Mixing it up for DSD

Blurring the line between traditional and mixed media scrapbooking assets

Elsie and Tim. Created with “Interlude” Kit

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A Q&A with Anita of Anita Designs

The world of digiscrapping is very much an online one. And it enables us to make connections all over the actual world.

If I were a data journalist I might create a ‘heat map’ of digiscrap activity, with the hot spots being North America (US and Canada) followed by certain parts of Europe ie France, Germany, the UK and The Netherlands. (Obviously there are people creating in nearly every country, and notably Australia and Brazil as well)

When it comes to The Netherlands, one talented and active designer is Anita, of Anita Designs.

Rachel Jefferies (of Pixels, Paper and Paint) and I really enjoyed collaborating with Anita and I thought it would be fun to do a little Q&A with her since that kit (“Interlude”) is being released for DSD (DigiScrap Day)weekend.

Tell me a little about yourself?
A little about myself, I am a proud mom of 3 wonderful kids, well they are now young adults. Daughter (29), a son (27) and a son (22). Still happily married since 1995 with my best friend! I love to go hiking/walking, it's great for getting a clear head and getting creative inspired. Once or twice a month we'll be going out to do some exploring, like castles or other amazing places.

Lynn: At this point, you would be able to see me grimace since, although I am really lucky to live right by what I consider to be the world’s best beach, I do miss living in Europe and being able to explore amazing cities and historical sites!

How long have you been designing digital scrapbooking products?
In 2007 I have officially started designing digital scrapbooking products. So it's 17 years now. And I still love it!

Lynn: That’s not long after I began (in 2006) :-)

How did you get into it? Do you have a background in design?
I have always loved photography, and my kids were mostly the focus of my camera. I was bored just taping the photos in their photo albums, and I was looking for a way to make / create fun picture albums for them. A friend linked me to a photo forum, and there is when I met scrapbooking digitally, and I just loved it, and so my digital scrapbook journey began.

What is your favourite collection?
I love the Snap collection with Rachel Jefferies.

And I still love our collab ''A Winters Tale''.
Lynn: This is a kit we created together, which I used to scrap some of those explorations of historical places I miss ;-)

Do you create with photos/Scrapbook yourself or do you have other creative hobbies?
I was always busy with being creative, drawing/sketching, pergamano, painting and now recently decoupage. And I also did a lot of scrapbook pages.

Show me two of the favourite pages made with your designs, and why you love them.
I love this page from Tiffany (left) the kind of clean and simple style mixed with a little of clustering. And the one from Trish (right), which is kind of the opposite but still little clean, simple and slightly clustered.

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As you can see, Anita’s style is a lot crisper, cleaner and traditional than the “messier” mixed media designs Rachel and I tend to create.

(Side note: Rachel has a great article here about her creative process in which she also touches on the challenges of breaking the mold in the early years of moving away from more traditional designs):

Thoughts on Creativity Part 1

But the beauty of a collaboration is that you end up with a kit or collection that can be used to create pages of all kinds - from the more traditional to the more arty.

(Layouts by me and by EHStudios)

And it’s fun to see more traditional layouts using a touch of paint and mixed media!

Here’s the latest kit we created working together:

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ..

Because it’s DSD weekend, there are lots of new designs from digiscrap designers all over the various stores.

All my stuff at Oscraps is on sale, including “Peregination” and “The Past is Another Country” which have just landed there.

And here’s a snapshot of what’s new from me at my main store, The Lilypad, where everything is also 40% off (CU 50% off)

Thanks for reading my Substack blog and showing an interest in what I create. If you are enjoying ‘Life in Pictures’, I’d love to hear from you - like or leave a comment and let’s connect. (If you haven’t already, you can subscribe for free to receive new posts and some welcome gifts in your email. You might also like to download the Substack app to see extra notes and find other great creative inspiration from around the Substack world). Thanks again :-)