I do love the bright colors in It's Your Day from Fancy Pants Designs.
Thank you for all the wonderful questions. I have truly enjoyed reading them & will answer them all. I have decided to break them up in different posts to make it easier for answering & reading. If my answers generate more questions, please feel free to ask!
Where do you draw inspiration from? Inspiration can come from a lot of places for me. A new product to play with, a new technique to try, an advertisement, "other" magazines (especially home decor, fashion, & wedding), a color palette, scrappy friends, a story to tell, blogs. I love these things artsy magazine...Cloth, Paper, Scissor, Artful Blogging, Art journal. Inspiration is all around us if we just open up our eyes and see the beauty. And when those things fail, i just take a break. Sometimes you need to let yourself do NOTHING to feel creative.
How do you go about designing a page?
Do you scrap using an inspiration piece like an ad or packaging or web-page
(like some people do) or do ideas just come to you? I usually design a page a couple of things, a story to tell and a technique to try. I pick my story & then my photos. I try to decide on how the layout will look. Sometimes it is obvious to me in my head & i try to create it. Other times i just start playing and see where it leads.
How do you usually start your lo? With a sketch? How do you pick your colors and
embellies? Working with Design teams, i usually have to use certain products. I usually start with my pictures & story and see what pattern paper matches the mood of the story. I then usually grab my paints &/or mists and start playing on the background. Next up i pull embellies to go with the layout. Stitches here & there. The last thing i do is the title & journaling. It happens way to often but i usually end up saying "Now where am i going to put the title & journaling." You would think i should plan it better but more often than not i am figuring it out at the last minute.
what do you do when you are mid-project and your work is not turning out you
imagined and you don't like it? (I'm assuming this happens to you, too!!!) Oh yes this happens to me. it's quite frustrating isn't it? There are a couple of "techniques" i do when this happens. First one is to remind myself to breath & i take a deep breath. It is amazing how that can clear the mind. Another is i ask myself why i think it isn't working. Am i frustrated with the products? Am i frustrated with the design? What is it about the layout that i frustrated with and how can i change it? And sometimes i just walk away and leave it. It helps me gain perspective and come back to it with "fresh eyes."
I can imagine you have all the scrap supplies in the world. So do you ever have
to improvise? If yes, how and what? You would think i have all the supplies in the world, yet sadly there are still some that i don't have & just want :) I do improvise quite a bit. I think the two biggest ways i improvise are with masks/stencils and with alphabets. I tend to create my own masks using punches, die-cuts, chipboard, etc. i often look around to see what i can use...bits of old mail, other household items. I can't tell you how many toys i have jacked, especially from Anthony. SHHHH don't tell him. And then with alphabets. Sometimes i just can't find the color i want, so i paint it or change them around to suit my needs.
My question is what time of day do you feel the most creative and productive? It varies based on the day. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes mid afternoon. Mostly it is when it is quiet in my house and i have nothing to do but create. However i get most of my creative ideas when i am lying in bed, reading usually, and just about to fall asleep. It is why i keep a pad of paper & pencil by my bed.
What are your best tips for making the
time to be creative? it has taken me time to learn that TIME itself is perception & what we make of it. We choose how to spend our time. So if creative time is important to us, put it on the schedule. I look at my day and see what needs to be done, what are the "non-negotiables." And then what do i want to get done but don't necessarily have to get done. and lastly, time for me which includes being creative. I have learned i am important enough to put on the schedule. We trying to do for everyone sometimes forget to do for ourselves.
and the winner of RAK #5: $10 Gift Certificate to Your Scrapbook Stash + Goodie Bag filled with a variety of scrappy goodness.
Here are your random numbers:
Posted By: Audrey Yeager August 30, 2010 at 8:14 pM
Congrats! Email me your address here!
Sweet Love,
Would love to win this! Thanks for the chance.