? For The SS Desingers

gracielou

gracielou

New member
I would love to know how you got started designing scrapbook kits and where you get your inspiration for a new kit at? Are you self taught or do you have some schooling that helped you know how to do do this? Thanks for any comments.
 
hahahaa. meg! i get my inspiration from her!! she is my helper :D well shannon too, and a few other ct girls too. i'd be lost without them :)

I first got into photoshop in 99 in college and then just have been playing ever since, i worked in a print shop doing some graphics work and in a camera store doing the same. I think just playing with your program is the best way to learn :)
 
KristinCB said:
hahahaa. meg! i get my inspiration from her!! she is my helper :D well shannon too, and a few other ct girls too. i'd be lost without them :)
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I was just gonna give you crap until I saw a few other CT girls. lmao Only took me HOW long to get a boy kit outta you? heheheee
 
my story is an easy one because I'm a new designer. I've been scrapping for a few years and was on the CT for several designers here, became a SugarBabe, and kept "playing around" with designing. I'd design a paper, but delete it, design an element and delete it. Then one day I decided to make a whole kit and my very first kit was born... it was a long labor because that one kit took me almost a month. LOL (By the way, that kit is Spin Your Wheels for anyone interested in seeing my very first kit.) Then I made a few more kits and wrote a very nervous email to Robin Carlton. Although I'm blessed to have friends all over the digi-community, this was absolutely the place I wanted to be. And lucky duck me, I'm now a designer at the Sweetest Shoppe :) I have not had any formal schooling in design work, just lots of tutorials and experimentation. I'm certainly not an expert in design and keep striving to learn and grow in my craft. :)
 
I'm self taught in Photoshop and am one of the dinosaurs of the industry. I started designing way back when digi scrapping itself was brand new...in late 2004. It was a natural step for me because I'd been using photoshop for 4 years prior to that to do other design work in school. I'm now a couple semesters away from my AA with an emphasis on graphic illustration though :)
 
Thank you all for the comments. I love learning how you got started. I hope to one day learn how to make kits. I think the designers here are the very best. Your work makes me want to learn how to do what you do. Of course I have no training, am computer dumb and have only been working with Photoshop for about 4 months but maybe years down the road I can write on here that I finally made my first kit! Thanks JulieB for sharing your story. I would have to be self taught like you because I have absolutely no schooling in design. It is nice to know that it can be done. Thanks again ladies for all your wonderful talent and inspiring beginners like me!
Julie - I would love to see any good tutorials that you would be willing to share or pass along. I am always in the mood to learn new things. Thanks again!
 
Traci Reed said:
I'm self taught in Photoshop and am one of the dinosaurs of the industry. I started designing way back when digi scrapping itself was brand new...in late 2004. It was a natural step for me because I'd been using photoshop for 4 years prior to that to do other design work in school. I'm now a couple semesters away from my AA with an emphasis on graphic illustration though :)
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She failed to mention that I inspire her too!! :thumbdown: :p
 
I started designing in 2005.. I'm self taught, and as doofy as it sounds, I just poked around & messed with stuff until I figured it out :D :D Inspiration? ... everything everywhere. hahaha My kid inspires me, hey.. being grumpy even inspires me :D :D lol sometimes it just explodes out of me :D
 
as for tutorials, I typically just google want I want to know, like drop shadows or how to rotate a brush or whatever I need to know. I don't have a single source. I wish there was some free all-in-one source! That would make my life a little easier! LOL
 
I admire all the designers. I have tried to design stuff and I have no patience for it. (and no attn span either).
 
I'm also self-taught. I had used photoshop a little bit in graduate school while getting my Ph.D. A few years later I sort of fell into digi-scrapping after my first son was born. I started making my own digi kits to match my pictures even before I realized that there was an online digi-scrapping industry! I was about to open my own online store with my first 10 kits when I saw a designer call. I decided to apply and that is how I got my start in the Fall of 2005. In the beginning it was my kid's toys and clothes in my pics that inspired me, but now anything does! I rely heavily on my CT for ideas and help - I bug them incessantly on Hello! I couldn't do it without them!
 
meems said:
i don't think that would be enough for me . . . neglected to mention that I also have no talent!
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Meems, I was JUST looking at your gallery you crazy girl and you have HEAPS of talent! Creating pages is totally an art too (sometimes it is harder for me than designing!) and you are a PRO :thumbup:
 
what a great topic! thanks for asking this. it is nice to hear everyone's story because this site is truly just amazing! i am seriously in love with SSD!! you guys rock!
 
I love hearing everyone's stories! It's so fun to know how you all got started. I'm so glad there are sweet ladies like you to make stuff I *need*. LOL
 
oh... you know.. Hotties inspire a LOT of my products..

I j ust remembered..

Those QTS.. LOL.. the first ones I drew.. happened because I Was watching dirty jobs.. Mr Mike Rowe was cleaning ostritch puke or something-- and I sketched all these QTS on a piece of paper.. *poof* product born :D :D :D :D
 
lauren grier said:
oh... you know.. Hotties inspire a LOT of my products..

I j ust remembered..

Those QTS.. LOL.. the first ones I drew.. happened because I Was watching dirty jobs.. Mr Mike Rowe was cleaning ostritch puke or something-- and I sketched all these QTS on a piece of paper.. *poof* product born :D :D :D :D
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LOL! That is too funny! It is fun to hear where the ideas come from!
 
My idea for my doofles kit came when i was watching extreme home makeover one night and they did a room based on horton wears a who and i decided i wanted to so somethign whimsical like that, and then the doofles name just came from meg mispelling doodles and i went with it.. LOL
 
lauren grier said:
oh... you know.. Hotties inspire a LOT of my products..

I j ust remembered..

Those QTS.. LOL.. the first ones I drew.. happened because I Was watching dirty jobs.. Mr Mike Rowe was cleaning ostritch puke or something-- and I sketched all these QTS on a piece of paper.. *poof* product born :D :D :D :D
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aaah yes, I see the connection . . . ostrich puke . . . QTs . . .
 
I am self taught as well. I did get a bit of an intro to PS when I was the faculty adviser to the high school's literary magazine in 98-99. I then forgot all about PS until I stumbled across digital scrapbooking after J's birth in 2003. It was love at first click - corny, I know! :) From the beginning I messed around making a bkg here an element there because I had NO scrap budget. Then in the spring of 2006 personal blogs hit the digi scene in a big way, and I created my own blog and began to share some of my work. The blog is long gone but here I am!

My designs are inspired by just about everything and everyone! (esp. my CT at this point! :)) The only bad part about designing is that my scrapping is almost nil. I'm about 1.5 years behind at this point, but I'm slowly gaining ground! You know it's bad when your 3 year old asks you why you forgot to make his baby book - OUCH!
 
This is really neat to hear everyone's stories... as for me.. I have been working in PS for as long as I can remember. I started learning photoshop and graphic design as a Freshman in HS. From day one I started spending my free time in the computer lab! LOL! I learned PS before there was layers, Freehand, Illustrator and others waaaaay back in the day! LOL Right out of HS I started working in Pre-Press, and I worked there off and on through school. I had never been much of a scrapbooker, but my mom always has been. She sold stamps and I was always around all those paper scrapping things, but I swore it wasn't my thing... haha.

When my daughter was born in 2004 I suddenly found I was interested in scrapbooking LOL! At first it was because all my friends were doing it, but it didn't take long for me to be hooked and for the paper scrapbooking supplies to start piling up! LOL!

I had discovered digital scrapbooking, but I was one of THOSE paper scrappers who swore they would never go to the dark side of digital. Yeah, I should really learn to never say never! LOL! I started dabbling in it and I don't know what I was thinking because instantly it was a perfect fit for me! By my second layout I was hooked and by my third layout I was packing up all my paper supplies! LOL! Of course I swore I would never design too... but in July 2005 I started dabbling and put together my first kit... by Sept 2005 I opened my own store and the rest was history ;-). Wow hard to believe its only been a few years since I discovered digi! :)

As far as inpiration- wow it comes from everywhere. Usually my kits are kind of bouncing around in my brain before I ever even pick up a mouse. I think what inspires me most is colors. If I get the right color scheme everything else just flows for me :)

~ Dani
 
juliebee70 said:
my story is an easy one because I'm a new designer. I've been scrapping for a few years and was on the CT for several designers here, became a SugarBabe, and kept "playing around" with designing. I'd design a paper, but delete it, design an element and delete it. Then one day I decided to make a whole kit and my very first kit was born... it was a long labor because that one kit took me almost a month. LOL (By the way, that kit is Spin Your Wheels for anyone interested in seeing my very first kit.) Then I made a few more kits and wrote a very nervous email to Robin Carlton. Although I'm blessed to have friends all over the digi-community, this was absolutely the place I wanted to be. And lucky duck me, I'm now a designer at the Sweetest Shoppe :) I have not had any formal schooling in design work, just lots of tutorials and experimentation. I'm certainly not an expert in design and keep striving to learn and grow in my craft. :)
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Holy Cow!!! Spin Your Wheels was your first attempt at a kit?!
 
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