Q:: Your designer name is ‘Serene by RW’. Who is Serene and can we know your real name?
Serene::
My real name is Renata Wood and Serene is my company name. It represents my idea on the scrapbooking style. I like things simple, clean and well, serene. I have actually chosen this name before I started designing and I considered changing it a couple of times, seeing that my colorful designs might not appear serene to the customers, but I think it’s too late for that now [laugh]

Q:: How did you start as a digital scrapbooker and when did you decide you were going to design and sell your work?
Serene::
I started using my Photoshop a little after my daughter was born mostly trying to enhance my family photos. As I found my way around I fell in love with all the features and options Photoshop offered, although I mostly just made invitations, added text and simple things like that. Eventually the digi buzz got to me and I decided to try it myself. It only took a few weeks to realize the potential digital scrapbooking had. I was excited to see what I could try and make myself. My first designs were pretty simplistic, but I loved designing from the very start. I stopped paper scrapbooking soon after that. Not necessarily because I didn’t enjoy it as much, but mostly because digital scrapping took all my free time.

I decided to try and sell my designs on ebay first. I actually had some success and I was happy selling there till ebay changed its’ policy on downloadable goods and I could only sell CDs and ship them. Luckily, right around that time I was accepted to my first store, so it was an easy transition.

Q:: Was it an easy transition from scrapper to designer? Did you have any guidance or support from anyone?
Serene::
Yes, I would say it was an easy transition, mostly because I started off making the designs I wanted to use in my scrapbooking layouts and then eventually I started making the themed kits and made my own pages using them.

Q:: You have such versatility of styles. What do you do best?
Serene::
I love drawing my elements. It might not be the most popular style, but I absolutely love drawing. I had such fun making my pirate kit, which I mostly drew from scratch. I only made a couple of fully drawn kits as of now, but I hope I’ll have time to make more.

Q:: You have some CU (commercial use) products in your store. What lead you to design them?
Serene::
Since I don’t use too many CU items myself, I had a late start making CU items and even now only have a handful. Mostly they are the elements I created for my own kits and later on packaged to sell for the other designers that might like to use them.

Q:: Are CU (commercial use) products easier to design than the normal kits?
Serene::
I only make CU elements extracted from my photographs. They are not particularly fun to make, but I like my elements well extracted, therefore don’t mind spending the time. It’s nice to be able to reuse these elements as CU later on.

Q:: Sometimes we hear horror stories of designers work illegally used. Has this happened to you? How did you find out and what actions were taken?
Serene::
I have been selling at a few stores and we have had a few designers with these problems. Luckily as of now I have had no piracy issues in connection with my designs. But I’m sure the possibility is always there.

Q:: What do you prefer to do first? Papers or elements?
Serene::
I think I prefer making the elements. I just seem to have more ideas for making them. Acrylic, strings, stickers, buttons...the possibilities are endless.

Q:: How long does it take to complete a kit? Explain to us from the beginning of an idea to adding it into the store.
Serene::
It might take anything from a few days to a couple of weeks. Some are easier, some are just more time consuming, depending on the technique. I usually start with a color combo and a vague idea of what style I am trying to use. I hardly ever have a theme to my kit. I just create something I know I could use myself, mostly with my own photos. I have made some themed kits too, but I find that harder to do. I usually start making some backgrounds, because it’s easier to make the elements to match the papers. It might take a little going back and forth till I am happy with the kit. One evening is usually spent packaging. At one point I was selling in 6 stores and the previews varied for each store. That was very time consuming. After the kit is zipped, I usually upload it to one store, just to make it easily accessible for my CT girls. I usually add it to the rest of the stores within a few days after that.