Member Spotlight | Janine Langer

Hi, I am Janine Langer. I am 37 - soon 38 - years old, and I live close to Cologne in Germany. I am a wife, mother and the official family photographer. That's what I also do for a living, by the way, photography. It hasn't always been that way; when I was much younger I became a foreign language correspondent, and I also worked for the German government. But I found that wasn't what I really wanted to do and after I gave birth to my son and was a stay-at-home mom for four years, I decided to do something completely different, and I love it!

I started scrapbooking when I concentrated more and more on photographing. I had the need to not only take the pictures, I also wanted to keep all the memories that came with the picture in one place. I think that was around 2006/2007. Since then, I've been hooked on it! Unfortunately, I had to make a little break in scrapbooking, but now that I can do it again, I won't ever stop with it. It is my creative outlet, kind of like therapy. :) I love the thought of my son looking through all the albums when he's a grown-up, maybe having his own little family!

What do you do when your kit comes?

To be honest, I immediately open it, no matter what I was doing. I have to see all the prints and feel all the textures!

I think it is the hybrid part of my layouts. Normally, I start my layouts on my computer. First the photos, then the design itself (I use grey boxes for the patterned paper I am going to use). Then I decide on the most important part of all: where does the journaling go? As I really don't like my handwriting, I always print my journaling directly on my layout. So the design has to be planned first so that I know where to print the journaling, and I can run the paper through my printer. Sometimes I do it the other way and don't adhere anything on my layout, measure the point where my journaling goes, type it on my computer, print it and then adhere everything - or I use journaling strips. The next thing I always come back to are splatters, all kinds of them. Paint, color pens, modeling paste with a mask, digital splatters - it doesn't matter. On most of my layouts you also find stitching and/or string.

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Where do you go when your mojo is low?

Pinterest or Studio Calico. If that is not working, I don't try to force it and mostly I find inspiration in nature or in a magazine. I am not forcing it anymore, if there's no mojo, then it is just not the time for creating something at that moment. I know it'll come back, most of the time sooner than I thought!

Thank you for letting us spotlight you, Janine! We loved getting to know more about you! If you'd like to see more of Janine's work, be sure to follow her here at SC, on her blog and on Facebook!