Spotlighting Sara

Hey all, Jewelle here again with a CTM spotlight!  I'm excited to spotlight one of our CTM who has been creating layouts for Amber for quite some time.  Let's learn more about...

Sara

{aka misfitinmn}

My name is Sara and I am a 29 year old mom of 2 handsome little men - Benjamin (3) and Matthew (6 months).  My husband Jon & I will celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary in October, we will have been together for 10 years this May!  Crazy how fast that time goes.  I have been scrapping since I found out I was pregnant with Ben, my plan was to make a book for my mother-in-law and I did...kind of!  I got hooked and now I get so into making pages for myself that I forget to make some for her.  So her book is rather....incomplete.  Digiscrapping is the only way really that I am "crafty" though I wish that were not the case!

1. How long have you been scrapping?  Have you ever paper scrapped?  When did you make the switch to digi and why?  I started digiscrapping in November of 2007.  I haven't ever paper scrapped, BUT when I started in November 2007, it was because I had bought a bunch of paper supplies to start the book for my mother-in-law, looked at them for awhile and decided I just couldn't be crafty like that.  Did a little googling and discovered digiscrapping, never touched the paper supplies!
2. What do you feel is your strongest scrapping skill?  Your weakest? Taking photographs is my strongest skill!  Or journaling.  My weakest skill is building a page from scratch.  I just cannot design a page layout for the life of me!
3. What advice would you give someone just starting out digi-scrapping? Just scrap for you, and your memories.  I spent way too much time for awhile comparing myself to the amazing talent out in digiland before I decided that my pages are my memories and I just need to scrap them however I feel is best for me.  If that means using a template on every page, well...so be it!  It's not a competition!  Just have fun and keep trying new things!
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?  How long does it take you to complete a layout? I scrap using Photoshop CS5.  I am really motivated by CT work - it's much easier for me to put a page together when I "have" to use a kit than to try and think of something from scratch.  But generally I jot down ideas for pages as they randomly pop into my head and let that guide me.  My first step is to always match the kit I am working with to photos...if the colors in the photos don't match, I go black & white.  I'm really weird about things matching!  I almost always use a template and put in papers, then photos, then elements, and then journal.  It usually takes me at least 1-2 hours per page.  Much, much longer if I don't start with a template!
5. On average, how much time do you spend scrapping each week? Every minute I can!  I probably get maybe like...2ish hours per day.  It sounds like so much time when I put it "on paper"!
6. Describe your perfect scrapping environment - coffee? soda?  music?  snacks? Sometimes I have Pandora on, sometimes just silence (with the 2 boys, I crave silence sometimes!).  Sometimes I snack, and sometimes I just get really into it.  I don't really have any kind of routine.
7. What's your favorite thing to do BESIDES scrapping? Reading!
8. What is one thing you would love to do, just so you could scrap it? I am so excited to do a Disney trip so we I can scrap it!
9. Who inspires you in the scrapping community?  Any person or site in particular that you look to for inspiration? I am amazed by template designers - all of them, really!  My favorites are probably Sara Gleason & Cindy Schneider and yes, they have two totally DIFFERENT styles! I just am awestruck at their ability to consistently put together page layouts that are unique and amazing.  This probably stems from my own inability to design a page on my own!
10. If you could have Amber create a kit just for you, what colors, theme, etc would it be and why? I would LOVE to see Amber's take on a camping kit!  We are a huge camping family and that's one theme that I just cannot get enough of!

 

Oldest Layout

I have no idea what I was thinking here...definitely doesn't match my current style of cleaner lines and more clustering!

Favorite Layouts

This one I just love because of how everyone is gazing at the baby, so loved, it's just so special to see all of the most important people in my life loving on my baby!

This is just still just a dead-on description of my older boy, and I love how those photos capture his silly side - and his killer blue eyes!

Recent Layouts

I really cannot believe my boy is already 3 years old...this layout was fun to make AND made me a little sad, too!

The little lady in most of my girly layouts is my niece, we don't see her a WHOLE lot, but she's a sassy little thing and I enjoy being able to scrap memories of her as well!

To see more of Sara's amazing work be sure and stop by her GALLERY.