Spotlighting KimKim
{aka kmkarayannis}
My name is Kim Karayannis and I am originally from Southern California, but have lived in Northern Virginia for the past 10 years. My hubby and I both just finished our 10th year of teaching high school history (that's how we met). My husband has 4 daughters (so many girls around here!!) and we have one son, who is three, and the subject of most of my pages. I am working on my Master's in ancient and classical history, slow and steady wins the race! I love scrapping, Disney, traveling, the ocean, Lord of the Rings, and burgers and fries. I am doing some creative team work that I COMPLETELY love, and I thank Amber very much for letting me join this AWESOME group of ladies for the month of June. (I hope she will let me know of any other month, EVER, that she wouldn't mind having me around again, hehehe.)
Kim answered a little survey for us helping us get to know her even a little bit more!
- How long have you been scrapping? Have you ever paper scrapped? When did you make the switch to digi and why? I paper scrapped starting in high school, you can imagine how those pages looked!! I kept up with that until my local store closed and then I finally gave in and went digital in 2008. I have not looked back!
- What do you feel is your strongest scrapping skill? Your weakest? I think I am good at multi-photo pages, and I am really proud of my P365 pages. Using color is also something that comes easy for me. White space, single photo layouts and curves give me FITS!
- What advice would you give someone just starting out digi-scrapping? For someone just starting out the VERY most important thing I could suggest is finding a digi-home and getting involved. Participate in challenges and forums and you will see your skills grow right away while meeting great people! It worked for me!
- Describe your scrapping "system"... What program do you use? Where do you start first - photos, papers, elements, journaling? Do you always have something in mind when you start, or do you let your creativity guide you? How long does it take you to complete a layout? I use PSE 8 and I think I love it...no need for anything else! I always start scrapping with photos. I have these running "topics" in my mind that I am always working on...my son's 1st year baby book, P365 layouts, and keeping up with current pictures. I pick from one of those three topics and get going! I spend 45 minutes to an hour on each page, but have been known to take longer when doing extractions.
- On average, how much time do you spend scrapping each week? I busted my backside cranking out layouts during the Queen Of Scrap contest, but usually I spend about 1-2 hours per day on SOMETHING related to scrapping, whether that includes actual scrapping, creative team work, posting, participating in forums, and all of those kinds of shenanigans.
- Describe your perfect scrapping environment - coffee? soda? music? snacks? HOWEVER I CAN!! I really can't while my son is awake, so usually it is during nap times or after he goes to bed. I like to hang out with my hubby and scrap in front of the TV sometimes, but I recently got an awesome chair in my bedroom where I can sneak away for some much needed peace and quiet, so I expect many future layouts to come from that spot!
- What's your favorite thing to do BESIDES scrapping? Hanging out with my little man, watching movies and reading, but at certain times EVERYTHING takes a back seat to my grad school work.
- What is one thing you would love to do, just so you could scrap it? I would LOVE to scrap more travel. I also love scrapping pages that have pictures of me as a little girl doing the same kids of things my son does now...pages that will have a picture of me and a picture of him, about the same age doing the same kinds of activities. I think those are priceless keepsakes.
- Who inspires you in the scrapping community? Any person or site in particular that you look to for inspiration? My family and travels are VERY inspirational for scrapping. When I don't know where to go with a particular page, I browse around in some galleries at ScrapMatters, and I'm telling you, there is PURE genius there! Many of those ladies are on THIS team!!!
- If you could have Amber create a kit just for you, what colors, theme, etc would it be and why? I have SO many of her kits, that this is a hard question. Right now I am interested in a Mediterranean type kit and versatile solid papers that have a bit of texture to them. I would also love a solid go-to stash of strings and stitches of different shapes, sizes and colors.
First Layout
This is the first page I ever made...I will rescrap it someday! What the heck kind of stroke did I apply to that little prince button??
Favorite Layouts
I made this for QOS using the QOS kit, it is inspired by a layout by Liz Moss (mommy22girls). I have not tried a lot of photo less pages and I really enjoyed this one and LOVE how it turned out.
I made this two-pager about my classroom (been in the same one since I started teaching 10 years ago) and we are being renovated, so I am moving out of it after all this time. I am SO happy with how this turned out, I captured exactly what I felt.
Layout Using Stolen Moments Products
I love my P365 pages. This is my most recent one and I used Makin Me Happy and the Happiest Add-on along with a template by Simply Scraps. The Happiest Bundle is just so perfect for so many different kinds of pages...it is one of my favorite kits in my whole stash.
Most Recent Layout
I made this as a Father's Day present for my Dad and my Hubby. I just love that photo and knew I needed to do something special with it.
Amazing layouts huh?! To see more of Kim's stunning creations check out her GALLERY and BLOG. Be on the look out next Tuesday to learn about our other guest CTM for June!
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