Q:: Is the woman with the hat in Studio Lorie at Scrapbookgraphics you?
Lorie::
Yes, that’s me. I have big, bushy, red hair and big freckles and always wear a hat. If I don't I sunburn soooo bad.

Q:: How did you get into digital scrapbook design?
Lorie::
I started playing around with photos of my adorable niece Hollie using Photoshop. I was doing layouts of our family hiking and playing, making my own elements. It was great fun and my sister loved them. Then I discovered all the people doing this on the Internet. I had been trying to break into the greeting card business - that was going nowhere - and was doing odd jobs locally as an illustrator, doing murals and business signs. I was ready for something new so I tried designing scrapbooking kits. That has worked out really well so far.

Q:: How long ago was that?
Lorie::
Tandika at Digiscrapdesigner gave me my start two years ago. Maya at Scrapbookgraphics offered me a store at her shop a year later.

Q:: You have a fantasy world approach on your kits like Puss in Boots, Dr. Suess… how do you come up with such ideas?
Lorie::
[laugh] It’s a combination of my love for children's books, which I still read, and the way my sister and I used to play while we were growing up. My mom and Dad had a ranch in the mountains of Idaho. We didn't have a lot of money and we were pretty isolated. I think we played a lot more than other kids who were living on ranches. Mom said it was our job to play. My sister and I used our imaginations to invent fantasy worlds, in the orchard, and the corn field, in amongst the giant old tractors in Dad's junk yard - we had a playhouse. I know my art over the years have been influenced by that.

Q:: Is that also where you draw your main inspiration from or are there other factors that are very important to you in order to create a new design?
Lorie::
The mountains I am surrounded by and also most recently what inspires me is my CT team. I build from them. When I’m putting together a kit, they look at it, respond to it. I see what they are doing with their layouts and we synchronize.

Q:: How would you describe your style?
Lorie::
It wants to be very realistic but it’s fantastical at the same time. It’s quirky, fantasy… I think that’s the best way to describe my style [laugh].

Q:: Do you get inspired by particular things or do you need to go for a walk to get inspired?
Lorie::
At this point - when I first started, I needed a lot to trigger my imagination but now that I have been doing it for a while, like you said… going on a walk or just looking at something. Now a leaf sticking out of a tree in a funny way gives me ideas. It’s just a whole combination of things. My husband inspires me.

Q:: When an inspiration strikes you, do you have to get back immediately and work on it or can you capture the moment and release it when you have the time to sit down and work on your creation?
Lorie::
Well… when I see something either I write or I sketch it out or, a lot of times I’ll just store it in a box in my mind. I have a nice D-40 Nikon and it works better than memory if I remember to bring it with me! [laugh]

Q:: What other equipment do you use to create your designs?
Lorie::
I bought a Wacom tablet about a year ago. I never use it. My husband does, he says it's wonderful for extractions. I am very attached to my mouse so I create a lot with it. I draw with a pencil, then scan, then Photoshop. I know it’s kind of old fashioned but I feel comfortable with my mouse. There’s just something about the mouse - the feeling of it. I have several hard drives, I'm always making backups just in case and I have every photo I've ever taken on them, and I use them a lot. My husband, he’s pretty savvy with the computer, so he figures out what I need. I have an old computer but it’s packed with a lot of memory, a big video card, and I am now using a couple of monitors.

Q:: How long does it take for you to complete a design? How do you progress with your work?
Lorie::
The longest one element has ever taken me is about 8-1/2 hours. Most of the time what I’ll do is I start with papers. I get inspired by the papers and that will lead me to think about what I can do with my papers. Suddenly an idea starts forming and then the elements come.