My pick this week is Frosty by Kim21673. I really like this kit and she made a really pretty page! Be sure to head over to the gallery or the forum and leave her some love!!

Congrats Kim21673!!
-Judy (Jupiter394)

This week I had the honor of interviewing all of our guest designers for the month of January!! How fun is THAT?!  They are all so amazing I am sure you are dying to know more about them (I sure was..) but in case you don’t know..they are the amazing and talanted..By Becca, Connie Prince, and Kaye Winiecki!!  Yay! So I am going to start with By Becca and go on from there.  Get ready for some interesting reading!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? By Becca now that I’m designing, but I scrapped using fourluvbugs, so you’ll find both names depending on where you are!  My real name is Becca.
2. What is your main job/career? My main job if you look at how much time it takes is being a mama and wife and all the things that go along with those jobs — cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, nurturing my little ones and trying not to neglect my husband.  But if you look at my fancy degrees and years of schooling, I’m an attorney.  I practice part time (15-20 hours a week) with my husband.  And of course I design, too.
3. Are you married/children/pets? Yep!  to all three.  I’ve been married for ten years and I’m a mama to four: a boy, age 8, and three girls, ages 6, 4, and 2.  We also have two cats and some fish. . .  maybe 6 fish?  I’m not really sure.  They’re all in one tank.
4. Where is home for you? I live in northwest Pennsylvania but I was raised in Wisconsin, so both are “home”.
5. What are your 3 favorite foods? You have no idea how much I’d love the truthfully answer “lettuce”.   But really its all things dairy: anything with cream cheese, really good ice cream (custard really, like ice cream, only richer creamier and even worse for you).  Oh, and crab legs  (definitely not together!)
6. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC.  I mostly work on an HP laptop and I design in CS4.
7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? elements, elements, elements.  I can design papers that I love all day long but I have a harder time creating elements that I adore.  It takes me forever to make something that I’m happy with.
8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? Photography.  I dabble.  I wish I had time to really study and excel!
9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Movies: Gone With the Wind and Cassablanca from the old days.  more recently, I really loved August Rush.  for TV: The Tudors. House. Heroes. Grey’s Anatomy.  We have the TV on a lot in the evening, but my husband almost always picks the shows.  I DVR mine and fit them in when there’s nothing on that he wants to watch or when he’s feeling generous with the remote.
10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I always sit in the same seat on the couch — my command center!  I have a table, the phone, and all the stuff I need right where I can reach it.  I usually design amid the chaos of my life when I can steal a minute, for an hour or so while my youngest sleeps and my four year old plays quietly,  and in the evenings after the kids go to bed.  I don’t usually snack, but I like to have a cup of coffee or a Diet Mountain Dew.  In the evenings the TV is usually on.  We watch way too much TV, but we’re usually worn out by the time we get everyone settled for the night.  TV is about all we can handle.
11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? flowers and ribbons.
12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? Hmmmm, not sure if there are any.  I’m an open book!  I hate brussel sprouts.  I’d love to travel.  I wanted to be an air force pilot when I was a young teen.
13. When did you start designing? How did you get started? Well, three years ago I started designing signatures and from the start I tried to make things when I couldn’t find what I wanted.  My early attempts were really dismal.  Then a little over a year ago I started scrapping and never looked back.  I haven’t designed a signature in months, but I’ve scrapped and scrapped!  I landed a gig on Kim Broedelet (KimB’s) CT and one of the things she asks her CT to do is participate in her color challenge.  Since I had nothing to lose, I thought I’d try designing something for the one in June 2009.  That was my first minikit, it was teeny tiny, more of a micro mini.  LOL!  To my shock, people downloaded it!  So I made one in July too.  It was so much fun!!  And then Chaos Lounge (who I also CT for) and Color With Caryn encouraged me to answer a designer call at Enchanted Studio Scraps.  I felt like a bit of an imposter since I’d never designed more than a few papers or a handful of elements, but I designed the application minikit anyway and to my surprise the store took me on.    I opened my shop doors on August 14, 2009.  Not that I’m keeping track or anything.  lol!  I was fortunate in that I had, and still have, several designers encouraging me and answering my questions when I get stuck, I’d never be here without them.
14. How would you describe your design style? Pretty.  Everything I make turns out pretty even if I try to make it boyish or edgy or whimsical.  I guess pretty is just what I do. That’s how I scrap and its also how I design.  I wish I were a bit more versatile and maybe that will happen down the road, but for now, my style is. . .  well. . . me.  Its pretty easy for people who are familiar with my style to pick out my stuff.  That surprises me actually, since I don’t think I’m doing anything particularly unique, but I’ll take it!
15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? Some days I stare at a blank screen.  Other days, the ideas flow and I have to write them down before I forget them.  I love color and I almost always start with colors as my inspiration.  My Frosted Jubilee kit was a request from one of my CTMs.  I made a palette that I loved, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it and I asked my CT for ideas (I’d be lost without them, seriously, I have the greatest, most supportive CT ever!) and one of them suggested a jubilee kit for winter birthdays and celebrations.  Today I’m working on another kit for my CT, a baby kit for one of my girls who is due this month.  My finished kits rarely look like the idea I had in my head when I started.  They kind of evolve during the process.
16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most? Have you seen my products in the store?  They all look exactly like I made them even though they are all unique.  I found out pretty early on that I can only do this well if I design what I love and forget about the current trends.  I think my favorite kit to date is actually a collab (am I allowed to pick a collab?  how about if I pick only my part of it?) with Designs by Helly — Wintersong.  I love its colors, its sparkle.  It has some wonderful original elements in it and of course I love the papers.

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? I can’t pick one color scheme, but I gravitate toward muted or pastel colors with some lights and darks for drama.  I don’t do terribly well with really bright palettes.  I like cool colors better than warm ones and even when I use a color like red its usually a purple-ish red instead of an orange-ish one.
18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters? Well, so far the only kit I’ve designed for ScrapMatters is Frosted Jubilee, so I have to pick that one.

Thanks Becca for letting us into your world!!  Check out more of Becca’s beautiful products here!
Next up is Connie Prince…

1. Your screen name? Your real name? My screen name is conniep & my real name is Connie Prince.
2. What is your main job/career? Designing is my main career..second only to being a wife & mom.
3. Are you married/children/pets? Yes, married to William for 13 years.  We have one child, Hayden, who is 12, plus two dogs & one cat.
4. Where is home for you? I live in Georgia, just west of Atlanta.
5. What are your 3 favorite foods? I love Mexican food (any of it), fried chicken, and French fries.
6. PC or Mac? What program do you use? I’m a PC and I design with Photoshop.
7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? The most challenging part of designing to me is not having enough hours in the day to finish up all of the projects that I typically have started!
8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I’d love to have time to learn to decorate cakes & pastries, Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes) style cakes..not your typical rose covered birthday cakes!
9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? I love reality TV, I’m a Survivor & Big Brother junkie!  I also love Heroes, House, Modern Family, Cougar Town, CBS comedies (especially Big Bang)..I really like TV lol!
10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I listen to music sometimes while designing, but typically I like it to be completely silent.  I always have a diet coke or coffee close at hand!
11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? String & buttons!!
12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I am also a musician, I play many different instruments!
13. When did you start designing? How did you get started? I’ve been designing for a couple of years.  I started playing around in Photoshop and my design career just developed from there.
14. How would you describe your design style? I don’t think that I really have a set style, I move back & forth between many different styles.
15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? My designs always start with a color palette!
16. Which of your products in the ScrapMatters Store showcases your style the most? Party On!  It has my favorite colors & it’s just fun kit!

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? I love bold, bright colors, they make me happy!
18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for ScrapMatters? Plugged In, it was created with my son in mind.  He’s really into technology and I wanted something that I could scrap pictures of him pursuing his many interest like gaming, computers, etc.

Thanks Connie for answering all of our questions!  Checkout all of Connie’s awesome products here!

And finally we have Kaye Winiecki…

1. Your screen name? Your real name? nockosh, Kaye Winiecki

2. What is your main job/career? My main career now is motherhood and I also work from home as a Graphic Designer

3. Are you married/children/pets? I have been married to DH for nearly 10 years and we have 2 children. Jaylen is 5 and Tayla is 3. We have a dog named Taggart and 3 goldfish named Thomas, Duncan and Donald

4. Where is home for you? Australia

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Chocolate, Mexican and Thai

6. PC or Mac? What program do you use? Pc (though very tempted to get a mac next time) and I use photoshop and illustrator

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? Having to clean up the mess my felt makes when I get it out, I hate that bit, all the little off cuts everywhere!

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I would love to learn how to do computer generated animation like they use for the Shrek movies, Star Wars etc

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? I’m not really into watching that much tv or movies so don’t really have favourites

10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? My favourite designing environment is when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet, I have a chocolate chip cookie and a hot chocolate. But mostly it is not done in a quiet house, as I either have children noise or DH watching tv noise in the background. If designing during the day I must have a diet coke!

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? A flower and paint

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? Hmm sure, but I can’t think of anything that would be interesting!

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started? I started designing in 2006 (gosh I cringe at those products now LOL) I started by making papers and elements for myself and a friend to use and then applied for a store designer call.

14. How would you describe your design style? Fun, bright and happy

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? A lot of my inspiration comes from my kids, from what they are into or do. But I also get inspiration from magazines, clothing, just everyday things around me

16. Which of your products in the ScrapMatters Store showcases your style the most? Definitely my bumps and blahs kit. It is full of felt elements and is bright and fun.

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? I’m a bit partial to red, green and orange, they can be found in most of my products.

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters? Well there is only one in the store so far, so it has to be bumps and blahs, but maybe next week when I release my next one that will be my favourite.

Thanks Kaye for letting us get to know you better!  Check out Kaye’s amazing store here!!

Thanks for sticking with me for that extra long post this week!  I had so much fun learning more about our awesome guests this month!!

-Amanda (Panders77)