Before we begin, I have to just say this. RAMONA BROWN IS NOT A BRUNETTE!!! If you have spent any time at the forum of Brownie Scraps, you will probably be as shocked as I am by the picture we are about to see. All of the designers and CT members at Brownie Scraps have darling little cartoonized “mini-me” avatars. Ramona (who we are about to meet) used to sport one that depicted a brunette with brown eyes. So whenever I pictured Ramona, that is what I pictured in my mind. And here is the picture I received from her:

Isn’t she lovely? And not a brunette!

I know that normally we save the Gingerscraps layout for the end of the feature… icing on the cookie if you will, but this one is so pretty that I am showing it to you right away. Isn’t her daughter gorgeous?

That was of course made with the Gingerscraps kit, Chocolate Kisses. Which is of course, available in the Gingerscraps store. 🙂 Okay, I have rambled enough. Let’s get to the interesting stuff, shall we?

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address? My name is Ramona and my blog address is : https://designsbyramona.blogspot.com
Where do you sell? I sell at and own Brownie Scraps at browniescraps.com
Tell us a little about your family. I have 5 beautiful children who keep me very busy and happy! Our 6th baby will be here sometime in the next 30 days! That will make a total of 4 boys and 2 girls. My oldest is almost 12. We live in Northern Utah and love it here! My 4th child, Sam, has a rare chromosomal defect called xxyy syndrome, but he is the sweetest, most loving little boy. He’s 4 1/2, has very little speech, but gives the very best hugs!
What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping and designing? I love to garden and to write novels. I hope someday to be a published author!
When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you? I started working with digital images in the summer of 2006. I used PSP back then and mostly learned through free tutorials I saw online. I also started doing my own digital scrapbook, but it was very simple.
When did you start designing and how did you learn? I began designing in February 2008 when I bought Photoshop. I took all of the courses at godigitalscrapbooking, taught by Andrea Goldman, as well as lots of experimenting and searching the Internet!
Which programs do you use to design? PS CS3
Do you draw most of your items with a mouse, or hand draw and scan? Mostly with a mouse or pencil tool.
Where does your inspiration come from? Everything! I was an avid paper scrapper before, so I’ve always loved layouts. I love a good challenge and seeing something that was scrapped with paper supplies and trying to get the same look with digital!
How did you pick your companies name? What can I say, I LOVE chocolate!
When did you decide to start Brownie Scraps? Last summer, I came up with the name and began brainstorming different challenges and things. I was selling at a few different stores, but I am a control freak and had too many ideas of my own to just wait around for others! So, in August, I took the plunge and opened my own shop!
Who are your favorite three designers? I absolutely love the other three designers I work with and love their work. I rarely buy kits from anyone but them! They are Bethany of Scrappin Daisies, Kelly of Dreamersmagic Designs and Leslie of Dragonfly Designs. They inspire me every day to do more and work harder!
What are your favorite parts of a kit to design? The digital art
What’s your favorite kit that you’ve designed? It changes with every new kit I create!
What’s your least favorite? Most of my early stuff. I still can’t believe I was ever pleased with it!
How do you get started on a kit? I love to skim through colourlovers.com for palette’s. I consider it as fun as shoe shopping!
Palette first? Usually, yes, but often I have a theme in mind and will use the search section to find ideas of colors.
How long does it typically take you to make a kit? About 8-10 hours, usually straight. Designing a kit is like reading a good book. Once I get started, I can’t stop until it’s finished and I know the end! I can’t think of anything else until I’ve completed it. So often, I will go a week or so with no designing and then cram it all in at once!
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? Maybe to slow down a bit, enjoy the process and not get overly excited by a kit that I short change it!
What is the one word that best describes you? Passionate!
Who is the most important person in your life? Definitely my hubby! He is my best friend and my soul mate! We’ve been married for over 13 years and I can’t imagine my life without him.
What is something that not many people know about you? That’s tough because I’m very much an open book. But perhaps it would be that I struggle with depression (more than I’ve often admitted) and only recently have sought help for it. I’m always one to put on a smile and just fake it till I make it, but I realized that I wasn’t being true to myself in doing that. By accepting the fact that I struggle with these emotions and sometimes never want to leave my house, I have learned to overcome my fears and find a deeper sense of happiness and self-satisfaction.
If you could travel anywhere where would you go? It would definitely be Prince Edward Island or the countryside in England! I’ve always been extremely fascinated with both places!
When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? When I was in the 3rd grade, I read “Little Women” for the first time. I vowed then that I would grow up to be an author, just like Jo! I haven’t fully succeeded yet, but I am still working and dreaming towards that!
What is your favorite food? Anything Mexican!
What do you like doing with your family? I love to play games! I especially love the more obscure ones like “Settlers of Catan” and “India Rails”.
Where is your favorite place to be? Disneyland with my family!
What are three things that are important to you? My family, My Faith and my dreams.
Is there anything you would change about your life? Nope, every mistake has been a learning experience and every trial has helped me to grow. I don’t believe in living with regret.
What are you afraid of? Not showing my kids enough how much I love and cherish them.
Do you collect anything? Books.

And here are three of Ramona’s adorable kits:

Girly Girl

Lucky Me

Mud Puddles

Hello!

I have TWO brand new kits for you today! (And if you keep reading a freebie or two.) They are available in the Gingerscraps Store.

My wonderful CT girl Laura inspired me to make these kits. Her husband was deployed and she was anxiously awaiting his return home. She had many pictures to scrap and knew she would have many more. I told her I wanted to do a military kit, and she was so excited!! We spent many late nights on IM exchanging ideas. She took a ton of photos for me, which I then turned into elements and paper. Scroll down to get a link and you can read all about Laura and her daughters joyous reunion with their soldier!

AND If you want to get The Soldier and The Soldier’s Wife you can get them both for $8.00!! (Click on each image to be taken to the store)

You can buy both kits for $8.00 or each individual kit for $5.00.

Click here to read about Laura and her husband’s return.

Here are the layouts that my fabulous CT came up with for both kits.
Julie
Misty

Christie

Jen

Jodi

Laura

Laura again. 🙂

Misty

Sharon

Okay, fair warning. This is Steph’s layout and reading it totally made me cry! You have been warned!

Do you have your tissue ready?

Okay, you can read her layout now that you are prepared.

Stephanie

That was a lot to go through! Because you have made it this far, we have not one, not two, but three freebies for you! This is a kit add-on for both The Soldier and The Soldier’s Wife.

Click to download.

And if you head over to my CT Member Barb’s blog, she has these two amazing quick pages for you.

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address? Misty O’Brien – https://scrappaperie.blogspot.com/
Tell us a little about your family. I’m 26, married to Dan (27) and we have two boys – Ian (2) and Aidan (6 months). Dan and I went to elementary school together but didn’t “meet” until high school. We stayed friends after high school and started dating 5 years later (2005). We married after within 6 months of dating. Dan and Aidan have the same birth date – September 11th.
Do you work outside the home & if so what do you do? I do not work outside the home. I have been a SAHM for a year now. I love being at home with the boys.
When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you? I started digi scrapping about a year and a half ago. No one taught me, I just started playing around with freebies. My husband taught me Photoshop though.
Are you on any creative teams? Yes. I am on Gingerscraps CT, Polka Dot Plum’s CT, and Sunshine Studio Scraps’ CT.
Do you design at all? I just started designing. Ginger has already taught me so much and I am grateful to her. I also enjoy learning from the other designers on the Gingerscraps team. Everyone’s style is so unique and it’s wonderful.
What is your favorite challenge here at GingerScraps? My favorite challenge is the Template Challenge.
Who are your favorite three designers? Gingerscraps, Scrappy Cocoa, and Polka Dot Plum
What are some of your must have elements? Glitter. I like sparkles. I also love ribbons and glass elements.
Whose gallery here at GingerScraps do you just love? Oh wow. There are so many ladies in that gallery now! I really love Julie’s (JulieMomof4) Layouts and the pics of her hybrid projects and recently Angie has been posting some inspiring layouts – I love the way she puts things together. All the CT girls really work hard too and their galleries are fantastic.
What’s your favorite kit in the store right now? I am drawn to Ginger’s White Cherry Tea Kit.
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I would not be such a procrastinator! I work best under deadlines and pressure though.
What is the one word that best describes you? Compassionate
Out of all your LO’s so far, what are your favorite 2 & why?

credits: No 9 Collab by the Sunshine Studio Designers
I love this one because it’s a rare picture of me and Ian. I am hardly ever in front of the camera, always behind it. I just really adore how it turned out.

credits: Retro Fall by Pixie Keepsakes
I love this LO because it’s of my husband and son, playing in the yard one late afternoon late summer. The weather was perfect and I loved playing photographer. I get warm fuzzies just looking at this LO.
Who is the most important person in your life? Obviously my husband and kids and faith are the most important to me, I would never put them behind anything else. So after them, I will say my sister is the most important person – I can trust her with anything.
What is something that not many people know about you? I have some weird kind of sixth sense. It’s creepy. In high school, I had a dream that a classmate (who I had never spoken to before and knew nothing about her) wore a tiara to school. Two days later she came walking in with a tiara on. (and No, it wasn’t a Halloween). I still don’t even know why she was wearing it! I have weird dreams like that a lot.
If you could travel anywhere where would you go? Right now I would take a cruise. Dan and I put off a real honeymoon since we got married on the beach.
When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? I wanted to be a forensic pathologist. No joke. Even before all the CSI shows. I went to college to go pre-med and when I finally got into the science courses I realized it was a no go. I just couldn’t get into it. (Maybe that’s why I’m being creative now! Lol)
What is your favorite food? Chocolate Milkshakes. I drank one every night for the last 4 weeks of both my pregnancies.
How did you pick you user name? my forum user name is my nickname Mis and my last name OBrien
What do you like doing with your family? We like doing stuff for the kids – traveling, parks, amusement parks, camping – all that good stuff.
Where is your favorite place to be? At home with my family.
What are three things that are important to you? Faith, Family, Health
Is there anything you would change about your life? Just the medical issues I’m facing right now. I just added hypothyroidism and pituitary problems to my trigeminal neuralgia.
What are you afraid of? My children missing or dying before me.
Do you collect anything? Nope.

Misty has a freebie for you!

It is sampler of a kit that will be available here on Gingerscraps on April 1st! Click on the preview to download from 4shared.

Hi all 🙂 Happy Monday!! It is time for a freebie list!!
And a little note to tell you to make sure you check my blog often this week!! I have some very exciting news !!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to tell you all about it 🙂

All the freebie are linked to the designers blogs- Just click and you will be taken to their blog to download the goodies. Don’t forget to leave them some love!!
Have a great day, Ginger

Are you a scrapper who has toyed with the idea of learning to design?
Do you currently design but feel like you want to learn more techniques but don’t want to pay someone to teach you?
Then we have found the digi-scrap community for you!

Ramona and company have a wonderful site. They have weekly and monthly challenges, tutorials, and a daily layout of the day award. Not only that, but every two months or so, they run a FREE six week designer training program.

I recently tried their last six week training program. (I totally dropped out in week 6 because of visiting company and bad time management, BAD Jen!) But the 5 weeks of training I received stretched me creatively and professionally in ways that I haven’t used in years of being a housewife and mother.

Even if you don’t want to sell your designs, but just want to become more familiar with the program you use to scrap book, I highly recommend signing up for their six week course as soon as sign-ups start.

ETA: Sign-ups are RIGHT NOW! Click here!

What’s your name and digiscrap blog address? Suzy https://suzyqscraps.blogspot.com/
Where do you sell? Enchanted Studio Scraps
Tell us a little about your family. I’ve been married to my sweetheart Caleb for nearly 3 three years, and we have a 16-month old son named Caden.
What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping and designing? Is there anything else besides scrapping? Just kidding! I like to bake (cookies and cheesecakes) and I enjoy reading.
When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you? I discovered digi-scrapping in 2007—I was looking for a way to scrap on the computer and had no idea there was an ENTIRE industry! I had to wait until Christmas that year for PSE so I could actually start creating LO’s.
When did you start designing and how did you learn? I dabbled in designing from the very beginning, grabbing every tutorial I could. I’m mostly self-taught, but I joined Amanda Rockwell’s Inside the ScrapArtist Studio last fall, and that has REALLY helped me discover new tricks. It was December of last year before I felt confident enough to start marketing my designs.
Which programs do you use to design? Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Inkscape.
Do you draw most of your items with a mouse, or hand draw and scan? Well, some are hand-drawn and scanned. Others are hand-drawn (mostly just rough sketches) and then I drag them into Inkscape to “draw” them. (My sweet sis-in-law is an artist, and has started providing me with some of the sketches I’ve been using in my designs—thanks sweetie!)
Where does your inspiration come from? Everywhere! My husband, my son, clothes, magazines, music, advertisements, candy wrappers, clothes, words on a page…
How did you pick your companies name? Well, SuzyQ is a nickname. And I thought I’d be clever by calling it SuzyQ Scraps, since you could take it to mean the scraps I create, or that I myself scrap (these are SuzyQ’s scraps, or SuzyQ scraps online). Plus, it had some alliteration, which is always good. 😉
Who are your favorite three designers? Amanda Heimann is my all-time favorite! But if I have to choose two more (and it’s probably not tactful to choose myself, lol), I’d have to say…Amanda Rockwell and Heather Roselli.
What are your favorite parts of a kit to design? I love solid papers, so those are always fun to design. I also enjoy coming up with a theme. Most of my kits have characters or drawings in them, and for those kits I really have fun trying to decide what the sketch will become—just a sticker, or maybe molded clay, or perhaps a fuzzy felt critter. I just love to create!
What’s your favorite kit that you’ve designed? It’s a toss-up between Puddle Jumpers (which was one of my first kits, so it holds a special place in my designing heart) and Mommy’s Lil’ Monster.
What’s your least favorite? My least favorite to design was a freebie called Faith (it’s on my blog). Don’t get me wrong, I love how it turned out, but it was the hardest for me to create. I’d received several requests for a kit with religious elements, from people of different faiths, so I struggled to incorporate enough of different religions to make it versatile but not too specific. It was tough!
How do you get started on a kit? Palette first? Rough idea on what you want your papers or elements to look like? Usually an idea pops in my head of something I’d like to create. I jot down any ideas I have for it in a notebook while I start searching for a color palette. Once I have the colors, I do some more brainstorming, and then I start creating.
How long does it typically take you to make a kit? Hmm…depending on the kit, 3 to 5 days.
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? If I could instantly become more patient, that would be fabulous!
What is the one word that best describes you? You want me to praise myself? I’m not good at that, lol. Hmm…I think I would go with genuine.
Who is the most important person in your life? Me! (And I don’t mean that in a selfish way. If I don’t take care of me, everything else falls apart.)
What is something that not many people know about you? I’ve been pecked by a penguin.
If you could travel anywhere where would you go? I’ve always been fascinated with Australia, but I would probably choose to go to Prague with dh.
When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? A safari guide. 😉 Or an exotic animal trainer.
What is your favorite food? Chocolate!
What do you like doing with your family? Which family? If it’s just me and dh, I love to listen to music or play video games. If you toss in ds, then we have more fun playing outside. And if we’re visiting extended family, we enjoy playing games.
Where is your favorite place to be? In front of my laptop, designing. 😉 (Snuggling under the covers is a close second.)
What are three things that are important to you? Family, relationships, and learning
Is there anything you would change about your life? Just little things about myself—you know, those little vices that we’re always trying to overcome, those annoying little weaknesses that just don’t seem to go away.
What are you afraid of? High places and deep water.
Do you collect anything? I love Suzy’s Zoo—especially stickers!

And now for some Eye Candy. Here are three more of her wonderful kits. (Psssst! If you click on the images, it will take you to her store and I noticed that a couple of them are on sale for $1 right now!)

and one of Suzy’s favorite kits: Mommy’s Little Monster

We set Suzy loose with the Gingerscraps kit, Chocolate Kisses. I have to say, her layout is yummy!
Suzy it was great getting to know more about you. Keep making these adorable kits! I love your use of bold colors!

Spring is in the Air is our March collaboration.

You can get this yummy kit for FREE when you complete four challenges in our forum. (Speed scraps while fun, do not count)

So go hurry and complete some challenges in the forum so that you can get this beautiful kit for free! It is perfect for all of your spring or outdoor photos.

Here are what my wonderful CT did with this kit.

Barb

Jen

Jodi

Julie

Laura

Misty

Sara

Stephanie

Keep your eyes on this blog… we have some VERY exciting changes coming to Gingerscraps!

This week we are meeting Gingerscraps CT member Stephanie, aka ScrappyCocoa!
What’s your name and digiscrap blog address? Stephanie Ulrich scrappycocoa.blogspot.com
Tell us a little about your family. I have been married to my hubby Tim for 4 years and we have a little boy, Brock, who is 19 months old and a bundle of never ending energy.
Do you work outside the home & if so what do you do? Well, Technically I work inside the home as a digi-scrap designer and an apartment manager.
What other hobbies do you have besides scrapping? I love baking and reading. I used to really love to knit, but haven’t got my stuff out since Brock became mobile!
When did you start Digi-scrapping and who taught you? July, self taught
Are you on any creative teams? I am on 3 CT’s. Ginger Scraps, PiggyScraps, and Digi-Designs by Nicole.
Do you design at all? Yes (Editor’s note, you can check out all of her designs on her blog. 🙂 )
What is your favorite challenge here at GingerScraps? My template challenge of course! LOL Just Kidding, I really like the inspiration challenge.
Who are your favorite three designers? I don’t have a top 3, but if you make me narrow it down… Sweet Blossom Design, Digi-Designs by Nicole and Ginger of course!
What are some of your must have elements? Real flowers and leaves
What’s your favorite kit in the store right now? First Day of Spring is by far my most FAV kit of Ginger’s.
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I’m pretty short. So maybe a little bit taller.
What is the one word that best describes you? Sincere
Who is the most important person in your life? My hubby. He is usually pretty supportive of all my digital antics.
What is something that not many people know about you? I love to run long distances and am currently training for a marathon. I also love to lift weights
If you could travel anywhere where would you go? If I had unlimited amount of $$$$ New York. If I am poor like now, an all expense paid Jamaican Cruise
When you were little what did you dream of being when you grew up? A Nurse
What is your favorite food? CANDY!!!!!
How did you pick you user name? It is my first and last name! I know, I am soooo creative!
What do you like doing with your family? Anything outside. We really enjoy hiking when it is warm enough.
Where is your favorite place to be? Outside running with my Ipod
What are three things that are important to you? family, friends and my Mac
Is there anything you would change about your life? I wish I didn’t have so much debt from Hubby’s schooling
What are you afraid of? Spiders
Do you collect anything? cookbooks and moose stuff

Here are three of Stephanie’s wonderful layouts.

And because Stephanie (and everyone else at Gingerscraps) loves our readers, a freebie for you! A kit Stephanie designed herself, Coach Cocoa. Click on the preview to download from 4shared.