July is here and we're turning up the heat this month in more ways than one! We have a smokin' hot new Treat of the Month whose stunning gallery will awe and inspire you while making you think outside the box too! We’re proud to bring you Ranie O'Dell, known in the community as Juliet. We think she is one of digital scrapping’s most inspiring artists and we know you are going to love getting to know more about her!

Every page in Ranie's gallery is infused with not only the love of her beautiful daughter, but a true love of scrapping too. You can almost see the the time she invests perfecting her artwork into little mini masterpieces. Every page has a special twist which takes her pages from the every day to the extraordinary and we're sure some of her pages will have you saying to yourself “Why didn’t I think of that?”

One of the first things you’ll notice about Ranie’s layouts is the stunning photography by either herself or her husband, a professional photographer. She uses a clean, graphic style which draws attention just where it should be, to the stunning photos and her gorgeous family. Just wandering through her gallery, you can see her out of the box thinking through tipped titles and photos, beautiful extraction work and layouts that have a magical, storybook scene in them.

Ranie has been scrapping since December of 2005. She creates all of her pages using Photoshop CS2 and shoots her incredible photos using the Canon Rebel.

All of us at here at the Sweet Shoppe hope you enjoy learning more about Ranie this month as you read her interview below.

Sweet Shoppe Designs: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

Ranie O'Dell: I grew up in Wichita Kansas. My mother is from mainland China and my father is from a farming community in Kansas. I grew up with a younger sister and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where I work as an engineering tech in the oil and gas industry and I also help my husband who travels overseas and does a lot of missions work. My daughter was born in 2005 and she is two years old. Our favorite thing to do on the weekend is to dress her up and take her on photo shoots and we love being outdoors and spending time with our friends.

SSD: What's your scrapping story? How did you begin?

RO: I was looking for a way to make a baby book for my daughter. I wanted it to be extra special and I bought several ones online that were more like paper scrapbooks but I just got frustrated because I am such a perfectionist and if I made a mistake that I could not undo, it would really bug me. I decided that there must be a way to do it digitally because I watched my husband create ads and newsletters using pictures and words so I did a search on the internet until I found a digital store online made especially for digital scrapbooking and that is where it all started.

SSD: What inspires you? Where do you get inspiration for your pages?

RO: I am inspired by a lot of people in the scrapbooking community like Tyting, Nevache, Angelbq, Amy Martin, Dagmar and many more. I mainly try to get my inspiration from the world around me like ads, artwork and magazines. My sister is a graphic designer who works in my building and I am constantly borrowing her stash of design magazines. I also look for websites or blogs that have inspiration. One that I found recently is: http://blog.freepeople.com/craft/, their blog header alone is pretty amazing - (click on the dangling rope)

SSD: How do you approach a blank page? How long do you spend on a page? What is your favorite "must have" element to use or one that you find yourself using over and over again?

RO: I always try to look at my page with a fresh perspective and not get locked in to one certain style although I prefer the realistic paper look with the drop shadows and realistic elements; I also love brushwork and try to add some onto every page. Even though I think my layouts tend to look pretty neat and clean, I love the raw touches like paper holes, stitching, torn edges, paint strokes etc... to kind of rough up my page a bit. I spend at least two to three days working on a layout. I may put all the things on the page and it will look finished technically but in my mind it is not. I work in stages and I will keep coming back to it with more ideas and will add and remove things until I feel like it is finished. I really try to pay attention to the details. I am always looking to add that creative extra touch or idea. My must have element that I use over and over again would be alphas, I have a weakness for buying alphas and I can never seem to get enough of them!

SSD: What do you start with when you create alayout - a striking photo or would it be a kit you may have?

RO: I usually start with a photo, although sometimes I do start with a kit or an element that might inspire me. Because of our photography business, I have a lot of photos to work with and I usually don't have a problem finding a photo to go with a kit that I want to use.

SSD: Your photographs are always so stunning- do you use any actions to make them look so perfect? Have you had any formal training with photography? What do you recommend for enhancing photos?

RO: My husband is the expert when it comes to the photography aspect. When we do photo shoots there are usually at least one to two off camera flashes and umbrellas and a reflector and he uses a Canon 30D. I still shoot in AV mode. If I had a choice on what to get for myself in trying to improve my photography, I would get an off camera flash and/or a flash diffuser and a reflector. I don't only want to scrap the "pretty photos", but I also want to scrap the real life everyday photos that I shoot with my camera so I always try to make them look their best with manipulation in Photoshop. There are a lot of way to fix photos that are over or under exposed. Even if you don't own any actions try to learn how to use the curves and levels in Photoshop. When I do take pictures I always try to make sure that it is not in harsh sunlight or with a lot of distracting shadows. As far as post processing, I admit that I own a lot of actions. I have Lightroom and I like to adjust my white balance with that program but I prefer to do most of my editing in Photoshop because I like having more control. My most used actions are Lilyblue's honey action, Totally Rad actions and Leah Profancik's workflow/color pop actions.

SSD: Your layouts tend to highlight the moments in your family's life and we have noticed that you tend to always include some type of journaling on your page. Is there a suggestion or tip you can give people who struggle on how or what to write about on their layouts?

RO: As the saying goes "A picture is worth a thousand words" and I find that to be true for some of my layouts but for the most part I do like to add journaling. I always picture in my mind that my layouts are being looked at by my daughter when she is older or my grandchildren so I try to put something in it about the moment. I feel like it is important for me to describe the photo in some way and I have been making an effort to really think about what I would like to convey and the memory that I am trying to record. I also know that I won't remember all those special moments and I try to journal in a way that will bring me back in time if I am looking at it ten years later.

SSD: Do you have any crafty hobbies outside of digital scrapbooking?

RO: I love to read and decorate my house. I love to do crafty things with my daughter because she has a love for art also.

SSD: And for a little fun question - tell us a little known fact about you!

RO: :) My mom and I are the exact same size in clothing and in shoes so when I visit her I don't worry too much about packing because if I am missing anything all I have to do is look in her closet. Thankfully she has great fashion sense :)

Sweet Shoppe Designs also asked Ranie to share some of her favorite creations with our visitors. It's fascinating to look through someone's gallery with our own eyes but seeing what an artist particularly enjoys from her own collection is always intriguing...

If you would like to see more of Ranie's scrumptious work, be sure to visit her Designer Digitals Gallery, where you'll find her amazing collection of inspiring pages. It's been such a pleasure to see the fabulous layouts our SugarBabes have created after spending some time looking through her gallery! Those layouts will be featured throughout the month on our homepage so be sure to check them out each time you visit!

Also, don't forget to Scrap with our SugarBabes the entire month of July by picking out a layout you want to lift from Ranie's gallery! Once you're done, come back and share it with us in our special forum & gallery... just for playing along, you'll earn sweet rewards points which can be redeemed for awesome discounts in the shoppe. Thanks for sharing yourself and your gorgeous work with us Ranie, it was wonderful getting to know one of our favorite scrappers!