Meagan’s Creations

Have you noticed we have a new featured designer? Meagan’s Creations is first up this month and you may have seen her FWP kit in the store and the featured designer challenge in MOS.  You may have even read just a little bit about her in the introduction Amber gave all of our new designers in October. Now you get to know her even more. I had so much fun reading about her and I hope you will too! Here is Meagan’s story.

“My name is Meagan and I am a 26-yr old stay-at-home mom to 2 crazy kids. Sydney, 4 and Jonas, 2, keep me on my toes but I love it. My husband, Brian, and I were married in Las Vegas in 2005 and it’s still one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life! I have a Bachelor’s degree in Math Education with an Art Education minor and have taught a couple years of high school math. I love board games and watching movies. I also do spend a bit of time couponing, I’m not extreme or anything but love getting a good deal when I can.

I take way too many photos of my kids! I usually have about 100 photos a week to upload to my computer. I’m not an expert either but I know I want their lives documented. The earliest photo I have from my childhood is at 9 months and then I think the next one was at 18 months. I don’t want it to be that way for my kids. I try to get in on the photos myself sometimes too to document I was there. Scrapping also helps me make sure I document their achievements, growth and learning.

My perfect day would be a retreat to a day spa and then getting to read a book in my pjs. It also wouldn’t hurt to have a big shopping spree I’d get to go spend at the mall. I’ve never been to Disney World. And although I was born out of the United States, I was 2 when we moved back and I don’t remember Germany at all. I would love to explore the world some day and see the wonders of the world!

In 2003, I took a Commercial Art course and we worked in Photoshop and Illustrator a lot. I think that’s where I got my start. I also learned a lot about typefaces and using them as a design tool and that’s where I learned the principles I still use in my word art today. I didn’t use those programs much over the next few years but in 2009, I was introduced to digital scrapbooking and my husband happened to have Creative Suite 3 for his classes so I started using those programs again. I still had to learn things in the program, probably for a second time, but I also think things started coming back to me as a I continued. By late 2009, I was making word art freebies and getting lots of hits so I thought I should start selling it. I didn’t have a Creative Team my first several months (bad idea!) but then I started designing kits. I had to participate in the monthly collabs so I thought I better learn how to make kits. I did design my own shape templates in my first kit. But as time has gone on, I think my custom templates have evolved and I’m much better at it. I think my style has not changed so much as the level of sophistication in my execution. Recoloring elements may seem like a simple task but to make it look right it takes a lot of experimentation and time. I guess I have also tried to be more inspired by the trends popping up in the paper scrapbooking world than I was at first.

I still use PS CS3 but hoping to update soon!! I have also experimented with scanning my doodles and cleaning them up in Photoshop to incorporate my drawings into my designs. I love any way that I can make my designs unique and customizable for my customers. I often take kit requests from my CT and those are ALWAYS great ideas. One of my favorite kits, Wishes and Wings, was a request from my CT Lauren. She gave me the palette idea and a photo idea and I just ran with it. Here is Lauren’s layout.

I was doing textless word art at the beginning but felt it was not really as useable. So I started making bundles and including clustered word art and my CT loved it! I felt I was also getting some scrapping in and it helped me see how scrap-able my kits were. Here’s a layout I did using a word art cluster from my kit The Simple Life.

and one using a word art cluster from Wishes and Wings

So that’s a definite way my style has changed in regards to the word art. I go for more big titles that make a statement than a long quote. Plus, I found out quotes are copyrighted even if you credit the author :O so let’s just stick to the basic phrases, shall we?

My style in templates has DEFINITELY changed. I have found that scrappers like you to show them where clusters could go and make the template look as much like the finished product as possible. I try to make interesting paper shapes in my templates so it saves the scrappers out there time! Anything we can do in paper we should do in digi!

My recent Spiral Templates include spiral shapes I made myself just for this set. I wanted scrappers to have a unique experience with these templates:

I had fun showing off this template using my Oct MAK, My Favorite Things.

I felt it showed off a lot of the papers in the packs.

In the future I hope to continue as I do now, creating themed kits with unique, custom-made elements but also elegant, any-occasion kits when I want that glamor. I plan on getting a wacom bamboo tablet soon and hope to put more of my drawings in my creations!

I love ScrapMatters! I found the site in the spring of 2011 when the designer I CT’ed for moved over here. I was in love! The site design has always resonated with my with its sleek and clean design. The way everything was ran was just so professional and clear to understand. I started following the other designers and just loved what I saw and still do! So when given an opportunity to work alongside the designers I have looked up to for over a year, I didn’t hesitate!! Everyone has been so nice and helpful, and the forum members have been so nice and welcoming! And can I just say the site CT are simply amazing?! Being a part of this site is a dream come true for me and I am so thrilled!”

What a great addition is to the ScrapMatter’s design team Meagan is! It is going to be so fun to see her add her own drawings to her creations and I can’t wait to see more templates from her! How many of you have already grabbed Meagan’s free with purchase templates.  Spend just $10 in the store and they will be added to your cart. So if you did not shop over the weekend for DSD get over there now!  Here are the templates and details.

Meagan has a little something extra for you as well.

You can find Meagan’s shop here,  her blog here, and her Facebook here.  Be sure to welcome Meagan to ScrapMatters and take a look in her shop, we think you will like what you see!