Getting To Know You: akpatterson
Hello everyone!! Today I have a wonderful interview with akpatterson aka Amy!
So first of all, let’s get to know Amy a little:
I was born and raised in Minnesota, but spent a few of my high school years in Michigan. I went to college at Washington University in St. Louis where I majored in International Business and French. Junior year, I attended school and interned in Paris. My French is now a little spotty, but I still consider myself a Francophile. I love the country and its passion for its food and wine. Paris remains my favorite city in the world. After graduation, I moved to Chicago, where I eventually met my husband, Gage. For my first job, I worked as a software consultant. One project sent me back overseas where I was lucky to spend 3 months in southern Spain. After consulting, I found a job at a Chicago advertising agency, where I worked in database ######### for several years. Gage and I moved to NYC for a year but we now reside west of Chicago with our nearly 4 year old daughter, Lily and crazy little rescue Westie, Willy. I am grateful that I discovered Digital Scrapbooking. Besides being a fun hobby & creative outlet, I love that I am capturing our memories for Lily. I am a chronological scrapper, so to date, I have 2008, 2009 & 2010 Shutterfly “year-in-review” books lining our shelves. I have also created a special vacation album and am working on a baby album for Lily. It makes me so happy to see our memories neatly tucked away in these books! Lily has just recently started to grab the books off of the shelves and look through them by herself - that really makes me smile. My other passion is cooking. I treasure my time in the kitchen and one day hope to go to culinary school. In the meantime, I just started volunteering as a culinary assistant for classes at a new cooking shop in town. I am loving every moment of it!
1. I just love your beautiful pages… please tell us a bit about your process.
I typically start with the story since I like to incorporate journaling into most of my layouts. Then I choose the photo(s) that best illustrate what I am trying to tell…. Most often, I will use a template as my base - sometimes I change it up so much you can’t tell what I started with, but I like having a jumping off point. For this year’s album, I am using the same background paper for most of my layouts, so that goes on next. The fun part for me is embellishing with my stash of DD goodies!
2. How did you get started in digital scrapbooking? Were you a paper scrapper first?
I created an album on Shutterfly in 2008 using a Martha Stewart template. I was happy with the result, but then I stumbled upon their online gallery…. It was there that I saw the most gorgeous albums, many using DD products. I found DD, but I did not own Photoshop, so I didn’t do anything for a while. I discovered the Jessica Sprague online classes, which my husband bought for a Christmas gift (along with PSE). After those classes, I found my way back to DD, fell in love and a whole new world opened up to me… I dabbled in paper scrapping many years ago and have a few vacation albums, but I wasn’t passionate about it. (It also breaks my heart to open up the albums and have the photos or papers come unglued!) Something about having all of my supplies “contained” in my computer (and EHD) is wonderful! Also, I love that there are no mistakes - if something doesn’t look right, I just take it off or move it around.
3. What are your “tools of the trade”? What type of camera do you use, software, favorite lens, computer, anything else you use?
I love my MacBook Pro since I can scrap anywhere. I often bring it with me so I can scrap while I have some free time. It’s horrible though - if I take it to the gym I sometimes find my way to the lounge to scrap instead of working out For software, I recently upgraded to PSE 10 so that I could take Jana’s Blending class. I have a Canon Rebel T1i. For my birthday in May, I got my first add-on lens - the 50mm f/1.8. I love being able to achieve the blurred background for portraits, but that is about the extent of my photography “expertise” - at least for now! I love getting a great shot, but the most important aspect for me is capturing our everyday memories.
4. Do you have any advice for new digi scrappers? What are some of things that have helped you grow as a scrapper?
The Jessica Sprague classes got me up and running but after playing around at DD, I discovered Cassie’s tutorials, which are wonderful whether you are a beginner or looking to learn some new tricks. I am also halfway through Jana Morton’s Blending & Beyond class, which has taught me some great new techniques and adds a new dimension to my pages. The DD gallery is amazing inspiration and has most definitely helped me grow with new ideas.
5. I know you love to use a variety of product in your pages… so what are your top 5 all time (or maybe just right now favorite products/kits?
I am barely scratching the surface, but here are a few products that come to mind:
I love the Studio DD collection of Layer Works templates. They are wonderful as is, but also tons of fun to play with. Here is just one of many favorites:
Layer Works Little Hearts
For this year’s album, I am using one of Katie’s Classic Cardstocks as the background for most of my pages. The subtle texture is beautiful!
Classic Cardstock: Snow Fun
Andrea Victoria’s pattered papers are so fun to mix and match. The Love Blush collection is soft and gorgeous.
Love Blush Paper Pack
Katie’s Negative Sleeves are awesome. I love tucking elements into them!
Negative Sleeves No.3
Lynn’s Worn Page Edges are great for adding some roughed up texture and dimension around the edges. I use them often.
Worn Page Edges
I didn’t have a chance to mention stitching, loops or Ali’s words - other elements I use all of the time…
It was hard for me to choose a layout without Lily as my favorite, but I really love this one about my husband, Gage. It was a “Kayleigh” idea to scrap Facebook statuses and it is genius. I spent a nice amount of time going through all of Gage’s status updates and putting them onto my layout. I smile every time I read this page since it sums up his personality and dry sense of humor so well! (Another reason to love Digital Scrapbooking - adding stories and context to pictures will be such a treasure for future generations…)
Thank you for sharing with us Amy!
