Scrapropos

Nikki Evans is a a vibrant, talented, beautiful 21-year old college student with big dreams and a big personality. I’m honored to call her my friend! She began scrapbooking 3 years ago when I had a crop at my house and has since created dozens and dozens of personal pages in her Book of Me and in family and friends albums. She’s been commissioned to do professional work, too - the most recent being a Disney World album for a local client who saw her work. From the very beginning, Nikki’s been a natural. Her profound love for family shines through in her journaling and her natural eye for layout and design is evident on every page.

When you hit a creative wall, how do you work your way around it?
I don’t! I sit there until I get it, I guess.

What influences have made you the scrapper you are today?
Of course you; that was a duh. I don’t like the magazines too much, I mean, they have good ideas but I try to use my own creativity.

How do you approach a layout once you’ve chosen the photos?
I see what colors to use based on the colors in the photos. I kinda just see what’s going on in the pictures, and pick paper first, then embellishments.

How would you describe your scrapbooking style?
Very simple. I don’t like bright colors. My style is fun and artsy. I like it!

What is your best organizing tip?
Stay organized!

Do you have a scrap room?
I scrap in my [parents'] den or wherever there’s a table. When I get my own place, I wish for an extra room for an art room/scrapbookin room. I’d have it all organized, all scrappy so I could always be ready to go at it! I’d call it my Studio.

How do you find time to scrap?
It kinda just happens. All of a sudden I just start scrapping. I don’t scrap as often right now ’cause of my college classes. I always try to go to the Fortress retreats and crops, too.

What’s the biggest obstacle you face when scrapping?
Finding time - my own time.

I still haven’t gotten the hang of…
finishing a book! ha ha ha ha ha!
I have a bunch of unfinished books. I have so many that I’ve started that aren’t even finished. I can do pages but I never put them in there. That’s my problem - when I do projects I can’t ever finish them.

Favorite page and why?
There’s this page from the first Fortress retreat called Scrappy Friends. I just love that page because of the memories it brings me from that weekend.

Do you have a favorite manuafacturer?
I love Mickey Mouse stuff! I collect it and hope one day to use it when I go to Walt Disney World.

I can’t get enough…
embellishments. I love embellishments. I like the ones with words and letters. Metal.

Do you have a favorite tool?
Brads! Is that a tool? I put ‘em on corners, use ‘em for tags. They make it look cool. And I love love love rub-ons. LOVE rub-ons.

Tell me about your first page.
Ooooh, it’s ugly. It doesn’t have anything. It’s so plain. NOW I look at it and my pages have more ooomph to it, but that first one was of my Grandmother. It was one picture of her sitting in the middle of a page and it had strips of paper…lol…. ugly. Now I look back at my first book and I’m like, “Oh my gosh. That’s how I started off?” No matting, nothin’.

Besides the obvious gift that scrapping is for your family, why do you enjoy it?It massages my mind. Gets my mind off a lot of things. My pictures bring me back to those happy moments.

You knew you were a scrapbooker when…
everyone kept telling me I was so good at it. They loved my work. I’ve always been an artist and my handwriting has always been good.

What do you think is your strongest ability, scrap-wise?
I’m really good at lettering. I’d rather draw big letters than use die cuts and stuff. I love to make different fonts. My journaling.

Any time-saving strategies that help you scrap faster?
I have my pictures picked, paper is picked out, and I know what I’m gonna do so when I get to my table, I already have it my head and know how I’m gonna do it.

Do you snack when you’re scrapping?
Gardetto’s. I love those things and they’re not messy when you’re scrapping.

Is there anything else you do when you’re scrapping that keeps you moving along?
I love listening to music, singing and scrapping along. KLTY [local contemporary Christian station], Acappella, something soft - not too hard core.

What’s your best advice for a beginning scrapbooker?
Have fun. It takes some time to do it and it’s a lot of work but it’s fun once you get started.