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Nu er det tid til skitseudfordring. We har igen den 1. i måneden og det er selvfølgelig tid for en ny skitse. Vi er meget glade for at fortælle at denne måned har Katharina Frei fra Whiff of Joy lavet skitsen til os, og den er lidt mere speciel i forhold til de andre måneder. Alle os i designteamet havde det sjovt med at lave kort after skitsen.
As usual we have asked our Guest designer some questions.
How many hours do you spend at your crafting table every week?Not as much as I would like to J I have never kept track of the time I use for crafting, but I guess it will be about 10-14 hours a week. Oh my god this sounds like so much...haha
Can you tell us the story behind Whiff of Joy (the short one!).A real challenge to keep the story short ;) I’ll try my best. I worked as Creative Designer for various well known stamp companies. It was a lot of fun, but I wanted to have more influence on the kind of images and designs that hit the market. Another reason for founding Whiff of Joy was that the German stamp market was really small (almost not existing), which was a real pity. Card Making and stamping is fairly new to Germany, Austria and Switzerland (in comparison to the United States and Great Britain). I wanted to take my chance to be one of the first to bring international designs and illustrations to the German speaking countries, as well as to the other central European countries.
Who are working in Whiff of Joy?/ Do you have any employees or are you doing all the work yourself?
There are the Whiff of Joy illustrators of course J Alison Acton from Canada and Elisabeth Bell from the United States who do a fantastic job to create all the fabulous images we love. My husband Marcel is in charge of retailer business, the web shop and all the other important computer and software issues. Without him I couldn’t handle the workload anymore. Bettina, a close friend of mine does all the stamp and order packing. She is a real gem and I am more than glad to have her on my team. The Creative Design team is one of the major cornerstones of Whiff of Joy Stamps. All ”my” Ladies not only provide endless inspiration, they also became a tremendous support for me.
When you are looking for Guest Designers, what do you look after?
Excellent coloration abilities is THE most important skill for a Designer or Guest Designer. Our designer have to be able to highlight the Whiff of Joy images in a special and amazing way. Blog activity (showing new artwork on a regular basis) is also an important point for me.
What is your best selling stamp?Willow with hot chocolate – I guess that was no surprise for you, was it? ;)
How do you get new ideas for your sketches?
I do a lot of blog hopping and let inspiration flow. Often I also have a concrete stamp in my mind, which I want to use for my card and design the sketch around it.
Do you have any saying in designing new images, or is it fully the artists ideas?How do you get new ideas for your sketches?
I do a lot of blog hopping and let inspiration flow. Often I also have a concrete stamp in my mind, which I want to use for my card and design the sketch around it.
Most of the time I write down my ideas and my artists interpret them in their individual style. But I already did it the other way round, just told them the theme of the next release and let them surprise me with the outcome.
You have two illustrators now, are you planning on using other illustrators?I am very happy with my illustrators, they not only provide first class artwork and a professional working habit, they also became real friends who sacrifice their free time when it comes to a last minute job J So I want to give both of them the possibility to get the most out of their work. I am not planning on extend the number of my illustrators at the moment. But I don’t completely decline it either. I think I couldn’t resist if an artist with a unique and striking style approached me.
Do you already know which image is going to be a best seller when you get the illustrations?I try to judge it (because it is important to have plenty of this one in stock J ) and most of the time I am correct. But I also already experienced some surprises.
Will you continue selling more kits, like the popular Spring kit?Yes, definitely! We are planning to release stamp kits on a regular basis 4 times a year. Our first kit was a huge success. I want to give everybody the chance to get the most out of their hobby in these difficult economic times.
What crafting equipment can you not be without?My Supracolor pens and Twinkling H2Os
What is the greatest joy in crafting?To look at my ready colored images and to put a card together
How long time do you use on a card?About 2 hours
And some quick ones:
Pink or blue?Pink or combining both
Bling or flowers?flowers Pencil or brush?
I use water soluble pencils and a water tank brush for coloring, so my answer would be BOTH.
Stamps or no stamps?Stamps
Pastel or bright colors?This is a hard one, I can’t make up my mind...LOLRibbons or laces?Ribbon.
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Som sædvanligt har vi stillet vores gæstedesigner nogle spørgsmål.
Hvor mange timer bruger du på din hobby om ugen?
Ikke så meget som jeg kunne tænke mig. Jeg har ladrig taget tid pådet, men jeg vil tro omkring 10-14 timer om ugen. Åh... Det lyder af meget..Ha ha.
Det er en udfordring at fortælle den kort, men jeg vil gøre mit bedste. Jeg arbejde som kreativ designer for forskellige kendte stepelmagere. Det var rigtig sjovt, men jeg ville have mere indflydelse på hvilke motiver og designs der kom på markedet. En anden grund evar at det tyske stempelmarked var meget lille – næsten ikkeeksisterende, hvilket var ret trist. Cardlavning og stempling er meget nyt i Tyskland, Østrig og Schweitz hvis man sammenligner med USA og Storbritanien. Jeg ville tage chancen og blive en af de første til at bringe Designs og ilustrationer til Tyskland på samme måde som i andre dele af Europa.
Hvem arbejder i Whiff of Joy?/Har du nogen ansatte eller laver du alt arbejdet alene?
Der er selvfølgelig Whiff of Joy illustratorerne, Alison Acton fra Canada og Elisabeth Bell fra USA som gør et fantastisk stykke arbejde og designer alle de smukke motiver som vi elsker. Min mand Marcel er ansvarlig for forretningen, webshoppen og alle de andre vigtige computer og software ting. Uden ham kunne jeg ikke klare arbejdsmængden mere. En nær veninde som hedder Bettina pakker alle ordrene, hun er fantastisk og jeg er meget glad for at have hende på mit team.
Det kreative designteam er en af de vigtigste hjørnesten af Whiff of Joy. Alle mine ”piger” laver ikke mindst endeløst inspiration de er også blevet en fantastisk support for mig.
Gode evner til at farvelægge er den MEST vigtige evne for en designer eller gæstedesigner. Vores team skal være i stand til at fremhæve Whiff of Joy stemplet i en speciel måde. God blogaktivitet hvor der bliver vist kunstværkerne frem ofte er også meget vigtigt for mig.
Hvad er dit mest solgte stempel?
Willow with hot chocolate – det kommer vel ikke bag på nogen..?
Hvordan får du nye ideer til dine skitser?
Jeg laver mange blogrundfarter og lader inspirationen flyde. Ofte har jeg også et bestemt stempel i tankerne, som jeg ønsker at bruge til et kort og så designer jeg skitsen efter stemplet.
Har du nogen indflydelse på hvordan nye motiver skal de ud, eller er det kun ilustratoren der bestemmer? Det meste af tiden skriver jeg mine idder ned og illustratorerne bruger dem på deres egen måde, men jeg har gjort det den anden vej rundt, hvor jeg har fortalt dem om et tema den næste udgivelse skulle være.
Jeg er meget glad for mine illustratorer, de ikke kun udfører førsteklasses arbejde og har en proffesionel indstilling til tingene, de er også blevet gode venner som ofrer deres fritid når det gælder arbejde i sidste øjeblik. Jeg har ikke i tankerne at få flere illustratorer lige nu, men jeg vil ikke afvise det helt. Jeg tror ikke jeg kan modstå en kunstner med en helt speciel stil som jeg kan li’.
Ved du allerede hvilket motiv der bliver et hit når du får iillustrationerne?
Jeg prøver at vurderer det, fordi det er vigtigt at have rigeligt på lager og nogen gange rammer jeg rigtigt og andre bliver jeg meget overrasket.
Vil du fortsætte med at sælge kits, som det populære forårskit?
Ja, helt sikkert! Vi planlægger at udgive kits med faste mellemrum ca. fire gange om året. Vores første kit var en succes, og jeg ønser at give alle en chance for at få mest ud af deres hobby i disse krisetider.
Hvilket udstyr kan du ikke leve uden?
Mine Suprafarver og Twinkling H2O
At kigge på mine allerede farvelagte motiver og sætte et kort sammen.
Hvor lang tid bruger du på et kort?
Ca. to timer.
De hurtige...
Pink eller blå? Pink eller en kombination af begge farver.
Bling eller blomster? Blomster.
Pen eller pensel? Jeg bruger akvarelblyanter og vandpensler til at farvelægge så minemotiver med, så mit svar er begge dele
Stempel eller ej? Stempel.
Pateller eller pangfarver? Den var svær... Jeg kan ikke bestemme mig....
Bånd eller blonder? Bånd
Now for the sketch.
Nu til skitsen.
Here are the DT's card.
Marianne
This is the fabulous price that you have a chance to win. All you have to do is make a card from the sketch and paste the link to the post in your blog in the Mister Linky scheme. There will be no need to leave comments.
The price is sponsored by Scrapp og Lapp
Vi holder til i idylliske Risør, og vil en liten periode fremover KUN ha nettbutikk."
"Scrapp & Lapp opened Nov. 1st 2006. and we have all you need for scrapbooking, card making and jewelry making. We probably have some things you didn`t even knew you needed. Our location is in idyllic Risør in Norway, and for a small period of time now,
we ONLY have online store."
For å delta: skriv ditt navn og lim link til kortet ditt i Mister Linky
To participate; Write your name and paste the link to your card in the Mister Linky.
Frist for å delta: 10. April ~ Midnatt StampARTic tid.
Deadline: April 10th ~ Midnight StampARTic time.