Guest Designer | July | Mitchell Kraft

Happy Birthday, America!

We're back this month with a new guest designer. I'm super excited to see what Mitchell Kraft created with our newest collections. Mitch has a fabulous style and always portrays a fresh look that will inspire you. We'll be showcasing his designs every Thursday in July but first let's get to know a little about Mitch.

Mitchell Kraft is a graphic designer, marathon runner, proud pet owner, aspiring foodie and avid crafter. He is a 2007 Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame winner and has worked in the Scrapbooking industry for 8+ years. His unique voice, in a predominately female dominated community, has allowed him to develop and instruct classes at many venues in the greater Twin Cities area.

Currently, Mitchell is employed full-time as a graphic designer, working primarily in print. He finds scrapbooking an easy evolution of his design craft. As you can tell in both his graphic design work and crafting, Mitchell has a passion for texture, depth and detail.

A native Minnesotan, Mitchell lives in Minnetonka with his partner Jacob, their dog Shawn, and cat Lexi.

How about a little Q&A with Mitch:

What is your favorite Lily Bee Design product and why?

It’s a toss up between the label stickers and the alpha stickers. The labels are so great for tucking under layers. They are simple, but graphic and come in great shapes. The Alpha stickers are some of my favorite on the market. I love the variety of colors you get, the small size is great, and the typeface is classic.

What is your favorite subject to scrapbook about?

I always joke, that since I don’t have kids, I make scrapbook pages about my cat – which, to be honest, isn’t really a joke. Most of my layouts are about my pets or fun things I am doing or what I am enjoying at the time. The stuff of life, I guess.

What is your favorite technique that you like to use on cards or layouts?

Right now, I am all about layers, layers and more layers. I am obsessed with combining papers and stickers and embellishments to create depth, dimension and texture. I love the shadows that the different layers cast on top of each other.

I asked Mitch to create something for this week's STARS & STRIPES theme. Take a look at what he created.

For this layout, I wanted to have a patriotic feel, but not be over-the-top themed. To do that, I chose simple, graphic red and blue patterned papers and embellishments that coordinated. I decided to print my photo in black and white because the colors were very bright - they didn't fit with my patriotic theme.

To tie in the cool grey tones from color from the photo, I mounted it on the first layer of great patterned paper. I carried the elements of grey through a few of the embellishments, but kept my overall color scheme red and blue.

Supplies: Destination Collection(Tickets 12x12 paper-DSP325, Postcard12x12 paper-DSP33, Destination Label Stickers-DSS335, Destination Letter Stickers-DSS336, Destination Chit Chat Stickers-DSS337) Pinwheel Collection (Jump Rope12x12 paper-PWP308, Flip-Flops12x12 paper-PWP311Pinwheel Label Stickers-PWS316, Pinwheel Letter Stickers-PWS317)

So are you as blown away by Mitch's creativity as I am? Seriously swoon-worthy!

Make sure to leave him some love here and follow him on his social sites: