Archives for 2009

Let’s Meet a Gingerscraps CT Member, Rachel!

This week we are meeing Rachel, CT member and designer for Gingerscraps.

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address?I’m Rachel a.k.a. Harmonystar My scrapping blog: https://thoughtspotbyrachel.blogspot.com/My Family Blog: https://ryanandrachelyancey.blogspot.com/My Scrap for hire Site: https://treasureyourmemories.blogspot.com/

Tell us a little about your family. My hubby Ryan and I met in High School. He seemed to know at 17 that we were meant to be together. I didn’t share his confidence and went on to date other fella’s soon concluding that he was meant for me all along. He served a 2 year mission for the LDS church in Calgary Canada. While he was doing this I had a blast at college and served and internship at Walt Disney World. He got home in August, came to visit me with my mom during my last week in Florida and we all flew back home. He proposed in September and we were married in December in the Idaho Falls Temple. It’s been an amazing 4 years so far! He’s an electrician and qualified computer geek. September2007 Jaden came along and made our lives a whole lot better. He’s a high energy little hurricane but always has something up his sleeve to make us laugh (even when he’s getting in trouble.)

Do you work outside the home & if so what do you do? Not any more. I used to be a Title 1 Aid. I loved it, but when Jaden came along it was more important to stay with him.

What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping and designing? I’m a ballroom dance teacher. I love dancing so much! I’m teaching private lessons to a teenage girl right now. I also really enjoy reading and playing computer games.(I’m quite a computer geek myself)

When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you? I taught myself digi-scrapping in 2002 though there wasn’t even a term for it then. I always did all my projects using the computer so it was natural that when we had a great group date I would make a layout on the computer and then print a copy out for everyone. They weren’t even remotely as fancy as today. Mostly just a white background with some clipart. When I first got married I got into it a little more, then around April of last year I found the digi-scrapping world I never knew existed! My I’ve had fun since!

When did you start designing and how did you learn? When I brought speed scraps to my cafemom group I thought it would be fun to have a participation prize so I started scanning things in and extracting them. I was into photo editing and graphic design before I got into digital scrapbooking so the transition to making my own stuff seemed pretty natural. Most of what I make is still for participation prizes.

How did you pick your companies name? Harmonystar has been my screen name since I was 12. I’ll give one of my products away for free to the first person to pm me with where the name Harmonystar came from! I usually keep it a secret, but someone may know.

Who are your favorite three designers?Just 3? That’s a toughy! Lets see, in no particular orderGinger ScrapsLily DesignsPetit Moineaux

What are your favorite parts of a kit to design? The elements. I love finding stuff around the house to scan in. Sometimes I think “I have no idea what could be done with this, but maybe someone else will!”

What’s your favorite kit that you’ve designed? I’m currently working on a kit called Garden Grunge. I think it may end up being my fav. I really love my leaf collection also.

What’s your least favorite? My first official “kit” was Vector Floral. It’s not real great.

How do you get started on a kit? Palette first? Rough idea on what you want your papers or elements to look like?I try to to think of a theme first. Then I usually do palette, elements, then paper.How long does it typically take you to make a kit? That’s hard to say. A Participation prize will usually take me about 3 to 4 hours and that’s after I’ve been thinking forever about what I want to do. Kits have taken me anywhere from a month to 5 hours.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I’d be skinny like I was in college. Something about getting married really adds the pounds.

What is the one word that best describes you? Fun. I think people have fun when they’re with me. I usually have a lot of positive energy and love to pass it around.

Who is the most important person in your life? The most important would have to be my father in heaven. He’s given me all that I have and I feel very blessed.

What is something that not many people know about you? Anyone who has seen me knows, but in the digital world perhaps not, but I am really really short. I am 4 foot 10.5 inches. I auditioned for Mickey Mouse in Florida (they love short people) made it too. Was suppose to go back the next summer, but got married instead and Ryan didn’t want to live in Florida *shrug*

If you could travel anywhere where would you go? Hawaii would be nice. Or a great tour of England would be fun too!

When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? You know those dolphin trainers at sea world? Yup! That’s what I wanted to be… Huh I kinda still do! It’s just so cool!

What is your favorite food? Chicken Cordon Bleu

What do you like doing with your family? Going and playing at a park & taking pictures.

Where is your favorite place to be? Sadly right here in front of my computer. LOL!

What are three things that are important to you? My family My friends My computer

Is there anything you would change about your life? My life is really quite great! I don’t think I’d change a thing!

What are you afraid of? My husband dying young. I depend on him so much. I’m not sure I’d survive without him.

Do you collect anything?scrap kits. LOL I currently have 86 gig worth. Yeah, you could say I’m a bit out of control!

Here is one of Rachel’s recent Layouts with the Gingerscraps kit, First Day of Spring

Rachel is very good at extraction… Check out all of her CU items in the Gingerscraps Store!

Want a freebie? Look below!

Freebie for you!

This mini-kit is free for you to download until Wednesday, 11:59 Pacific. Have fun with it! We would love to see what you do with it, so make sure you post your lay out in our gallery!
Click here to download. EDT>>> LINK EXPIRED 🙁 but you can get this kit in the GingerScraps shop for only $3.00!

Test Post #1

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More Freebies!!

Hi all – It is Monday… which means more FREEBIES!!!
I have some VERY exciting news for you all!!
I have a new full kit for you .. and it is FREE!!
It is actually one of my favorite kits ever 🙂 It was so fun to make!! It is March’s ScrapStreet magazine feature!!
Click on the preview to be taken to the magazine and download this kit 🙂

Feature starts on page 35-Pixel Place

Check out some of these Layouts done my my CT and the ScrapStreet CT

By Becca

By StephanieBy JillianBy JodiBy BarbaraBy Dora PhillipsBy LauraBy MistyBy Jorinde van DongenBy Rachel

But wait there’s more!!! If you have not been following the Brownie Points Designer Training you have been missing out!!! They are designers in training and each week they have a new assignment. And guess what that means for us… we get all their finished goodies for free!! But hurry they are only free for a limited time. These are just a few of my favorites… there are tons more!! Click any of the previews to be taken to the designers blogs.

Friday Feature- CoffeeShop!!

It is time for the Friday Feature!!!
I found this site a while ago, and I just love it!!!!

Do you ever look at professional photographs and wonder how you can get the look they achieve? Well, it take hours of tweaking settings and messing with photoshop until you get it all looking jut right. Well, todays Friday Feature has done all the work for you. She wraps it up into an action, that you can instal in Photoshop. You can then run her actions on any photograph and taadaa your photo now looks like t was taken by professional!!!!

And guess what the best part it.. she does it all for FREE!!!! So here she is.. the lady of the hour….Rita of-
Here is a pic of Rita and her family
Click on this link to read all about Rita

And here are just some of her awesome actiona that you can get for FREE on her site CoffeeShopActions. All previews are linked to Rita’s site so just click any of them to be taken to CoffeeShopActions. And make SURE you leave her some love!!

Thanks for stopping by today 🙂 hope you all have a great weekend!! Ginger

Let’s Meet a Designer: Ziggle Designs

Hello, it’s Jen again. We have another interview with another wonderful designer. Without further ado, Kami Leonard of Ziggle Designs!

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address?
Kami Leonard, Ziggle Designs
www.zigglescraps.com
Tell us a little about your family.
My husband and I have been married for 15 years and we have one beautiful daughter named Zoe.
What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping and designing?
I enjoy photography and I am an avid reader!! I love curling up with a good book!!
When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you?
I started digi-scrapping in 2005 and I taught myself!
When did you start designing and how did you learn?
I started designing in 2007 and I taught myself!! LOL!!
How did you pick your companies name?
The Ziggle comes from my photography business (Ziggle Photography). And Ziggle comes from my daughter’s initials (ZGL).
Who are your favorite three designers?
WOW! This is tough. Only 3- huh? I don’t know if I could narrow it down to 3. I mean, it goes without saying ALL of the Scrap Orchard Designers, right? The most recent designers that I have purchased kits from are: Jofia, Brigit Kerr and Newlife Dreams.
What are your favorite parts of a kit to design?
It really depends on the kit, but it is usually the spark that inspired me. It could be an element or paper, but whatever it is that is driving the kit.
What’s your favorite kit that you’ve designed?
I love Firefly Lane right now. It was SO MUCH FUN to design.
What’s your least favorite?
Um…. probably all of my older stuff!!
How do you get started on a kit? Palette first? Rough idea on what you want your papers or elements to look like?
Each kit is different. Mostly the palette comes after I have an idea, but I have found palettes that I just love and gone from there. Usually it’s some new technique or idea that I have that I want to try out. I love the challenge of figuring out how I would do something.
How long does it typically take you to make a kit?
6 to 8 hours
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
Um… digital scrapbooking related or just in general? In general… I’d like my “backside” to be considerably smaller. Digital Scrapbooking-wise, I wish I could draw better!
What is the one word that best describes you?
oh… it really depends on the day!
Who is the most important person in your life?
Zoe
What is something that not many people know about you?
I am 5 feet tall.
If you could travel anywhere where would you go?
Well this is assuming I had some serious drugs to help me get past my extreme fear of flying (another thing people might not know about me!), I would love to go to Greece.
When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up?
A dancer.
What is your favorite food?
All of them (thus the larger-than-I-would-prefer “backside”)
What do you like doing with your family?
Traveling
Where is your favorite place to be?
My house
What are three things that are important to you?
My family
My friends
Starbucks Frappuccinos
Is there anything you would change about your life?
Not for a second.
What are you afraid of?
Dying (all kinds of different things… but they all end in death, so I’d have to say overall… just dying)
Do you collect anything?
Dust- my house is a veritable dust museum.

Kami it was great getting to know more about you. I will second your dust collection. Hardwood floors + dogs = unspeakable amounts of dust.

Here are three of my favorite Ziggle Kits

Gathering Leaves
Sunny Side Up

And here is Kami’s current favorite, Firefly Lane (I LOVE the papers in this kit! and such a wonderful palette!)

Amber’s Layout: Man oh Man!

Amber used the GingerScraps kit, Man Oh Man to scrap this great layout.


Rough and tough, Man Oh Man is the perfect kit for getting’ dirty.
19 Papers
1 Duct Tape Alpha
Tires
Nuts and Bolts
Chains
Belts
Ropes
Barbwire
Hinges
Alligator Clips
Brads
Staples
Splats
Zippers
Lots of Duct Tape embellishments
Click HERE to see LO’s with Man oh Man

Don’t forget!


and here is the participation prize that Jen made!

Our Newest Feature: Let’s Meet a Designer! Amber LaBau of Stolen Moments

Hi everyone, this is Jen from Ginger’s CT, we all met Tuesday. Our new weekly feature is going to be: Meet the Designers. I sent a list of questions to some great designers and they said they would answer them! Enough about me, let’s get to the good stuff!

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address? Amber LaBau aka Stolen Moments at https://stolenmomentsdesign.blogspot.com/
Tell us a little about your family. My husband and I have been married for almost 5 years. We have a beautiful little boy – who is the focus of most of my scrapping – who just turned one. We also have two cats who were the babies first! We’re living in Kansas City, MO while my husband finishes up his MFA.
Do you work outside the home & if so what do you do? Nope – I’m lucky that way. 😀
What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping and designing? I love music and play the piano and sing. I also do – well, did – a fair share of acting before DS was born {my degree is in theatre}. I also go through phases of crocheting, sewing, and other miscellaneous craft projects….
When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you? Last June I was looking for things to make a coupon book for Father’s Day. I remembered a cousin of mine had blogged about digi-scrapping, so that’s where I started looking. No one really taught me, I just look and try to apply what I see….
When did you start designing and how did you learn? July of last year. Also, no one taught me, I just looked at the other designs out there and tried my best to do what they had done. Once, again, observation is the best teacher – seeing what’s possible, and actually working with my own kits challenges me to keep progressing and learning.
How did you pick your companies name? I actually had a poll on my personal blog, but vetoed the winning moniker. I decided on Stolen Moments because in thinking about all the time I spent scrapping, it was mainly when my baby was sleeping and a few moments here and there during the day when I could sneak away from “real life”, and they were very decidedly “stolen” moments.
Who are your favorite three designers? This is a really hard one! There are SO many talented designers out there! A few that I really admire are Sara Belmont – Sweet Blossom Designs, Jessica Edwards, KimB, Vicki Parker.. the list could go on and on!
What are your favorite parts of a kit to design? I love designing papers! Each kit I do always ends up with several papers thrown out or saved for something else just because I always end up with too many!
What’s your favorite kit that you’ve designed? I really like how Alphabet Remix turned out – it was a remake of my very first kit, and it was so exciting to see how much I’d grown. I also love the colors in Sophisticated Grunge and Someone to Love.
What’s your least favorite? That’s not fair! 😛 Honestly, looking back, it’s probably Alphabet Soup – my first kit – simply because it was SO bad! (Although I was really proud of it at the time).
How do you get started on a kit? Palette first? Rough idea on what you want your papers or elements to look like? I definitely start with colors first. As I’m laying in bed each night before I go to sleep, all sorts of color combinations float through my head. I pick one, and depending on what it makes me feel – or what I think I could name a kit with those colors – that’s the direction I go… It’s very organic.
How long does it typically take you to make a kit? Depending on how much time I have to devote to it, if I’m doing other “projects” and how “inspired” I’m feeling, anywhere from 1-2 weeks. Once I did 2 kits in 1 week, though! {I was very inspired that week}.
What is the one word that best describes you? organized – although sometimes all this creative energy makes me a little scatterbrained! How about A-type or OCD? 😉
Who is the most important person in your life? my husband
What is something that not many people know about you? I’ve had my license suspended twice. 😀
If you could travel anywhere where would you go? I would love to go to Europe someday.. I know – not very specific, and very cliche, but what can you do? 😉
When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? a teacher or an actress
What is your favorite food? chocolate and ice cream – in no particular order
What do you like doing with your family? We play board games – the good German ones.. none of this Monopoly and Life crap!… and we watch 24 😉
Where is your favorite place to be? curled up in bed during a thunderstorm, or after sleeping in.. which never happens anymore!
What are three things that are important to you? my family, my friends, my faith
Is there anything you would change about your life? not a one… except maybe getting into scrapbooking sooner! 😉
What are you afraid of? things that go bump in the night, or that something will happen to my husband while he’s away from home..
Do you collect anything? I used to collect thimbles, but not so much anymore.. they’re all still back at my parent’s house. My husband would say I collect hobbies, or better yet – un-finished projects! 😉

Amber, I totally get you on the collecting of un-finished projects… I have a knitting and paper scrapping grave yard in my garage! Thank you so much for answering my questions!

Amber sells her kits at Digital Candy. Here are some previews of my personal favorite kits of hers.


Not only can Amber design, but she scraps very well. She did this layout during a speed scrap the other day!

Credits: Sweet Dreams kit – A Work in Progress, Sweet Dreams add-on – Sweet Blossom Designs, Fresh alpha – Stolen Moments

Tomorrow we will have another great feature for you, and we will show you what happens when Amber gets her hands on one of Ginger’s kits!

Let’s Meet GrahamLiketheCracker, Jen!

We are starting a new feature here at Gingerscraps. On Tuesdays we are going to profile a Gingerscraps CT member or forum member. This week we are meeting Jen Graham, one of our Gingerscraps creative team members.

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address? Jennifer, but most people call me Jen unless they don’t know any better. My blog is GrahamLikeTheCracker

Tell us a little about your family. I’m a happily married SAHM. My husband and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary last October. We have a 20 month old son named Alton. We live in Southern California, and are lucky enough to live close to most of our extended family.

Do you work outside the home & if so what do you do? No, I have been blessed to be able to stay home since we got married.

What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping? I love to read and bake. It has been hard to find anything good to read since I finished reading the Twilight series. I have now read that 5 times! I tried to go back and read the Harry Potter books again, but they just aren’t the same. I also make fabulous brownies and my husband swears he married me for my chocolate chip cookies!

When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you?
I started in August of 2008. My Scrapland BFF is Charmaine and she taught me how to digi-scrap. She makes STUNNING LOs. To this day if I don’t know how to do something I ask her and she is the first person I show my stuff to.

Are you on any creative teams? I am very lucky to be on CTs for Ginger of Gingerscraps, Amber of Stolen Moments, and Chanin of Snowflake Beach Designs. I just applied for a fourth so I can do another CT gig with Charmaine. I think I might need an intervention soon! I still can’t believe my luck that so many designers like what I do. I was FLOORED when I got the acceptance letter from Amber. I was stunned when I got one from Ginger. With Chanin I was little more sure that I am getting better at this, but it was still nice to get the affirmation, “Hey we like your stuff, come play with us!” you know?

Do you design at all? I am doing the BrownieScraps 6 week design training. My first and second kits are up on my blog. I LOVE my second kit. I am sure 6 months from now I will be embarrassed by it, but for right now it is like my baby.

What is your favorite challenge here at GingerScraps? I love speed scraps when I can get on to do them. My scrapping time is limited to after Alton goes to bed though, and being on the west coast makes it hard to do as many as I like. Where else are you going to get an awesome LO done in an hour? I am a horrible perfectionist and take FAR too long to do a LO if I don’t have a some sort of time restriction.

Who are your favorite three designers? Ginger of Gingerscraps (Beach Glass was one of the first kits I ever downloaded), Amber of Stolen Moments and Kami of Ziggle Designs.

What are some of your must have elements? Stars, frames, and beads on string or wire. I need more beads on a wire!!! If a kit doesn’t come with a frame, I make my own.

Whose gallery here at Gingerscraps do you just love? I adore Harmonystar’s gallery. She makes the most stunning layouts! If I started a “to be scraplifted file”, she would be in it!

What’s your favorite kit in the store right now? I LOVE the New Year kit and the Chocolate Kisses kit. They both have such beautiful color palettes. Plus the New Year kit has those gorgeous swirls with the stars on it, so I LOVE LOVE LOVE those.

Out of all your lo’s so far, what are your favorite 2 & why? My favorite two are my Beautiful Life layout (kit by Stolen Moments) and my New Year layout (kit here in the Gingerscraps store). I ADORE the colors in the Beautiful Life layout, and my son just looks soooo adorable in those pictures. In the New Year layout I love that I was actually able to layer and cluster in a pleasing way. I wish I knew how to cluster better and I think I did an okay job on this LO. (BTW, I have a freebie QP on my blog for both of these layouts.)



If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
Most people would probably say lose weight, and while I would love to do that, I would much rather change my singing voice. I can’t carry a tune in a bucket and I for one am grateful that my son doesn’t know the difference. He thinks mommy rocks the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

What is the one word that best describes you? Creative. Is it wrong to say that? I am very thankful that I have been blessed with creativity.

Who is the most important person in your life? God. I can’t do anything without Him.

What is something that not many people know about you? I used to run track in high school. I was decent and I really enjoyed it. I would run bleachers for fun. Oh to have that kind of energy and stamina these days, not to mention that tushie!

If you could travel anywhere where would you go? Ireland. All of Western Europe really, but if I had to choose, it would be Ireland for sure.

When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? I always thought I would be a mommy or a teacher. Now that I am a mommy, I want to be on the Food Network when I grow up.

What is your favorite food? Mexican food, hands down.

How did you pick you user name? Okay my husband and I dated for almost 7 years before we got married. His Aunt Laurel and I became really good friends. I used to tease her because telemarketers always horribly butchered her name, “Can I speak to Lore-Ell Gray-ham please?” It never occurred to me that they would do the same thing to me once I was a Graham. “Thank you Mrs. Grah-haam.” Are you kidding me? So I usually gently correct with, “Graham, like the cracker.” When I was thinking of something to call my blog, I wanted something creative but memorable. So GrahamLiketheCracker was born!

What do you like doing with your family?
Hiking in the local mountains and traveling. I LOVE to travel. (The best place to take pictures for digi-scrapping of course!) Alton and I go to Disneyland once a week for the exercise (I swear!) because we have Disneyland annual passports.

Where is your favorite place to be? With my husband and son. They are the lights of my life.

What are three things that are important to you? My relationship with God. My relationship with my husband, and my child. Alton is the best thing that happened to me since Travis.

Is there anything you would change about your life?
I love my family, but I wish my husband could be in a different line of work. It’s a tough time for real estate agents right now.

What are you afraid of? Snakes. I get the heebie jeebies just talking about them.

Do you collect anything? I am a hoarder. A huge hoarder. When I paper scrapped, I would buy papers fully knowing that I wouldn’t scrap with them because they were too nice. Now I hoard freebie kits that I probably won’t use because they are so pretty I don’t want to disservice them with a lame layout!

Wouldn’t it be fun to be interviewed for this feature? Sign up in the Gingerscraps forum! Don’t forget to link a couple of your best layouts to be featured! And, stop by Jen’s blog… she has a lot freebies!