Designer Spotlight – Page 2 – MouseScrappers.com

Designer Spotlight – Natalie’s Place Designs

Well it’s time for another Designer spotlight. I’m so excited and pleased to bring you…

I will admit that I’m a little partial to Natalie as she is totally responsible for “ME” and my scrapbooking addiction. Several years ago I basically stalked her on the DISboards and her amazing talent and generosity to all us less fortunate. She created journal pages, T-shirt designs, thank you cards, autograph pages, and so much more wonderful and amazing designs for FREE!

She is the reason I began digital scrapbooking. She has been so inspirational to me. When I created my very first Disney Shutterfly book in 2007 it just didn’t have that “Disney” feel. It was her designs that lead me to take the leap!

Shortly after she left the DISboards she contacted me about her new adventure as a Digital Scrapbook Designer and asked if I wanted to be on her creative team! I was thrilled she was using her wonderful talent to create amazing kits to share with all of us. As you can image I said YES!! I guess my favorite part of her kits is the depth and texture to each and every paper, element, and alpha. She creates her designs from scratch and they are simply amazing to me each and every time she does a release.

So without further ado let’s do the Designer Spotlight “Must Do” (Sound familiar?…he-he)

Let’s take a peek into Natalie’s Little Corner of the World!

Where do you find your inspiration for designing?

Inspiration, for me, can come from almost anywhere. I see patterns and color combinations and random shapes in the world… ideas spring from there. I bounce a lot of design ideas off my daughter…..She has a very interesting take on most things. It amazes me where our brainstorming sessions sometimes go!

What got you started in designing?

I have been an artist all of my life. I graduated from college with a BS in Art Education and taught art for a few years before my kids were born. I had to leave teaching altogether after my kids were diagnosed with autism. For therapy purposes, I started using the computer to create graphics, flash cards and communication cards for them. After I got my first digital camera, I began digital scrapbooking. Because I couldn’t seem to find the things I wanted for my pages… I used what I learned to create papers and elements for myself. It has all kinda grown from there!

What do you find to be the biggest challenge with designing?

Creating papers….. it’s a love/hate kinda thing! If I have a kit with 15 papers….. I have probably created 30 along the way. I am constantly changing them. I may spend an hour on a pattern and then just toss it into the maybe file because, I am just not happy with it!

What is your favorite Designing tool?

I love BRUSHES!!!! Between the brushes that I have collected and the ones I have created, I probably have over 5000 brushes on my hard drive.

How many hours a week do you spend designing?

Probably about 15 hours average….. unless my son is going through one of his insomnia phases!

Do you have another “real” job besides Designing?

I am a full-time manager for a major retailer. My husband and I work opposite shifts, so that one of us is always home with the kids….

How do you balance your time?

Designing is my relaxation outlet…… but it comes after family, home and work. My husband is a HUGE help with everything. He is great with the kids and is very supportive of me & my designing.

What is your favorite kit?

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose it would have to be Jungle Party. The Jammin’ Jungle Parade is one my favorite things at Disney (it is even my ring tone!) and this kit was inspired by this parade!

Who would you love to collaborate with?

I would love to do a collab with Paula and Melissa from Keystone Scraps. I love what they do!

What is a piece of advice you have for those that are trying their hand at designing?

Don’t fall in love with everything you do. Even if you have spent a great deal of time on an element or paper…. It may not be that great or right for your kit. Save it for later however….. you can go back and tweak it.

Who are some of your favorite scrap artists?

I find inspiration in almost every layout that I see. I have a great appreciation for different styles…. So I don’t really have favorites. I am partial, however, to the work of my CT. Cynthia….the photo guru, Linda…..the composition guru and Lisa… the technique guru make up the best CT a gal could ask for!

What is a piece of advice you have for scrappers?

Scrapping… to me, is about the story you are creating with your photographs.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

ITALY!!!!! The food, the art, the culture, the history, and the landscape……what more can I say!

Besides scrapbooking, what is one thing you are passionate about?

I love baseball! My husband and I are huge Phillies fans!!! I used the watch games with my Dad and my Grandpa as a little girl and now it’s something fun to share with my husband. And now, if the Phils would just start hitting…………..

Tell us something no one else knows about you?

I love the color black….. when I paper scrapped, everything was on a black background! I actually have to stop myself from adding black to every kit that I make!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Natalie. She has a wonderful gallery of her layouts so be sure to check them out for further inspiration…HERE.

Here is a small sampling of her most recent and my favorite kits.

Designer Spotlight – Designs by Sarah

In the Designer Spotlight this time is Sarah from Designs by Sarah.

Sarah is 28 years old and lives in Belgium, a small European country between France, Germany and the Netherlands. She loves photos and photography and always wanted to make digital photobooks from her and her boyfriend’s vacation/trip photos. But it was when she found out about digital scrapbooking in January 2010 that she found a much cooler way to preserve their memories, and fell in love with digital scrapbooking ever since! Encouraged by her boyfriend she took her first designer steps in June 2011, and has been learning a lot since then and can’t wait to show you what else she’s got in store for you!

What got you started in designing?

I started designing less than a year ago. The first item I ever designed was an alpha. I love alphas and I wanted to try and make them myself. Together with some digi-friends from the Dutch Scrapbook Board, we took our very first steps in designing and made our own blogtrain. I have to say… I learned a LOT since then.

Where do you do your designing?

We moved homes about 3 years ago and since then, my desk has had many places. We had put my desk in a spare room. Unfortunately, it got very chilly during the winter, so I moved my desk into our living room. At the end of November, my computer broke down and I borrowed my dad’s laptop. My boyfriend took my desk and I sat with my dad’s laptop at our living room table. I have my own laptop now, but I’m still at our living room table and that works out great!

What’s on in the background when you’re designing?

I do most of my designing in the evening, when I come home from work. I work full time during the day, so I do my designing when my boyfriend is home from work and watches the news, or any other show. He’s also a big fan of ‘Without A Trace’, so that’s often on in the background too.

What do you find to be the biggest challenge with designing?

Picking a color scheme is a big challenge for me. I sometimes don’t know which one to choose, because I get so inspired and can’t choose between so many options… sometimes I have a theme in my head for so long, but can’t seem to find the right colors.

What do you like most about designing?

There’s a LOT that I like about designing. Of course, I love designing itself. But I also love to see how a kit comes together, seeing how you start with a single element or paper and then seeing the result at the end. And of course, I love the reactions from my CT when I show them the kit, the reactions from fans, from scrappers all over the world. I love seeing layouts created with my kits appear in galleries.

How many hours a week do you spend designing? scrapping? community surfing?

A LOT. You can say I’m addicted to my computer. I put on my computer before I leave home to go to work and when I come home, putting on the computer is one of the first things I do. I try to design during the week and scrap during the weekend. During the week I spend +/- 4 to 5 hours a day designing and community surfing. I feel like Mouse Scrappers is my digi-home, so I check in at least 2 times a day.

What is your biggest source of creative inspiration?

I have to say Disney. I was a Disney fan as a child (weren’t we all?), but then I lost it a bit somehow. It was a dream for many years to go back to Disneyland Paris. When I finally got back there in 2010, I fell in love all over again.
But I also get inspired by seeing a color scheme or just a photo. For example: the color schemes for my Facebook Freebies inspired me a lot.

If you were one of your kits, which one would you be?

Lol, that’s a funny, but hard one! I think I would be Tiki Time. The theme, the colors, the elements and the papers… Seeing that kit makes me happy. I had so much inspiration that the kit turned out huge. I think it’s my favourite kit so far.

Who is your favourite designer?

Another hard one, I can’t just pick one! But there are a few that I would like to mention in this interview.
I’m on Lina’s CT (LDrag Designs) and I just love her kits. She has a gift for picking the right color scheme every time. Even though, her kits aren’t made for Disney, lots of them are just perfect for scrapping Disney photos.
Another designer close to my heart is my digi-friend Patty, from Scrappily Me. Her kits are beautiful and so easy to work with. It’s such a pleasure to be on her CT.
And both of them are such wonderful ladies.

Who would you love to collab with?

That’s an easy one. I would love to collab with Patty. We talked about it for a bit, but we never got that far. Unfortunately, she retired from designing. But who knows… maybe some day…

What is a piece of advice you have for scrappers?

Don’t forget to make a back-up once in a while. When my computer broke down in November, I lost most of my layouts made between May and the end of October, mostly my CT-layouts, layouts for challenges and the layouts I did for the Wish Families.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know Sarah a little better, and she gave me a little iNSD treat for the MouseScrappers readers, a free coordinating Chipboard Alpha to her latest release Crazy Little Monkey. And speaking of iNSD don’t forget to check Sarah’s blog and Facebook page for a bunch of Crazy Little Monkey freebies.

Download here

Here a small sample of what is in Sarah’s store