Stolen Moments: Spotlighting Niki

Hey all! Jewelle here to bring you this weeks CT spotlight. I'm excited to tell you more about...

Niki

How long have you been scrapping? about a year or so (is that really it? It feels like much longer!) since April of 2009. Have you ever paper scrapped? Yes, off and on over the course of 11 years - nothing too intense like I am with digi-scrapping, though! When did you make the switch to digi and why? I started playing around with Photoshop in October of 2008 because I liked a bunch of the siggy's on our birth board. I made siggy's for myself and our birth board for a few months and then stumbled upon the scrapping community and became addicted fast!!!
What do you feel is your strongest scrapping skill? I honestly don't have a lot of confidence yet....I see sooooo many layouts that are absolutely stunning and I know I don't measure up. I have worked hard to get where I am in the past year though and strive to learn new techniques with each layout.....so with all that being said (hehe!) I would say my strongest is uhhh, ummm, maybe shadows?? Your weakest? My weakest by far is photo editing. I wish I could get the most important part of scrapping right one of these days!
What advice would you give someone just starting out digi-scrapping? I would say to find some great tutorial sites and read, read, and read some more, because there is sooooo much information out there! I would also say to join a scrap site forum and jump in and ask questions! There are so many wonderful girls in this community who can help you along the way! That's how I have learned - through new friendships. There are some great classes that are offered through various sites also.
Describe your scrapping "system"... What program do you use? I just upgraded to Photoshop CS4 and am in love!!! Where do you start first - photos, papers, elements, journaling? I start with the kit and then find the photo(s) to match the kit (I typically go by colors in the photos and kit), and then the first thing I do is papers - background and then shapes. Do you always have something in mind when you start, or do you let your creativity guide you? I do both...it depends on the kit. Some of them I see and know exactly what I am going to do, and others I have no clue and have to browse galleries to get some inspiration before I start. How long does it take you to complete a layout? I would say I am a slow scrapper....it take me around 2 hours to get a layout done.
On average, how much time do you spend scrapping each week? I do about 5 layouts a week so I would guess 10 hours.
Describe your perfect scrapping environment - coffee? soda? music? snacks? I scrap when my daughter is napping or in bed for the night so its almost always dead-quiet (not by choice - however, I sometimes remember to grab my IPod). I also have a sugar-free redbull beside me during nap and a glass of water at night! ;)
What's your favorite thing to do BESIDES scrapping? Traveling! I love to visit new places and do new things with my family!
What is one thing you would love to do, just so you could scrap it? This is a hard one! I would say traveling to either New York or Greece and Spain!
Who inspires you in the scrapping community? Any person or site in particular that you look to for inspiration? There are soooooo many fabulous scrappers out there, and they all inspire me!! I typically go to DSA for inspiration because it has a wide variety of styles and talented scrappers from all the sites!