This month’s featured designer is jill-of-all-trades Wendy aka Wendyzine aka Studio Wendy! Here’s her story as well as her exclusive tips for keeping it simple!
How long have you been designing templates? What inspired you to start your business?
I designed my first templates in 2006, based on my own layouts. I gave them away for free and had so many people comment that I should be selling them that I decided to throw my ring in the hat. I began selling at Elemental Scraps in February 2007, and moved to Scrapbookgraphics in 2008.
What other types of products do you create?
Although I began my career by selling templates and kits, I quickly found my niche in actions for PSCS/PSE. I sell templates and actions that appeal to both scrappers and designers, and focus on time-saving tools. Some of my favorites actions are basically templates. My Scrap It actions help you create a layout based on a particular page layout, with the freedom to change them as you go. I think of them as kicked-up templates. Here is a free action.
Do you have any time-saving tips you swear by?
First of all, any time I have a repetitive task, I turn to an action to do it for me. Actions are great time savers! Little things, like resizing for galleries, or adding shadows can take time, and actions make things move faster. Since I get little time to actually scrap these days, saving time is crucial for me. Another thing I do, since I cannot always scrap my photos right away, it separate my photos out by date when I take them off the camera, and add a txt file with my journaling. It may be a year or more before I can scrap those photos, so taking a few minutes to jot down my thoughts about the event make sure that I don’t forget the important things, as well as save time when it’s time to scrap.
What is your most popular product? What about it do you think gives it a broad appeal?
My most popular product is my Cut & Cluster action. I think it’s a technique that never goes out of style, and it’s a great way to get started with a simple action.
Templates can be fabulous launch pads, allowing scrappers to build on a great foundation with their own creativity. Can you share with us one of your favorite templates and examples of its use in a variety of styles?
I love how this looks like an open book with things laying on top of it. So, reach out and touch it!
This scrapper used the book in a literal sense, to journal. A very minimalist approach, but accomplishes her goal beautifully.
I love the creepy scene built in the pages of this book.
I really love how this scrapper took a templates, and put it into another template. Brilliant, and gorgeous!
What tips do you have for helping scrappers customize a template and give it their own creative spin?
There’s nothing wrong with using a template as is, especially when you have a lot of pages to scrap and very little time to do it in. (Do you sense my personal struggle. LOL) But, to spice up a template, rotate it. Resize pieces of it. Combine parts of multiple templates. Put papers where photos are and photos where the papers are. Add or remove elements for your personal style. Or, use a template to let you scrap a beautiful page in a style that’s not comfortable for you. I’m not a simple scrapper, (I love clustering and tons of elements) so I use templates when I want a simple page. I think the most important thing is to make the page your own through your photo and element choices. That’s a sure-fire way to create a page YOU love!
Simple Scrapper is all about making digital scrapbooking easier and more fun. What are you best tips for keeping it simple?
To me, scrapping is simply about enjoying the process. I can make a page as easy or complex as I want, but as long as I’m feeding my artistic need to create, and fulfilling my emotional need to remember, that’s all it needs to be.
Bookmark Alert: Where to Find Wendy
A Gift from Wendy
This month’s freebie coordinates with this set from Wendy.
Each month at Simple Scrapper, we’re featuring a wonderful designer who creates templates to make your scrapping easier and more fun.
Thanks! Wendy’s actions look like something that would help make my scrap time more efficient. How do you install (or launch) an action like her freebie above into PSE 8?
Hi Diane! My actions come with a PDF tutorial on how to install. And, I’ll be working on a video tutorial very soon. But, installing isn’t hard. You just have to know where to put the files! I encourage you to download the freebie, and give it a try. If you need any help, feel free to email me!
Thank you!