Member Spotlight
Hey all, Polly Jewelle here! I am excited to bring you another TLP member spotlight! Rae has been a member at TLP for quite awhile now. She can always be seen in the forum chatting it up. It is so fun having her around! Rae’s gallery is also one that is chock full of inspiration. Lets sit back and take some time to get to know more about Rae this week.
Jewelle: What is your IRL name and your user name?
Jewelle: Where do you call home?
Rae: I’m on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, in the Vancouver area. We also have a trailer outside of Bellingham, Washington that we spend a lot of time at. I love our moderate climate and we are in such close proximity to the mountains and the ocean.
J: What kind of scrapper are you? Digital or Hybrid? Both?
R: My scrapbook pages are 100% digital but I create hybrid greeting cards. I think I have a lifetime supply of scrapbook paper, stamps, ribbons, brads and buttons (left over from my paper scrapping days) for card making to use with digital printables and wordart.
J: How long have you been scrapping?
R: I started as a traditional paper scrapper about 10 years ago. At the time I was a distributor for a few stamp companies, taught card classes and worked in a scrapbook store. Then I discovered digital scrapbooking and slowly made the transition over to digital. It took a few years to really become immersed in it but now I scrap almost every day and can’t imagine ever giving it up. I create many more pages as a digital scrapper than I ever did as a traditional paper scrapper.
J: What is the starting point for your pages – photos, the story, products?
R: I usually start with my photo (my pages are usually single photo layouts), then choose a kit that complements the colors in my photo. I may mix and match kits but stick to a color theme. The story (journaling) is usually a minimal part of my page. I stick to the details, rather than telling a story. I’m not much of a journaler but am working at improving that.
J:How would you describe your style?
R: I am a minimalist scrapper; even when using mixed media products I like to see some white space on my page. I always texturize, recolor, blend and shadow, using a variety of brushes and stamps. I like to add in a bit of element clustering, adding in shadowing to build up depth.
J: Any must-have items or techniques on all of your pages?
R: I shadow every single element I use. My brush collection has grown quite a bit over the last couple of years. I have become obsessed with them, especially texturizing and edging brushes. As for elements, I am addicted to buttons and flair. I will usually finish off a page by adding a few of these. I love the plethora of paint/splats/scatters available in kits too, using them on pretty much all my pages.
J: Could you share a favorite tip or trick?
R: I like to shadow washi tape. I shadow the crease along the edge of the photo/paper and under the washi. To do this I will create a new layer, select overlay mode, choose a soft brush slightly bigger than the crease along the paper/photo, dodge a straight line across the crease (position brush at one starting edge and then shift-click on the finishing position and it will draw a straight line across) and then burn a smaller straight line right across the photo/paper edge crease. It’s a technique that is meant to be subtle, so keep the opacity of brush low when dodging and burning, around 15-25%.
J: Great tip Rae! Thanks for sharing that!
J: Do you listen to music while you scrap? What kind?
R: Nope, never. I am a TVaddict through and through. I have my laptop set up beside my PC and will watch shows as I scrap. This weekend I watched all the current episodes of Madam Secretary and Grimm.
J: What’s your favorite snack (if any) while you scrap?
R: I drink a lot of coffee, tea or flavored water but try to keep the snacking to a minimum. I get caught up in what I’m creating and don’t think about eating much. But, if I do snack, it’s going to be chocolate.
J: What time of day do you feel most creative?
R: Early morning (7:30ish), lunch time (I work at home so can scrap while I take a break for lunch) and after dinner. My least productive time is late evening so I generally read and/or watch TV the few hours before bedtime.
J: Any pictures of your workplace?
R: I’ve got a scrapbook room in our basement which is generally messy but I just close the door and walk away. No one sees it but me, unless I have some friends over to scrapbook. Since moving to digital, my scrap room has been taken over slowly with photography props and equipment, but I retain a small portion of it for my tables and scrap supplies.
The room across from this is my office where I have a work computer, my personal PC that I scrap on and a laptop to watch TV shows. It’s not a pretty room, nor is it well organized, but it is set up to fit my needs and I love to spend hours here.
J: Share with us the top 3 layouts that you’ve created.
R:
Thank you Rae for letting us learn more about you!
Be sure and pop over to Rae’s TLP gallery to see more of her amazing work! Do you want to be spotlighted on the TLP blog? Keep posting your layouts in the gallery and you may be next!
