Featured Staffer 9/3 – Susan Bartolini
Happy September everyone! I am so glad to see us moving closer toward fall and the Holiday Season..although here in the South we’re still baking in summertime temperatures. This week we’re featuring the fabulous Susan Bartolini of ScrapKitchen Designs! Susan’s designs are filled with gorgeous patterned papers and wonderful color combinations that never fail to get me inspired when I sit down to scrap with one of her kits.
Here’s a little more about Susan:
I have been designing since 2005. Wow…that sounds like forever. I started with my own shop, ScrapKitchen.com and then came to the Sweet Shoppe in 2007. I use Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5, Lightroom 3 and Various Plug-Ins and Scripts.
How did you get started designing?
I started digital scrapping in 2004. By 2005 I wanted to try my hand at creating my own designs. From there, ScrapKitchen was born and the rest is history.
What is your best selling product?
Probably my collab with Shabby Miss Jenn, Flower Stand.
Where do you get inspiration for your designs?
I am really turned on by color. It is the very first thing that I do. I try to find unique and beautiful color combinations. Most of my kits are shabby, worn and decidedly feminine. Occasionally, I am inspired to do a boy kit, but they are a bit hard for me.
What is your designing “atmosphere”?
I have a big desk and design area that includes my Mac Pro tower, huge monitor, tablet and wide format printer. I like to grab my coffee (from my beloved Keurig machine), pop on my headphones and jam to my iTunes while I design. I usually only design when my kids are at school. I hate interruptions when I am in a flow and it is too difficult to design when they’re home. My desk is in front of two big windows and I like to have them open with lots of light. I am not much of doodler and design most of my patterns in Illustrator first before creating the papers in Photoshop.
I also asked Susan to share with us three of her own favorite products and tell us what she loves about them:
A Mother’s Love 2 Scoops with Kristin Cronin-Barrow
I mostly design feminine shabby type kits. I just love the colors of “A Mother’s Love” and working with Kristin is always a joy.
I love that I used “boyish” colors and still made them feminine and pretty.
I originally did this kit for the Daily Digi….but I loved it so much I brought it over to the Sweet Shoppe. I just love the rustic shabby feel to it.
Featured Designer Challenge (Bonus #1) for your September 2010 Scrapper’s Portfolio
Your challenge this week is to scrap using MOSTLY Susan’s products on your page. It’s okay to add other designers but most of your layout should be done using Susan’s products.
**please note this challenge is worth 1 point and cannot be combined with other portfolio prompts except for NR bonus point for a total of 2 points.**
And now some examples from our very own SugarBabes!
by Laurie
Credits: StellaLuna by ScrapKitchen Designs, Sunshine of My Life by ScrapKitchen Designs
by Dana
Credits: Savannah Flea Market by Eva Kipler and ScrapKitchen Designs
by Aggie
Credits: Clementine by ScrapKitchen Designs, Cindy’s Templates Set 69 (available 9/4)
by Nikki
Credits: Boyfriend Jeans by ScrapKitchen Designs
Don’t forget to edit your Portfolio with your page for this challenge!
NOTE: These Bonus Challenges are EXTRA on top of the Posted Portfolio Challenges. They CANNOT be combined with any other challenge and stand alone (except New Release bonus pt). Please feel free to PM me with any questions – nikkiARNGwife. Thanks!
