Gallery Girls ~ Amber

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Hi everyone! :o)  It’s Kylie here with our latest GALLERY GIRLS feature!  …and I’m terribly excited to get started! :o)

But for starters…it has been a few months since we got to know our last amazing gallery girl and for those new to the blog…first let me say – WELCOME to all!!!…and next, here is a little explanation on what these super-duper fun and inspired posts are all about.  All of our ‘regular’ gallery posters that we love and feel that we have almost come to ‘know’ – SP affectionately refers to as her ‘GALLERY GIRLS’ :o) – and every once and a while we spotlight a ‘new girl’!  Sooo much FUN!!  To catch up on all our past ‘gallery girls’ click HERE or on your visits to the blog you’ll find the Gallery Girls category down the right side…just a click away from beautiful faces, a sweet little chat, and layout after layout of digi-scrapping heaven!

Today, I’m thrilled to ‘introduce’ you to one of our brightest stars…AMBER! :o)

Amber has such a beautiful, happy and uplifting personality…we just love her!  And if you frequent the Shabby Shoppe’s gallery at all…then you are SURE to have noticed our featured scrappers’ layouts – they shine with personality, are seriously GORGEOUS, and oh so inspiring!  Pagefuls of super-cute pics of her beautiful family and smiles a-plenty, funny little anecdotes and uh-oh moments that make us all giggle, and extra-precious tribute layouts full of life and LOVE.  Amber has a keen eye for color, scraps the sweetest of clusters and loves to layer lots of pretty papers!  Everyday moments or special events, Amber scraps them all with love…and with such style and grace it makes your heart smile!

So without a doubt, I was soooo excited when, the very talented, Amber accepted the invitation to be our latest Gallery Girl :o)  It really has been lots of fun bringing this post to you!  Amber has been a joy to work with and she has crafted lots of exciting new layouts to share with us! YAY!  And, of course, Amber has been kind enough to answer all of our interview questions…sharing with us about her scrapping journey and family life!  We’ll get to know her better soon, but first – let’s check out one of the new pages that Amber created just for this post (there are lots of fabulous new layouts sprinkled throughout…so be sure to scroll down).  Amber will also be uploading all of these layouts to her gallery…so you can see larger images and more info about each one there :o)

I had to start off with this CUTE and perfectly pretty page!  How could I not!!  BIG SMILES!! :o)

Now, on with the interview…and plenty of inspiration along the way…

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF…

I am a Domestic Goddess, (a.k.a. stay-at-home mom), with five children.  I love my children dearly, and wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.  I LOVE being a wife and mother!  My husband and I have been married for 10 years now, and I love him more now than I did when I married him!  He’s a devoted husband and father, and works very hard so that I can stay home to teach and take care of our kids.  Our lives are very busy, to say the least!  I take whatever quiet moment I can to do some things for me, things that I really enjoy doing, like scrapbooking, sewing, quilting, decorating, or crafting – I suppose it doesn’t happen very often, though!  I was born and raised in Utah, by the most wonderful parents you could ever ask for.  I have three sisters, and three great brothers-in-law.  My mom taught me how to sew, which has been invaluable!  My Dad has taught me perseverance.  And, both have taught me the importance of family, and that I am loved and watched over by my Heavenly Father.

These fall-inspired pages are more than timely!  Beautiful details…amazing photos!

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SCRAPPING DIGITALLY…AND DID YOU EVER GIVE PAPER SCRAPPING A TRY?

Five years ago, I tried paper scrapbooking.  I did a few pages for an album my sisters and I were making for my parents’ 30th anniversary.  It was really hard for me!  It was like pulling teeth to get those pages done!  Inspiration wasn’t very abundant for me, and I HATED it! LOL!  The mess, and ruining things because I couldn’t see where to place them and I’d keep moving them around…I don’t know.  So, I didn’t do more until almost two years ago.  I had gone through a miscarriage a few months before.  I was SO depressed.  My sister had been doing scrapbooking for quite a while – even designing papers and embellishments for a company here in Utah.  She helped me make my very first digital layout.  I was hooked!  Doing that page helped me to realize what I did have.  It helped me remember the memories of times that I have had with my four other children and how very blessed I am!  I needed that!  I still need that!  While the depression was still there, scrapbooking my memories was my antidote.  It still remains to be my antidote for the tough times..it makes me happy!

Scrap-Happiness!!  Amber’s little ones have the happiest of smiles :o)  Love these pages!

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR SCRAPPING STYLE?

“Evolving”?  Is that a style? LOL!  No, seriously.  I look back at some of my first ones and I cringe! :0)  (In fact, I have redone some of those original ones.  They look much better!)  Anyway, in the two years I have been doing this, I’ve been so inspired by others, and I just itch to be able to try new ideas!  I LOVE clustering!  I LOVE color!  Although, I’ve enjoyed doing some more monochromatic layouts as well.  Oh, and I LOVE templates – they have taught me about placement, and I am finding myself doing more and more of my own layout designs.  It’s SO exciting!

A very special photo scrapped beautifully…

WHAT IS THE FIRST COMPONENT OF EACH PAGE YOU CREATE…OR DOES IT VARY FROM PAGE TO PAGE?

Most often it’s the picture.  Those pictures have such a story to tell, and I can’t wait to get it on “paper”!  Other times, it’s the story itself, because I don’t have a picture to go with it.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LAYOUT (TO DATE) AND WHY?

Amber says ~ Do I have to choose just one?  It’s SO hard!  It’s like choosing a favorite child or something!  Then, a lot of them have amazing memories that go along with them – memories that I LOVE! LOL!  Yet, with “Baby Wobert”, I didn’t use a template, it was from my own creativity, and that layout just flowed as I did it.  I love the circles, the colors, the stitching (I LOVE stitching!), and I LOVE the memory!

Then, with “Quarter”, what a day that was!  We still joke about it!  And, I LOVE that xray!  Besides all that, Hopscotch is one of my all time favorite kits!  I go to that one all the time!

SP says ~ This layout is just all kinds of beautiful.  From that gorgeous photo – to the sweet (and honest) words…to the ‘organic’ feel of the page – it’s all perfection!  I really love it when portraits take on a candid/real feel…and that is certainly true here!  The love and happiness behind those smiles…it doesn’t get any better :o)

How could you not LOVE this layout?  Amber’s sweet dad has been through so much lately…yet he still perseveres and shines…and as a result – is an inspiration to his entire family, and many others, I’m sure!  But, it certainly goes far beyond that…because of the internet and digital scrapbooking – we are ALL able to be inspired by him, and by his beautiful daughter!  Amber’s gallery is an inspiration to us all…and her sweet personality is infectious!

WHAT TIP/TECHNIQUE DO YOU KNOW NOW THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED SCRAPPING DIGITALLY?

Grrr!  Thinking about this, I feel SO dumb! LOL!  I am self taught in Photoshop, except for the help that my sister gave me at the beginning, of course.  So, I really wish I had known about the clipping mask.  I used to do it the hard way.  Select the layer, move the marquee to the paper, “cut” it, and move it back over to the layer.  So, yeah. The clipping mask is MUCH easier! :0)

WHAT IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE INSPIRES YOU IN YOUR SCRAPBOOKING?

Pictures.  Memories.  I go looking through all my pictures – which are a LOT!  And, I remember what was going on, and I feel driven to create!  It’s usually the colors in the photos that inspire the color palette.  If the photos don’t match, I LOVE slight sepia tinting!  My kids are my main inspiration.  I really want to get my memories down of them.  I guess I’m afraid that when I get old, I’ll have Alzheimer’s or Dementia or something, and I’ll forget all these wonderful memories!  So, doing this, it’s like I’m doing my own family’s history, and it’s for posterity’s sake, I guess.  I want my kids to realize how much I love them and the funny, or not so funny, things that they do.

Amber loves to scrap with Hopscotch and I can so see why!  Bright and HAPPY pages!

TECH STUFF :o) Tell us about your camera and software!

My husband bought me a Cannon Rebel T2i not too long ago when my other camera decided to die.  (It’s pretty wonderful!  Although, I’m still trying to figure out how to use all the bells and whistles.)  I use Photoshop CS4, and LOVE it!

FAST FIVE FACTS!

• Favorite COLOR: Blue!  Although, I love how brown can go with almost any color!
• Favorite FOOD: Sugar.  Ooh!  Especially Brach’s Mellowcreme Pumpkins!  One of the reasons that I LOVE Fall!
• Favorite MOVIE: Confessions of A Shopaholic :0)
• Favorite SONG: “Rhythm of Love” by Plain White T’s – You’ve got to find it and listen to it! :0)
• Favorite MEMORY: The day my husband and I FINALLY got married! (He had called off our wedding, and then proposed again a few months later. I loved him too much to say no :0).  And, now, I have something to tease him about!)  And, then, there’s the birth of each of our children.  Very special moments, indeed!

And to finish…WOW!!

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Amber, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH for having fun with us…for sharing a little of your world and for allowing us to admire all these wonderful layouts, precious pics and special memories, here at the Shabby Shoppe blog today! :o)  It has been an absolute pleasure and I’m ending this post excited and completely INSPIRED!  Best of all – I KNOW I am not the only one!

THANKS for joining us today!  We’ll see you all again very soon! :o)

KylieGallery Girls, Inspiration, Uncategorized 9 Comments