Member Monday with Kat Glossop

Can you believe it is March already! This year is going by way too quickly! Here with a new Layout of the Week for your inspiration is Kat Glossop who chose this layout by Zarah from Sweden. Kat said, "This layout is simply beautiful – the way the elements sweep across the page creating such movement. I adore the colors Zarah has used, they add to the serene statement she is trying to make. I’m a big fan of quirky designs, something a little different, so this one went straight into my fave’s!"

"Serenity" by Zarah

Kat caught up with Zarah for this little interview. SO read on to learn more about her and her scrapping style.

1. How long have you been scrapping? I've sort of scrapped forever. We've had albums with tickets, receipts, memorabilia and stuff in my family ever since I was a kid so it came naturally. However, I never knew about the term scrapbooking or using acid free and so on - so when I found a sales lady at this auction site (like Ebay, in Sweden) I was very curious and when she sent me an email that she'd opened a scrapbooking store... I was hooked. That was in December 2005. I made my first "real" layout in early January 2006.


2. The design of this LO is beautifully different, like the products have been swept across the page - it makes me wonder how you designed the page? What's your scrapping process? Do you know what it's going to look like when you start? For this layout specifically, I wanted the photos to speak, and I dyed the colour-me-crazy-roses and leaves to go with the general colour scheme I wanted. Faded, vintagey and calm. The paint splatter and the alpha mat sort of just happened. I got an idea, tried it and loved it. I've never made a layout without patterned papers before. :) I generally like to work with at least one of the basic design principles. Golden rule, rule of thirds and diagonal designs are my favourites. They have a way of simplifying scrapbooking - making it easy on the eye by just being there. Then again - even when I have an IDEA of what I want, my layouts tend to have a life of their own and I don't end up with what I thought I would very often at all. ;)

3. What is your biggest inspiration? Nature, words and feelings. There's no beauty like nature's beauty. It's living, it's changing and it's loving. You can't beat that. I'm also a huge lover of quotes, lyrics, poems, books. They get my head spinning and not rarely do I build an entire page around one word or a quote. It's fun to mix it up a little. Not always have the same starting point, you know?

4. You use splatter painting on your layouts quite a bit, is it your favorite technique? Do you have other techniques you can't do without? Lately, splattering has felt fresh and fun to me. I've been into heavy layering, tearing, inking and distressing for quite some time, so the white space feels like a nice new step for me. Now, I'm still no good at leaving spaces all empty - so splattering paint gets the job done. It fills without taking over. It leads the eye and adds visual interest. I also still can't help but love to distress, tear and staple things. I'm pretty much a one trick pony!! *grins*

5. Finish this sentence..."If I couldn't scrap I'd..." ...keep photographing and journaling. I'd also paint and draw more, again. Or possibly go back to writing. Maybe even take up sewing! No matter what - I'd never ever stop being creative. It's in my blood! :)

Be sure to visit her blog for more inspiration and leave Zarah some love on this post!