Polly Picks: Scrap Like HeatherB Challenge!

Welcome to the second edition of our newly revamped Polly Picks series, where each month we will chat with one of our Pollys about their scrapbooking style and fave things and give you the chance to win a $5 code for the store just by scrapping like them.

Before we jump into the June challenge, let me announce the random winner from our May challenge – big congrats to Dady! (You’re prize will be sent shortly through conversations so watch out for that this week!)

This month we are featuring HeatherB! Heather has been an active Polly in our community for longer than I can remember. Her gallery is full of family and furbabies and when I say full, it’s super full! She is one of the scrapper’s I associate with the ‘fill the page’ style and her layouts are almost always recognisable to me. Her gallery is here but I’ll link some specific pages below when we get to the challenge part from her gallery that caught my eye and feel to me like they are definitively her.

Let’s get the ball rolling with an interview. Here’s my Scrap Like A Polly Q&A with HeatherB.

Your digiscrapping history and style:
1. How long have you been digiscrapping and has your style changed since then? 

I have been digiscrapping since around 2009. I used to do a lot of pages from scratch but they would take hours and hours as I fussed over the design and the placement of every single paper and element. I also used to do a lot more extractions (back when it wasn’t as easy as it is today). But other than that, looking back my style has pretty much stayed the same. Very traditional paper looking style either with lots of photos or one big photo, and then realistic element clusters to decorate. I like to fill up the whole page!

Your page focus and process:
2.What do your layouts usually focus on and how do you usually start a page? 

My layouts are almost always about the stories in our lives. They focus almost exclusively on the photos and journaling. I combine photos and words to preserve the memories of special days, little moments, and unique situations, so that my kids will know the stories of their childhood and maybe even a few from their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This includes the big things (holidays, birthdays, and milestones) and the little things (sports teams, personal moments, everyday happenings, and special times together).

My layouts start with photos, then I pick a template that has enough photo spots in the right orientation. After I place my photos on the page, I work on the journaling. Next I add the papers, usually solids, with just a small amount of patterned papers to not overwhelm the page. After that, I pick my foliage, and then my elements. These days, mainly flowers because that is what I find fills up the page with lots of colour!

Your must-have products:
3. Is there a specific type or category of element you must have on a layout?

I almost always have foliage on the page and some flowers. I like the colour the flowers bring and love the foundation that the foliage makes. I also love to use basics on a page. Basic alphas, papers, buttons, and staples.

4. Are you most drawn to patterned papers or solids for backgrounds?

I am drawn mainly to solids for backgrounds and use a bit of patterned papers for the accents. Because I usually use lots of photos, having too many patterned papers adds too much of a busy look. So I like to use patterned papers for small accents instead.

Examples of your gallery faves:
5. Can you share 3 fave pages with us and tell us a bit about why you love them?

I really like this page because of the photos of my oldest doing something he loves! He was camping and hiking in Drumheller. I also love the colours, a nice masculine page.

The next page that I love is this one of my youngest, taking a moment in a football game. He’s lost in thought and the camera caught that perfectly. I also like it because it is one of my big photo pages (which I adore). The clustering is a little more on the artsy side too!

This is my first page in the gallery here at TLP and still one of my favourite pages. I love that I could include so many photos and I really like my title work and word play!

Thanks for that Heather! I totally associate flowers and clusters with you and I love that your style is still so paper style and has been consistent for so long (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!). Basics can do a lot and your method of using smaller bits of patterned papers is a great way to use them for people that struggle to use and mix them!

Now it’s your turn to Scrap Like A Polly!

Just scrap a new page using the ingredients listed below that channel the featured Polly’s style and upload your page to the TLP gallery and come back here and post the  link to your page in the comments please.

These pages helped me come up with the ingredient list below and my own HeatherB-style layout.

In looking at this collection that I pulled from Heather’s gallery, it shows a lot of what she said in the interview and also some of the opposite! I noted that:

* Heather is equally good at using solids and mixing pattern papers;
* photos are the clear focus of the page, either by using a single large photo or several photos;
* shapes are often featured in the layout design and have impact when used with repetition;

* elements are often placed in clusters guiding the eye around the page;
* flowers and leaves are a consistently used element. (She’s one of the scrapper’s that I love because she shows flowers can absolutely work on a masculine page or with any theme!)

* titles are optional – wordart or subtle journalling can sometimes take the place of a formal title

Following on from that, these are the ingredients you need to use to Scrap like HeatherB and make your page for this challenge:

• Use a big photo OR multiple photos 
• Repeat a shape (or element) at least 3 times
• Use at least 1 patterned paper
• Create at least 1 element cluster
• Include flowers

Let me show you some currently available goodies that suit scrapping in Heather’s style that might help kickstart your scrapping when I searched the store and then the page I made channeling my inner HeatherB!

And here’s my page using the ingredients. I have repeated diamonds (with a template) and clustered elements in the top with the title and bottom with the diamonds including different types of flowers. I filled the page with photos and have a stripe pattern peeking out from behind the main photo and floral patterned paper in the diamond shapes. Full credits in the gallery.

Now it’s your turn! You have from now until the next Polly Picks post in the last week of June to scrap like HeatherB using the ingredient list above. Feel free to use products from any designer currently selling in the TLP store and add anything extra to the ingredients to make your layout. Don’t forget to link me to your page in the comments for your chance to go in the random draw to win. The deadline is 22 July. Can’t wait to see what you create.