My pick this week was a little layout by charmedeebob called Love Forever. I picked it because I’m a sucker for white space and I love the clustering she did. And maybe because of the sweet baby photo that steals the spotlight on the page. I adore this page – you did a fantastic job Charmaine!

Congrats!! Please head over to the gallery or the forum to leave her some much deserved love!!

-Melanie (scrappymelly)

1. Your screen name? Your real name? My screen name is JillyFish.  My real name is….surprise….Jill!

2. What is your main job/career? I’m a SAHM of three.

3. Are you married/children/pets?  I’ve been married to my husband Mike for 16 1/2 years.  We have three kids….Sam is 11, Noah is 10, and Grace is 9.  We also have a dog named Sugar.
 
4. Where is home for you? Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  Pizza, chocolate, and pretty much anything Mexican.

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate Moose Tracks

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Mostly sweet….but if I eat to many sweets I need to compensate with a little salty.  It’s a vicious cycle!

8. Beverage of choice? Hmmm…..don’t think I have a favorite, but I drink a lot of hot beverages.

9. What’s your least favorite food? Asparagus and macaroni and cheese from a box.

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC. I scrap with PSE6.

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I’ve been digi-scrapping for almost two years. (I had paper scrapped for several years.) I had seen some layouts online and wanted to give it a try since paper scrapping had become so cumbersome. So my husband bought me some scrapbooking software for Mother’s Day. I got hooked, eventually switched to PSE, and the rest is history.

12. What was your 1st LO about? I don’t remember for sure what my first layout was about. But my daughter and I had just been on a mother/daughter trip to Disney World shortly before I started digi-scrapping so a lot of my first layouts were about that.
 
 
13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?  I wish I had time for more hobbies but I do enjoy reading, decorating my home, and traveling.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? I really like my layouts to look like a real paper layout as much as possible, so I guess the most challenging part is getting the shadows just right.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I wish now that I had continued to take piano lessons as a child and could play better.  Maybe someday.
16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? I like reality TV……Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, Celebrity Apprentice. My husband and I have recently starting watching The Office and are trying to get caught up on old episodes.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I scrap at my computer desk in our living room, usually with the TV on in the background. Sometimes I snack or have a hot drink, but not always.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? Ooh, that’s hard!  Probably a staple and a string.

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? Well, I don’t know if it’s a little known fact anymore, but all three of my children were adopted from India and I have made two trips there.

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?  I don’t really think I have a scrapping style. I think the kit I use usually dictates the style of the page and I like to try a lot of different things.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done? 

 
Gosh, it sure is hard to narrow it down!!

Thanks so much for letting us get to know you better Jill!! Check out her full gallery here!

-Lisa (kelsyll)

-

This was such a hard decision with Queen of Scrap going on! My favorites list was quite full after looking through the gallery this week, but this one from cinna kept drawing me to it after the few hectic months I have had! I love the beautiful peaceful photo and the colors. This one just says to me to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life. I could stare down that road forever! It reminds me of when I was a child and walked down our dirt road with my family picking the dew berries-so simple-no worries! This is beautiful.

Congrats Cinna!!  Be sure to head over to the gallery or the forum to leave her some love!

-Amanda (APACHETEAR)

Before we get to the awesome interviews…just a quick announcement about our special QOS edition Your Scraps Matter Scavenger hunt!  This week we will be leaving comments on QOS layouts who are in need of some love!  Check out all the details HERE!

-Amanda (panders77)

So, yes.  I know it is not Sunday.  My internet was being crazy yesterday and I was  unable to post.  But I am so excited to post these interviews with our AMAZING guest designers this month!! If you haven’t checked them out be sure to head over to the store before the end of the month!!

First up is Graham like the Cracker Designs:

1. What is your screen name/your real name?  My screen name is Graham Like the Cracker. My real name is Jen Graham.

2. What is your main job/career? My main job is corporate CEO for the Graham Empire. I specialize in child rearing and house hold management; I am of course, also the creative director.

3. Are you married/children/pets? I am married to my best friend Travis. We have an almost three year old named Alton. If you are familiar with my layouts, you are familiar with Alton. We also have two dogs… Jackson and Lucy. Before we had Alton, I used to scrap my pets

4. Where is home for you? We live in Southern California in a beach city. It’s wonderful. I don’t think I could live anywhere else. For the record though, we go to Disneyland more often that we go to the beach.

5. What are your three favorite foods? Do I have to limit it to three? I am a foody. I <3 the Food Network and I have been toying with the idea of going to culinary school. But since I have to choose, I can say that if I was only allowed to eat my roasted chicken and mashed potatoes (with a side of my brownies) for the rest of my life, I would die a happy woman. I <3 comfort food.

6.  PC or Mac? What program do you use?  I have a PC. It’s fantastic. I <3 my 23 inch monitor. It’s my favorite part of my computer. When I had my tiny little laptop, I could not cluster to save my life. Now If I try to scrap on my laptop, I just can’t. I use Photoshop CS4 for scrapping and designing. 
  
7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? The most challenging part of designing for me is actually the administrative part. I love making papers and elements, but the FTPing, X-carting and file attaching I could do without.

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I think I mentioned this above, but I would love to go to culinary school. It is my not so secret desire to be on the Food Network when I grow up.

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Um, this is kind of embarrassing. DH and I watch FAR too much television. Alton could say Bobby Flay before he could say his own name. (For the record, he is not named after Alton Brown) The Food Network is on in our house constantly. But for adult evening TV time, I LOVE Castle, Modern Family, Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, The Marriage Ref, and my biggest guilty pleasure is The Vampire Diaries. My favorite movie? Julie and Julia. Alton asks to watch it sometimes.

10.  Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I design in my living room. I used to design in “the choo choo room”. But I usually design when my son naps and when he goes to bed at night and I did not like being sequestered from Trav. So I have my little desk next to one of our sofas. I can keep an eye on Alton if he is awake when I work or talk to DH while designing. (She even sent a picture!!)

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? I love strings. I use one in every layout I do. I love weaving them between layers. The second one just needs to be something I can layer, like a button, flower or frame, something like that.

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I did not drink coffee until I was 20 years old, but then I worked at Starbucks for three years and now I have a deep and abiding love for my morning cup of coffee. But just one cup, because my body does not handle caffeine well, and if I have caffeine or too much dark chocolate too late in the day, I don’t sleep.

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started?  I started “designing” a year ago. Oh it was awful… my first kit was part of a CU free designing contest for another scrapping site and it was a freebie… Let’s just say I hope no one is still using the contents of that kit.

14. How would you describe your design style? I think I have two. I can do very elegant girly kits, and bright and fun boy kits. I love to do paper elements and one thing all of my kits have in common is that I don’t like my elements to be too busy. I scrapbook to preserve my memories, and I REALLY want the picture to be the star of the show. When I stated designing, I swore I would be a boy kit designer. But I love flowers and ribbons too much to limit myself.

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  A lot of my ideas come from my life. Honestly, I usually make a kit to scrap pictures I have. I need to finally scrap our family pictures we took at the beach last fall, so look for an elegant beach kit coming soon. My latest kit, Mischief Monsters with Connie Prince was made because Alton has this really cute pair of monster pajamas. The blues and greens in the palette were inspired by the colors in his pajamas.

16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most? Since my design style has a split personality, I think Purple is My Signature Color and Mischief Monsters illustrate how different my styles can be. I just realize while writing this, if I do the kit for an Alton picture, it is little boy fun. If it is for me or someone else, it is floral and elegant with strings. Ah strings.

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? My favorite color is red. Which is really funny because most of my kits don’t have any red in them. In fact, the Valentine’s Day kit I designed didn’t even have any red in it. I love soft colors. Not pastel per se, but I find it difficult to design with BRIGHT colors, because they’re so, well, bright. I loved the colors in Quentin and Emma. My favorite palette ever though, is the one I am working with right now that Amber (Stolen Moments) designed. It’s like she took a picture of my living room and put it in a palette.

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters? My favorite ScrapMatters kit that I have designed so far is Purple is My Signature Color. I still look at the previews for that and think, “Oh my word, I can’t believe I made that!” I think the kit that I am working on with Amber might steal my affections when we finish it.

Check out the rest of her fun designs here!

Next up is Stacy’s Backdoor Designs!

 1. Your screen name? Your real name?  shutch – Stacy

2. What is your main job/career? SAHM

3. Are you married/children/pets?  I have been married to Kevin for almost 12 years we have three beautiful children.  No pets yet but a dog has been promised

4. Where is home for you?  As of a week ago Utah – we just moved back to the States from Australia where we lived for three years.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  Italian, bread, and brownies

6. PC or Mac? What program do you use?  PC  PSE 5.0

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you?  Coming up with something new and different that people will enjoy and want to scrap with.

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  garden

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  Lost, Heroes, The Mentalist, and I am a reality TV junkie.  I also love to watch news programs

10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I am usually sitting on the couch with my laptop with the TV on in the background.

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be?  Flowers and stitches

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I can touch my nose with my tongue

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started?  About six months ago I got really serious about designing – before that I just dabbled.  I just thought it would be a challenge and something I would like to learn how to do.

14. How would you describe your design style?  I don’t know if I have one.  I love earthy colors and things that look like they were paper scrapped.

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  Anywhere from a TV show to my kids clothes.

16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most?  For Mum and Clearly Skinny alpha

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with?  anything earthy and warm.  I have a harder time with bright colors.

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters?  For Mum and Miss Madi

Check out the rest of her beautiful store here!

And last but certainly not least is SuzyQ Designs!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? suzyqscraps … Suzy

2. What is your main job/career? my main job is Mommy … & I’m a digital scrapbook designer

3. Are you married/children/pets? married to my sweet husband for 4 years, & we have a 2.5-year-old son

4. Where is home for you? Home is where the Air Force sends you … lol, I grew up in the military, so home is wherever I am … dh & I have decided on where to “settle down” yet

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? cheesecake, sweet-n-sour pork, chocolate milk

6. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC … I use Illustrator & Photoshop CS4

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? um … hmm … if you were asking which part I liked the least I’d have an answer … but the most challenging part is … balance

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? guitar — I can play, but don’t practice, um hardly ever

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Willow, Avatar, Robin Hood BBC series, Legend of the Seeker series (I think that’s what it’s called)

10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I design at my desk in my office … usually with no music, sometimes with a self-help CD playing in the background, water, protein bar

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? buttons & string

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? My pinky fingers are curved

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started? I dabbled in designing in early 2008 but didn’t get serious until the end of that year & started selling in January 2009 … when I first discovered digi in 2007, I knew I could figure out how to design my own stuff … I never would have believed I’d end up selling my designs …

14. How would you describe your design style? fun, bright, whimsical, doodle-y, happy, cheerful

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? everywhere, lol! nature, clothes, magazines, ads, dreams …

16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most? Giggle Monsters

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? bright, bold colors

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters? um, that would be Giggle Monsters again

Check out the rest of her awesome store here!!

How fun was it getting to know our guests this month!  As I mentioned their designs are only here until the end of the month…so get shopping!! 

-Amanda (Panders77)

This was an especially hard week to choose LOTW because of the kickoff of QOS and then just site issues to get in and see the gallery! WOW, there are some serious scrappers after the title and the gallery was whizzing by pretty fast! I decided I just needed to get some coffee and settle in to go through page by page and let me tell you there are some amazing layouts!

The one I chose was also clearly a favorite among MANY SM members as it has been viewed over 100 times!! It was put in the GSO’s before I even got to it and rightly so! Please congratulate Scrapmonster on her “Color my World” layout! I love the unique design and the color scheme. It just stood out in the gallery and I can see why some wanted this made into a template!!! It is just gorgeous!

Congrats again Scrapmonster!! Head on over to the forum or the gallery to leave her some love!!!

-Lisa (Kelseyll)

Happy Mothers Day everyone!! Today I am interviewing a great mother and awesome member of the SM community Neeny!  Let’s learn some more about her, shall we?

1. Your screen name? Your real name? My screen name is Neeny, my real name is Janine because most people mispronounce my name it’s pronounced Juh-neen.

2. What is your main job/career? I’m a 6th grade teacher

3. Are you married/children/pets? I’m married to a great supportive guy, we have one son who is four a dog, and a hamster.

4. Where is home for you? I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? My three favorite foods are steak, chocolate, and almost all Italian food

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Cookies and Cream

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? I like salty and sweet mixed together like candy corn and peanuts.

8. Beverage of choice? Water and Sprite Zero

9. What’s your least favorite food? Vegetables… LOL

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? I’m a PC girl, and I use Photoshop CS3

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I’ve been digi-scrapping about four years, and I got into it because my best friend harassed me enough to try it and that I would love it more than paper and she was right as usual. Thanks Tina!

12. What was your 1st LO about? My first digital layout was a title page for my son’s baby book, so I could get started on it I started a few months after he was born and I wanted to try to go in order to keep on track.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? I love to read, mostly romance novels since I’m a sucker for a happy ending and I love television dramas and some reality like Project Runway and Top Chef.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? The most challenging part is figuring out if I’m done with a layout or not, since digital I can easily delete or change things it is tempting to play with things long after they should have been finished or to later realize I wanted to add this or that and then go in and add it before I print it for the book.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I would like to learn about cake decorating, my best friend just took several classes and the cakes looked pretty as well as yummy.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? I love crime/dramas, I’m a HUGE Glee fan, and I love some reality shows like Project Runway and Top Chef.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I scrap in my office/scrapbook room with music on sometimes drinks and or snacks depending on if I’m hungry or not. If there are snacks it’s usually something sweet and/or salty LOL!

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

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? A little known fact to my online friends is my sister and I have rhyming names Janine and Maureen and we get irritated when our Uncles call us the een sisters or the eens.

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? I don’t think I have a specific style I guess I’m eclectic if you can call it that it changes with my mood and the topic. Sometimes my pages are simple and sometimes there is a ton on them.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?
My favorite layouts would have to be Trouble maker using Sarah Bennett’s Tough Boy Kit:

and Take me out to the ball game layout using Chelle’s Creation’s Batter Up:

22. How long have you been a member at ScrapMatters? I will have been a member of ScrapMatters for 2 years in August.

23. Do you have any suggestions for kits you’d like to see in the SM store? I love the variety of the products that come out in the store already, but I’d love to see more boy kits since I only have a little guy to scrap unless I borrow pictures.

24. What is one thing you tend not to use on layouts? I tend not to use doodled elements too often I just have a hard time picturing them on my page and having them look right, but I want to branch out and try to use them some.

25. How long have you lived in your city? I’ve lived in my current city for 8 years but I’ve lived in the metroplex almost my entire life.

26. What is your favorite childhood memory and have you scrapped it? My favorite childhood memory is going to Disney World for the first time the year I turned 8 to and getting to spend my birthday in Disney World was AMAZING! I haven’t been back yet, but I hope to go this summer. I haven’t scrapped it yet because I only have one picture I found a few months ago of me in my birthday crown riding on a carousel in Disney World, but I definitely plan on it when I finally get it scanned in.

Thanks for letting us get to know you better Janine!! Check out the rest of her amazing creations here!

-Melanie (scrappymelly)

It becomes harder and harder to choose a LOTW as there is just sooooo much awesome talent on this website.

I chose “Bloom”  by kistal1027 because it just took my breath away. Gorgeous clustering and what a cute set of little peeps!!! Love this layout. Make sure you click the image and leave her tons of love on this beautiful layout!!

Head on over to the gallery or the forum and leave her some love!! Congrats!!

-Terin (scrappyfrog)

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing one of our wonderful members here at SM, Froggie (Susan).  Let just get right to it!

1. Your screen name, of course, attracted me since I’m a frog collector…how did you come up with your screen name “froggie?” and what is your real name?
I love frogs – I’ve never thought they were gross- as a kid I loved searching for them, and now I collect them – my rule is anything I collect must be something useful – i don’t just want a frog figurine – it must do something -so I have photo holders, salt/pepper shakers, light covers . . .etc. I love frogs! my real name is Susan Yeiter (you can see how froggie is much better)

2. What is your main job/career? My family and I are missionaries in Cameroon, West Africa. So I homeschool 3 kids, teach 3 moral instruction classes each week, teach a course in a Ladies Bible Institute, teach Sunday school, and play piano for Church

3. Are you married/children/pets? I’ve been married to my highschool sweetheart, Matt, who I met in 6th grade- for almost 11 years, and we have 4 children- Autumn(8), Mariah (6), DJ(4) and Trinity (2). In addition to that crew we have: crook(dog), sprinkle(cat), murdock(african grey parrot) and tick(cameleon). We have a lot of fun together!

4. Where is home for you? We hail from Indianapolis IN, but have lived in Cameroon for 5 years now!

5. What are your 3 favorite foods (besides flies!!)? mashed potatoes, pizza, chinese!!

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? super dark chocolate with nuts and choc. chunks
7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?SALTY

8. Beverage of choice? ROOT BEER!

9. What’s your least favorite food? LIMA BEANS/MUSHROOMS

 10.  PC or Mac?  What program do you use?  pc, photoshop CS3

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I started digi scrapping in June 2009, a friend – the one who introduced me to paper scrapping, introduced me to digi scrapping- maybe you know her – Becca1976!

12. What was your 1st LO about? hmmm
first layout – it’s been made better- but it’s basically the first one I did:

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? I love playing piano, reading, running, playing video games, cross-stitching

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? being creative – making each layout unique – that’s why I love scrapping challenges – they really get you out of the box and thinking of new ideas!

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?c ook – I have to cook from scratch every day and I’m always learning new things – I’d like to continue learning how to make all that great food out there from scratch!

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? CSI – love it. Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken – best movie EVER

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I love to curl up on the couch with my laptop, an icewater or ice tea close by, piano music in the background, no kids (like THAT ever happens!)- sorry I was dreaming there for a moment

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? stiches, doodled paper blocks

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? In 1999 I was blown over by an airplane and I lived to tell about it

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? I want to get as many photos as possible about what I’m scrapping about on my page – I’ve had to learn that 1 and 2 photo layouts are nice -dead space it’s against my nature, but I’m learning it can be nice -I’m loving scrapping old pics of me growing up – and look forward to scrapping some of my parents growing up too (if I can get them to figure out that scanner-thing they have!)

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?

Thanks Froggie for letting us get to know more about you and your family!!  Check out her awesome gallery here!

-Terin (scrappyfrog)

Wow, the layouts in the gallery were absolutely fabulous this week. I had such a hard time narrowing it down to just one. This layout by KayM really caught my eye, though. I love the way she duplicated the picture and blended it on the background. And the cluster with the little bit of sparkle is just the perfect accent.

Congrats KayM!! Head on over to the gallery or the forum and leave her some love!!

-Amanda (Dznyscrapper)

I was so lucky to interview Courtney/cnscrap, the extremely talented lady who creates the fabulously stunning LOs with clean lines, perfect white space, and amazing titlework. Ok can you tell I admire her and her LOs?!? Check out some fun info she shared with us!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? My real name is Courtney. My screen name is cnscrap (my intials are CNS).

2. What is your main job/career? I am a database specialist. Nothing near as fun as my hobby, right?

3. Are you married/children/pets? I am married to a wonderful hubby of 2.5 years. I have one 10 year old daughter who is my best friend and one fuzzy black lab!

4. Where is home for you? Home is Annapolis, MD.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? At the moment my favorite foods are mac n’ cheese, original chick-fil-a sandwich, and steamed crabs.

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? It’s not really a flavor but my favorite ice cream is from Friendly’s…Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Sundae with chocolate ice cream (no vanilla please).

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Salty

8. Beverage of choice? I love coffee.

9. What’s your least favorite food? Grapefruit…yucky yuck!

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? Would you believe that I have we have an iMac but I do not use that YET for scrapbooking?!? As of now I’m a PC girl until I organize myself. In either case I am and will be using Photoshop.

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I never remember this answer. I would say for about 2 years. I got hooked after seeing Britt’s layouts in a gallery somewhere when searching for Disney related layouts.

12. What was your 1st LO about? Oh my. This is hideous. Do I really have to show you?….Here you go (well atleast according to SM records this was my first one. I might have deleted some real real hideous ones…lol.):

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? Photography and anything crafty. I’d like running to be one again one day. I kind of fell off that boat.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? Trying not to be too obsessed with it It consumes my life sometimes.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I would like to learn to take better photos. More creative photos, etc.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? WWE, Biggest Loser, Survivor, General Hospital (basically any movie or show I can watch with my family)

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? Oh geez. Yeah it’s not ideal. Anywhere and anytime I can. One day I hope to have an area that’s mine. I’m pretty focused when I scrap so noise or people don’t bother me.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? Alphas. All I need is alphas Two different alphas…wonderful I love titlework.

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I’m obsessed with Disney. Oh wait…you probably already knew that

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? Clean. Simple. White Space. Titlework.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?

Thanks for letting me interview you Courtney! Check out her full gallery here!  You are so talented- keep on rockin those beautiful LOs!

-Whit (Whitneyt)

It was another great week of beautiful layouts in the gallery this week.  I book marked so many when browsing through the gallery.  But I absolutely had to pick Perfectly Beautiful by Aprilisa.  The soft colors, beautiful patterned papers and fabulous element layering all just highlight her lovely photos.  And I love the double border of green papers down the left side.  What an awesome page!

Congrats Aprilisa!!  Head on over to the gallery  or the forum and leave her some love!!

- Judy (jupiter394)

I was very excited to see it was my week for the Sunday Spotlight and knew right where to go.
 1.  Your screen name? Your real name?  My diginames are kmkarayannis and mermaid913. My real name is Kim.
2.  What is your main job/career? I am 10 years into the career I started dreaming of in 8th grade, teaching high school history.
 
3.  Tell us your favorite teaching moment or story?  This is hard…because there are funny teacher stories and heartwarming teacher stories. I have been very fortunate to have past students that communicate with me about the impact they felt I have had on them and I am very grateful for that. But how about a funny story from my first year? I had students in my class make flashcards the day before a test and then pair up and work on the flashcards with each other. I knew I had an odd number of students, so I would have to pair up with one of them, and to find out who it was, I said in true bumbling new teacher fashion, “Who needs to be flashed?” oh.my.gosh.
4. Are you married/children/pets?  I have been married to my hubby for 5 years. I have 4 stepdaughters and my hubby and I have a son who will be turning 3 on March 18th!
5. Where is home for you?   I grew up in Southern CA but have been living in Northern VA for 10 years now. My hubby and I met when we both started teaching at the same school at the same time.

 6. What are 3 of your favorite books?   Just 3??? Lord of the Rings Trilogy, anything by Phillippa Gregory, or how about Pillars of the Earth? I love historical fiction.
7. What are your favorite T.V. shows or movies?   I am a Disney lover, and my family and I enjoy “Idol”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, and a few others.
8. What is your favorite color? And can we find it in your layouts?   I LOVE green, and I think it makes its way into most of my layouts!
9. What type of camera do you use?   I JUST got a new camera for Christmas, a Canon Rebel Xsi, which I am slowly starting to learn about. I love it!
10. PC or Mac? What program do you use to scrap?   I’m a PC and I use PSE 8.
11. Do you print out your pages for scrapbooks? If so, how?   I have printed pages using Costco and books using Winkflash.

12. How long have you been digiscrapping? How did you get started?  I started digiscrapping in January of 2008 when my only store with paper scrapping supplies closed. I have never looked back!
13. What was your first layout? These are pretty funny! I made them all with products from Designer Digitals (just trying to give credits to be appropriate) and I LOVED that I had made something that I thought looked so great! How about those inner shadows? Yikes! 


 
14. What is the most challenging part of digiscrapping for you?
Composition! If I can get inspired by an idea of where things could be on the page, I can take off from there!

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? Manage my time? Because I am currently working on my master’s in history, I would like to be better at writing papers that sound smart. I don’t like B’s.

16. Describe your creative environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?Anyway, anyhow I can!! I use my laptop anywhere in the house, but I get a lot more done when my little man is asleep!

17. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?  I tend to use a lot of photos on pages, which is something I am trying to work on. I love clustering and creative title work.

18. If you could only use two elements on a layout, what would they be?  Scatters and strips!

19. Any words of wisdom for anyone just starting out with digiscrapping?  Jump into a community (like ScrapMatters!) and start participating in challenges! It completely changes my scrapping to see the inspiration in the gallery and start talking to the amazing people here.

20. How did you come to find ScrapMatters? What keeps you here?  I was looking for Disney digi-supplies and found Britt’s products, which led me here. I LOVE the community, the challenges, and the products. I recently made it onto my first CTs ever, Andilynn’s and Sarah Bennett’s, and I am SO VERY excited about that!

21. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…I promise, I won’t tell?  I am an open book, but a little known fact about me in the digiworld is that I spent a semester in Greece while I was in college and got to visit a lot of other places while I was there.

22. Are there any favorite pages that you have done?
EveryDay Magic:Object – I love this page because I thought it was pretty creative and I did it shortly after I joined ScrapMatters!

 
I do NOT….ANYMORE! – I love this one on my son because it is REAL LIFE!

 
Cameron on the move – And I was really proud of this one too. I think it just shows how I am improving.

Thank you so much Kim for letting us all get a chance to know you better.  Check out Kim’s awesome gallery here !! And Kim is also a Project 365 blogger, which is how I got to know her.  You can check out Kim’s P365 blog here !
 
 - Judy (jupiter394)

Hello all!! Super excited to be announcing the LOTW! So many awesome LOs to look through and it means that I am Scapmatters Girl!! This week I choose Y_Baros Lucky U. It is perfect  for this month (or any month!) with wonderful use of green. The blocking is outstanding, I just love the way she used the elements and the journaling is so touching!!

Congrats Ybaros on you awesome LO!! Head on over to the gallery or the forum and leave her some love!

-Chel (Chel)

Yay!! It is that time of the month where we get to learn more about our fabulous guest designers!! This month our guest designers are Studio Tangie and Wimpychompers Creations.  I have been loving seeing all their stuff in the store (and alot of it is on my wishlist..he he!).   But it is always so interesting to learn more about the people behind these amazing designs.

First up I talked to Tangie Baxter of Studio Tangie:

1. Your screen name? Your real name?  My screen name is Tangie Baxter. My real name…I’ll give you three guesses (actually it’s Tangela but everyone calls me Tangie)!

2. What is your main job/career?  I’m lucky enough to be able to proudly say “Full Time Artist / Digital Designer”! Before that I was a real-estate office manager/controller and before that I owned my own preschool…I do change jobs about every 5 years that is about all I can take of something (hope that is a good thing?!).
3. Are you married/children/pets?  Oh yes very happily married to Dave, one fantabulous 12  year old daughter Samantha and an Italian Greyhound named Tank.

4. Where is home for you?  Sunny, Sunny, Sunny Arizona!
5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  Does Dr. Pepper count as a food?
1. Dr. Pepper
2. Mexican food (any!)
3. “Sunday” dinner (Roast & Mashed potatoes!)
6. PC or Mac? What program do you use?
I’m a PC girl through and through teehee! I use CS2, saving my pennies for CS5 due out in late Spring!

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you?  Advertising! I’d much rather be designing but advertising is just as important as the design portion I think. But honestly I love designing so much I just JUMP out of bed every morning soooooooo excited to see what comes out of a day’s work. I pinch myself quite often and say do I REALLY get to do this all day????

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  Oh well let me see now….*thinking* there is so much! Computer Programmer, Website Developer, Seamstress, Chef, Collage Artist….

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  *blush* I think the last time I watched TV was like 3 or 4 years ago… I just have too many other things I’d like to be doing (see #8 lol)
10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?
Oh this is a fantastic question! I’m sitting at my Ikea workstation with my 2 dual monitors… stack of magazines & books, Dr. Pepper ( & sometimes a snack), notebook all on the left…I’ve got Pandora playing or a movie (almost always 1 of the 6 Harry Potter movies, or an old musical) playing on the extra computer behind me as background noise…in my Studio looking out some French doors to the backyard!
11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be?  Ephemera and Frames!

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  A little known fact…I was in a commercial once (it’s a long story and NOT very glamorous) but none the less I really was!

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started?  I’ve been designing for about 3 years now (where DOES the time go???). I got started by doing freebies on my blog about 2 weeks after hearing about digital scrapbooking, I had been making websites for people to put their family photos so the transition seemed perfect!

14. How would you describe your design style?  Altered Vintage.

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  Is it just too cliche  to say EVERYWHERE!? I really do, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever said “I’ve lost my mojo”…I’ve got about 3 notebooks of ideas still waiting for me to get to them…truly I just love this job so much that everything around me inspires me…art imitates life, so I’m sure you can tell I LOVE all things vintage and altered art–I surround myself with it all the time!
16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most?
Well since this is only my second week as a guest I’d say the Bundle (it has little snippets of tons of products that I truly loved making!).

But I do love the Orchid Elixir kit because it combines my “usual style” with something a bit more modern and fresh!

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with?  *chuckles* this is an easy one, you will almost ALWAYS find a very vintage color of turquoise and/or red in ALL of my kits!

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters?
Oh ooops I think I answered this in #16 but I do love the Orchid Elixir kit! Mehndi designs meets glitter and orchids! I heart it!

(That kit is so beautiful I figured I’d show it to you twice!  LOL!)  Thanks Tangie for letting us get to know a little more about you!  Check out Tangie’s full store HERE!

Next up is Christina of Wimpychompers Creations…

1. Your screen name? Your real name?  Wimpychompers but real name is Christina.
2. What is your main job/career?   I am a stay at home mom of three.
3. Are you married/children/pets?  Married 9 1/2 years and we have three children (5, 4 and 2)
4. Where is home for you?   California
5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  ice cream, soda, and fresh fruit (lol)
6. PC or Mac? What program do you use?  PC
7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you?  Having *too* many ideas and not knowing where to go.
8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  I really want to practice more at photography.
9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  I love Greys Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.. sad I know. 
10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I just got a laptop for Christmas so now I can snuggle on the couch in the same room as my kids and they are usually playing or watching cartoons.  I do sometimes steal hubbies i-pod and always have some snack nearby.
11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be?  Something unique to that kit, and a frame
12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I played flute in marching band.
13. When did you start designing? How did you get started?  June of 2008 I think it was?  I was actually playing with PSP long before that as a signature tag maker, started writing tutorials and got bored with it all.  Digital Scrapbooking was a natural jump for me since I knew PSP already so well and loved paper scrapping since I was a teenager.  It was also less messy with small kids so I took the plunge, realized I could actually make stuff myself, and that’s the end of that.
14. How would you describe your design style?  I try to be unique but yet something I’d want to use.  I love to look at what others can do and especially love to push myself to try new things and new ideas.
15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  Everywhere… online, catalogs (I stole my sisters Scrapbooking magazines once), Inspiration Boards, it’s everywhere.  I try to think “what do I need to scrap?” and figure others might need it too.
16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most?  My kit “It’s getting hot in here” mixes my felt dolls with elements that are digital and I really think I love that combination of craft meets digital world… it’s all about textures to me.

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with?  It depends on my mood (isn’t that the truth) but I love green and yellow at the moment.
18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters?   My newest one “Enchanted Blooms” is on my list of favorites for the moment, I think it’s a good collection of fun colors and is very versatile.

That was so much fun!! Thanks Christina for letting us in on some inside information!!  Check out the full Wimpychompers Creations store HERE!

Thanks again ladies for letting me interview you this week!!  These fabulous ladies are only with us for two more weeks so head on over to the store and check out all their awesome products!

-Amanda (panders77)

Boy was this a tough week!! I finally decided on Good Bye from 4noisyboys, because seriously, look at this layout! I love the placement of everything, the picture is so precious and I love the placement of the journaling. It broke my heart but it is such a great memory layout that it HAD to be picked!

Congrats 4noiseyboys!!  Head on over to the gallery or the forum and leave her some love!!

-Tanya (TanyaH666)

This week I was excited to interview one of our very own Scrapmatters Girls.  We get to know each other pretty well but there is alway something new to learn!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? whitneyt/Whitney
 
2. What is your main job/career? I’m a senior at the University of Northern Iowa and I graduate in December. I’m going to school for social studies education and middle level education. I do work part-time as a secretary at a non-profit organization while I’m in school though.
 
3. Are you married/children/pets? I live with my boyfriend of 6 years and our dog, Spud. No ring yet lol!
 
4. Where is home for you? The great state of Iowa!
 
5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Chicken anything, potatoes, & pickles.
 
6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Watermelon from Schwans. It comes with little candy seeds and everything… absolutely delish.
 
7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Um, can fried be an option lol!
 
8. Beverage of choice? Dt. Cokeaholic
 
9. What’s your least favorite food? I’m not much of a BBQ anything fan.
 
10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC & CS4 to scrap! I love my computer!
 
11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I’ve been DS since April 2009. One of my graphic design professors asked if I would help her scrapbook a wedding album for a friend. She gave me a list of all the freebie sites she always browsed and I kinda just started going from place to place, learning as I went. I have yet to finish that wedding album… HAHA!
 
12. What was your 1st LO about? My first LO was of my brother and the girl who asked him to prom. I am pretty proud of it being my first LOs, I have others that are much worse lol! 

 
13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? Not really.. but that’s fine with me because that would mean less time scrapping lol! I would like to find time to sit down and read a good book now and then, but I have other priorities (meaning LOs that need to be scrapped!)
 
14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? Journaling and coming up with titles!
 
15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I would love to learn how to make pies, I know that’s random. I love to bake but I’m scared to try hard things like that! I’m also determined to learn how to quilt- but that may be many, many years in the future!
 
16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? My favorite movies are Jumanji and The Hangover. I watch a lot of TV when I’m not scrapping: Biggest Loser, Intervention, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Unwrapped… I could go on and on and on lol!
 
17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I sit in the same spot, the TV is always on but I’m never watching it and I ALWAYS have a Dt. Coke within reach. Usually, my darling boyfriend sits across the room from me on the couch and does his own thing, usually playing Call of Duty or Madden.
 
18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? Buttons and stitches.
 
19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I’m related to Albert Einstein! No joke.
 
20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? I like to use a lotta layers, pictures and a cluster or two somewhere! I also love to use templates!
 
21. Favorite LOs that you have done? 
 This is one of my all time favorite LOs! The kit just worked perfectly with the colors in the pictures. I love all the clusters and scatters too!

 
I just adore this LO! I was so proud of it when I was done! I love the scattered flowers and the few colors used throughout. But the best part is that it includes a picture of my family!

 
Here are some other favorites:
 

 

 
22. What is your favorite part of being a member of the Scraps Matter Girls? Oh man. There are a lot of great things, but the best is leaving love. I know how much it means to get feedback on a layout, and it makes me happy that it makes other people happy! I also love to chit chat with my fellow SMG!

Thanks so much for letting us get to know you better Whit!! Check out her awesome gallery here!

-Tanya (TanyaH666)

This week I went with beckag99′s Sweet Spontaneity..

Look at her beautiful extraction of the child playing amongst the photos, the beautiful blending into the layout. I love how she used every ounce of this page, without overdoing it! I love the coloring, love the placement. Her clustering is amazing as is her shadowing! Look at how she weaved the ribbon in and around the fence element. Everything is perfectly placed, which is why this layout is this week’s layout of the week!!

Now head on over to the gallery or the forum to leave her some love!

-Wendy (Neverland Scraps)

I had the chance to interview Jenn of Jenn Barrette Designs. I’ve been a fan of hers far before she was designing for SM and I was excited to learn more a little more about her!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? Jenn Barrette

2. What is your main job/career? I was a retail manager until after my second daughter was born, and now design full-time.

3. Are you married/children/pets? I have been with my DH for 6 years, we have 2 girls, a cat, and a new puppy.

4. Where is home for you? I live in Kenora, Ontario Canada. It is gorgeous (lakes and trees) but since I am so not an outdoorsy girl, I wish I lived in a bigger city!

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Unfortunately I have a major sweet tooth, my fav food is probably homemade chocolate chip cookies…not sure it that even counts as a food. Other than that, I would be happy eating like teenager, and love tacos, pizza, and nachos!

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? There is a Sara Lee Cheesecake ice cream that I could eat by the carton!

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Sweet all the way.

8. Beverage of choice? I really only drink water, and skim milk…but I do really love sweet iced tea.

9. What’s your least favorite food? Ummm….anything cooked my my MIL….

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC, I primarily use my laptop. I use CS3.

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I started digital scrapbooking after my first daughter was born in 2006. I was going to try paper scrapbooking, and bought a bunch of scrap magazines. One of them had a free digital scrapbooking program, and I was hooked!

12. What was your 1st LO about? My first layout is long gone (gallery is gone, and I don’t have it anymore) I think it was my daughter having “tummy time” and it was really horrible!

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? I love movies, day tripping, and cooking.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? I have trouble with journaling. I am trying to concur it this year, and trying to include more story telling in my layouts.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? Balance my life as a mom, wife, CT member, designers…and find more time for me.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? My favorite tv shows right now are GLEE, The Biggest Loser, and Survivor.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I have a laptop, but mostly stay at my desk. I love to have my iPod on and a big bottle of water beside me.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? I am fairly traditional in my element usage, so I would probably say ribbon and flowers.

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I hate talking on the phone, and will avoid it all costs. E-mail is my friend.

20. When did you start designing? What is your favorite product that you’ve designed? I started designing in November 2006. Usually my fav product is my most recent (I have a super fun kit coming out next Friday that I LOVE!) but my favorite right now is Technotronic (which is funny because I don’t do boy kits often) -

21. How would you describe your design style? Everywhere…I jump from shabby to funky and everything in between! But, I do always create realistic, and fairly traditional kits.

22. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? I love the fun colors and patterns of children’s clothing, but also love to browse a lot of different design mediums (fashion, home decor, art, jewelery)

23. Which of your kits showcases you style the most? I currently think of  Love Blooms as being very “me”.

24. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? I love to work with a variety of color schemes, but find myself afraid of yellow and purple LOL

25. Favorite kit you’ve designed? That is like choosing my favorite child…LOL. My current favs are

Technotronic

Dandelion Wishes

and an oldie but goodie Teen Angst

Aren’t her kits just fantastic? I love the shabby feel and the color pallettes she always chooses! Thanks for letting us read some of your scrapping secrets Jenn!  Check out her full store here!

-Whitney (WhitneyT)

Before we begin our post today… I am here to remind you that the second installment of the SMG Your Scraps Matter Scavenger hunt starts today!!! Melanie (scrappymelly) has some really creative clues for you.  Be sure to head over to the forum and check it out!! 

-Amanda (panders77)

This was a difficult decision because there were so many great layouts in the gallery, but I picked this layout, Disneyland Memories by corsicar:

I love all the paper blocks, the stacked photos and all the different frames she used to make a fantastic Disney layout!  Be sure to head over to the forum or gallery and leave her some love!!

-Amanda (Apatchetear)

This week I had to honor of interviewing Melissa (Yzebear19).  I always admire her awesome journaling  so I was excited to hear about the woman behind these all those fabulous words!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? Yzebear19 / Melissa

2. What is your main job/career?   I work full time.

3. Are you married/children/pets?  I’m not married and the only children I have are of the furry four-legged persuasion. My sister and I are sort of crazy cat ladies. We have 12 cats: Draco and Isis (8 years old), Morgana (7.5 years old), Cassie (3.5 years old), Addie, Chunky Monkey, Sadie, and Wednesday (almost a year old), and Andromeda, Butterscotch, Loki, and Hades (6 months old). We also take care of my oldest brother’s two cats Sam and Syd (3 years old). All but the three oldest cats we rescued or found. Each one has a unique personality. It is fun to see that personality develop and to watch them all interact. For the most part they all get along, though every so often they will disagree about something. They are all fairly well behaved cats, which is good.

4. Where is home for you?   I live in the beautiful state of Michigan.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  There are lots of different foods I like, but I think my favorites would be lasagna with lots of cheese, but no meat, a cheesy Chicago deep dish pizza, and turkey.

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  I really don’t eat a lot of ice cream anymore, but one of my favorites has always been Pistachio. I also really like cookies and cream.

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?  I like both, but if I had to pick I would pick sweet. I love milk chocolate.

8. Beverage of choice?  I drink mostly water. Though my favorite beverage would be St. Julian’s sparkling white grape juice. It’s made in Michigan and so good. I also really like Sparkling Punch from Kroger’s. It’s a carbonated punch that is really good. The best part is that it still tastes good if it goes flat.

9. What’s your least favorite food?  I’m a very picky eater and there are a lot of foods I really don’t like. Some of the foods I strongly dislike are mushrooms, coconut, candy conversation hearts, circus peanuts, and beans. I remember growing up my Grandpa feeding us circus peanuts because he really liked them, but I couldn‘t stand them. Recently when we went to put the holiday wreath on his grave we took him a bag of circus peanuts.

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use?  I use a PC, a pretty red Dell laptop which I love. I use Photoshop 7 and Photoshop Elements 8 to scrap.

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?  I started digi-scrapping in March 2007 because I was frustrated by the lack of paper and elements for Civil War related topics. I had all these beautiful photos from the battlefields and paper scrapping wasn’t really doing them justice. I saw a bunch of beautiful layouts on another message board and decided it would be perfect for my Civil War battlefield layouts. Once I started I was hooked.

12. What was your 1st LO about?  My first layout was of Antietam National Cemetery using one of my favorite photos of “Old Simon” who stands at the center of the cemetery. The words on it are from the poem “Bivouac of the Dead” that is displayed around the cemetery on plaques. I didn’t really use a whole of scrapbook elements on the layout.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?  I have a lot of other hobbies! I love to read and write, though finding time to do either is often a challenge. I have probably close to 1,000 books and keep adding more. I also love to travel. I love to go to museums and places of historical interest, especially Civil War battlefields. My favorite battlefields are Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, PA and Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. I also love to go to Disney. My sister and I have been lucky enough to visit both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. I love listening to music and going to concert. My favorite band is the Counting Crows and I’ve seen them 8 or 9 times. I’ve sort of lost count!

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you?  I think for me layering is the hardest. I will try adding a lot of elements and then not like the way it looks so I usually take most of the off. The other aspect I struggle with are titles. I usually struggle to think of an interesting title.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  I would like to learn to take better photos. My camera has a lot of manual features, but I have no clue how to use them. I tend to stick to the preset or auto modes. I have always thought it would be lots of fun to be a Civil War reenactor, but I haven’t been able to convince Melinda that it would be fun. Maybe someday.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  I love movies! My sister is a huge movie buff so we have tons of DVDs! My favorite movies in alphabetical order are Gone with the Wind, Legends of the Fall, Mulan, and Titanic. I love historical dramas. I really don’t watch all that much TV anymore. I’ve been watching a lot of older shows on DVD lately like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Enterprise, and My Name is Earl. The shows I do watch though are Pysch, Cold Case, The Tudors, and the Amazing Race.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I pretty much scrap wherever my laptop is. Sometimes its in the living room, sometimes in the computer room and sometimes in my bedroom. Though usually wherever I am at home there is at least one cat watching as I scrap. I like to listen to music while I scrap, though often the TV is on.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be?  This is an easy question! Definitely flowers and leaves. I love flowers. I’m sort of addicted to them!

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  Most people know I like history, but I actually have a bachelor’s degree in history. My focus was mostly American history. My favorite part of American history would be the Civil War. My dad was a history buff so I was exposed to history at an early age. I used to love talking to him about history. We often would watch the same programs on the history channel. That is one thing I really miss.

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?  Not sure really how to describe my style, but I think my style is pretty simple.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?  My favorite layouts:

-The Sunken Road (2009) - This is my favorite part of the battlefield. When we were there on the anniversary of the battle we were the only people at this part and it was so quiet and serene. A far contrast to what it was like the day of the battle.

Full layout:

Page 1:

Page 2:

-It’s magic – I love this photo of Melinda in front of the castle. I love how perfectly the paper matched the photo.

- This feels like home – I love the journaling on this one. I tried to channel all of the feelings I had when we crossed back into Michigan on the way from Pennsylvania. It had been a LONG drive and it just felt sooo good to be back in Michigan where things were familiar.

22. What is one thing you tend not to use on layouts?  I try to use a little bit of everything, but if there were one thing I use less than others I think it would be buttons. I tend to not use a lot of buttons and I’m not sure why.

23. How long have you lived in your city?  I have lived in the city where I live my entire life.

24. What is your favorite childhood memory and have you scrapped it?  That is a difficult question. I think my favorite memory would be when my family went down to Florida for spring break in 1987. We drove from Michigan to Florida with a pop-up camper and six of us crammed into one station wagon. On the way down we stopped in Panama City Beach, FL to see my Great-Grandma and maternal grandparents. After that we headed to Orlando to go to Walt Disney World. I had been to Walt Disney World when I was two years old, but this was the first trip that I remember. We camped at the campground at Disney, which was fun. I remember one night the laser show from EPCOT knocked out all of the power. I remember being scared of Dumbo at first and wouldn’t let my brother go high, but once the ride started I loved it. I loved the tea cups. I remember spinning so fast. We met a bunch of characters. My mom likes to remind me that I was terrified riding Spaceship Earth. On the way back home we stopped in Chattanooga, TN and went to Lookout Mountain. It was beautiful! It was such a fun trip. I scrapped it as part of the “My Story Matters” challenge

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Another really happy memory I have from being a child was going to Florida in October 1990 for my Great-Grandma’s 100th birthday. There were so many people at her birthday party. There were family members I had never met. It was awesome. The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach and in the morning you could see the dolphins! I remember the day of my Grandma’s birthday the cable wasn’t working at the hotel so everyone went to a local restaurant to watch the Today show to see if she was shown during Willard Scott’s segment, but she wasn’t. I was so glad that we were able to be there for such an awesome event and that I got the chance to meet my Great-Grandma who was an amazing woman.

WOW!! Aren’t you inspired to go and really record your memories??!  That is what looking at Melissa’s LOs always does for me!  Thanks so much for letting us get to know you better, Melissa!  Head on over to her gallery and leave her some love! 

-Melanie (Scrappymelly)