TGIF Sweet Shoppers!! Can you believe that the month of April is quickly coming to a close? How’s your portfolio looking for this month?  Need an extra creative boost to earn a point? Keep reading for an awesome challenge featuring our Friday Featured Scrapper!

Today brings us the fabulous scrapper Heather (aka heatherks). You’ve admired her scrapping gallery – if you are not familiar with her work, make sure you check out her gallery at the Sweet Shoppe here.

Heather has been digiscrapping for about 2 years and like most of us – she started paper scrapping after her wedding in 1998. Her goal was to create a wedding scrapbook. Heather continued to paper scrap off and on until shortly after the birth of her first child in 2002. After that, her scrapping stuff got shoved under a bed and it became a chore just to get it out and get ready to scrap.

Heather initially discovered digital scrapbooking in 2006 but didn’t really understand it and after a trial page or two she gave it up. The itch began again to create scrapbooks for her kids a couple years later.  She picked up the digital scrapbooking once again.

Shortly after that she found SSD and she’s never looked back!

She started scrapping with PSE 5, upgraded to 6 for a short time and now use CS4. She’s finally gotten the hang of using my tablet and pen too – she calls it “a major accomplishment for me”. Heather also use ACDSee to organize all of her scrap stuff. She creates for Misty Cato, Eva Kipler and Melissa Bennett.

To get to know Heather a bit better – I asked her a few questions.

Q. What is your job/employment? I work part-time at our church as the office manager/secretary. It’s the perfect combo for me since I get to stay at home with our kids in the afternoons and available to play chauffer to them but I still get out of the house for that much needed break! J

Q. What colors do you love to work with? Can you believe I browsed through my gallery to answer this question? No particular color struck me right away but after looking through my layouts I just realized that I like COLOR! It doesn’t matter what color, I just like color in general. I don’t use many neutrals on my pages because given the option, I’ll always pick a color. If I have to choose, I’d say that pink is my favorite to scrap with because it can be mixed with so many other colors and given so many different looks depending on how you use it.

Q. Who inspires you? I’m inspired by everyone and everything. My kids inspire me with their crazy antics and the adorable photo ops they give me, other scrappers inspire me with their new ideas and techniques, and the designers inspire me with their fabulous kits. My favorite galleries to browse when I need inspiration are Cindy Schneider (cindys732003) and Nikki (nikkiepperson). They both rock!

Q. What’s usually going on when you scrap? I do a lot of my scrapping in the evenings after the kids go to bed. That usually means I’m on the couch with my laptop, dh is in the recliner with his laptop and we’re catching up on our DVR’d shows on tv. We’re pretty exciting!

Heather shared with us her three favorite layout and why.  I love this part of these interviews because I get to see these works of art through the artist’s eyes.

I love this layout not only because I adore this picture of my little guy but because it represents the point where I really think I started coming into my own with my scrapping style. When I look through my gallery, it’s the point that I feel it looks like I finally “got it.”

I don’t journal a lot on my pages so I was proud of the way this page turned out and how much journaling I was able to get on the page. I also think it turned out to be an interesting layout even without a photo to go along with it.

This was a lift for the January portfolio. I loved the photo and wanted something that showcased it without overpowering it. I love the softness and how the colors pop off of the white background. It just makes me smile.

Now onto our challenge!  It’s a Neapolitan.  Use these three lovely layouts by Heather to create your own fabulous scrap page.  Chose an aspect of each layout and incorporate it into your layout – make sure you make a note of what aspects you incorporated within your layout credits.  Upload your layout to the SSD Gallery before the 30^th of April and mark your portfolio with Blog Bonus Challenge #4.

The Babes played along with this challenge and here are the layouts that these lovely ladies created!

Kristine used the background papers and stitching from the first LO, the paper blocks and the paint from the second, and the title and the scattered flowers from the last one.  Her kit of choice was Lift me up by Lauren Reed and Lauren Grier.

Darla was inspired by the triple layers for background and way frames used on photos in layout 1. Layout 2: paint splats and paper strips used in background and Layout 3: scattered flowers and hearts.  The kit she used was By My Side kit by Shawna Clingerman.

Jenny lifted from the First layout: 3 photos, stitching and ribbon strips. Second layout: Double layer for background and paper blocks and the Third layout: Flowers, ric rac, word strips, and circle stamp.  She used Lauren Grier’s At the Bus Stop.

And here is mine.  I was inspired by the matting of the papers in the first layout along with the three photos.  In Heather’s second layout – the paint made it into my layout and the third layout inspired me to use tabs and the bracket shapes within my layout.  I used Spring Fling by Zoe Pearn.

Reminder that this challenge CANNOT be combined with any other portfolio challenge except for the new release bonus point!

Happy Friday!!