Featured Designer – Blagovesta Gosheva
Happy Friday Sweet Shoppers! And Happy April! I am so happy for April to be here – while we will probably still get at least one more snowstorm, the end of winter is in sight and I love that the days are getting so much longer.
Today we have a new Featured Designer, the incredible Blagovesta Gosheva. Blagovesta’s kits are always overflowing with so many fantastic elements, both themed and general ones that are good for any of your everyday pages. I’m always in awe of the themes of her kits too – there is something for everyone, and she has some really great templates too – if you’ve never checked out her store you really should go there and do it now!
With a new Featured Designer comes a new kit that you can get for FREE with your $10 purchase from now until the new releases go live and our next Featured Designer debuts on April 19. This year’s kits are all about ADVENTURE, and I just love the theme of this newest kit, Adventures of a Nerdy Girl. As a self-proclaimed geek, this is just perfect for those that are like me and are too ‘School’ for ‘Cool’ and are nerdy in the perfect way.
And now let’s find out more about Blagovesta!
Tell us about your journey with digital scrapbooking… How did you find out about it? Did you start with paper first? How did you get started designing? Where was your first shop? How and when did you end up at Sweet Shoppe Designs?
I came across Digital Scrapbooking in 2007 while I was reading the posts in a forum. I found it very interesting and new. It was almost unknown here in Bulgaria and I decided that I wanted to try it. I started scrapping pictures of my baby daughter and quickly got addicted. I was making albums and I just couldn’t stop.
2-3 years after that I had to stay at home for months because of an accident. I didn’t go to work and spent a lot of time on the computer shopping kits and scrapping, and I found myself adding my own elements and backgrounds every time I scrapped. And I thought why not try to make my own kit? I needed a dinosaur theme anyway and never found one. And then I made my first kit, and another, and another… It was such fun! At first, I did not intend to sell them, but then I decided to try out and almost as a joke I emailed a small shop, I don’t even remember the name, and they offered me a spot there. Less than a month later I got an email from Scrapbookgraphics.com, which was one of the good shops back then and I started working and selling my kits there until 2015 when I decided that Sweet Shoppe Designs was a better place for me and luckily Robin accepted me here. It’s been almost 10 years since then and I’m still here….wow!
How do you define your style? What does that style include? How has your style changed over the years?
I don’t know how to define my style – I don’t know if I even have one. Maybe that’s what customers should say. Papery and whimsical… that’s what I’ve heard about my designs. Years ago my designs were a bit more vintage and grunge, more distressed but lately they’ve been a lot cleaner. I like every kit to have at least a little artsy touch and in most of the cases I draw my own drawings. I don’t know about the future. I just do what I like and how I see it. I have never followed trends in what I do.
How do you stay motivated or deal with the loss of mojo?
It’s normal to sometimes lose inspiration, especially when there are some challenges and problems. Fortunately, these things have never stopped me because it’s in design that I find some escape from worries. It simply makes me happy, I enjoy it, and it helps me forget my problems at least for a while. Inspiration and ideas come to me in waves, and I have the habit of writing them down. This way, I always have topics to work on if nothing comes to mind.
Show us a recent mood or inspiration board
I use mood boards and lists every time I start a collection. Over time, I’ve learned to plan everything related to the collection before I start – the colors, styles, fonts, patterns, drawings and other elements. This way I work much faster. I spend some time planning, but then everything speeds up as I don’t waste time constantly wondering what to include and how to do it. I don’t keep most of the mood boards when I finish collection, but here is the last one I made for my Featured designer kit:
Are you an adventurous person? What has been your greatest adventure?
I was… when I was younger 😀 I loved hiking in the mountains. We were a group of friends, we had a guide and often went climbing. The mountains here in Bulgaria are very beautiful, and I really miss the time spent there. However, years ago I broke my leg and since then I’ve lost confidence and stopped doing extreme hikes. What I regret the most is that back then we didn’t have phones to capture everything… There are so many places I wish I had photos of. Well, I have some, but not all… here’s one of the places I hope my daughter doesn’t go to 🙂 We got caught in a thunderstorm there, and it was really scary.
Given the choice, would you pick an indoor or outdoor adventure?
I would definitely pick outdoor adventures. And I always try to go somewhere when I can. Mostly day or weekend trips lately. But I’m very busy being a single mom, juggling my full-time job and design work, and it’s a real adventure to find any time for something relaxing at all.
If you had an hour to yourself, but were not allowed to use it to scrapbook or design, what would you spend the hour doing?
I would organize the wardrobes LOL! Actually, my work involves a lot of sitting at the computer, and for years I have tried every day, usually in the evenings, to find an hour for a walk. I love walking alone with my audiobooks. It recharges and calms me, and gets me moving, plus I’m addicted to books. I can walk and listen for hours.
What was your first job?
I started my first job when I was still at college studying Business Informatics. I was on a student internship at the university computer center, and they offered me a permanent position. I worked there for several years; it was interesting, and the team was young and great, but programming didn’t attract me as much as graphic design, which I dabbled in when I had time. Gradually, I began to focus mainly on that and moved to the University publishing house, where I am a graphic designer to this day.
Now check out these great pages from the SugarBabes with Blagovesta’s Featured Designer kit – Adventures of a Nerdy Girl!
That’s all for today – I’ll see you here next Friday with a sneak peek of the 15 products Blagovesta has chosen for her Featured Designer 15 sale. Until then – keep on scrapping!
