Spotlighting Ruth Ann

I'm a bit late today with our guest spotlight.  I better get straight to our fabulous guest then huh?!  Introducing...

Ruth Ann

{aka corsicar}

I'm 24, born and raised in California. Sunshine makes me happy, and anytime the temperature drops below 50 degrees F, I'm freezing. Music is a huge part of my life - I teach piano lessons, and play piano for local choirs and theater groups. It's so much fun!! Sometimes I can't believe that I get paid to "play." Also I'm a huge Disney fan and love traveling.

1. How long have you been scrapping?  Have you ever paper scrapped?  When did you make the switch to digi and why? I never paper scrapped, but I started digiscrapping in July 2009 after I took my first trip to Disney World. I wanted to do something with all the photos to help me remember the trip, and I discovered digiscrapping thanks to a Disney forum. I never thought I was a "creative type" but scrapping has really inspired me.
2. What do you feel is your strongest scrapping skill?  Your weakest? I'm still learning! Hahaha! But I think my shadows have really improved thanks to tutorials and just trying different things. My weak point is probably composition. I have a REALLY hard time starting with a blank page, so I usually use a template.
3. What advice would you give someone just starting out digi-scrapping?  Learning a graphics program can be overwhelming, so have a friend help you learn your program, if you don't know already. Freebies are great to start with, and do challenges or tutorials just to get used to scrapping.
4. 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?  I use GIMP. Usually I start with the photos I want to scrap and choose a kit that matches the color or theme. Sometimes I'll have a really clear idea of how I want the page to look, but usually I make it up as I go along. After I've got the photos, I choose the papers, and finally the elements. Journaling is usually last.
5. How long does it take you to complete a layout? Usually a few hours. If I'm not feeling inspired or somethings not working, I set it aside and come back to the page in a few days.
6. On average, how much time do you spend scrapping each week? Recently, not as much as I'd like to. Maybe about 6 hours working on pages, but then there's always more time spent organizing my stash and browsing my favorite sites.
7. Describe your perfect scrapping environment - coffee? soda?  music? snacks?  Lounging on the couch with my laptop, and I usually have the TV going. If not, then just some music probably.
8. What's your favorite thing to do BESIDES scrapping? I love playing the piano, and in the last year I've started to really enjoy running.
9. What is one thing you would love to do, just so you could scrap it? Hmmm... I've always wanted to go skydiving. Can I take pictures on the way down? :D
10. Who inspires you in the scrapping community?  Any person or site in particular that you look to for inspiration?  Since I'm still working on scrapping my Disney World trip (and all the Disneyland trips), I love Britt-ish Designs because of all her Disney-inspired kits. Some of my favorite scrappers are Britt, Cheryl (gonewiththewind), Tanya (TanyaH666) and Brenda (Brenda Smith Designs). Clustery and white space LOs both appeal to me, although I don't make white space LOs very often.
11. If you could have Amber create a kit just for you, what colors, theme, etc would it be and why?  Hmm this is tough. I love bright colors or colors that remind me of my favorite foods - orange (sherbet), (mint) green, rich (chocolate) brown, purple...maybe not all at once though. Hahaha! And I know I have a bad habit of buying kits based on the color scheme, even though I have no photos to go with the kit! I love glitzy kits too (which is why Into the Night is one of my absolute faves). So maybe a fancy-ish kit, with some glitz and elegance, but bright, energetic colors.

Oldest Layout

My first LO ever, and the reason I wanted to learn how to digiscrap - an awesome first trip to Disney World!

Favorite Layouts

This is "THE Castle Shot" and as soon as I saw this template, I KNEW I had to use it for this photo. Then I found the perfect word art, and this page practically created itself. (Although, I spent hours brightening and adjusting the photo.)

 Yet another Disney World LO! This is one of my few pages that I created without using a template. I had collected all sorts of different fishy & ocean elements and I knew I wanted to create an ocean scene to go with these pics.

Layout Using Stolen Moments Products

This is a scraplift of a page I saw as a newbie scrapper. This uses my favorite Stolen Moments kit - Into the Night. Totally gorgeous colors, and plenty of glitz and elegance. It was fun coming up with 100 different things and activities to include. The hardest thing was sizing all the different fonts to fit.

Most Recent Layout

I LOVE the colors in Amber' collab kit Better Days Ahead. Sooo rich and gorgeous.

Thank you Ruth Ann for sharing your wonderful layouts with us!  To see more terrific work by Ruth Ann check out her GALLERY!