Part One: ScrapChat Designs
Is it just me or is this year just flying by? September already… even though it’s 98° outside right now. This month we have two Designers in the Spotlight again. Today I’m chatting with Jill, the Designer otherwise known as ScrapChat. Jill and I have done this a couple of times already, and we’re not going to try fooling anyone. No, we didn’t have coffee. And this time it wasn’t Jack Daniels either! (I’m boycotting.) Instead we had some award-winning locally distilled BRBN. It was pretty darned good, too. And we didn’t really belabour the business side of things too much; grab a cold drink and we’ll commence.
O: Let’s get the bread-and-butter stuff out of the way first. Can you share with us how you came up with your brand logo?
J: The turtle in my logo was drawn by my youngest daughter as a memorial to my oldest daughter, who passed in 2019.
O: What a beautiful way to remember her. She’d be proud to know she was so inspirational! What’s your favourite part of seeing our GingerScrappers use your designs?
J: The memories they’re documenting. I envy anyone who takes the time to journal about their experiences — I rarely journal on my own pages, even knowing how important it is. I make samples and tell myself I’ll go back and add the journaling… but time passes, and it doesn’t happen.
O: I know what you mean. I don’t love the journaling part either. It always feels like “nobody’s going to care about this tomorrow, never mind in 20 years”, so I usually don’t do much. Do you have a favourite theme or season to design for?
J: Travel, for sure. In my life, I’ve worked for two airlines, and I love creating collections to help people document that first or fifteenth vacation. Each one is different and deserves to be remembered.
O: Now there’s a topic I’ll journal about! It’s often about the history of a place, or some random factoid that fits the rest of the layout. When I was scrapping my sister’s trip to the Maritimes I put a lot of that kind of thing on the page. She LOVED her memory book, so it was worth all the research and the hours and hours of work. I never told her about the dinners I… um… singed… because I was working on one of her layouts. How do you juggle the various parts of your life so that you can fit it all in?
J: It’s a mix of designing, life, and everything in between. I’d love to say it’s organized chaos, but it’s probably just chaos…with a to-do list.
O: Oh, I’m a list-maker too! Comes from being a nurse – without my task list, my patients might have been a little neglected. (Not really, I’m too Type A for that, but…) Anyway……. Speaking of burnt offerings, what’s your comfort food?
J: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes – incredibly ironic since I hated meatloaf as a child.
O: Meatloaf has always been Daughter #2’s comfort food too. I make it very differently from how my mother made it, which might be why. Daughter #1 was always about the shepherd’s pie, with a nice layer of melted cheese on top. Once she converted to Judaism, she had to make some adjustments to that recipe. 😉
J: If I could learn any skill instantly, it would be gourmet cooking. I would love to be able to make a fancy meal once in a while.
O: Having worked for the airlines, you must have had some really great restaurant experiences. The nurses I travelled with had a rule: we couldn’t go to a chain or eat anything we could get at home. So we had some amazing meals at some very fine restaurants. If you could teleport anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?
J: Disney World, without a doubt – I’d want to take a detour to pick up my grandkids on the way.
O: When I was in Orlando quite a few years ago, my travel companions went there, but I gave it a pass. I can’t remember why now. My grandkids were gifted a Disney cruise from their *other* grandparents this spring. They had a blast. I’m pretty sure my granddaughter entertained the other passengers with her antics. She has no filter. (Reminds me, I should scrap the photo of her with chopsticks in her nose…) What’s the silliest thing you’ve ever done in public?
J: Danced at Disney World with my children as if I were six.
O: I don’t think that’s silly! It’s sweet. I’ve always been too tightly wound for that kind of thing. When I was at Universal in Orlando, I looked after the purses while my friends went on the rides. The only one I agreed to was Wizarding World. It was more my speed.
J: I adore Harry Potter, of course! It’s my favorite book series ever.
O: I thought the ride was very well-done. Everything looked so realistic. even Hedwig, Harry’s pet owl. It made me want to start birding again. If you could have any pet, mythical or real, what would you choose?
J: With a huge world to choose from, imaginary or real, I would still pick a Labrador. My current dog is a 12-year-old yellow lab Sunny — she’s my shadow and constant companion.
O: Dogs are just the best, aren’t they? Ours are 10 and 7. The younger one just came over and nudged me. Must be suppertime. Thanks for the visit, Jill! I’m just going to wind up with Spotlight info for everybody now.
Of course, ScrapChat Designs has provided a Daily Download kit for all of us; she collaborated with Juli (Miss Fish) on a huge kit called Everyday Rhythm. The sneak peeks are very intriguing. And also of course, Jill is hosting one part of the Designer Spotlight Challenge this month in addition to her usual monthly Use It All Challenge. If you haven’t checked it out, this is what you’re missing!
Last, but definitely not least, Jill has a coupon code for purchases from her GS store over $10: SPOT-SCD-2025 so check out her designs ASAP because it expires at midnight September 30th.
I’ll be back tomorrow with Part Two!
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