Sweet Shoppe Designs

Meg shares some of the ways that SSD celebrates it’s wonderful members

Good Morning Sweeties!! Today’s post to round out February is about how the staff here celebrates the wonderful community that makes up SSD. We are so thankful for our members and customers. Everybody deserves recognition and we try our best to make sure YOU know you are appreciated. Here’s a few different ways that we try to spotlight our members.

1. Featured Designer Spotlight

Did you know that every featured designer post highlights some layouts from the community? I know when I was a scrapper hanging out at SSD (meaning not on staff..) that I felt so honored when a designer or babe chose my layout to show off. You can check out the featured designer posts HERE

2. Lover’s Lane

Lover’s Lane is a celebration of the FANTASTIC layouts that the Designers and Babes are finding in our travels into the gallery. There are so many talented scrappers that post in the gallery so being able to show off a selection of those layouts makes me smile. There’s a new thread each week so make sure to check the sticky on the top of the community forum. Here’s the link for this week’s thread!

3. Pinterest Gallery/Hybrid Standouts

Randomly the staff will pin amazing inspiration to the Gallery Standouts or the Hybrid Standouts board on our Pinterest page. There’s nothing like going to Pinterest and seeing your layout all over the place! Along the same lines, if you participate in the challenges you might see your layout show up in the Challenge Inspiration Standout board!

 4. Layout Showcase

Every once in awhile a staff member will do a layout showcase on the blog. With the new blog format it’s been so nice to look through the gallery to search for layouts to fit along with the monthly theme.

Sweet Shoppe Designs truly appreciates and adores each and every one of you. Thank you so much for being THE BEST inspiration in all of digiland

Thanks for reading along with me today! I just wanted to close with a huge HINT at another way we will be spotlighting our customers later this year. Let’s just say if you play along with the challenges to make sure you upload your layouts into the Pinterest Portfolio Challenge gallery because you NEVER know if your layout will be in the spotlight BIG TIME one day! How’s that for vagueness?

It’s Juli here with another installation of Hybrid Spotlight.  I’m a hybrid girl at heart…yet my glue sticks seem to be hiding in the cupboard these days.  This time of year always inspires me to get crafty so I thought I’d take a browse through the gallery to see what you other crafty girls have been up to in preparation for Halloween.

First we have this adorable Fall File Folder Activity for a pre-schooler created by Jacinda.

The Cover

sigmakap95 created this fun magnetic advent calendar to count down the days to Halloween!  Love the glass marbles for the dates.

I created this cute little coffin box with Dracula on the front  which is perfect to pop in a note and some candy corn for a little neighbor or teacher treat.

majula created this adorable pumpkin box using Heather Roselli’s new DIY Pumpkin Box template.  The template even comes with a ready made pumpkin so all you have to do is print and assemble – easy, peasy hybrid!

I love this wall hanging by Amber K featuring Melissa Bennett’s Spellbound kit is adorable! I love having homemade decorations hanging in my house and this one is so cute!

Finally I have a non- Halloween themed project by knlchevys  .  This comic book/super hero inspired candy bar is just adorable and it’s a great idea for Halloween.  What a great little class treat or trick or treat give away!

These images are all linked so go give these hybrid artists some love and then get our glue sticks and give a little hybrid project a try!

It’s Babe Juli here.  September is know as National Sewing Month so I thought it would be a great time to show off some of the amazing pages I’ve found in the gallery that use stitching in a fun way.

First is this layout  titled Me by Angie (nun69): I love the messing stitching here and how she mixed some of Traci Reed’s famous Bad Sewing Machine stitches with stitches that are in the Studio Basic kit she used.  It really pulls her crafty theme together!

Next is this fun layout by SmallMoments.  I love how she used both the hexagon stitching and the straight stitching at the top of her page.

The grid that carrie1977  used on the layout below is an awesome way to define space and use lots of patterned papers on your page.  I love that she didn’t grid the whole thing, but just certain sections.  It really keeps your eye flowing down the page!

This next layout by Tanyadeskins shows how using stitching on your background paper can bring a nice pop of color and interest to a saturated background. That white stitching really draws your eye in!

Circle stitching can add so much fun to a page!  Just like this layout by Dana. Love how she cut out the top layer of paper to let the bottom layer show through and then used the circle stitching to compliment the opening.

Finally, this layout by LeeAndrea shows how you can use just the stitching part of a stitched template to compliment your page and draw attention to your photos.

So if you are looking for a way to add some visual interest to your pages stitching is definitely the way to go.  The shop has lots and lots of options if you are looking for stitches to use on your pages.  Don’t forget that some of the designers’ kits come with stitching and stitched elements already in them – use them again and again.  But…if you are like me and can’t get enough of the stitching then check out the Elements section under Stitching (HERE) for a full list of all your options…and a little birdy told me that Erica Zane has a fabulous new alpha that all you stitch lovers will want to check out tomorrow!  So come back, shop and sew up some family memories.

Hey Sweet Shoppers – Stephanie here bringing you today’s post. It is hard to believe that we are 19 days into the month of June already. Around here, summer is in full force with the weather being well above 90, the pool is up, and my girls are driving me batty due to their long days together. How about a little extra point for the June Portfolio? All you have to do is Spin-A-Lift fellow babe, Darla, upload your layout to our gallery and mark your June portfolio.You can see Darla’s beautiful gallery here. A Spin-A-Lift is a lift with a twist. Spin the original layout 45, 90 or 180 degrees or flip it vertically or horizontally and lift that layout.

Some of my Babes played along.

Erin lifted My New Kindle

Keely lifted Volleyball Girl

And Keely’s take:

Lex lifted Thankful for You

and this is her layout Dorkface.

Lydia lifted Girl Scout Sunday

Mary lifted Captured

And I chose to lift and spin Best Friends

I cannot wait to see what beautiful layouts of Darla’s you lift to create your own works of art!

♥ Stephanie

It’s Juli here for another round of Hybrid Hawtness from the gallery.  I love how talented the community is here and who doesn’t love to have their project showcased?  So let’s take a little walk through the gallery and see what amazing projects have been posted lately.

These cute Carrot Boxes by Joana1n are perfect for Easter!  I love how she added the little bit of green to the top.

Look at this adorable candy bouquet created by jennpage.  What a great project to make for just about any occasion.

Next we have one of the most creative and adorable birthday party invite I’ve ever seen.  Mamabee (Rebecca) created this airplane tickets for her son’s birthday party.  Make sure you check out her gallery to see her cute party favors as well.

Finally I have another fun project by Joana1n.  I love this little lucky banner.  I think this is something you could do for any holiday or season and I love the scale of the project.  It makes it a lot easier to tackle in my mind.

Please take a minute to leave some love for these fabulous hybrid projects as well as all the other projects in the Hybrid gallery.

Hey readers!! Meg here bringing you a special spotlight today There are soooo many fabulous scrappers in this community and I think it’s important to really show off one every now and then. Today’s scrapper spotlight is Natalie aka NatalieKW..She happens to be on my creative team so I might be a tad biased but her pages have caught my eye for a long time and she’s super sweet on top of that! Read on to learn a little more about Natalie

Name: Natalie Whitworth/NatalieKW

How long have you been scrapping: I started in May 2007 and scrapped for a couple of months until I met and started dating my husband, who took all of my spare time. I took a almost two year break until my oldest was born. I took it back up in the Summer of 2009 and have been addicted ever since.

Three favorite layouts:

Do you have a certain style? Well…I don’t know. I have more of an eclectic style, I think. I love papers! My favorite kits, and resulting pages, have awesome papers. On the other hand, I have a hard time not using most of the elements too. I think the most consistent thing about my pages is that I like them pretty full.

What inspires you when doing a layout? The kit itself. I am on some amazing teams and when I buy kits, I buy them from some pretty amazing designers here. Nothing inspires me more than being excited to use an awesome kit. I guess I should say that it’s my pictures that inspire me, but honestly, the pictures, title and journaling are usually the last things I do on my pages.

What do you do when you lose your mojo? Browse the layouts I have in my favorites across the open galleries and Sweet Shoppe’s gallery. If that doesn’t work, I always browse Aly’s gallery. Her attention to details are amazing on her pages and it usually pushes the “scrapper’s block” away.

Are you a one kit scrapper or do you mix it up? I’m usually a one kit scrapper since I mostly scrap for my creative teams. However, I love multiple alphas on a page. I also love Traci’s stitches and have been including those on my pages a lot lately.

Do you have any other creative hobbies? I’ve been known to make some really big bows for my three girls. I also create some custom vinyl designs for people to use in decorating their homes. It’s kind of like word art for your walls. I wish I could crochet and knit, but I don’t want to sacrifice the scrapping time to learn.

What is one little known fact about you? I say some words wrong. I call a wolf a “woof” and a drawer a “jore.”

Do you have any scrapping tips that you would like to pass on? Hmmm… I can’t really think of any tips, but one thing that I always have in my mind while scrapping is to push myself. Yes I scrap to preserve my family’s memories, but I also scrap because it makes me feel good. It helps me get through the stress of having three kids under three. I’ve found by warping my shadows, using actions on my photos, making my journaling look real on the page by blending it ever so slightly, have all helped me take my pages to the next level. I love finishing a layout that I can’t stop looking at because I love it so much!

I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about Natalie!!

***Now for a bonus challenge. Look thru Natalie’s Gallery HERE and choose a layout to SPIN and LIFT..ev1 loves an old school spin a lift challenge right? Just put it on your portfolio tracker post as Spin A Lift Bonus Challenge and link it up!! Enjoy ***

Hello everyone! Today we’ve got another amazing scrapper to feature for you along with one more bonus challenge for the month! So let’s get right to it by getting to know one of my favorite scrappers, Debra (4noisyboys), a little better!

Hey there everyone! I’m Debra (aka 4noisyboys). I live in sunny southern California with my husband (Rick) of 29 years, and three of my four boys. My oldest is Ryan, and he’ll be 28 this year. Casey is 25, Patrick is 23, and Eric is 19. We are kind of a crazy cat family too. We have three of them right now and they just add to all the craziness in our home.

I’ve been scrapping digitally for almost five years now. I started on PSE3 and now I’m using CS4. I started by paper scrapping and made a few books, but I hated getting everything out and making a mess. I knew there had to be a better way, so when I saw an article in a scrap magazine about digital scrapbooking, I ran out and got PSE3 and never looked back!

What was the title of your very first layout?

The title of my first layout was simply “Eric”.

When not online, what do you do?

When I’m not online, I’m either at work, cleaning house, out walking, reading, shopping or playing Words With Friends!

What is your favorite thing to snack on when scrapping?

I really don’t snack while scrapping, but if I do have one thing, it would be tortilla chips. I can’t eat just one!

What aspect of scrapping do you think you are best at?

Since people comment on my layering and clusters, I’d have to say that is the one area of scrapping that I’m best at. I try to make simple layouts and I’ve done a few, but I really can’t stop at just a few elements. I try to use as many as I can in a kit. I’m also a template lover and hate to make a layout without one. I like to make them my own though as much as I can.

Could you share three of your favorite layouts with us?

Choosing just 3 of my favorite layouts is really hard. There are so many I love and for so many different reasons.
Here is one of me that I did, and I’m not sure if it’s the kit, the colors, or what…but it’s one of my most favorite “about me” pages.

Here’s another favorite of mine. It’s of my youngest when he was a baby. I just love any of my layouts from when my boys were small. I love using La’s kits for them too!

and here’s one I love that is of my brother and me when we were small. Jenn’s vintage style kit was just perfect for it.

Featured Scrapper Challenge (Bonus #5) for your April 2011 Scrapper’s Portfolio

One thing you notice in Debra’s Gallery is that she is great at including herself in her pages. Your challenge today is an AAM page..it can be any subject you like as long as YOU are in it.

**please note this challenge is worth 1 point and cannot be combined with other portfolio prompts except for NR bonus point for a total of 2 points.**

and some fabulous examples from our Sugar Babes:

by Dana

using What She Said by Fee Jardine

by Keely

using Love You Rain or Shine by Shawna Clingerman and Lindsay Sparkes

Don’t forget to edit your Portfolio with your page for this challenge!

NOTE: These Bonus Challenges are EXTRA on top of the Posted Portfolio Challenges.  They CANNOT be combined with any other challenge and stand alone (except New Release bonus pt).  Please feel free to PM me with any questions – nikkiARNGwife.  Thanks!

Happy Friday Sweeties!! So happy it’s Friday here – looking forward to a wonderful weekend filled with lots of fun family time!! Today we’re featuring one of my favorite scrappers – Lizzy Carroll. You probably know her better as Lizzy257. Her children are so adorable and I love all of the little details she includes on her pages!! Let’s get to know a bit more about this lovely lil lady!!

I’m a SAHM with two kids, aged 4 and 2.5. They keep me very busy, with rarely a moment to spare!! I’ve been married for 6 years and we live in the south east of Ireland. When I’m not scrapping, I love to read, or the kids and I bake together regularly.

I first looked at digi-scrapping back in Spring of 2008. I played around a little, but was heavily pregnant at the time, and once my son was born, it was another 6 months before I took up scrapping regularly. I started with Photoshop CS3 and just recently upgraded to CS5.

How often do you find time to scrap? – Not as often as I would like, lol!! I mostly scrap when the kids are in bed and the house is tidied after the day. I probably manage about an hour most days. My scrap time has been cut in half recently as my 2.5 year old decided to quit napping during the day (which was another hour of scrapping for me)!!

What is your favorite type of element to use? – I like everything, really. I think I can work with pretty much anything that’s in a kit, although I find flowers and leaves/greenery easiest to use, I guess.

Are you a kit scrapper or a hodge podge scrapper? – Mostly a kit scrapper. For CT work I tend to stick to the kit only or if there’s no alpha, for example, I’ll use another alpha. If it’s not a CT page, I still mostly use one kit, and then add a few finishing touches like stitches, a mix of alphas, etc.

What is one little known fact about you? – I am obsessed with scented candles. I have a stash of Yankee Candles in the house at all times and you’ll always find one burning somewhere in my house!!

I’ve asked Lizzy to share 3 of her favorite layouts and a bit about why they’re favorites.

This is one of my very favourite pages. I love bright, sunny pages, and it’s rare that we get beach weather, so I probably won’t get to scrap another page like this!

I loved the colours in this kit of Traci’s and it was perfect for these photos

Featured Scrapper Challenge (Bonus #3) for your April 2011 Scrapper’s Portfolio. Your challenge today is a traditional Sweet Shoppe Neapolitan Challenge. Using inspiration from each of these pages by Lizzy, create a layout of your own. There is no limit to what you can use from each layout, as long as you pull at least one thing from each layout.

First Christmas

Friends Always

New Year, New Me

**Please note this challenge is worth 1 point and cannot be combined with any other portfolio prompts, except a new release bonus point for a total of 2 points.**

Here are a few examples from some of our SugarBabes

Shannon

Using Sweet Escape by Kristin Cronin-Barrow

Inspired by: Layout 1 – Corner cluster, button line, layered circles. Layout 2 – Stacked edge, circle lines. Layout 3 – Lots of layering, rectangle striping, circle frame used as element.

Jenny

Using Growing Something Good by Jenn Barrette

Inspired by: Layout 1 – Large mat, buttons and title placement. Layout 2 – Ribbons, staples, paper strips and journaling placement. Layout 3 – Circle mat and word strips

me (Laurie)

Using Bloomed by Susan Bartolini

Inspired by: Layout 1 – Single photo, button line, layered square paper mats. Layout 2 – Paper layering and ribbons. Layout 3 – Leaves, lots of flowers and string.

Darla

Using Misty Cato’s Friendship in Bloom kit

Inspired by: Layout 1 – Buttons. corner edge decoration. Layout 2 – Side edging design, small flowers, one photo. Layout 3 – Circle mat and leaves.

Thanks for playing along – can’t wait to see what you do!! Don’t forget to update your portfolio with this challenge (bonus #3). Have a wonderful weekend!!

Hello again everyone! I hope everyone is loving the challenges this month. We have such fun coming up with ideas for each portfolio and it’s even more fun to see the thread explode with all of your layouts. This week we’re featuring another long-time Babe – Jenny!

I am a SAHM to 4 kids – 2 boys and 2 girls. My oldest is 12 and my youngest is 2. I have been married to my husband, Justin, for 15 years. We currently reside in Arizona.

I started out as a paper scrapper back in the mid-90′s. After having 3 kids, I was finding it more and more difficult to pull everything out and getting anything done so I started to dabble in digital scrapbooking. In 2006, I made the complete switch to digital and have never looked back. I currently use PSE 8 to scrap all of my pages.

How long have you been a Babe?

Since 2007

Tell us a little about your scrapping “style” if you have one.

Ahh-this is a hard question. I am not sure I have a style. Most of the time I feel like I am still trying to find my style or that I just like trying different styles depending upon my mood. Overall, I think my pages are on the simple side.

What are 2 things you consider yourself to be very good at?

I enjoy the process of editing photos, photo placement and picking out coordinating papers.

What is the most challenging part of scrapping to you?

I always seem to struggle with adding the finishing touches to a layout. I am not a good embellisher (is that a word?) and it takes me a long time to feel like my layout is finished.

And here are 3 of Jenny’s favorite layouts:

I loved how everything came together in this layout – photo effects and the kit and some favorite photos of my mom and son.

I just love the details and design of this layout.

This layout is a fun memory for our family. I had fun using a more graphic-style.

Earn a bonus point by using our Featured Staffer as inspiration for a page of your own!

Bonus #2: Your challenge today is to “Lift-A-Babe”. Choose any layout from Jenny’s gallery and use it as inspiration for a page of your own.

Please note your layout as Blog Bonus #2 on your tracker.

And now for from Sweet Babe Inspiration:

by Tracy

Tracy lifted Jenny’s layout Happy, and used Chinese New Year Kit and Zodiac by Lliela Designs and DJB Mrs. Webster by Darcy Baldwin

by Celeste

Celeste lifted Jenny’s layout Cute Boy and used Who’s Your Caddy by Libby Pritchett

and by Me (Nikki)

I lifted Jenny’s layout Carnival and used Fancy Pants by Traci Reed and DJB Callie by Darcy Baldwin coming to the Shoppe tomorrow 4/9.

Don’t forget to edit your Portfolio with your page for this challenge!

NOTE: These Bonus Challenges are EXTRA on top of the Posted Portfolio Challenges.  They CANNOT be combined with any other challenge and stand alone (except New Release bonus pt).  Please feel free to PM me with any questions – nikkiARNGwife.  Thanks!

Happy April Fool’s Day sweeties!! Hope your day is full of fun and maybe a few innocent pranks here and there!! Today we’re featuring an awesome scrapper and that’s no joke!! Keela Fox has been a member of our community for awhile. Her husband and 3 adorable boys are found throughout her awesome gallery!!

I’ve been digital scrapbooking for 6 years. I started with Microsoft Digital Image Pro. About 6 months ago I switched to Photoshop CS5 and I love it!!

What gets your scrap mojo going? – Honestly, most of the time it’s just getting a new kit to play with. I almost always have pictures to go with every kit. It makes me excited to play!!

What do you do when you’re not online? – Cook, clean and enjoy my family

What colors do you love to work with? – I love all colors, but with 3 boys, I seem to use a lot of blue!!

Are you a kit scrapper or more of a hodge podge scrapper? – I’m a kit scrapper. I love the challenge of using what is in the kit. If I need a staple or something small, I will go to my favorite one by the same designer. I hardly ever do a hodge podge layout.

I’ve asked Keela to show us 3 of her favorite layouts and tell us a bit about why they’re favorites.

I love the dreamy tone of this kit. It is also one of my favorite pictures of my second son, Tristin.

I went back two years to find this favorite!! This is one that I keep going back to look at. It’s probably because it’s a “baby layout” – they will never be this young again!! I’m so glad I have it scrapped and that the memory is preserved.

Another recent layout. Being a kit scrapper, I love when I sit down to scrap and it all just pulls together quickly because it’s an amazing kit. One of my faves for sure!!

Featured Scrapper Challenge (Bonus #1) for your April Scrapper’s Portfolio.

Your challenge today is a traditional Sweet Shoppe Cookie Decorating Challenge. Download the cookie, decorate it with your own goodies and upload it to the SSD gallery. Don’t forget to edit your portfolio with your layout.

**Please note this challenge is worth 1 point and cannot be combined with any other portfolio prompts except for the NR bonus point for a total of 2 points.**

And here are some gorgeous layouts from our amazing Babes!!

Shannon

Credits: Bug Out by Dani Mogstad and Traci Reed

Steph

Credits: Adventures in My Backyard by Jenn Barrette, Frame It 11 by Melissa Bennett, Garden Botanicals and Tag by Julie Billingsley, File Sticker by Katie Pertiet. Font Capture it and DJB Chalk It Up by Darcy Baldwin

Sue

Credits: Chasing Rainbows by Dani Mogstad and Jenn Barrette, Boxed In by Misty Cato, Fonts are DJB Executive, DJB Amy V Print by Darcy Baldwin and Kingthings Typewriter 2

Me

Credits: Formal Elegance by Eva Kipler and Krystal Hartley

Thanks for playing along!! Can’t wait to see what you do with the cookie!!