Cindy Ritter Designs

Are you all recovered from yesterday’s bisesquicentennial celebrations? (That’s 250, if you’re furrowing your brow.) We did our part and had hotdogs for dinner last night. 😉 If you’re wondering, we had homemade poutine for Canada Day. 😀

Cindy and I had a little visit recently; it was lovely chatting with her again. We did squeeze in some business talk at the beginning and then got on to the fun stuff.

J: Cindy, tell me about how you chose your designer name and logo.

C: The name is simple enough, but if you look closely you’ll find a zebra hidden in my logo. The zebra is the mascot for people with rare medical conditions. I have 3.

J: Ah yes, the old “when you hear hoofbeats, think horses and not zebras”, or “common things are common”. I’m sure there are a bunch of our readers who have walked the same path, having their symptoms downplayed and their concerns ignored before finally having a diagnosis. I see you. I feel you. <screech> Back to business. Do you have a favourite colour or palette that you like to use for your designs?

C: I love the colors of summer! Warm, sunny, happy colors. Green, yellow and orange are my favorite colors.

J: There was a lot of smoke in the air last night from a wildfire some distance away, so everything took on a warm, red-orange glow. That’s what summer here usually looks like. It’s still early in fire season, and we’re holding our own for now. Now, what are the 3 design tools you never want to be without?

C: Photoshop, Acrylic paint, scanner.

J: Your use of paint sets you apart a bit from most other digital designers. It’s something I appreciate about your collections. Has your approach to designing evolved over the years?

C: I’ve fallen in love with the Art Journal style and love making really artsy, messy, unique designs filled with color and feeling.

J: I feel like getting it right with Art Journaling is a real skill. Good for you! It must be quite therapeutic too. Do you have a favourite kit or collection? One that makes you really proud?

C: I’m torn between “Not Today” (hyperlink!!) and “Reflections” (hyperlink!!) -both are part of my personal journey to mental wellness. Art therapy in digital form.

J: Well, I have BOTH of those collections in my stash, so clearly I agree with you! So, they both lead to this: if you could instantly acquire a new skill, what would you want it to be?

C: How to let myself relax and be comfortable with not being productive.

J: Oh… you must be an eldest daughter. I SO relate! I sometimes wish I could just switch places with my husband, who happily amuses himself for hours without giving a thought to things that must be done. Or become one of those Real Housewives who sit around gossiping all day. It’s just not how I’m made. But hey, if you could live in a fictional universe – let’s face it, RH is a make-believe world – which would you choose?

C: That’s easy! Discworld!

J: Lemme just look that one up. <plays intermission music> Okay, I can see the attraction! Who wouldn’t want to have magical powers? The premise sounds like it was built on North American aboriginal beliefs. Fascinating! If you had the magic, and could teleport anywhere, whare would you go?

C: A remote tropical island. I need a vacation!

J: Hmm. Yeah! Maybe if you had the chance you could take up paragliding! I remember you mentioned wanting to try it. I don’t like heights, so it would be a hard pass for me. You know those silly social media quizzes like “how many of the things on the list have you done”? I can usually check off most of them. The ones I’ve never done include paragliding, ziplining, bungee jumping… there’s a definite theme. I’m not much of a daredevil, but I have done some… um… risky things in my life. And eaten some odd things. What’s the weirdest food combo you’ve ever partaken of?

C: Green olives & Jelly Belly jellybeans. I was pregnant. 😀

J: I just had a handful of Jelly Bellies before we sat down. Without the olives. Were you peeking? Thanks for the chat, Cindy! I’m just going to wrap things up and check on my friend’s cats – I’m cat-wrangling while she polices the World Cup events in Vancouver. Have a great Spotlight month, Cindy!

M’kay. Of course, Cindy‘s hosting the other of the July Designer Spotlight Challenges, and also of course, providing us with a Daily Download kit. I hope you’ll check out her store, since it’s on sale this month AND she has a coupon code too!

What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Designs by Lisa Minor

July. Already. Oy!! Half the year is gone. But I must say, things chez Jan are better now than they were this time last year, so I’m okay with time flying. I guess. Anyway… this month we have two Designer Spotlights. Part Two will appear on Saturday if all goes well. 😉 Because Lisa was a true early bird, visiting me back in May, she has the first spot. 😀 We decided not to talk much business this time, and went right for the fun. Check out Designs by Lisa Minor! <hyperlinked – look for the coloured, bolded, underlined text!>

J: I hope you don’t mind that I have some music on in the background, Lisa. I like a little something to drown out the golfer profanity from the second tee. We could sit on the deck, but some of those golfers lack manners and have weak bladders. ;( Nobody wants to see that! But on the topic of music, if you have a theme song, what would it be?

L: Good Riddance by Green Day

J: Hmm. There are so many ways one could take that. Green Day does have some accurate insights though. I think mine would be something by Ashley McBryde. Maybe Light on in the Kitchen. The people in her songs might be fictional, but I think we all know somebody that fits the profile. If you could spend a whole day with a fictional character, who would you choose?

L: Wolverine, but only if it’s Hugh Jackman all dressed up.

J: Ooh, he’s fiiiiiiine! I loved him in Real Steel (which I’ve watched far too many times), and The Greatest American Showman. Mad acting skills! But speaking of skills, we should talk a wee bit about design. Right? Do you have a favourite holiday or season to design for?

L: Spring. I love that everything around that time of year feels so fresh and new.

J: I love spring too, watching my garden waking up and seeing the birds return. Those rituals are comforting. Do you have any traditions or rituals you follow when starting a new collection?

L: I have a form that I fill out for each kit, so that anytime I think of an idea or get inspired by something, I can jot it down.

J: Oh, smart!! I’ve developed some routines for creating my tutorials, and for how I construct the other Blog posts I’m responsible for. It really helps to have that process. I’ve really enjoyed the tutorials, since they’ve pushed me to learn a bunch of new ways of looking at things, picking up new skills along the way. Is there some skill you don’t already have that you’d like to learn?

L: Honestly, EXCEL. I’ve taken the public classes, and I still use it with the skill of a Kindergartener.

J: Urk. No. Not me! I feel like it’d be teaching an old dog new tricks and I kinda like retirement. Although… it would be more fun if I had a younger body. Even just for a week. If you could be any age for a week…?

L: 30. Honestly, I would love to be 30 again and know everything I know now!

J: That would be AMAZING! There are so many things I’d do differently. I’d make sure I had more fun. Have you ever played a really great prank on someone? Or had one played on you?

L: I put Kool-Aid Mix in the shower heads at a women’s retreat. It was RED and did not go over well when they turned their showers on.

J: OMG. I just had a mental image of the prom scene in the Sissy Spacek movie Carrie. I think you know the one I mean. Can’t understand why they’d be irked. 😀 I’m guessing you weren’t invited back. Too bad you couldn’t have turned into a bird or something and gotten outta Dodge. If you could swap places with any animal for a day, which one would you choose?

L: A Sloth! I would love to be able to turn my brain off and just sleep.

J: I can definitely relate!

L: I could stay in pajamas, all day every day.

J: SAME! But my son’s Handi-transit bus driver might have questions. No visits from the RCMP please… especially now that I have a family member at the detachment. 😉 Which reminds me, I have a housewarming card halfway constructed. Car making has become my number one hobby. Is there a hobby you wish you had taken up?

L: Crochet. I wish I had paid more attention when my Grandma did it. My daughter taught herself and does a pretty good job!

J: Hmm. I can teach you! Do you think my daughter would like me to crochet her a housewarming afghan? HAHAHAHAHAHA! That would be a hard pass. Lisa, thanks for the chat! I’ll fill our readers in on what you’ve got going on for your Designer Spotlight and then I really do need to finish that card before it’s time to make dinner.

As usual, Lisa is providing us with a Daily Download kit.

And she’s one of the Designer Spotlight Challenge hosts. To make it even more awesome, she’s done this!

And before I forget, she also hosts the Pinterest Challenge each month. Check it all out! So many opportunities…

Jumpstart Designs

This month’s Designer Spotlight is shining on Jen from J Conlon and Sons, and Sheri, also known as Jumpstart Designs. Jen hasn’t been in touch so I’m not sure if I’ll have a post highlighting her – but she IS hosting some Challenges and such, so I’ll drop that info at the end.

As you may remember, Sheri and I have known each other a long time. But she can still surprise me! We started out with the formalities, chatting about designing. What follows is a transcript of our conversation.

J: I think I know the answer to to this, but I’ll ask you anyway. What lights your design fire most?

S: Color! And sometimes I’ll get inspired by reviewing all the PINS I’ve saved on Pinterest over the years.

J: I KNEW you were going to say colour!! That’s one thing that’s always obvious when looking at your designs. There’s an indefinable quality to the way you use colour that’s very appealing. This one might take a little thought on your part. If you could only use THREE design tools for the rest of your career, what would they be?

S: CTRL-Z (undo) is my favorite Photoshop “tool” for sure! As for the other two…. CTRL-Z and CTRL-Z! LOL

J: <snort-laughs> My sister!! If you’ve read any of my tutorials, I mention CTRL/CMD>Z ALL the time! (I don’t discriminate – Mac commands are always included too.) I’ve found a bunch of other places it works, and use it with gusto. What does your design process look like?

S:    Remember, you asked!

• I look around for inspiring ideas
• Think of a kit name
• Create my preview packaging with pretty title-work. Create files for every product (elements, add-ons, papers, wordart, etc.) so they are all ready to go.
• Start on elements (usually florals first. I love them).
• Add to previews as I go along.
• After about a dozen elements, I change my mind and decide the preview packaging should be a different color, so I change them all.
• Create more elements then tweak the colors more.
• Go back and change the preview packaging again.
• Work on more elements. Stare at them a bunch. Tweak them more.
• Decide maybe I should go with a different style. Re-do everything.
• Stare at them a bunch. Tweak them more. Change previews again.
• Eventually work on papers and other elements.
• Go back and tweak some more.
• Tweak the previews more….
• And on… and on… and on… LOL
• And about the time I FINALLY get everything done and uploaded to the shop, I noticed I messed SOMETHING up and must go back and fix everything. LOL

J: That’s very… detailed. Almost like I wrote it! 😉 It’s interesting that you use the previews as your foundation. But it works, so don’t change anything!! So, knowing all that, what’s the most challenging part of digital designing? I mean, after all the false starts. ;D

S: The amount of time it takes me to complete a kit or collection. I’ve been told I’m too picky about little details, including how I do my previews. It’s shocking how much time I spend changing and tweaking things. I often wonder how other designers manage to put new designs out so frequently.

J: See above! Your attention to detail is a huge benefit for your fans, though. But yeah, it’s a mystery to me how some Designers are SO prolific. They have to have some kind of secret sauce or something! Wow, those noodles I ate for lunch are making me thirsty. But boy were they good! If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

S: Anything Mexican and cheesy!

J: So, are nachos your go-to comfort food, or is there some other yummy thing you love?

S: Funeral potatoes. WHAT????? (you say)? Yes, funeral potatoes are a thing here in Utah. If you ever want to know what they are, or get the recipe, let me know.

J: I know funeral potatoes! They don’t show up much at the funerals I attend – we lean on perogies… similar principle. My cousin always brings a big tub of soup. She’s half Ukrainian and she says, “Soup makes you strong like bull!” in a heavily accented, gruff voice that sounds just like my uncle. Yeah, we’re a little odd. What’s the funniest thing you believed when you were a kid?

S: As a young child around ten years old, I had heard of “carpools” but really had no idea what “carpooling” was. One day when riding with my mom in the car, we pulled up next to an El Camino and I pointed to it and said, “Look Mom! A Carpool!” (It made sense to me at the time.)

J: It makes perfect sense to me! What else would you do with that? It would be hilarious to see one filled with water and pool floaties, inflatable palm trees  and flamingos around the edges. I can see it now! 😀 Are you a prankster? Have you ever pulled off the perfect prank?

S: Several years ago, I worked for an aerospace company and one of the Engineers that worked there was a huge fan of Twinkies. He always had several boxes of them in his office, and everyone was always teasing him about it. One day me and another co-worker “kidnapped” all of them and held them for ransom. Not a monetary ransom, but just for silly things. He didn’t know which of the several people in the office did it, and it was hilarious watching him try to find out. Nearly every day we would leave him another “ransom note” with different clues or silly demands. It provided daily entertainment and laughter for almost two months before we gave in.

J: OMG! That would have been priceless! I used to work with a very… um… particular… doctor who NEVER had a pen with him. (I mean, come on! How do you write orders in a paper chart without a pen, Laurance?) One day, I waited patiently for him to ask if he could borrow my pen – then handed him a hot pink one with a gigantic blinking eyeball, complete with lashes, on the end. The silence from all the others on rounds was deafening, but I could tell everybody was trying so hard not to laugh. I’d like to say that was the last time he borrowed a pen from me, but no. I can’t. I kinda miss that chaos. Wish I could just pop in once in awhile, just to see my team. Oh well. If you could teleport anywhere in the world, where would it be?

S: WEIRD ANSWER ALERT! I’d teleport to Bali, and here’s why:

I was watching a Netflix series called THE WORLD’S MOST AMAZING VACATION RENTALS. Season 1, Episode 1 is called “The Best of Bali”. The first half of the episode shows the most adorable authentic bamboo hut, surrounded by tropical gardens. It is the coolest thing ever! If I could be anywhere right now… it would be there.

J: I can just see you examining the walls to make sure they used real bamboo. A lot of your designs have a distinct tropical flavour, so I don’t think this is a weird answer at all. Now I think I need to get down to business. Have a fabulous Spotlight month, Sheri!

You’re here on the GingerScraps Blog, so I know you’re aware of the Daily Downloads. This is Sheri‘s sneak peek.

Isn’t that cute?! She’s host of one Designer Spotlight Challenge this month, and her regular Jumpstart Your Layouts Challenge, which includes this free (not exactly) mini-kit:

Jen‘s Designer Spotlight Challenge joins her regular Template Challenge and there’s a sneak peek for her Daily Download in her Designer Spotlight thread. Be sure to check them out!

Neia Scraps

Welcome to the first Designer Spotlight of 2026! Up first this year is the Über-productive and highly-sought-after Edneia aka Neia Scraps. Now, Neia and I have had a number of chats, and this time we’ve come up with some great new schtick… she has a great sense of humour and we get along like a house on fire. Wanna know what I’ve learned about her lately? Read on!

J: I’m so happy you’re here again! We must be doing something right, you keep coming back for more. I told you last time we talked how much I love the small changes you’ve made to the spirit of your designs. Bet you didn’t know I bought about a dozen of your collections not long after that chat. 😉 Before we really get into it, let’s remind everybody how you got into digital design in the first place.

N: It started very naturally. I was drawn to the creative freedom — being able to tell stories visually without strict rules. Over time, it became my main creative language.

J: Ah, creative freedom! That’s something we all enjoy. What’s the main source of your inspiration when designing a new collection?

N: Usually a feeling first, not an object. I like starting with a mood and letting the elements grow from there.

J: That explains the subtle shift in your work. It’s definitely more sensitive and passionate. How would you describe your work?

N: Artistic, emotional, and organic.

J: Totally! I’ve noticed that your collections have expanded and become very inclusive. Do you prefer designing papers or elements?

N: Elements. They feel more organic to me — like little characters that can live in many different stories.

J: That’s a great way to describe them. I love elements that are truly versatile. Because, well… my credit lists are the stuff of legend. 😀 I often take one element from each of a dozen kits and bring them all together into one layout. It’s fun! What do you enjoy most about seeing others use your designs?

N: Seeing how personal their pages become. The designs are mine, but the stories are theirs — and that’s the best part.

J: It must be so satisfying! Now, since colour is a huge part of designing, if you could BE a colour, which one would you choose?

N: A soft neutral. Calm on the surface, but very flexible and expressive when combined with other colors.

J: I love it! Colour Ninja! So how do you unwind after a long design-superhero day?

N: A quiet moment with coffee or tea. I like letting my mind wander — that’s usually when new ideas show up.

J: I like a nice snuggle with one of my dogs. (Lately, not the one that keeps peeing on the hallway runner. She’s on the bad-dog list. :D) If you could have any animal, real or imaginary, as a pet, what would you have?

N: A dragon. I’d love to fly on its back. And if that sounds a little Fourth Wing–inspired… that’s definitely not a coincidence.

J: Nothing wrong with a little flight-of-fancy! Would you teleport if you could?

N: I’d go somewhere cold and calm. Snow, trees, a cozy place… the kind of place where ideas slow down and settle.

J: Canada fits that bill! Right now, where I live, we don’t actually have any snow – which is NOT usual, but it’s making a lot of people happy. What one thing always makes you smile?

N: When someone uses my designs in a way I never imagined. That’s always a nice surprise.

J: Aha! You’ve thrown down a gauntlet there. Hear that everybody? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find a completely unique and unexpected way to use Neia Scraps designs for a layout. Even better? She’s hosting TWO Challenges this month!! Of course, she’d hosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge, as well as her usual My Memories Challenge. (They’re linked up for you, just click on them.) And if that’s not enough for you… This month, everything in her store is 45% off—or even more on bundles! And here’s a little bonus: spend $20 or more and get an extra 10% off at checkout. Use the coupon: NEIA-SL202610

Aaaaaand… the Daily Download, here on the Blog is yours, free, for the taking.

Well, what are you waiting for? GO!