Friday Special: Ask the Artists!!

Hi everyone!! Today we are doing something a little different! We are taking a day off from featured artists and doing another round of “ask the artists”! I always like a chance for everyone to get to know our contributing artists better! So here we go!!

1. What does every scrapbooker need? What are YOUR scrapbook essentials?

Cathy: Patience! And a good pair of scissors. My essentials include my trimmer, cutter-bee scissors, ATG gun and precision mat.
Cindy: My number one essential need is TIME.....I find there is never enough! When I do find the time my two top favs have to be my Cricut because I love the options it provides, and my DSLR camera. I was a point and shoot camera gal before, and after switching to DSLR. I LOVE the way my photographs turn out. I also love my printer as it can print any size as little as a 1x1 up to a 13 x 17, which is really nice.
Dolores: I had to think a bit about this question, because my scrapbook essentials might be quite different from someone else. I have some tools that are “old habits” that I just won't give up, like my cutting mat, rotary cutter and clear 12” x 6” quilter's ruler. I use these tools for everything, trimming pictures, cutting mats, creating mitered corners with punched borders, lining up titles on my layouts. These are on my scrapbook table constantly. On the flip side I love my digital craft cutters and depend on them to save me time. I work full time so tools that save me time really give me more time to scrapbook.
Heather: I have to have neutral colored cardstock, and fabulous patterned paper. My current favorites are October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket. I also have to have small detail scissors for fussy cutting, and border punches!
Lydia: My scrapbook essentials are my papers and all my cutting tools. I.E Fiskars circle cutter and straight cutter. With these things you can do anything. The ideas are endless. O' one more thing that a scrapbooker needs is snacks, caffeine, candy, and anything to help you make it through the long nights of creativeness. :)
Nancy: My go to items when scrapbooking are patterned paper, distress inks, and my micro-tip scissors. I don't think I do many layouts that don't include these items.
Sarah: In my opinion, every scrapbooker needs the following: scissors, paper trimmer, paper (either patterned paper or cardstock), adhesive, and PICTURES! You can scrapbook without pictures, but it's always nice to have some to work with!
Susan: I have found that I use my paper piercer almost every time I scrap and for much more than just piercing paper. It's great to pick up glue dots and place them precisely. I use it to move tiny pieces around on my layout...and of course, I use it to punch holes when I just want holes.or when I want to sew on the layout.


2. What is one project that you weren’t happy with how it turned out? Did you re-do it or did you keep it as is?

Cathy: It is one of my very first ever scrapbook pages. It includes photos from my wedding. The page is so simplistic and lacking in color. I've not yet re-done yet, but hope to someday.


Cindy: This was a page about Halloween. I was not happy with the first overall result, and redid the layout using one of Pam's templates for one of the pages (it ended up a two-page layout instead of one). It is funny as now that I look back, I don't hate the original page as much as I did at the time!



Dolores: When I go hiking or take a vacation where I have lots of pictures I want to use together, a 2 page layout with grouped photos is great. I did the following layout with some pictures from a fall hike. While I really liked the pictures, I was dissatisfied with the result. I think the design is OK, but I really went wrong with the blue mat behind the main large picture. The mat did not have enough contrast with my green background paper, so the grouped photos don't feel anchored. It has a broken up feel, like the pictures are just floating on the page. I never redid the layout, but if I were to rework it I would mat the photos differently to make the grouped photos feel move like a single unit.


Heather: For some reason I'm really unhappy with this layout. It's a lot busier than I normally would like. I do not plan on going back to redo it. I have too many photos to scrap to go back and redo older layouts!


Lydia: I have a few that I didn't like how it turned out, but this is the one out of them all. I didn't redo it at all.


Nancy: I have this layout that is sitting in my "to-do" pile. I don't love it, but haven't gotten around to fixing it either.


Sarah: I feel that each layout I do is a piece of art, so I try not to get too upset with it. Do I regret making it? ...Nope! Not at all. I didn't go back and redo anything on this one. I created it for a sketch challenge over at Kiki Art. The more I look at it, the more I like it. I guess it started to grow on me after a while.


Susan: I’m not sure where I was going with this layout (Little Boy). I was doing it for a color challenge that allowed black, white and one other color. This one definitely did not turn out as I had imagined it, but I decided to leave it alone, and I think after looking at it for a while, I grew to like it more.




3. What is one project that turned out better than you originally expected? What made it special?

Cathy: We were visiting Disney World with some friends of ours and one evening their daughter was dressed as a princess. The two of us were waiting outside while the rest of our group enjoyed a ride. She was so cute chatting and dancing about. I snapped this photo of her. When I started scrapping it I really didn't plan in advance. Then I just kept adding things to the page. I'm not really a bulky scrapper, so this was a bit different for me. I gave it to her, she loved it.


Cindy: This layout turned out better than expected. It was a simple design that I did in 15 minutes, so my expectations were not much. But once it was complete I really loved how the bright colors of the farm, the sky, and the landscape/flowers worked so well together.


Dolores: With the following layout I was trying to do something different by using a cut out shape and the negative shape created by the paper the shape was cut from, sort of a positive/negative effect. I wanted the two shapes to have equal importance of the page so I tried to use good contrasting colors. In my layout the flourishes because my positive/negative shapes and while they are prominent parts of the layout they didn't take over the design. When I finished the layout I was really liked the end result.


Heather: I don't usually use brightly colored cardstock as my background so I was really iffy about this design. Once I got the layout put together, I decided I loved the color combination. This layout is special to me because I actually scrapped a photo of myself. I don't do that too often.


Lydia: I love how my "Chunky Monkey layout" turned out. I dont know what it was, but the outcome is what I love!


Nancy: I had this idea for a mini album of the rooms in my house. I really was happy when it turned out so well. I am glad I did it as I know in the future my family won't really remember what the rooms they grew up in looked like.


Sarah: Honestly, I was dreading this one when I got started on it. I felt like the colors of my photos and the papers weren't coordinating. I decided to mist it to add color. In the end, I was super proud of finishing this one! Why?! Well, let's just say that I used Imaginisce's latest wedding/love paper into Halloween-themed paper, hehe! :)


Susan: When I did “One Summer Morning”, every time I looked at the photo, it spoke to me…I know…don’t laugh! It looked like I was looking out of a window and watching my grandchildren together. The idea was born…I’d just make a window. I continued with the theme and made a few household “embellishments” like the table, flowerpot with flowers, scarf on the table…you get the picture. When I was finished with it, I was very hesitant to share it, because I wasn’t sure everyone would see what I saw in the photo. Now when I look at the layout, I’m captured by the “realness” of the view through the window.



4. If you by chance ever wrote an idea book or taught a class, what would be the title of the book or theme of the class be?

Cathy: I think I would go with a title like "How to Express Yourself through Art". I really enjoy sharing a bit of myself in each piece I design.
Cindy: I think if I were teaching a class it would be called " If I Can Do It You Can Do It (a class for anyone who thinks they have no craftiness in them)". I come from a family of talented artists. My Mother can paint beautiful and can sew and make furniture and do anything crafty, and my Dad is an engineer and can draw amazingly. Even my brother can draw and paint. Growing up I thought I was the odd one out, but instead I was just waiting for scrapbooking to find me.
Dolores: If I had the time to write a book it would be about one of two topics. I would enjoy writing about how to take great photos for scrapbook pages, because I love photography and maximizing the look of pictures through photo editing. The other topic that would be using color effectively in layouts. I am a watercolor painter and learned so much about colors, color harmonies, contrast, etc that it would be fun to write a book about how to apply all these design guidelines to scrapbook pages.
Heather: Crazy about Chipboard or Misting Memories. I love chipboard and mists!
Lydia: Scrapbooking for Kids and their parents will be my book title. My theme for my class is old kids supplies new look.(HINT TO LOOK FOR)
Nancy: "More is always better". I have a tendency, when I don't like a project, to just keep adding more flowers, trims, etc, until I do.
Sarah: If I could write an idea book, I would title it "Scrapbook Your Pets: They're Family Too"
Susan: Let’s Cover Up Those Mistakes! Yep, that’s a good class. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to re-adjust my layout to cover up and “mistake”! Much better to do that than to start over again.


5. My favorite page about myself is "__________".

Cathy: Resolve.


Cindy: I have so few pages about myself. One, because I am always unhappy with how I photograph and two, I am always the one taking the photos....BUT even if I had tons of layouts about myself, I still think this one would be my favorite. Not because of the layout, as it has a very very basic design, but because of the meaning of the page. The layout is about myself and my closest & oldest friend participating in the Baltimore Marathon to raise money for Leukemia research in my Dad's name, as my Father is currently living with Leukemia.


Dolores: This question made me stop and look through my scrapbook pages because while I have a lot of layouts with my picture, I can't say very many of them are truly about me. It's usually my husband and I, friends, me and my dogs. Maybe I should take some time to share a bit about myself more often. So here is a layout just titled “Autumn”. It is my favorite time of year and I always feel it doesn't last long enough.


Heather: This is my favorite page about myself because it shows me with all three of my children. It's VERY hard to get everyone in a photo. It's even harder to get them to look the same way. LOL It's not the best photo ever, but i


Lydia: My all time favorite of myself is this one! I know there are other in the photos, but the journaling explains it more.


Nancy: CHA, because I had such a good time attending and I really liked the mix of patterned papers and fabric.


Sarah: My favorite page about myself is one that includes my family. It is entitled, "Buildin' Block", and it is currently out for publication. However, it will be featured in an upcoming Memory Makers book. I can't wait to share it with everyone!
Susan: My favorite page about me, is my layout “Yesteryear”. It’s one of my favorite photos of me when I was small. Even then I looked like I had a bit of an attitude! LOL! I used Graphic 45 papers and they were just perfect for the theme of my layout.