Introducing our February Designer of the Month: Bryony of Heartstrings Scrap Art. Bryony has been a Designer here for six years, before that she was a much loved CT member. Her layouts were, are, spectacular! Bryony has an amazing gift for clustering and framing photo’s perfectly. In fact, it is this gift that got her started on her Designer path. When she first joined our team, she joined as a template Designer. She is still a template Designer and so much more! Her talents are evident in not just her templates, but also her spectacular collections.
Join me & get to know Bryony a little better in her own words. In her own photo’s.
Where do you live and who do you live with?
I am 48 years old and grew up in Cape Town. I thought I would live there for my whole life but then I got married and life had other plans! My husband was a submariner in the navy when we met but now he grows tulips for a Dutch company. We live about an hour from Cape Town now in a smaller town. It took me a while to get used to being out here but now I love it! It’s a much slower pace of life and only takes me 6 minutes to drive my kids to school 🙂 I am a freelance graphic designer working mainly on books and magazines and any other print related design. I live with my husband and two kids. Sam is 10 and Miya is almost 9.
Does that include any pets?
We have a four month old border collie puppy Harley. She is so gorgeous and we are so in love. But it has been a big adjustment for me! Especially the fact that she wakes up at 5:30am! We also have a black male cat called Lori (and yes, our boy cat has a girls name and our girl dog has a traditionally boys name!!).
How did you meet your husband?
In a bar! My friend saw him and his group of friends and walked right up to them. I went to check she was behaving herself and we got chatting.
Have you always lived in South Africa?
Yes, born in Cape Town 🙂 My parents were both born in Zimbabwe and met in Cape Town when they went to university there. My Great grandparents and great, great grandparents came to Southern Africa so our family has been here for generations.
What do you like to do on your days off? Does that inspire your designs?
Days off? Not sure what those are 😉 Since I work from home I often design in my spare time. But we love to travel. This last year we’ve had mostly weekends away instead of any long trips. I also love photography. It’s always been a hobby of mine since I was young. I am inspired by nature and the beach. It’s where my creative brain has space to think and come up with new ideas.
How did you find designing? Art?
I have always been creative and loved art. At school I wanted to be a magazine designer and that is eventually what I ended up doing. But I love to take photography and sew and do creative stuff.
When designing a new collection, which step of the way causes you the most trouble?
I always take time to decide on my final colour palette and theme idea. I spend a fair amount of time on that. But it doesn’t really cause trouble. I love the whole process. The admin process of loading products to the store is the part I like the least 😉
What is your favorite thing to design?
It use to be templates, but now my favourite part of collection is the elements pack. I always start with that.
What do you feel every kit needs?
Lots of flowers and foliage!
If you could live anywhere on Earth, where would it be?
Gosh this is a tough one. I LOVE Cape Town but have been lucky enough to travel a lot. My favourite cities are Paris and Barcelona and Seattle, oh and I love NYC too. But I am not sure I would live in a city. Probably somewhere at the beach.
Bryony’s entire store is on sale all of February for 30% Off! Check out some of my favorite kits and the fantabulous layouts created with those kits. Even better? Save an extra 20% OFF my favorite kits with our blog-exclusive coupon!
Coupon Code = BRYONY20BLOG
Expires: March 1, 2021
KITS ONLY: The Naturalist; Collect Beautiful Moments; Magic in the Chaos; Follow Your Heart; You Hold My Heart and Time Traveler
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