This week’s LOTW is Precious little hands by hedderlee. I love the quality of the photo how the hands and the paint are so clear and the background is muted out giving the eyes only on the tiny hand.  I mean come on, you can see the fingernail on the thumb!  Such quality.  How a mom seeing behind a childs mess and focusing on the inner artist.  I love the simplicity of this layout, the creativeness of this layout.  I just love her take on the layout.  

-Wendy (neverlandscraps) 

Hello everyone! For this weeks spotlight I thought it would be fun to inteview Jaime (ocmath) the Leader for the SM Hybrid CT Team! I am always drooling over her awesome hybrid projects in the gallery and was excited to learn a little more about the person behind the paper and glue!

1.Your screen name? Your real name? ocmath, Jaime

2. What is your main job/career? My main job now is being a stay-at-home-mom, which is the busiest job I’ve ever had, but I love it! Before I chose to stay home with my kids, I taught math at a junior high. I loved that, too.
3. Are you married/children/pets? I’ve been married for almost 12 years and have 3 kids (7yo boy, 5yo boy, 3yo girl).

4. Where is home for you? Utah

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Cream of Wheat, Cookies (especially Black & White cookies), Pasta

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Oreo

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Sweet

8. Beverage of choice? Ice water

9. What’s your least favorite food? Off the top of my head, I can’t really think of anything. I’m not really that picky. Well, I can’t stand black licorice (does that count as a food?) . . . blech. Oh, and anything too spicy . . . I don’t like spicy.

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC, Photoshop CS4

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? How did you get started in Hybrid? I have been “officially” digi-scrapping for about 2-3 years, however I remember making scrapbook pages in 1999 in PrintShop when my twin niece and nephew were born. So, I guess those were technically digital, but nothing like you would see today! LOL I started out as a paper scrapper, so when I started making digital pages as well, hybrid just kind of followed. I love to mix traditional elements with digital.

12. What was your 1st LO about?  I don’t remember my very first digital layout, but one of my firsts was this 2-page LO of my husband putting together a swingset. I didn’t keep track of the credits back then, so I can’t even tell you who the supplies are from, although they were probably freebies somewhere.

One of my first hybrid projects was probably fry boxes.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? Yes, too many! Photography and reading are probably my two other main hobbies, but I have so many other little hobbies or things I want to learn how to do, it’s insane. I really need to give some of them up.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking (and/or Hybrid) for you? The most challenging part for me is not having enough time to do everything I want to. I have so many ideas of things I want to create floating around in my head, but not enough time to complete them all.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I want to keep improving my photography, and I want to become more proficient in sewing.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? My favorite movie is probably the BBC Pride & Prejudice. I have also always loved The Princess Bride. TV – American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, Psych (I watch far too much TV!)

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? In our (my J) office downstairs. Usually music or TV in the background, but sometimes complete quiet. When I’m up late and the rest of the family is asleep, I love how quiet my home can be, so I will usually turn off the music/TV. I almost always have a glass of ice water next to me.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO/hybrid project, what would they be? LO – Alpha, Tag; Hybrid project – Ribbon, Flowers

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I’m a chicken . . . I hate roller coasters or anything that resembles a roller coaster, but I’ve been bungee jumping twice! Crazy.

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? Less is more. I lean toward clean, simple, non-cluster layouts, however I also like to branch out and try new things once in a while.

21. Favorite LOs/projects that you have done? One of my favorite hybrid projects lately is creating coordinating packaging for gifts. I have two in my gallery right now.

One of my favorite digital layouts lately is this one called Dance. I did it for a Speed Scrap and was really happy with how it all came together.

22. What’s your favorite part of being the SM Hybrid Team Leader? My favorite part is all the amazing people I get to work with. We have just announced our new hybrid creative team, and I am really excited to get to know all of these girls. They are all very talented. Everything about ScrapMatters is great . . . it is just a fun place to be!

Thanks Jamie for letting us get to know you better! Check out Jamie’s gallery HERE.
-Amanda (panders77)

Hello ScrapMatters community!!
Natasha (bcnatty) here bringing you this week’s version of the Saturday Special. My topic of the day is Clean and Simple Scrapbooking!!
When I first started scrapbooking I felt like I had to put all these different elements and…things…down on my page…and then I came across Cathy Zielske’s Clean & Simple Scrapbooking, and I felt like I had been saved!! This was definitely in my comfort zone, and totally transformed my scrapbooking style.

So, to paraphrase the inspiring Cathy Zielske, clean and simple scrapbooking is three things. First, it’s a philosophy. Spend less time, leave most of your photos on your hard drive, scrap non-chronologically. Second, simple is a style…but within that style, you can have many different styles (shabby chic, collage style…) just as easily as you can have clean, graphic layouts. Simple is just less “stuff”, it’s letting your photos and/or journaling take the center stage. Lastly, clean and simple is an overall graphic approach – fresh linear pages that tell the story as directly and clearly as possible.
Simple doesn’t necessarily mean that a layout will take less time, and it definitely does NOT mean boring!! The “less is more” approach can open up a whole new world of possibilities!!

Need some help? Here is some inspiration…

First, my LO using Tater’s Urban Boy

And here are some beautiful, simple layouts from our amazing CT!!

Here’s one from Chia

Here’s one from Cristina

And Monsu

And lastly Alamama

See how beautiful clean and simple can be?! I can’t wait to see your beautiful creations!!
Have fun and remember…simplify!!