Designer Spotlight: NMSS

March 16, 2020 by

Greetings and salutations! I know you’re all wondering why I’m popping up and it’s not Tuesday. Well, I’m stepping in to bring you the March Designer Spotlight. We’re chatting with the lovely Connie Prince, the South half of North Meets South Studios. Let’s get to know her a bit better, shall we?

J: How long have you been designing?

I began designing digital scrapbooking products in 2004-2005ish, but officially selling in 2006.

J: What made you decide to design?

At the time the offerings were so limited, I was a paper scrapper and want to add unique elements to my layouts which I began to make digitally and print. It didn’t take long to realize I could do the whole thing digitally so much easier!

J: What led you to decide to design together?

Tracy & I developed a friendship early on. I think the progression into forming a brand together just happened. At the time she lived in the northeast and I am of course from the south. We named our brand North Meets South Studios. She’s in the midwest now, but you really can’t take the New Jersey out of a girl so we are sticking with our original name lol.

J: What do you use to create your designs (program, additional tools, etc.)?

I use Photoshop CC, Illustrator. I also have a scanner that I use pretty often to scan things to extract.

J: Describe your design workplace.

It’s pretty minimalistic. I have a double monitor setup, that’s the most exciting thing about it lol.

J: What motivates and inspires you as a designer?

I enjoy the process, coming up with an idea and creating it. The most rewarding part is seeing someone else use something that I’ve created to preserve their own memories.

J: What is your favorite kit currently in your GS store and why?

About A Boy is my current favorite (usually my latest is my favorite lol).

J: If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Chicken wings, hands down I am obsessed! However, if I could only eat at one restaurant the rest of my life it would be Waffle House.

J: What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play?

None of them? lol I’ll watch some when the Olympics are on.

J: What did you want to be when you were small?

I can’t really remember wanting to be anything in particular, I played school a lot so maybe a teacher? I did grow up and get a degree in education, but I didn’t really enjoy teaching very much so I retired early 🙂

J: Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?

My phone or computer!

J: Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

Cameron Diaz, she’s just quirky enough!

J: If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

I would have a bunch, but definitely: If you leave cookies unattended she will eat them!

J: What celebrity would you like to meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee?

Dolly Parton, she’s a hoot!

J: These two designers are very talented. I hope you’ll give their store a look and that you’ll take part in the Designer Spotlight challenge. And don’t forget to pick up your Daily Download here on the Blog!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Creative Style, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, Feature Designer, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With:

Fresh Baked: March 13, 2020

March 13, 2020 by

Spring has sprung. At least in my corner of the world. Warmer temperatures, budding trees, and pollen. For those of you that had to “spring forward”, I hope you have all adjusted.

We have some VERY exciting news today!! It is time for our 10th season of Scrapping Survivor!! Whoop Whoop! We have a few fun changes this year, you can read all about them in the forum. Are you ready to hear our theme this season … drum roll please … this years theme is *Sugar & Spice Bakery* and we have baked up some really fun challenges and an AMAZING Mega collab!

Survivor

Here is a link to the official Scrapping Survivor Season 10 sub-forum you can sing up in the “sign ups” thread:

2020 Scrapping Survivor 10 *Sugar & Spice Bakery*

Remember when you spend $10 in the store, you get a great new collab! Read, Know, Learn, Go!

Here is the amazing MEGA Collab for this season of Survivor: It is HUGE and you are going to love it!

And now on to the best part of the week, our Fresh Baked goodies!

Remember if you complete 10 challenges, you get this amazing kit!

It’s time to Bring On Spring!

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

March 10, 2020 by

Spring-y Fonts (Part 2)

Are you ready for some fresh new spring-y fonts? I last did a spring font post a year ago and figured it was time. (Plus I’ve been so busy trying pretty much single-handedly to get our current house ready moving out of. I’m getting tired of the smell of paint!)

All the fonts below are free for personal use at Dafont. They’re ones I haven’t shown you before, and there are a couple that would be perfect for titles. See what you think!

CF Springtime is one that I might use for a title or two. It’s got good weight and with the leaves, it’s just a bit different.

This isn’t a font but it’s so pretty! These wreaths, or whatever we want to call them, can be used as photo overlays, to frame photos, to frame other fonts and so many other possibilities. You’re looking for Spring Romance.

Here’s another font just screaming to be used in titles. It lends itself well to multiple modifications, and if I can find some time, I’ll play with it so you can see what I mean. Floral Dawn sounds so poetic!

 

Can you see this one as a title font? How much fun it would be to deconstruct it and use multiple colours to make it really pop. Floral Capitals might be my favourite of the bunch.

This is just a cute little romantic script with curlicues and everything! Flower Shop could be a journal font, don’t you think?

I like the graphic effect this one has. Imagine it clipped to a pretty green paper, maybe with a glitter style added on top. I’m not really loving the name the designer gave it though… Forced Flowers.

Sweet Duck has three different options and all of them are pretty awesome.

I threw this one in just for fun, for all of us arctic blonde hippie chicks. The 70s were the BEST decade ever… LMS Hippy Chick says so!

How do they come up with these names? LRT Chickenhawk… it’s cuter than its name, for sure.

And last but not least, I’ve got a dingbat for you. KR Spring Me has an assortment of spring-y images you could use as stamps.

I’ve linked up each font for you so if you see one you love, go and grab it! I have a couple of ideas for tuts for next week but haven’t decided which one I’ll go with. Stay tuned!

 

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Fantastic Fonts, Tutorials Tagged With:

Sneak Peeks March 5th 2020

March 5, 2020 by

Happy March!! Spring is almost here!! Just a few more weeks! While you are waiting for warmer temperatures, spend some time scrapping with a few of this weeks new goodies!

From Lindsay Jane

From Tinci

From Carol W

From Aimee Harrison

From JB Studio

From Jumpstart Designs

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 3, 2020 by

Let’s Play Stump the Chump!!

Well, you ladies are all too kind! I’m glad you weren’t disappointed there wasn’t an actual tutorial last week. And thanks for the suggestions for my new user name. I think glee is the winner and I’m going to go with ObiJanKenobi.

Speaking of glee, she was the first to send me a link to one of her layouts to see if I could discern which of my tutorials she used to create it. This is the layout she linked me to:

I’ll admit, she didn’t make it easy on me! SO I’m going to just make a guess or two. I’m pretty sure I see some elements of Making a Stylish Sandwich in there., and maybe some Style(s) Savvy. I also see some Blend Modes? Say What?. She’s probably used a few more too, but I’m stumped.

Next I got a link from Ellen (gmae). She sent me this layout to scrutinize:

Again, I see a couple of techniques. One is Word Art Wizardry.  Another is Heritage Photos Get a Makeover.

And then almost right after Ellen’s message, I got one from her sister Carol (gnana96). Her layout has me completely stumped.

I think I detect some custom shadows, but it’s not obvious to me which of the half-dozen shadow tuts I’ve written. Help a girl out here, Carol!

This was a real challenge for me and I’m sure I’m at least 90% wrong with my guesses. And that’s OKAY!

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I’m painting bathrooms, cleaning ovens and all those nasty chores I like to procrastinate about because they’re not fun. But nobody wants to buy a house that’s not spic-and-span, right? We’ve booked our movers so I have a definite deadline now……… I promise to make time to bring you a new tut next week. Spring is coming, so don’t forget to put your clocks ahead on Saturday before you go to bed so you’re not late for church!! (How embarrassing is that?!)

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With:

Sneak Peeks February 27th 2020

February 27, 2020 by

Happy End of the Month sneak peek! We have new releases for tomorrow and a new Buffet on Saturday! Let’s take a peek!

From Snickerdoodle Designs

From Dagilicious

From Alexis Designs

From Scrappin Serenity

From Carol W

From LDrag

From Aimee Harrison

And take a peek of the new Buffet!

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

February 25, 2020 by

Is Exhaustion a Thing?

Well, last week was a total whirlwind! It still feels a lot like a dream, but we now own a beautiful new house in a surreal setting, even though we’re not moving into it until early May. The trip itself was pretty exhausting, both mentally and physically. Somehow we got to the airport without our son’s photo ID, without which he couldn’t board the plane. (We live 30 miles away, on the other side of a major city…) The airline was amazing and got us on a later flight so I could run home and get it. We ended up getting there 5 hours later than originally planned, but in the end that was fine. All the things that needed to happen to get us into the house happened, and I’m planning and scheming every minute of the day. All of this is leading up to me apologizing for not having a tutorial for you today, but in its place I’m going to give you a sneak peak at some of the photos you’ll see in my layouts in the coming weeks. And then I have a couple of little challenges for y’all.

What do you think??

Okay. Your first challenge is to find one of your layouts where you’ve used something you learned from Tutorial Tuesday and send me a private message (JaninAlberta) with a link to it. Don’t tell me what you did, I’m going to see if I can figure it out! Next week I’ll compile all the layouts I get from you into a blog post and share your successes with everybody else.

Your second challenge is to help me come up with a new user name. When we move, I’ll no longer be Jan in Alberta… I’ll still be Jan, but living in Kelowna, British Columbia. Ginger has told me I can change my user name when the time comes and I’d like it to be a bit more creative! Help?

Have a great week!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking Tagged With:

February Featured Designer Part 2 – Tami Miller Designs

February 22, 2020 by

Happy Saturday everyone. I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I’m in the midst of laundry and packing for a quick trip to St. Louis next week. Before I get swallowed up with all that, I wanted to get you Part 2 of my Q & A Session with February’s designers. Today I am chatting with Tami Miller Designs. If you missed Part 1 with Aimee Harrison Designs you can find it here: https://bit.ly/2V65ptr.

How long have you been designing?

I have been designing since 2009.

What made you decide to design?

I purchased software to learn how to create blog backgrounds, and I came across digital scrapbooking while researching that.

What do you use to create your designs (program, additional tools, etc.)?

I use that same bamboo tablet (lol, it’s had tea spilled on it several times and still works), Photoshop Creative Cloud, Artrage, my camera, and my scanner.

Describe your design workplace.

I work at a desk in the corner of my bedroom with two moniters, a pc, and my bamboo tablet.

What motivates and inspires you as a designer?

Color.

What is your favorite kit currently in your GS store and why?

My favorite is Queen for a Day-I just love the colors and texture and I think it resonates with women.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Mongolian Beef.

What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play?

I’m not much for sports, but I like puzzle games on my phone, and World of Warcraft.

What did you want to be when you were small?

A novelist.

Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?

My phone.

Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

Hilary Swank.

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Don’t touch my Diet Dr. Pepper (courtesy of my daughter).

What celebrity would you like to meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee?

Stephen King.

Make sure to check out her GS Store, her FB Fan Page, and her FB Group.

Also make sure you are grabbing pieces of this great kit each day. If you have missed any, the full kit will be available in the store in March.

Have a great rest of February!!

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking

Sneak Peeks February 20th 2020

February 20, 2020 by

Happy Thursday! Are you ready to take a peek at what’s releasing tomorrow? Our designers have lots of goodies ready for you!

From The Cherry On Top

From JB Studio

From Tinci

From Dagilicious

From Luv Ewe

From Miss Fish

From Lindsay Jane

From Carol W Designs

From Aimee Harrison

From LDrag

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking

February Featured Designer Part 1 – Aimee Harrison Designs

February 19, 2020 by

So crazy to believe February is more than half over. Have you been collecting the daily downloads from our featured designers this month?

Today I have Part 1 of my Q & A session with our designers. Today we’ll chat with Aimee Harrison Designs.

How long have you been designing?

I have been designing since July 2009.

What made you decide to design?

I had just started scrapbooking digitally, from paper, and decided that I wanted to create my own kits after a few weeks of scrapping. It really spoke to me.

What do you use to create your designs (program, additional tools, etc.)?

I use Adobe Photoshop.

Describe your design workplace.

I have a big desk in my bedroom with a printer/scanner, a second computer and an aquarium for my two frogs next to me.

What motivates and inspires you as a designer?

Telling stories is what motivates me. Color inspires me. History, Geography do too.

What is your favorite kit currently in your GS store and why?

I really love the soft morning colors of my latest kit, I Love Mornings. Morning is my favorite time of day and to me it really inspires me to want to create.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Oh, that’s hard, LOL! One thing I absolutely love is my boyfriends steak taco’s. I also love avocado and egg toast. I could eat both of those daily.

What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play?

I love high school and college wrestling. Not WWF. But real, Roman Greco style wrestling. I was the wrestling manager while in high school and the sport still is the most exciting for me to watch.

What did you want to be when you were small?

I wanted to be either and Archaeologist or an artist. I feel that I fulfilled my dreams. I majored in Anthropology in College and spent a lot of time doing Archaeology as well as being a designer!

Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?

I cannot go without coffee. I don’t even drink it to stay awake, I drink it for the delicious taste!

Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

I think that Winona Rider would be a good fit. Sort of quirky and fun. A bit off balance but in a good way, LOL!

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Warning: needs sleep and lots of it

What celebrity would you like to meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee?

I would meet Jane Goodall. She is one in a million.

Thanks Aimee!!

Make sure to check out her GS Store, her FB Fan Page, and her blog.

Also make sure you are grabbing pieces of this great kit each day. If you have missed any, the full kit will be available in the store in March.

Make sure to stop back in on Saturday for Part 2 and my interview with Tami Miller Designs.

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking, Feature Designer, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With: , ,
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