Part Two: Wetfish Designs

It’s my great pleasure to introduce to you the creative mind behind Wetfish Designs, Cyndi! She’s a relative newcomer to the GingerScraps world, and we had a lovely time getting to know each other. Our conversation went something like this:

J: Cyndi, thanks so much for stepping into our Designer Spotlight! You bring something quite unique to our community. What drew you to designing?

C: I am a photographer and wanted to create kits that were more “me” than what was on the market when my second son was born in 2006. I starting using my Photoshop skills to create my own kits for my personal use. I then started designing. I took a break when I started homeschooling my boys, but now I’m back. I consider it a daily learning process and I am constantly trying new things and watching tutorials for various software on YouTube. I have dabbled with AI and my go to AI software is Adobe Firefly. I could spend hours trying to create a perfect AI image—my writing background lends itself in many ways to this new technology.

J: I’m on the fence about AI. I think it could be a really useful tool when used judiciously, but also that it could become like Skynet… I’ve noticed a lot more AI content creeping into the digital scrapbooking sphere and I worry that productivity will kill creativity. But anyway. Where do you find your inspiration for developing a collection?

C: I always look at color trends in fashion, as well as textures and colors in home design. I am instantly inspired when I travel and see new cultures, styles, trends, colors, etc. When I visit a store that has a lot of unique clothes or home decor, that is always a motivator for me. I don’t like to look at the work of other designers as much as I’d like to. I usually don’t even see another designers’ work until it is posted for advertising or events. I feel that keeps my designs more true to my style and helps me keep what I’m working on unique. Feedback from customers is always wanted! In my last newsletter I created a survey and found out what types of themes my customers want. That was very helpful, and my “Rainbow Bridge” download a day kit is reflective of that survey.

J: It’s interesting that you mention not wanting to be influenced by what other designers are doing. There’s been quite a surge in very similar themes and palettes popping up all over the digi-world from different designers and it’s been commented upon more than a few times. Is it “all great minds think alike” or something else? But let’s not go down that rabbit hole! Give us a peek at your design process, please.

C: I always start with a color palette. From there I look at textures and themes. Color and texture are my starting points. Whenever possible I create my own seamless patterns. I’m still struggling to learn how to create plaid patterns that are seamless. I’m sure there is a solid YouTube video out there, I just haven’t found it yet. Once I have my ideas generated I start with papers. Papers are one of my favorite things to design! After my papers are done I make a preview with them and then I begin building my elements.

J: I’m all in on texture and dimension. I think the overall look is much more engaging and memorable when an image “moves”. My digi-scrapping has really transformed since I first started dabbling with it fifteen years ago; being invited to write tutorials for GingerScraps nine years ago was a huge motivator for that. 😉 How has your style evolved?

C: I am addicted to vintage and shabby chic textures. Always have been! Surprisingly, my home is not at all a showcase for these aspects of design! I have been trying to veer away from that look every now and again with my “Fish Food” newsletter mini kits. For these kits I use a more clean look, using more vectors and flat textures. Most of the time I can’t help myself and gravitate towards anything old, vintage and shabby. Pink has been my favorite color for many years, so it often pops up in my kits. One of my newer kits, “Pinkademic,” is reflective of my love for pink and quirky modern art. After pink, I gravitate towards shades of black. Halloween has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday and that is probably because my birthday is just before Halloween. That is the reason I have so many Halloween products!

J: Let me be the first to wish you a fabulous birthday! Halloween has been a favourite time of the year for me since my kids were small. I loved creating costumes for them out of things I had on hand. They complained about not having “store-bought” costumes like everybody else until people started pointing out how creative theirs were. Suddenly Mom wasn’t such a downer after all. 😀 One year when my middle was in high school, she asked me to give her a black eye… with make-up. We almost had a visit from Child Protective Services for that one. I guess you could say I’ve been a hobby-realist for a long time. Is there any hobby you’d really like to master but haven’t tried yet?

C: Knitting! I crochet a lot but I haven’t figured out how to knit yet. When I watch TV with my family I will crochet or do puzzles on my iPad. I believe knitting would require my full attention and that is probably the reason why I haven’t learned how yet.

J: I think you’d find that once you got the hang of it, you could let muscle memory do a lot of the work. I knitted a sixteen-foot square afghan for my sister while my son was in the hospital. Trust me, I wasn’t super-focused. Another thing you’ll find is that knitting usually uses less yarn… for those times when the budget is tight. You mentioned watching TV with your family. Do you have a guilty-pleasure favourite show or genre?

C: I could watch BookTube for hours, as well as cruise videos. Cruising once a year is my goal, but reading every day is a constant for me. Historical fiction is my favorite genre 🙂

J: I think I need to check out BookTube. How have I missed that?! But cruises are never going to light me up. I get peopled out fairly quickly and couldn’t hack being trapped on a boat with a thousand strangers. >< But if I could do the I dream of Jeannie eye blink and be somewhere else, I’d jump at it! How about you? Where would you go?

C: I would go to Scandinavia! I love watching travel videos on Norway, Sweden and Finland! I also hope to visit Slovenia someday.

J: One of my great-grandmothers was born in Sweden. I’d love to see where her family lived. She’s the only one who came to North America and stayed. Her older brother, who escorted her across the Atlantic in 1888 to live with her maternal uncle, seems to have walked off the ends of the earth. Give me a time machine so I can find Ernst, universe!!

C: Like Outlander!!! I love the books and the show! If I could time travel it would be back to the 1700s in Scotland and, of course, it would be by way of some standing stones!

J: I’d that too. Funny, my great-grandfather was an Ulster Scot. His heritage was originally Norman; the first of them arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror before heading north to Scotland a few years later. My branch left Scotland in the late 18th century for the north of Ireland (it’s only 12 miles away, after all) and then on to North America in the early 19th century. So maybe we could explore history together! We can learn to make real scones.

C: I’d rather have sourdough bread! I used to make it every day but let’s just say the weight gain was not working for me 🙁

J: For me it’s potatoes. The Irish in me. My hemoglobin A₁C was higher than I’d like back in March so I’m watching my carbs a bit closer that I was. ;( I wish I could walk my dogs again, but I get too short of breath. Good thing they love me anyway. I read about the background of your Rainbow Bridge Daily Download collection; I’m so sorry you lost TWO dogs in such a short time. If you could have any pet, real or mythical, what would you choose?

C: A cat of course! I love my dog, too, but my heart was made for cats.

J: Hard pass. I don’t think we can be friends after all. Hahahahahahaha! Moving right along…… Thanks for chatting! I’m just going to finish up by filling our readers in on your Spotlight month and see where that takes us. I didn’t see a Designer Spotlight Challenge for you this month. I hope that’s just an oversight. But you are hosting your monthly Wild For Styles Challenge, so that’s cool. I don’t think anybody who frequents the GS Blog has missed your Daily Download sneak peek, but just in case….

Thanks again for the visit! For the rest of you, next week’s Tutorial Tuesday could be a Greatest Hits… or it could be a Fantastic Fonts new fall fonts post. We’ll see how I feel in the morning. If I get some proper sleep, who knows what I’ll get into!

Part Two: Miss Fish

Did you miss me? 😀 As promised, here is a recap of my conversation with Juli, aka Miss Fish. She’s been a Spotlighter before so again, there won’t be a lot of strictly business chatter. You’ll notice that some of the topics are similar to those I reported on yesterday, and that’s what makes this fun!

O: Nice to see you again, Juli! It’s been a while since you’ve had the Spotlight, so let’s catch up. What’s the best part of belonging to the GingerScraps community?

J: I love how many long‑time scrappers we have. It’s such a joy to see babies grow up, head to college, and even start their own families.

O: It’s wild, isn’t it? I’ve *only* been with GingerScraps since spring 2013, but even in that time, I’ve gotten to know so many people through their layouts. I was a Sugar Cookie for a couple of years. then I started writing tutorials for the Blog at the end of August, 2016, so I feel like I really *know* so many of our community members. The good old days when we had a chatroom are deeply missed! But I digress. Tell me about a day in the life of Juli Fish.

J: I get up early (5–5:30 a.m.) to design a full‑page template, or at least get the bones in place. After work, I finish that page and often create another while listening to TV. On weekends, I design in the mornings so my husband and I can enjoy the day together. Packaging, loading, and promoting happen in the evenings early in the week — after years of doing this, it’s become a well‑oiled routine.

O: It sounds like you’ve got a great rhythm in place. Sometimes I feel like I’m shoe-horning things in where I can, even now that I’m retired. What do you find to be the most challenging part of being a digital designer?

J: Balancing my role as a health care executive with designing. Time and fresh ideas can be a challenge, but I’ve built a system that lets me design anywhere — even from hotel rooms and airports.

O: I didn’t realize you were in health care! I think I’ve mentioned that I was a pediatric ICU nurse for 24 years. So I get the juggling act part. Good thing there are so many differences in the pressure level! What do you do when you just don’t have any oomph for designing, but really have to get it done?

J: I love browsing paper scrapbook layouts and mixed‑media journal pages for fresh ideas.

O: That sometimes works for me too, although we’re coming at things from different angles. I know when I’m browsing the Gallery for the Challenge Spotlights, I often find my imagination picking up speed. I approach my greeting card creation the same way. I’ll buy a new set of dies or a new embossing folder, then I do a test run to see how they behave. Before I know it I have a card taking shape in my mind. Do you have a preferred colour palette?

J: Kraft paper paired with navy, red, green, and yellow — warm, versatile, and timeless.

O: Kraft is a perfect neutral, isn’t it? I bought a whole pack of Kraft cardstock and some envelopes that I just might turn into Christmas cards. I might want to get cracking on that… my craft space is my happy place. I go in there, close the door, turn on some music, and get into the Zone. How do you unwind after a crazy day?

J: I love to come home and soak in the tub, followed by a 20‑minute power nap. Then it’s dinner (definitely not cooked by me) and a nice glass of Riesling.

O: Not a napper. Never a napper. But Riesling!! Yummmmm. I live in wine country; our northern climate is better suited to white varietals so there are some fabulous local Rieslings. I think my favourite is the 2022 Summerhill Vispering Vines. Next time I’ll have a bottle chilling! Wine leads to food. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

J: A loaded baked potato with extra bacon. Mmm!

O: Ooh, I love baked potatoes too. Not sure I’d live on them, but you never know. While we’re talking about fantasies, let’s talk teleportation. Where would you go if you could blink and be there?

J: I’d head straight to the Big Island of Hawaii to see the active lava flows from Kilauea — nature’s raw beauty in motion.

O: That would be an interesting experience. I’m a little too familiar with nature’s raw beauty in motion with all the wildfires… can’t see across the valley today for smoke. I wish I had the power to command the elements so I could bring a solid week of rain to our area. They could call me the Decimator of Drought. What would your superhero name be?

J: My co‑workers call me Juli Does‑It‑All Fish because I’m always juggling ten things at once.

O: Ah, another multitasker! (I think all women are that, though. Amirite?) We all have many skills and talents. What’s one skill you wish you had?

J: Adobe Illustrator. I’m comfortable in Photoshop, but Illustrator would open up endless creative possibilities — I could design all kinds of kits.

O: I feel like AI is going to be the Next Big Thing and all of us will be made redundant. 🙁 Maybe we’d need new hobbies. Is there something you’d like to pick up?

J: Crocheting. I’ve tried knitting but I’m terrible at it. I’d love to make little crocheted animals — plus, people who crochet always look so zen.

O: I can do both. Amigurumi though… that wouldn’t be a good choice for me. My eyes aren’t what they used to be. Those big cuddly blankets would be more my speed these days. Hmm. I have some super bulky yarn somewhere and I’d like to learn the herringbone stitch. Project for the winter! I used to take a totebag with yarn and knitting needles in it to work when I was on nights so I could keep myself awake. I also had a screwdriver, a flashlight, a multitool and a few other assorted necessities. What’s the most unusual thing you carry in your bag?

J: A handheld, battery‑powered fan — perfect for those “personal summer” moments when the whole world suddenly feels 100 degrees.

O: I’m so glad I’m past that part of life! I worked with a woman who carried icepacks in her tote for those times. It was the inside joke of the unit. I gave her a pretty silk fan for times when she needed to be a bit more discreet. 😉 OMG, is that the time? My son will be home any minute! Before I switch hats though, thank you for the visit. I’ll get the readers up to speed on the rest of the Spotlight goodies so you can get back to your world. Take care!

So, as I mentioned, Juli and Jill have collaborated for the Daily Download this month. Make sure you grab all the pieces! Also, don’t miss Juli‘s Designer Spotlight Challenge, and be sure to check out her regular monthly Everyday Memories Challenge too. Lastly, although her Store is on sale this month (40% off, and even more on bundles!), she has a coupon code too! If you spend $20 or more you’ll get another 10% off with this: MISSFISH925ds

Before I jet, were you one of the 69 GingerScrappers who completed 20 or more Challenges during Scrap-a-Thon? You ROCK!!

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!