don't you love clip art too? What is/are your favorite(s) collection(s)?
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