{"id":5096,"date":"2010-10-08T11:19:14","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T15:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/?p=5096"},"modified":"2011-12-14T14:46:59","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T19:46:59","slug":"friday-featured-staffer-nikki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/2010\/10\/friday-featured-staffer-nikki\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Featured Staffer – Nikki!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Happy Friday Sweet Shoppers! Today I have a wonderful scrapper and fabulous woman that I got to know over the past year.\u00a0 This Friday we are featuring Nikki Hawkins (nikkiARNGwife) and we have a cookie!! Make sure you visit her gallery here<\/a> –\u00a0 and leave her some love. J<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Nikki started scrapping:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the fall of 2005, when my son was a baby, I decided to try and start a paper scrapbook of his first year. I quickly learned after my first page that paper scrapping was not for me – too much mess and way too expensive. Soon after that I discovered digi and never looked back. I started out using PSP8 because I already had it on my PC at the time. I’ve upgraded several times since then and currently use PSP X2 for all my layouts and Lightroom 3 for all my photo editing.<\/p>\n

I’ve had the chance to work with some fabulous designers over the years and just over a year ago landed my “SWEET” gig as a Sugar Babe.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked Nikki for her 3 favorite layouts and why:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“I made this page at the end of a very long emotional year for me. My husband Brian was gone on his 2nd deployment in 3 years and I was left home with our son Avery who was 3 at the time and I was also pregnant the entire time with our daughter. It was a long year, I had many ups and many more downs but I remember the relief I felt the day I made this page. It was almost over and I had survived!”<\/p>\n

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\n“I did a whole series of these “Life Lessons” pages for my son and this one is my favorite. I loved the colors in Libby’s Kit and how well they went with my photos.”<\/p>\n

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“After 3 years of scrapping boy pages, when my daughter Ella came alone I went pink crazy! This baby page of hers using Kristin’s gorgeous kit is absolutely my favorite. I love those sweet photos of my little one and all the soft sweet colors in this page.”<\/p>\n

I also asked Nikki a few questions to find out more about her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have any other hobbies beside digi-scrapping?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love photography and keep my Rebel XTi with me everywhere I go. I’m also a “foodie wannabe” – I love to bake and try new recipes…my hips and thighs can attest to that \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

How do you organize your scrap stash?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve always just organized using my folders in Windows. I have a bulk “digi scrap” folder which is then broken down into Creative Teams\/Designers\/Kit Name etc. I also have an “elements” folder that is broken down into element types that I copy particular elements from a kit that I think I’ll use again. I’m big on purging because if I didn’t I’d have no room for new kits. Once I use something at least twice I don’t have much of a problem with letting it go. Out with the old in with the new I always say \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

What are the steps you go about in creating a page?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I spend the most time deciding on my papers. I love to use lots and lots of paper on my pages but I’m obsessive about how they are placed and how they coordinate with one another. I love to use big bold patterns..but I don’t want them clashing or looking too busy, so I obsess over that. Once I have my papers situated I work on photos and placement. Sometimes I will start with a kit and get the page half way done before choosing my photos…other times I will have photos in mind and get them sorted out first thing. I’m only slightly less obsessive about element placement and drop shadows and spend a lot of time with that as well. Title work is always last and it’s probably the thing I struggle most with because I want it to look creative and perfect and not like I just threw a title on there.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s easier and why – boy pages or girl pages?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hmmm…I think there are more kits geared toward girls…so girls are easier in that respect, but as far as myself making the actual pages they’re both about the same. I probably scrap 50\/50 between my son and daughter which is great because I can make a girly page..then go do a boyish page and never get burned out on either kind. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Blog Bonus #2!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Blog Bonus Challenge #2 for October \u2013 It\u2019s a Cookie! Download<\/a> and use this cookie template as a base to your page. Upload your page to the SSD gallery no later than October 31st<\/sup> and mark your Portfolio as Blog Challenge #2 worth 1 point.\u00a0 This challenge can be used in conjunction with a New Release for an additional point \u2013 making it work 2 points.\u00a0 BUT this challenge cannot be combined with any other portfolio challenge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is the download link: http:\/\/www.box.net\/shared\/8qy5m4vd9k<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are some inspiration from the Babes!<\/p>\n

Here is Sheri’s page using Misty’s Stay Gold.<\/p>\n

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Here is Laurie’s layout using Jenn’s Pieces of You:<\/p>\n

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Have a fabulous Friday!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Friday Sweet Shoppers! Today I have a wonderful scrapper and fabulous woman that I got to know over the past year.\u00a0 This Friday we are featuring Nikki Hawkins (nikkiARNGwife) and we have a cookie!! Make sure you visit her gallery here –\u00a0 and leave her some love. J Here\u2019s how Nikki started scrapping: \u201cIn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[133],"tags":[91],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5096"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9475,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5096\/revisions\/9475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweetshoppedesigns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}