interview

It’s Saturday! Happy weekend to you all!

I’m here to introduce you to our three featured designers this month. Our guest designer, May of Siamese Studio. The lovely Jennifer of Luv Ewe Designs has created our Daily Download for the month of June. Last but not least, Amy of Unforgettable Moments put together a beautiful free-with-purchase kit for us.

Here is a little bit more about each of these fantastic women:

Hi, my name is May. I live with my hubby of eight years in Bangkok, Thailand. We have one daughter, Janice. I could say that Janice is the one who introduced me to digital scrapbooking. I was pregnant at that time, and was reading other mom’s blog post. Then I saw a layout using some digital scrapbook stuff. It was so pretty! At the same time, I also heard people talking about “scrapbook” and was wondering what is it all about. So I did some search and found lots of digital scrapbook kits. I became a freebie hunter first, then joined a contest at a digital scrapbook store. That was the first time I’ve scrapped so many pages and fell in love with digital scrapbooking since then. After being only a scrapper for almost a year, I started to design and now it is my second love, besides of writing. I’ve been designing for almost four years already. I also love to cook and bake, but I could never get a successful result when baking a sponge cake. My new addiction is Paper Scrapping! I’d never ever did any physical layouts but I would love to try one day.

Hey everybody! This is Luv Ewe Designs! My real name is Jennifer. You can call me Jenn or Jennifer, just not Jenny. I am one of the hundred Jenns among the designers here! lol I live in Missouri. I married my husband on a beach in Jamaica 6 years ago. I have three boys and four step kids. I also have 6 indoor cats. We have a big house with room for everyone! So I have lost track of how long I have been designing. I think it has been about five years now. I actually started designing before I scrapped, which sounds weird. I love looking through galleries at everyone’s craftiness. So much inspiration there!

I am Amy Peck of Unforgettable Moments. My family and I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest just south of Portland, Oregon. We have two little boys Nolan who just turned five, and Ian who will soon be three. We are also helping raise our little nephew who we took into our home. He is the same age as our youngest. We have a busy household with three little boys running around. I am in love with photography and enjoy learning my camera and equipment and taking pictures when I can. I am four credits away from earning my masters degree in education. I worked about 10 years in the early childhood education field before my first child was born, and when I became a mom I became a stay at home mom. [Aside from designing] My first digi-love is to scrap, and record all of our families unforgettable moments! I love working with my scrap software so much that I was given the privilege of naming my father-in-law’s cat and I named her Adobe!

Thank you ladies, for taking time of your busy busyness to introduce yourselves! But…that’s not all! We always want to know more- at least I do! So, I am going to put it to you, our readers, to ask the designers what YOU want to know! Check out this thread in our forum, and post your question! Next week Saturday we’ll find out just what we want to know!

Have a scrap happy Saturday!

Hello my fellow lovers of digi scrap! Can you believe all the amazing things we have going on at GingerScraps? It has been a thrilling ride this last few months. And we have so many more fun things planned for Oct! One little hint…. a costume contest…. and a HUGE prize!

And one other secret…. we are having THE COOLEST item that will be available Sunday only- You will not want to miss it! A 24 hour deal that will blow your socks off!

And now I would like to tell you what I am doing here today- Some of you might remember a long long time ago on my first GingerScraps blog I used to do a Friday Feature. It was something I very much enjoyed! So when we recently had an opening on this site blog, a light bulb went off…. I am going to do a weekly post *every Saturday* with “The Dish”. My posts will be interviews, recipes, tips, maybe a tutorial here and there. I hope you enjoy it!

This weeks “The Dish” I decided I wanted to do an interview with our Oct. guest designer Misty O’Brien!!

You can check out Misty’s Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, blog, and sign up for my newsletter for contests, coupons, and the latest info.

She has a few fun new goodies in the shop- and more will be coming throughout the month as well!

Ginger: Hi Misty, I am so happy to have you as our first ever guest designer! I have missed you my friend! Why don’t we start by you telling everyone a little bit about yourself.

Misty: Hi Ginger, and all you out there in digi land Ok, a little about me- I’m from the Pacific Northwest, and I am a stay at home mom to two boys, Ian age 4 and Aidan age 2. I have been married to my husband Dan for 5 years but we’ve been going to school together since the first grade. I love digital scrapping and designing. I was just offered a position to write the digital scrapbooking column for the Examiner for my local area, so look for that soon! In our family’s free time, we love to geocache, head to the park, and play games. In MY spare time, I enjoy reading, cooking, baking, and being as crafty as possible.

Ginger: Wow that is so awesome!! You will have to link us up when your column hits the newsstands! And thank you for introducing me to geocaching! My kiddos and I totally love it. Since it is October.. and I have costumes on the brain… Tell us- What’s your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?

Misty: When I was 16, my mom made me Dorothy’s dress from the Wizard of Oz. She even glued red glitter to a pair of pumps for “Ruby” slippers. I worked at a pizza shop and we all dressed up Halloween night.

Ginger: Oh my goodness that is so cute! There’s no place like home.. or the Pizza Shop haha. What are you going to dress up like this Halloween?

Misty: I’m lame and only bought a funky black and pink wig. Since having kids, I haven’t dressed up in years.

Ginger: Well a tip of the hat to you my lady……. or should I say A tip of the wig to you. I actually wore a funky blue 80′s -ish wig last year as my “costume”. This year.. I have a t-shirt, it says “Bite Me” and it glows in the dark… wow I went all out huh. lol. What is you favorite candy? And do you steal your childrens Halloween – trick or treating candy?

Misty: I love Reese’s Peanut Butter anything and my most favorite is Dark Chocolate. I always steal my kids’ candy, although this year, I think I’ll actually let them eat some of it!

Ginger: Ohhhhh You HAVE to try the new dark chocolate Reeses! When I saw that commercial I was like… Reeses, Have you been reading my diary!? It was spooky!! haha So speaking of spooky…… Do you believe in ghosts?

Misty: Maybe, I’m sort of a fence sitter. Once, I went into a vacant house on the market, and the energy just felt thick, suffocating, and I broke out in goosebumps. I felt sick and had to get out of there ASAP.

Ginger: Freaky! Have you ever been hypnotized?

Misty: No, and I would LOVE to try hypnosis.

Ginger: Now a few random questions- What is the one thing that makes you happy despite any mood?

Misty: Chocolate Milkshakes

Ginger: Nice! haha. Name a television character that you simply adore?

Misty: Phil Dunphy from Modern Family.

Ginger: What is the best vacation you’ve ever had in your life?

Misty: Ireland

Ginger: oh how wonderful! I would love to go to Ireland someday! I want to thank you for being our Guest Designer for Oct! And thank you for the fun interview In closing I would love for you to share with us all a few things- I think it is fun to see a few of your favorite Layouts- and I would also LOVE you to share with us one of your favorite recipes!

Misty- Sure! Ok here are two of my favorite Layouts-

This one is my son Aidan- you can click on the LO to go see a full list of credits.

And one of my Hubby Dan- It will be linked to the full list of credits as well.

Ginger: Can you please share with us one of your favorite recipes?

Misty: mmmmmm your gonna love these!

Chocolate Caramel Crack(ers)

adapted from the Smitten Kitchen

About 40 saltine crackers, or enough to line a cookie sheet/baking sheet
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into a few large pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
A big pinch of sea salt (NOT table salt)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup toasted chopped almonds (don’t overtoast!)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet (or your standard cookie sheet) completely with foil, and then line the base of the foil with parchment paper, cut to fit.

Line the bottom of the baking sheet with saltine crackers, covering all parts.

In a medium heavy-duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and stir it over medium heat until it begins to boil. Once it has begun boiling, let it bubble for three more minutes, stirring it well. It will thicken a bit as it cooks. Remove from the heat and add the salt and vanilla, and quickly pour over your crackers. Spread quickly, it will begin to set as soon as it’s poured.

Bake the caramel-covered crackers for 12 – 15 minutes, watching carefully as it will bubble and the corners might darken too quickly and/or burn. You can reduce the heat if you see this happening.

Remove from oven and immediately pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. You can do this in sections, don’t worry about getting every cracker. Let stand five minutes, and then spread them evenly across the caramel. Sprinkle the chocolate with toasted almonds.

Put the baking sheet in the fridge to speed up the cooling process. Once completely cool, break up the crackers in large pieces. No need for it to be uniform. Store in a container (I keep mine in the fridge) for up to a week.

Ginger: Thank you so very much Misty! I am going to make these this weekend!! yummy!!

That wraps it up folks I hope you fond this entertaining- If you have a suggestion or If you want to ask Misty and other questions- please comment here on the blog. She and I will be checking the comments and would love to shat with you! Have a Wonderful Weekend!

*And DON’T forget to pick out the Daily Download today! And come back tomorrow for news about our awesome 24 hour special!!*