We have so many things going on for our 5th birthday with the Reunion Tour that we wanted to take a moment to spotlight a few of the several Guest Designers we have joining us this month.

Jennifer Labre Designs
Hi everyone! My name is Jenn of Jennifer Labre Designs. I’m thrilled to be back here at ScrapMatters to help celebrate their birthday! What a fun and exciting time! I loved my time at here and have so many wonderful memories of the people, designers, team and events. Such a fun place to hang out and scrap! I’m excited to be back and get to see so many familiar faces. I’m looking forward to all that ScrapMatters has planned this month and I can’t wait to share some new products with you too! Oh, I totally love the rock theme that is planned for this month because I’m such a rocker chick! I have to say, my favorite bands are still probably the hair bands of the 80s. Since I grew up then, so many of those songs hold special memories for me. I can’t help but rock out when my favorites like Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt and Whitesnake come on. Rock on! You can find Jenn’s store here

Elise’s Pieces Designs
Hi there! I’m Elise Hansen of Elise’s Pieces Designs and I am so excited to be part of ScrapMatters’ Reunion Tour! I was a designer here last summer, and loved all of the amazing scrappers that “live” here. I love browsing the gallery and seeing your layouts is always inspiring. Being back here with some of my favorite designers and scrappers, meeting new faces, and just being part of the fun is so fantastic. And have you seen the awesome team collab? I mean, seriously! It rocks!!

We love traditions and celebrations at my house, and somehow they always seem to center around food! My husband is a bit of a foodie, and we’re both pretty sentimental, so we have special foods and traditions that go with special times of the year. Birthdays are pretty much a day long food fest! Since I’m the only girl in my house, my husband and I have three boys, I pretty much insist that my birthday is the time to treat me like a princess. This year, I even got a crown to go with my yummy crème brulee!

I really love to dance, and I love any music that makes me feel like dancing. My workout mix on my iPod is full of fast, hip hoppy kinds of songs that keep me moving. As far as bands go, I’ve been in love with Harry Connick, Jr since I was young, the same goes for Jon Bon Jovi. And I love Billy Joel and Sting. You know, all the cool guys.

I’ve been scrapping for a long time, so my designs are definitely influenced by ideas and things I like to have when I am the scrapper. I’m also inspired by my family, my life and hobbies, and funky shoes and purses! I love lots and lots of color, so I rarely stick with just four or five colors when I design. I love working with teal, green and blue hues, and I struggle a little bit with really dark shades. My kits are very papery, and you’ll almost always find a hand-drawn heart in there! You can find Elise’s store here

Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs
My name is Cheryl Ashcraft and I’m known around the forum and gallery as gonewiththewind, My design name is Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs. I started hanging out at ScrapMatters in 2009 and really became more involved when I participated in and won Queen of Scrap 2010. I had a temporary spot on the Creative Team that became a permanent spot. I was already designing templates at that point and for a short time also had a template store at ScrapMatters. I’ve always loved the variety of challenges at ScrapMatters that focus on helping scrappers create beautiful layouts for their memory albums as well as the friendliness in the forum and genuine love that is spread in the gallery. I’m a huge proponent of celebrating milestones, so I’m utterly delighted to be here to join in the celebration with ScrapMatters.

I design intricately layered but easy-to-use templates to create multi-layered layouts with no fuss. I generally always use the same color scheme for my templates unless I’m collaborating with another designer or group of designers. I’ve gotten so used to creating with these colors that I have to design using them and when I’m done, convert to the colors that match the collaboration. There’s something that just clicks in my head with my signature colors. I’m also inspired by everything around me to design templates. One of my recent sets started with a collage wall I have in my computer room, but I’ve also been inspired by walking down hallways or driving down the road!

My favorite way to celebrate the important events in my life is to surround myself with my big family and delicious food. Then sit and talk while we watch TV or listen to music. Usually if we are at my dad’s, country music is playing. At my sister’s, she plays Jimmy Buffet. At my house, we play a mix of 80′s and 90′s or either big band music. I love listening to Ella Fitzgerald, The Supremes, Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone. You can find Cheryl’s store here

Happy Scrap Girl Designs
I’m the gal behind Happy Scrap Girl Designs. My online friends call me Happy or HSG. I am so excited to be a part of the Reunion Tour! ScrapMatters is where it all started for me. I made lots of friends here and I’m excited to spend the month working with them again! I loved working on part of the Rockin’ it Out team collab too! I’m so glad I get to help celebrate ScrapMatter’s birthday with all of you! In my family, we always try to make a big deal about birthdays. The adults always get to pick their favorite restaurant for out whole family to celebrate at. For my kids, I usually like to try to surprise them in the morning with something special, like a room full of balloons or a special birthday breakfast. Then we let them pick someplace to go that day, like the museum, amusement park or a movie. When it comes to music. I’m a little more country than rock n’ roll, I love Zac Brown Band, Blake Shelton, and Lady Antebellum.

I’ve been designing for almost 5 years. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long! I started in digiland a year before that as a freebie hunter and blogger. In 2007 Andrea, ScrapMatters original owner, offered me a spot on the creative team of a new store she was opening! I joined the first CT here and in November of 2007 I started designing. ScrapMatters was my first digi home. I loved being part of the admin team and working hard to help the site grow. I loved being part of the community too! Now I design mostly CU products, but try to make those so that they can easily be used by scrappers too. Quality is very important to me and my customers so all of my CU products are quality checked. You can find Happy’s store here

This week we get to hear from one of our CT Members, Trista!  Join me in reading her responses and getting to know her a little better!  She has a beautiful gallery and we’ve included some of her favorites below!  Enjoy!

1. Name/username?  Trista

2. What does “family” mean to you? Will you share with us about yours? Family means so many different things for me. I have a family of relatives. I consider some of my dearest “real life” friends as my family. I also feel a sense of family here at ScrapMatters with my digital family.

3. What is your favorite aspect of being a CT Member at SM? The community here at ScrapMatters has always been supportive. When I first visited here a few years ago, I immediately felt welcomed and included. Since joining the team here I feel that sense of family even more.

4. How many layouts would you say you scrap in a week/month? I tend to be a daily scrapper – when the schedule allows, so I scrap anywhere from 7 to 10 pages a week.

5. What would you say your scrapping style is? I am all over the place. Is that a style? :giggle: Depending on the subject of the page I am creating and the kit that I have selected my pages range anywhere from clean and blocked to completely covered and clustered. One thing you are sure to see on a page in my gallery is a bold patterned background paper! I love paper!! The bolder the pattern the better!

6. Is there a method to organizing your digital content? If so, what? My organization has evolved quite a bit since I began my digital scrapbooking journey. I currently have one main digital folder that contains a separate folder for every designer that I have purchased product from. Within that folder is another folder for each kit/product.

Does that even make any sense?

7. How did you get started in digital scrapbooking? I started out with traditional paper scrapbooking more than ten years ago. In September 2009 I was attending a scrapbook retreat with friends and I met someone there that was talking about digital scrapbooking. When I returned home from the retreat I began researching and I gave it a try. It was amazing and I was immediately hooked!

8. What is one thing you know now WISH you had known when you first started scrapping digitally? I wish I had researched more about organizing my files before overloading an EHD and having to backtrack and reorganize. That has taken the most time and to be honest I am still not completely done.

9. Any helpful tips/tricks/shortcuts you’d be willing to share with us? I have to say that time saving tips and tutorials are my favorites. My first time saving tip is to use templates. Another must have for me are styles and actions. These tools are real time savers.
10. Do you have a specific scrapping project you are working on right now? If so, what is it? I have a few hybrid things in the works and I am trying desperately to catch up on Project Life pages so that I will be ready for printing at the end of the year.

11. What types of photos do you enjoy taking most? (family, scenery, action, etc.) Family! I like taking all sorts of photos but most every photo is centered around our family and what we are doing on a daily basis.

12. Where would your dream vacation be? Hmmm, my travel bucket list is long. I would really love to spend some time traveling abroad. I have a dream to learn to cook Italian food from an Italian chef. Big dreams!!

13. What’s your least favorite household chore? UGH! The bathroom. BLECH!!

14. What did you want to be when you grew up? I can remember two things I wanted to do when I grew up. The first was to work in the medical field in some capacity. I took some medical courses and didn’t work at a doctor’s office very long before I knew it was not the place for me. I am too tender hearted to help others that are in need. Not that people don’t deserve a tender heart, but I was way too emotional to even help.  The other thing I dreamed of doing was opening a day care center. Well I am as close to that as I’ll ever be… I stay at home with my two kids. :giggle:

15. What’s for dinner tonight? We had spaghetti, garlic rolls, and a side salad for dinner tonight and guess what? Tomorrow is leftovers! YUM!

16. Describe your perfect: [career] – I have been thinking lately about returning to the workforce for a multitude of reasons, one being that both of my children will be in school all day once school begins in September. With this in the back of my mind I really have been wishing that there were a way for me to earn an income from home so that I am still able to volunteer at the school and participate in their school activities. These things I would miss if I were working outside the home.

17. If a magic fairy could come and grant you ONE wish…..what would it be?? Oh that is hard! So many things to wish for, but currently I wish a fairy would wave a wand over our house and POOF all of the renovations would be completed and my house would magically transform into my vision of our home.

18. Link us up to a couple of your fave layouts in your gallery! =)

This one is hard for me too! Usually my latest page is my favorite.

Here are some of my faves from this year…

If you would like to leave love on Trista’s layouts please click the images above.

This week we get to hear from one of our loyal SM Members!  If you see her in the forum be sure to say HI! =)

1. Name/username?
Sara/SATW

2. What does “family” mean to you? Will you share with us about yours?
“Family” means love, friendship, loyalty, silliness, and kindness. Sometimes it also means “insanity.”

3. How did you find ScrapMatters?
Oh gosh, I can’t remember anymore! I admit that I was a lurker for awhile. (Naughty, I know!) I remember seeing threads at DST or blog posts by designers whose styles I admired and they sold at ScrapMatters. So of course I checked out the gallery for inspiration, the store for the goodies, and the forum for the conversations…and I was hooked!

3. How many layouts would you say you scrap in a week/month?
For an avaerage week, I scrap about 5 to 7. In a month… I guess that’s about 25 to 35. If the creativity muse is really singing, I might make 10 LOs a week.

4. What would you say your scrapping style is?
I often scrap in a more traditional “paper” style. I’ve just started to experiment with a more Altered Art or Art Journaling style.

5. Is there a method to organizing your digital content? If so, what?
I have a Main “Digiscrapping” folder on each of my three EHDs. Within that main folder I have these subfolders (each EHD is identical): Kits, Templates, CU, Finished LOs, and “Extras” (“Extras” has element packs, fonts, QPs, and other stuff that isn’t associated with a kit). In the Kit folder, every kit has its own subfolder that is titled using the kit name and then a dash followed by the kit’s main colors, and I add a description to the kit’s preview; that way, I can easily find what I need using my Windows search function. It works for me, so I stick with it.

6. How did you get started in digital scrapbooking?
Like many scrappers, I have young children and I wanted to preserve their memories. When my daughter was about 9 months old, I realized that paper scrapping just didn’t fit my needs anymore: too messy, too much space, too much time…and way too much money! And on a mom’s forum there was a little subforum for digital scrapbooking. After checking it out and realizing that it seemed like a good fit for me, I Googled “Digital Scrapbooking” and found a few sites and was instantly hooked!

7. What is one thing you know now you WISH you had known when you first started scrapping digitally? OR What is something you’d still like to learn?
I wish I’d known about Smart Objects. (Actually, this could also apply to the next question.) If you’re not sure how big you want an element to be, turning it into a Smart Object makes really gives you the ability to play with its size.

8. Any helpful tips/tricks/shortcuts you’d be willing to share with us?
If you use Photoshop, set your Preferences, especially text preferences if you journal a lot. That way you can easily click on your fave preference for YOUR handwriting font or for when you journal in a children’s font, etc. And no matter how long you’ve been digi-scrapping, it’s never too late to get organized!

9. Do you have a specific scrapping project you are working on right now? If so, what is it?
I’m doing a monthly album for my son. He’s 5 months, so I’m always looking for cute boy kits for those photos.

10. What types of photos do you enjoy taking most? (family, scenery, action, etc.)
I love those “action shots” that show your life as it really is: my son staring at my daughter as she reads him a story; my daughter napping on her bedroom floor because she was too busy playing to realize she was about to fall asleep; or my very stoic dad playing a silly game of Peek-A-Boo with my infant son.

11. Where would your dream vacation be?
Europe! Really anywhere in Europe, but especially Italy or Spain.

12. What’s your least favorite household chore?
Dusting. I think I haven’t dusted in a month! I only dust when my in-laws come to visit or we’re going to have a party.

13. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A jewelry designer and/or a writer. I am a proofreader, so I’m at least in the English field!

14. What’s for dinner tonight?
Pizza and potato skins (we went out for dinner).

15. Describe your perfect: [house, career, day with no kids] – just pick one. =)
A day with no kids: I’d stay up until midnight the night before and wake up at 8am (2 hours later than usual). Then I’d make myself a pot of coffee that I can actually drink warm while I read a book and have breakfast. And then I’d take a nap. Then I’d have lunch at a restaurant that doesn’t cater to kids. Then I’d probably scrap for a few hours while sipping a yummy beverage. And then I’d go out to dinner with my husband. Then I’d go to IKEA by myself (no whining kids or husband!) and just stroll around. Then I’d back up my computer, which is impossible to do when the kids are awake, and have a few more of those beverages! Then I’d zone out in front of the TV and scrap some more.

16. If a magic fairy could come and grant you ONE wish…..what would it be??
I’d wish that I could function better on less sleep.

We sneaked into Sara’s gallery just to show you some of her work!  Aren’t these the cutest??!!  Be sure to click one and leave her some love!  Thanks, Sara, for letting us get to know you better!

Trisha (tishyrae)

Today we get to learn a little bit more about Michelle (msbrad).  You may see her in the welcome threads, commenting on your layouts or just being chatty in the forums.  She is one of our lovely ScrapMatters Girls!

1. Name/username? msbrad. Real name Michelle but I also answer to michi or m

2. What does “family” mean to you? Family means the world to me. It is the reason I am so driven to take pics, scrap and preserve the memories. Will you share with us about yours? Married to Bill [30 years]. 2 daughters/Sons in law. 2 grandsons-one almost age 8 and the other…almost here!

3. What is your favorite aspect of being a ScrapMatters Girl at SM? Leaving love and gaining inspiration in the gallery. I enjoy viewing the pages members post. I’m getting pretty good at recognizing their family members too.

3. How much do you add to your “wish list” while commenting in the gallery? PLEASE…don’t tell DH… a lot When I ‘view’ a LO- my mind triggers to photos I have and how I might be able to utilize the kit for me.

4. What would you say your scrapping style is? Toss a wet sponge at a wall—and you have it! Seriously, I’m all over the place. It depends on the feel I want for the page. Often I create with intent for a ‘book’ to be printed. That has a different ‘feel’ to me than a single LO framed. I am not a big fan of whitespace or the super artsy pages, because I’m telling a real life story and I like big pictures.

5. Is there a method to organizing your digital content? Yes- it is really good, IF it was up to date If so, what? On the hard drive: digi stuff> folder per designer> folder per each of her kits. Collabs are kept in a folder by the site name.  I try my best to keep up with ACDSee but I’m a bit behind.

6. How did you get started in digital scrapbooking?  I could “star” on a digi comedy hour with my bloopers. I’ve always been a paper scrapper and I wanted “different” titles etc. We also had PSE…I think 2 but I did not understand the program [if it even had a number]. I would print out “stuff” and add them to my paper scrap pages, because I couldn’t “find” the layers…  Bill bought a program called “journaling genie” . My first program! Totally did not get it. Somehow I discovered a site [now called elements village.] That site is extremely helpful to my learning the program. Now, I say learning the program for a reason- because at that time, digi kits really did not exist! Believe it or not, all the young and ‘new-ish’ out there- one had to create everything from a tutorial, and I mean everything.
7. What is one thing you know now you WISH you had known when you first started scrapping digitally? As stated above- I was a paper scrapper. Paper scraping is “consumable”. I did not ‘get’ one could use the papers and elements over and over. SO- I deleted and bought them again, and again… I did not understand how alphas only had one letter each!

8. Any helpful tips/tricks/shortcuts you’d be willing to share with us? (include program if applicable and this can be about scrapping, organizing or tuts) Oh Wow- this is a tough one!  I’m mostly an Adobe Gal [I have: pse- 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10 and CS 5 along with Lightroom.] although I also have PSP x3. A couple of my favorite program scrapping tips- ctrl+’ [or cmd+’ on mac] gives you the grid overlay. With the move tool active, Ctrl/cmd and click in the workspace the element of choice and it will take you to the active layer in the layers palette [in case you lost what it is named]

9. Do you have a specific scrapping project you are working on right now? YES!? I am working on “The Story of Me”. This is a book about Peanut [my not yet born grandson. He will arrive this next week. And I am still working on 4^th of July pics and others for albums.

10. What types of photos do you enjoy taking most? (family, scenery, action, etc.) ALL. I’m not perfect at any but love to practice and capture the moment.

11. Where would your dream vacation be? Wow- I’ve have 2 thus far. One to Europe [Italy and France, 2000]. One to Canada via train and continued with a cruise in Alaska[2007]. I would love to visit Hawaii and Australia.

12. What’s your least favorite household chore? Folding socks! Socks should be disposable

13. What did you want to be when you grew up? A Teacher. And I am one. Starting year 39, come fall. I love teaching newbies digi scrapping too.

14. What’s for dinner tonight? Prime Time! Our favorite Friday nite hang out, about 1.5 miles away. We both had a burger roll up [mine gluten free]

15. Describe your perfect: [house, career, day with no kids] – just pick one. =) We are empty nesters, officially. I’m happy at home, love the teaching job I still have.

16. If a magic fairy could come and grant you ONE wish…..what would it be?? It would be the lyrics come true to: Jim Croce’s- If I could spend time in a bottle…with my husband and family.

17.  Show us your current favorite layout. =)

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Michelle!  See you next week as we get to know another SM Member!

Lisa (kelseyll)

Did you know that Tanya is celebrating her 1 year Designing Anniversary??  She has been hosting some pretty cool games and challenges all week in our forum!  Hope you got in on some of those for some pretty cool prizes!!

Even though she has been super busy celebrating (and who wouldn’t?!) she did stop long enough to answer some questions for us!!  Check this out!

This week we are featuring one of our guest designers!  If you’ve been at ScrapMatters for a long time you might remember Happy Scrap Girl as she used to sell her designs here!  We are THRILLED she has set up shop with us again this month!!  For those that don’t know her as well, we asked her a few questions….

1. Your screen name? Happy Scrap Girl

2. What is your main job/career? Happy Scrap Girl Designs is my main job.  It gives me a creative outlet and lots of flexabilty to be home when my kids are home from school and to be able to volunteer in their classrooms every week.

3. Are you married/children/pets? Yes, I’ve been married for 13 years to my high school sweetheart.  We have 2 little girls and 2 goldfish

4. Where is home for you? We live in New York State.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Just 3.. hmm.. chocolate, sushi and crab legs.

6. PC or Mac? What program do you use? I’m a PC gal.  I use mostly Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator CS3.  But I’m planning to upgrade to CS6 this year.

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you?  Hmm.. I think the designing part is fun, but the business side of it (marketing/promoting, loading to the store, etc) is not as exciting, lol.

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to
scrapbooking? I would really like to take a class on how to use my DSLR – I’ve had it 3 years and rarely take it off auto (so sad, I know, lol).  I would also love to learn how to snap my fingers and have an instantly clean house!! Oh if only that could really happen, lol!

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Lately hubby and I have been watching shows like The Voice and America’s Got Talent.  Summer TV is a bit slow, lol.  Movies – I love a good chick flick and I think I’ve watched Breaking Dawn 6 or 7 times in the last month already, lol.

10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  Right now it’s in limbo. I have an office in the basement – but I’ve been using my laptop in the living room on the couch lately.  I design when the kids are at school. Usually the TV/radio are off unless I’m extracting – then I need some music!  I don’t usually snack when I’m working.

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be?  Oh a ribbon and a flower – gotta have them!!

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I have giant feet, lol.  I mean they are a perfect 10 – size 10 that is!

13. When did you start designing? I started designing in October of 2007.  How did you get started?  I started printing digital elements to use on my paper pages back in 2005 and in 2006 I started a blog that posted links to digital scrapbook freebie products.  I started making freebie templates and an element or 2 here and there.  In 2007, my friend Andrea (Andilynn Designs – and owner of SM) emailed me about my blog and I asked her if she would help me learn how to design.  She told me she was starting a new store called ScrapMatters and if I would join their CT, she would help me.  A few months later I had some products in the shop and was working hard to learn as much as I could about how to design!

14. How would you describe your design style? It’s a mix really.  Most of my work is CU products.  They are popular with scrappers too though because they can easily be used in layouts. I tend to like creating things that are a bit shabby or worn.

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  Everywhere. Sometimes it’s the latest trends, my kids, a magazine..

16. Which of your products in the ScrapMatters Store showcases your style
the most?  I have a lot of textures so I would say Simply Shabby 4

I also like things that are unique like my Text Path Blenders 4

You can find more goodies in her SM Shop HERE!

Lisa (kelseyll)

We recently had a call to fill some spaces we had open on our ScrapMatters Girl Team.  This dedicated group of ladies are the ones that leave love in our gallery that we all appreciate so much.  They monitor the gallery to make sure it is running smoothly and help with interviews and LOTW/POTW picks you see here on the blog!

Congratulations to these girls for making SMG:

Xandra (a84martin)
Candi (candi1973)
Kelley (kelley)
Talisa (lisemae)
Toni (geswho40)

I thought it would be fun to get to know the gals who just made the team by asking them a few questions!  So here  it goes…

First up is Xandra!

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Next, is Candi!

1.  Name/username candi1973

2.  Married/kids/pets?  Not married, 2 kids 1 girl 14 and 1 boy 21!  I don’t feel that old though!

3.  Where is home for you? Centennial, Colorado – I am a native!

4.  What brought you to ScrapMatters?  The fabulous designers!!!

5.  Why did you apply to be on the SMG?  The free stuff, of course!  Kidding!!!!  I absolutely love gaining inspiration from various galleries and SM is the best!!!

6.  What other interests do you have besides scrapbooking?  Reading, Movies, and Skiing!

7.  What is the best thing you’ve EVER eaten??  Or, what is your favorite snack food?  Cheesecake and cheesecake! hahaha!  I know, that’s baaaad!

8.  If you could travel anywhere for a dream vacation, where would it be?  oooh, this is a hard one!  I’d love to go to Australia!  That would definitely be a dream come true!

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Next, is Talisa!

1.  Name/username: Talisa aka lisemae (at SM) and LinnyBugMama elsewhere.

2.  Married/kids/pets? Not married, but have been with my boyfriend, Mitch, for 3 years now. We have a daughter, Linley, who was born March 2011. She is a bubbly, yet stubborn girl. None the less, she always knows how to bring a smile to your face.

3.  Where is home for you? Home is in a quiet subdivision in Nova Scotia, Canada. We live in a fourplex, near a park, which our daughter loves.

4.  What brought you to ScrapMatters? I joined SM when I was 2 days away from my due date with my daughter. Looking for a place to hang out and digi-scrap at the same time! Scrapping passed the time as my due date came and went, but eventually my daughter arrived 8 days past due date.

5.  Why did you apply to be on the SMG? I applied to be on the SMG because I wanted to branch out more into the digi-world and meet more wonderful ladies that I’ve met since I started. The digi-world is so friendly and I love seeing other people’s work with kits and love that when I see a nice layout, I feel inspired to try something new!

6.  What other interests do you have besides scrapbooking? I love reading and doing puzzles. Right now, I’m sucked into The Hunger Games! When I’m not reading, doing puzzles or scrapping, I’m usually busy chasing my daughter or making hairbows for her. (They never stay in long!)

7.  What is the best thing you’ve EVER eaten??  Or, what is your favorite snack food? The best thing I’ve ever eaten was bacon wrapped scallops. Seems simple, but before I got pregnant with my daughter, I couldn’t stand the thought of seafood. We were away on vacation when I was pregnant, we had a seafood buffet type BBQ and I tried a couple and had to get more! Since I’ve had my daughter, I’m back to square one, I can’t stand the thought of seafood again.

8.  If you could travel anywhere for a dream vacation, where would it be? My dream vacation would be somewhere warm, where I don’t have a care in the world for atleast a week. I’m not hard to please, as long as I could lounge around and enjoy some sun, I’d be happy!

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Next, is Toni!

1.  Name/username Toni Johnson/geswho40

2.  Married/kids/pets? Married with 2 adult children. Damian (30) married to Heidi for 3 years in August (no children yet), and Claire, married to Jason for 5 years, and have 2 little boys Paxton (2) and Lennox (2 months). I have a 9 mo old Shepherd mix named Remi and is my baby

3.  Where is home for you? A Northern Suburb of MN. I have lived here my whole life. I would love to live in another country for a while, just for the experience, but Hubby is not keen on the idea.

4.  What brought you to ScrapMatters? I don’t recall how I found the store, but have been getting the newsletter for quite some time. Then, just recently, became a CT for Steph Designs

5.  Why did you apply to be on the SMG? I have participated in challenges as well as the Queen Of Scrap challenge a few months ago and had a blast, so I decided it would be fun to be more “officially” involved

6.  What other interests do you have besides scrapbooking? Animal Rescue is my other passion. I LOVE dogs, and now that I am an “empty Nester”, I have more time to commit to helping dogs from becoming unnecessarily euthanized.

7.  What is the best thing you’ve EVER eaten??  Or, what is your favorite snack food? I love to eat in general, but I can’t turn down a piece of cake to save my life, and I also LOVE crab with lots of lemon and melted butter!

8.  If you could travel anywhere for a dream vacation, where would it be? Ireland I am planning a trip there right now, and hope to go this time next year!

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We are so excited you have joined our SM family and that you wanted to contribute to our SM community in this way!  Thank you, ladies!!  See you in the gallery!! =)

Lisa (Kelseyll)

This week we were lucky enough to interview Jadelyn (scrappycharmer) from our very own ScrapMatters CT!  Here is what she had to say when asked a few questions:

Thanks, Jadelyn, for sharing more about you!  It is fun to get to know our CT a little better!

Melissa (Missi_me)

ScrapMatters is proud to feature 4 Guest Designers this month:

*Brine Designs

*Little Green Frog Designs

*PictureDesigns

*WM[squared] Designs

We wanted to find out a little more about them so here are responses from Andrea of Little Green Frog Designs and Sandra of PictureDesigns!

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First up:  Little Green Frog Designs

1. Name/username? Andrea / Andrea4376 (aka Little Green Frog Designs)

2. What does “family” mean to you? Will you share with us about yours? Family means the world to me. My hubby and I have just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary and have been together over 19 yrs. We have an 11 yr old son and an 8 yr old daughter and our world revolves around them. I’m also lucky in that my immediate family is close by – my nan lives next door to my mum and dad and my sister and her family are also a short drive away. We love to get together for special occasions.

3. What is your favorite aspect of being a guest designer? Getting to know a whole new group of customers, designers and CT – it’s a lot of fun.

4. Is there a style, theme or color scheme you tend to gravitate towards often? If so, what? I tend to prefer bright colours against a white background – I think it’s a lot more eye-catching. Style wise I don’t believe I stick to a particular style and love trying out new looks.

5. What is one thing you know now you WISH you had known when you first started designing? How much time I’d spend on promotion and marketing. Luckily I think I’ve finally got myself organised and it doesn’t take quite as long as it used to (and I have a great team behind me to help)

6. Any helpful tips/tricks/shortcuts you’d be willing to share with us? The one thing I do all the time when I scrap or when I am making my previews is sharpen up my layout/preview. I use this method and it rocks!

7. Do you spend more time designing or scrapping?Right now – definitely designing. My scrapping time has shrunk quite considerably but being on 4 CT’s helps me to make time to do occasional pages.8. What types of photos do you enjoy taking most? (family, scenery, action, etc.)I would say the majority of my photos are of my daughter. She’s a total diva and loves playing it up for the camera. My son on the other hand will hole up somewhere until he’s sure the camera has been put away. I only ever get shots of him when we’re out and about and he’s not looking !9. If a magic scrapping/designer fairy could come and grant you ONE wish…..what would it be??An action that would create all the  TIF, PSD, pngs and page files for one template in one press of a button That would be so much easier ! lol.10. Where would your dream vacation be?There is only one answer for me and that’s Disney World, Florida. I’ve been so lucky in that I’ve been able to visit 6 times so far and we’ve just booked to return for 3 whole weeks in Oct/Nov 2013. It’s likely it will be our last trip while the kids are kids.You can stay in touch with Little Green Frog Designs at the following links:
FB
Blog
Newsletter

We’re catching up this week with a couple of ladies who work hard at ScrapMatters.  The first is Jacqueline (Jacqueline1976) who is on our CT and the second is Trisha (tishyrae) who is on our ScrapMatters Girls team!  Read on to get to know these two ladies better  . . . .

Jacqueline:

1. Your screen name? Your real name?
*Jacqueline1976 or Jacqueline, my real name is Jacqueline*

2. What is your main job/career?
*I’m in surveying, but in the office.*

3. Are you married/children/pets?
*This year I married 10 years. We have two children, a son and a daughter.We have no pets.*

4. Where is home for you?
*I live in Germany with my family.*

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?
*Cheese, fruit, bread*

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
*Chocolate and Strawberry*

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?
*Salty*

8. Beverage of choice?
Cola, milk, juice, but no coffee*

9. What’s your least favorite food?
*I like to eat pizza, salad*

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use?
*PC. I use Photoshop Elements 10*

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?
*I scrap since late 2006. I’ve been looking on the internet. And I’ve discovered DST ….. and now I scrap digitally.*

12. What was your 1st LO about?
*I do not have my first LO. Here is a layout from the year 2008. I find it terribly.*

*Is that not awful? No shadow….*lol**

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?
*A new hobby is geocaching. It’s totally fun and my kids love it to go on a treasure hunt.*

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you?
I don’t now. *

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?
*hmm, don’t now*

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?
*I watch no television …. very rare times. Movies are too long …. because I’m impatient.* *lol*

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?
*We have a hobby room. Since PCs are for my husband, son and mine. So we always sit together. Music running sometimes from the PC my husband. I have usually quiet*

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be?
Flower and leaves.*

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?
*I like cluster and my elements are most big.*

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?
*I have no favorite layout. I like almost all of my layouts.*

or this

22. What is one thing you tend not to use on layouts?
I use so rarely alphas.*

How fun to see some of your work and hear about your faves!!  Thanks Jacqueline!

Now, on to Trisha:

1. Your screen name? Your real name?
tishyrae- Trisha

2. What is your main job/career?
MOM/daycare provider/taxi/graphic designer

3. Are you married/children/pets?
I am married to my best friend, Andy! In August it will be years! We have 4 beautiful children. Madalyn (9) Miles (6) Dawson (5) Delaney (4). TOTALLY busy with our kids and their events! We have a boxer named Otto who adds lots of laughs to our household and farts! My son, Dawson got fish in October and one was pregnant so we had baby fish who have made it pretty far. Kind of neat to share that with my crew!

4. Where is home for you? Home is Wisconsin. My family came from Germany to Dale, WI.back in the 1800′s. And this area is where my parents grew up and I see myself growing old. We shall see what happens. I have 4 kids to stay close to. I WILL do anything to continue our relationship even after they are grown.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Right now anything healthy is my favorite.  I have been on a weightloss journey since Feb 2011 and have lost 53 pounds. I love finding healthy alternatives that taste GOOD! I love ice cream but it always gives me gut rot so I don’t have it often!

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Depends on my mood. I would say Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches today!

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Salty. Popcorn

8. Beverage of choice? Water. I drink a LOT of it!

9. What’s your least favorite food? Liver and Onions ACK! Seafood. The texture freaks me out!

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC all the way. My husband is a Web Designer/Computer Programer and is a PC guy. I don’t know if he even LET me have a mac at the house. I have heard wonderful things about macs tho. I use PS5 for graphic designing and scrapping. I use Lightroom for my photography stuff. I am spoiled!!!

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?  2008 Don’t remember how I got started. But with 4 kids paper scraping was a NIGHTMARE and I didn’t find much time to get everything OUT to scrap with it. I LOVE Digi-land!

12. What was your 1st LO about? My kids. Surprise. Surprise.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? Photography and Fitness.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? Journaling. I really should do more of it. It will help up remember more about our LIFE events!

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? Always looking for way to better my photography. I love to knit too. Oh. Forgot to add that to the hobby list but I research that at times too. I have a guitar too I would love to learn out to play better!

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Criminal Minds/Biggest Loser/The Walking Dead/Raising Hope/Office/Modern Family/Impractical Jokers (so funny)

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? We have PCs all over the house. (comes from having a computer husband) Mama’s computer is in the dinning room where I can see the living room/bedrooms/etc. The placement is sweet from my view. I can get stuff done and keep an eye on all the little monkeys running around here. Music is a given. Sometimes there is snacks. I normally only get little bits of time so I would call my scrapping environment as STOP and GO!

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? Scallops. I LOVE THEM. And….hmmmmmmmmm….whimsical element. I am all about whimsical

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I was born 2.5 months premature and weighed 3lbs. in the 70′s. The fact that I am here and healthy is only God’s will. I am thankful to have this wonderful life I live!

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? I would say my scrapping style is Simple. I don’t like a lot to take away from the photos themselves. Does that make sense?

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?
Love that this one is about ALL of my kids. I am working on a book for ME. I make a scrapbook and print at shutterfly for my kids each year. But Mama needs one too. And I am going to try and group photos of them at the same age to scrap with. It is work to look through all the photos but I think the outcome is going to be amazing!

Simple. And the photo tells the story. This is my style in a nutshell.

This one is about all my favorites! MY MONKEYS/MY KNITTING/MY SCRAPPING!

22. What is your favorite part of being a member of the ScrapMatters Girls? I love learning more and more about the girls on the team. I love getting to see all the layouts and different styles of scrapping out there! The rewards are wonderful too, of course!

Thanks so much, Trisha, for sharing with us!!  And thanks to Melissa (missi_me) and Sandra (sberkan) for  interviewing these ladies!

Lisa (kelseyll)