I have always used mixes.........but I add extra things to them........I add a complimentary flavor of dry pudding mix one extra egg, tsp. vanilla, swap out the water in the directions for milk and sometimes add butter instead of the oil. This makes for a really moist, rich and more dense cake.....which makes it great for carving 3 _d cakes out of. WElcome to CC prepare to be addicted
Welcome to the board.
I use both, it will just depend on what mood I am in and what I feel like making at the time. Certain family members will only eat cake but I have made cakes from scatch just have not said anything about - they still ate it, nothing was left. So it will really depend on what you would like to do.
I have some recipes that call for a cake mix as the base and they are really good. Dawn came up with a "chocolate explosion cake recipe" which is awesome with chocoalte bc and ganache. White almond sour cream is awesome to with a cake mix as a base.
The cake mix doctor book is great too.
Good luck and again Welcome
Welcome to CC jamiem. I do both too. I have a family member who loves DH cake mix. I make him cupcakes and he eats them before they can cool, before I even have a chance to frost them! Big glass of milk and a half dozen warm cupcakes and he couldn't be happier 
Dawn came up with a "chocolate explosion cake recipe" which is awesome with chocoalte bc and ganache.
It is awesome! I'll post it in case anyone else is interested. It could be made from scratch too by starting with a basic chocolate cake recipe. It's all the extras that I think really make it special.
Dawn's Chocolate Explosion Cake:
Chocolate Explosion Cake
1 box Super Moist Devils Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup premium chocolate milk (I purchased an individual serving size container since we don't drink chocolate milk here)
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
1 container (16 ounces) sour cream
1 small package (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding mix
1 bag (12 ounces or 2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare pan.
Gently mix milk, butter, eggs and sour cream until eggs are incorporated. Add dry cake and pudding mixes. Mix until well blended. Batter will be very thick. Fold in chips. Spoon into pan(s).
Bake 55-65 minutes or until top springs back (toothpick will not be totally clean with this cake). Cool in pan 10 minutes and turn out on wire rack and cool completely.
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