Polly Picks: Scrap like SeattleSheri Challenge

t’s time for another Polly Picks! 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!

Winner, Winner: Before we jump into the May Challenge, let me announce the random winner from our April challenge:

Big congrats to MargaretA! (You’re prize will be sent shortly through conversations so watch out for that this week!)

This month we are chatting and scrapping with Polly SeattleSheri. Sheri’s been part of the Layout Team for several years and her pages are always dimensional and achieve the delicate balance of maximal element use with negative space. Her clustering is always jaw-dropping and I absolutely love her flower use on every page, even as a boy-mom x 3! Her full gallery is here but I’ll link to some specific pages in a minute. Her pages often include poetic and reflective journaling as well. Her shadowing skills are also epic and each page has so much to take in with the level of detail!

Let’s find out more about SeattleSheri’s scrapping from her with an interview. Here’s my Scrap Like A Polly Q&A with Sheri.

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

I started digiscrapping in 2008, when my older boys were just little guys. My default style hasn’t changed much over the years, but sometimes I push myself out of my comfort zone to use different styles (mostly inspired by challenges). It won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s familiar with my style that I gravitate toward clusters! I also really love to create depth on my pages using shadows and lighting.

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

My layouts tend to focus on family and friends, and almost always include photos. I like to print my layouts in photobooks, so I usually have that in mind.

I typically start my page with a particular product, since I don’t tend to mix and match products, and will almost always use a single collection. From there, I focus on overall page design, often sketching out photo and paper placement using my custom shape tool.

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

I have a laundry list of things that I like to include on my pages. The biggest must-haves for me are elements that I can use for layering (flowers, foliage, etc). With that said, I also like variety, so you’ll almost always find stitches, brushes, frames, and much more piled on!

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

I rarely rely solely on patterned papers for my background. If I do use a strong pattern, many times I will layer a solid on top of it, so the pattern isn’t directly beneath the body of my layout. My favorite background papers are mostly solid, but with some light pattern to give them a bit more character. Alternatively, I will use brushes to decorate solid papers.

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

This is such a tough question!! I love so many pages for different reasons, so it’s really hard to narrow it down! My youngest son is featured in a lot more of my pages these days (mostly because he’s the most accessible).

My first page showcases photos taken while in Barcelona. Not only was this one of the most fantastic trips of my life, but I really like the techniques I used on this page – so I enjoyed the creative process. It embodies a time where I got to experience culture, family, and joy. It includes all of the things that I love in page design – a large background photo, clustering, brushes, and unique title work (I spent a ridiculous amount of time adjusting “Park Güell⁩” so it would be just right).

Page 2: My husband took this picture of me on one of our morning walks in Barcelona. I love that it captures a candid life moment. My husband doesn’t take a lot of unprompted photos, so it was meaningful to me that this moment struck him.

Page 3: I loved this page so much I actually turned it into a holiday card! I adore the silly and whimsical expressions of my youngest son, and of course, I’m always a huge fan of extractions.

Now it’s your turn to Scrap Like A Polly! On to the challenge:

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, (remember to use the PollyPicks tag in the tag field) 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 SeattleSheri page. Her multilayered clusters are epic and iconic while still her composition also uses negative space to create balance. The photos as the stars of her page and her use of photo treatments and framing are also notable. They are an intgeral part of her page design and are a layer in her clusters, sandwiched sandwiched between papers and elements for depth.

Following on from that, these are the ingredients you need to use on your challenge page to scrap like Sheri:

• Include at least 1 photo and build a cluster it into a cluster. For this you should:
  • Have elements touching your photo/s on at least one side
  • Stack elements above and below the photo layer for depth in the cluster
• Include a total of at least 5 floral and/or foliage pieces
• Include some ribbon, string, thread or doodley lines for curves and movement
• Add something artsy – anything from paint splatter, text stamps, brush work or a painted background.

Let me show you some currently available goodies that suit scrapping in Sheri’s style

And here’s the page I created in Sheri’s style. It’s definitely a challenge for me to create Sheri’s iconic element clusters and use so many flowers and leaves, so I found some photos that had a floral theme and used the Suddenly It’s Autumn template pack by Studio Kaleidoscope. I ended up smooshing the two templates together to give me a base to work from. Then I used a mix of packs and designers to create this page about wisteria. The lightly coloured and textured artsy background is from Glowbound by Joyce Paul with her Sunshiny Day brushes, to give a hanging wisteria look and anchor the clusters. The rest is a combination of Lynn & Rachel’s Hear My Voice 26: Discovering and Sahlin Studio’s Autumn Stories. Here’s a before and after with my combined template use. It’s more flowers, thread and ribbons than I’d use in a month’s worth of layouts but I think the depth and volume gives it quite SeattleSheri look!

Now it’s your turn! You have from now until the next Polly Picks post in the 2nd week of June to scrap like Sheri 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 or in the May Scrap Like a Polly forum thread for your chance to go in the random draw to win. You can also ‘tag’ your page in the gallery with #pollypickschallenge

The deadline is June 7 . Can’t wait to see what you create. Blog comments should work now or add your page to the thread in the Challenge Pad in the Forum please.